In Hood's hasty evacuation of Atlanta many of his guns were left behind.
These 12-pounder Napoleon bronze field-pieces have been gathered by the
Federals from the abandoned fortifications, which had been equipped
entirely with field artillery, such as these. It was an extremely useful
capture for Sherman's army, whose supply of artillery had been somewhat
limited during the siege, and still further reduced by the necessity to
fortify Atlanta. On the march to the sea Sherman took with him only
sixty-five field-pieces. The Negro refugees in the lower picture recall an
embarrassment of the march to the sea. "Negroes of all sizes" flocked in
the army's path and stayed there, a picturesque procession, holding
tightly to the skirts of the army which they believed had come for the
sole purpose of setting them free. The cavalcade of Negroes soon became so
numerous that Sherman became anxious for his army's sustenance, and
finding an old gray-haired black at Covington, Sherman explained to him
carefully that if the Negroes continued to swarm after the army it would
fail in its purpose and they would not get their freedom. Sherman believed
that the old man spread this news to the slaves along the line of march,
and in part saved the army from being overwhelmed by the contrabands.
[Illustration: NEGROES FLOCKING IN THE ARMY'S PATH