This is a photograph of Independence Day, 1864. As the sentries and staff
officers stand outside the sheltered tents, General Thomas, commanding the
Army of the Cumberland, is busy; for the fighting is fierce to-day.
Johnston has been outflanked from Kenesaw and has fallen back eastward
until he is actually farther from Atlanta than Sherman's right flank. Who
will reach the Chattahoochee first? There, if anywhere, Johnston must make
his stand; he must hold the fords and ferries, and the fortifications
that, with the wisdom of a far-seeing commander, he has for a long time
been preparing. The rustic work in the photograph, which embowers the
tents of the commanding general and his staff, is the sort of thing that
Civil War soldiers had learned to throw up within an hour after pitching
camp.
[Illustration: PALISADES AND _CHEVAUX-DE-FRISE_ GUARDING ATLANTA