It was Sherman's experienced railroad wreckers that finally drove Hood out
of Atlanta. In the picture the rails heating red-hot amid the flaming
bonfires of the ties, and the piles of twisted débris show vividly what
Sherman meant when he said their "work was done with a will." Sherman saw
that in order to take Atlanta without terrific loss he must cut off all
its rail communications. This he did by "taking the field with our main
force and using it against the communications of Atlanta instead of
against its intrenchments." On the night of August 25th he moved with
practically his entire army and wagon-trains loaded with fifteen days'
rations. By the morning of the 27th the whole front of the city was
deserted. The Confederates concluded that Sherman was in retreat. Next day
they found out their mistake, for the Federal army lay across the West
Point Railroad while the soldiers began wrecking it. Next day they were in
motion toward the railroad to Macon, and General Hood began to understand
that a colossal raid was in progress. After the occupation, when this
picture was taken, Sherman's men completed the work of destruction.
[Illustration: THE RUIN OF HOOD'S RETREAT--DEMOLISHED CARS AND
ROLLING-MILL