OPERATIONS IN GEORGIA.
GENERAL SHERMAN’S MARCH TO ATLANTA.
On the 14th of March, 1864, General Sherman, then at Memphis, Tenn., was officially informed that he had been appointed to succeed General Grant, as commander of the Department of the Mississippi. Upon the same day General Sherman set out for Nashville, there to hold a conference with General Grant. That conference took place on the 17th, and having discussed at length the steps to be taken, and the policy for the ensuing campaign, General Sherman accompanied General Grant as far eastward as Cincinnati, where they parted. The former then returned to Nashville, and undertook a tour of inspection, visiting, in Alabama, the cities of Athens, Decatur, and Huntsville, and Larkin’s Ferry; and in Tennessee, Chattanooga, Loudon, and Knoxville. General Sherman had personal interviews with each of the following generals, in command in that section of the country;—Major-General Thomas, commanding the Army of the Cumberland, at Chattanooga; Major-General McPherson, commanding the Army of the Tennessee, at Huntsville; and Major-General Schofield, commanding the Army of the Ohio, at Knoxville. In these several interviews, the 1st of May was agreed upon as the time for a general movement.
General Sherman next turned his attention to the question of supplies for the army, which at first necessitated a temporary stoppage of provisions for many of the people in Tennessee, who had been receiving their food from the supplies intended for the army. Fortunately no positive suffering resulted from this step, which General Sherman was compelled to take in duty to the soldiers under his command; and in a short time all hardships were done away with, as the rich soil sent forth an early vegetation, and meat and grain were brought from Kentucky in large quantities by the ox-wagons constantly plying to and fro between that State and Chattanooga.
On the 27th of April, General Sherman put all the troops under his command in motion for Chattanooga; and on the next day he followed them there in person. It was his aim to make the Army of the Cumberland number fifty thousand men; that of the Tennessee, thirty-five thousand; and that of the Ohio, fifteen thousand; but this he never was enabled to do, as the Army of the Tennessee failed to receive General A. J. Smith’s divisions from the Mississippi, which were unable to join the other forces at the time designated, in consequence of the failure of the Red river expedition. The effective strength of the several armies was, on the 21st of May, as follows: Army of the Cumberland, sixty thousand seven hundred and seventy-three men, and one hundred and thirty guns; Army of the Tennessee, twenty-four thousand four hundred and sixty-five men, and ninety-six guns; and the Army of the Ohio, thirteen thousand five hundred and fifty nine men, and twenty-eight guns. On the morning of May 6th, these armies were grouped thus:—The Cumberland, at and about Ringgold; the Tennessee, at Gordon’s Mills, on the Chickamauga; and Ohio, close by Red Clay, on the Georgia line, north of Dalton.
The enemy, under the rebel general, Joseph Johnston, was in and around Dalton; the force numbering in all about sixty thousand men—the cavalry numbering ten thousand under General Wheeler; and the infantry and artillery—three corps—numbering fifty thousand, under command of Generals Hardee, Hood, and Polk.
The city of Dalton was covered in front with an inaccessible ridge, known as the Rocky Face, which rendered it impracticable to strike at it from that direction; and on the north front the enemy was further protected by a strong line of works along Mill Creek. General Sherman finding these two points guarded, next turned his attention to the south, and found, through Snake Creek Gap, a good way to reach Resaca, an important point on the rebel line of communication, about eighteen miles below Dalton. General McPherson was ordered to move directly on Resaca, through Snake Gap, while, to occupy the enemy’s attention, General Thomas was ordered to make a strong feint in front, and General Schofield on the north of the city. These movements were successfully carried out; General McPherson reached the gap on the 8th, and took by surprise a whole cavalry brigade, while General Thomas pushed his demonstration against Buzzard’s Roost and Rocky Face ridge till it almost amounted to a battle; and General Schofield pressed down close upon Dalton.
General McPherson advanced within a mile of Resaca, without meeting opposition, but on nearing the place he perceived that it was too strongly held by the rebels for him to carry it by assault, whereupon he was obliged to fall back, and take position at the west end of Snake Creek Gap.
On the next day two corps from General Thomas’s army were sent forward to the support of General McPherson, leaving the Fourth corps, under General Howard, to continue to threaten Dalton on the front. General Schofield was also ordered forward to Snake Creek Gap, and on the 11th of May, the entire army, with the exception of General Howard’s corps, and a small force of cavalry left to watch Dalton, was in motion for Resaca, and, on the next day moved against it in full force. Two miles from Resaca the enemy’s cavalry was driven by Kilpatrick’s cavalry from a cross road which they occupied, and in the engagement that brave officer was so severely wounded that he was compelled to give up his command for the time to Colonel Murray, who wheeled out of the road, and allowed General McPherson to pass. The enemy’s infantry pickets were driven in and General McPherson took possession of a ridge of hills which placed the right of his army on the Oostanaula,—two miles below the railroad bridge—and his left directly west of the town. General Thomas came up on his left, and General Schofield followed on the left of Thomas. It was now ascertained that the rebel General Johnston had left Dalton; and General Howard entered the town and pressed close upon the enemy’s rear, but owing to the rugged and hilly nature of the country, the rebel general succeeded in reaching Resaca in safety; and on the 14th of May the Unionists found the rebel army occupying a strong position behind Camp Creek, and in possession of several forts at Resaca, with its right on a ridge of high chestnut hills to the north of the town.
General Sherman immediately made demonstrations against the enemy. A pontoon bridge was placed across the Oostanaula, and a division of the Sixteenth corps, commanded by General Sweeney, crossed and threatened Calhoun. The cavalry division of General Gerrard was sent to break the railroad below Calhoun and above Kingston, while General Sherman pressed the main body of the army against Resaca, at all points.
General McPherson succeeded in making a lodgment close upon the rebel works, while General Thomas pushed along Camp Creek Valley, and threw General Hooker’s corps across the head of the creek to the main Dalton road, close on Resaca; and General Schofield came up on his left. A severe battle commenced about noon of the 15th, which continued during the whole afternoon and evening.
The fighting on both sides was very severe: and when night put an end to the conflict, the rebels took advantage of the darkness to make their escape; and in the morning the town was entered and taken possession of by the National troops.
The whole Union army then started in pursuit of the retreating rebels, but found no token of their whereabouts until, the evening of the 17th, near a place called Adairsville, a brigade of the enemy was overtaken. The advance, consisting of General Newton’s division, engaged the rebel rear-guard, and a sharp encounter ensued. Night again put a stop to the conflict; and upon the following morning the enemy was gone, and was not afterwards overtaken till the National army had advanced four miles below Kingston, where he was again discovered on open ground, well adapted for a heavy battle. The proper dispositions for a fight were promptly made; but as the Union troops were getting in readiness, and preparing to hem in the rebels, they once more took advantage of the mantle of darkness, and escaped in the night-time across the Etowah river, burning the road and bridges which they passed over, but leaving the National troops in undisputed possession of the whole valuable country about the Etowah river. General Sherman now gave his army a brief rest of a few days, as well for the purpose of recruiting their strength as to allow time for bringing forward supplies for the next stage of the campaign.