PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



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moved out across Hatcher's Run, in the jap be- 

 tween Generals Hancock and Warren, which was 

 not closed as reported, and made a desperate attack 

 on General Hancock's right and rear. General Han- 

 cock immediately faced his corps to meet it, and 

 after a bloody combat drove the enemy within his 

 works, and withdrew that night to his old position. 



In support of this movement General Butler made 

 a demonstration on the north side of the James, and 

 attacked the onemy on the Williamsburg road, and 

 also on the Y jtk River Railroad. In the former he 

 was unsuccessful ; in the latter he succeeded in car- 

 rying a work which was afterwards abandoned, and 

 his forces withdrawn to their former positions. 



From this time forward the operations in front of 

 Petersburg and Richmond, until the spring campaign 

 of 1865, were confin'ed to the defence and extension 

 of our lines, and to offensive movements for crippling 

 the enemy's lines of communication, and to prevent 

 his detaching any considerable force to send south. 

 By the 7th of February our lines were extended to 

 Hatcher's Run, and the Weldon Railroad had been 

 destroyed to Hicksford. 



General Sherman moved from Chattanooga on the 

 6th of May, with the Armies of the Cumberland, 

 Tennessee, and Ohio, commanded, respectively, by 

 Generals Thomas, McPherson, and Schofield, upon 

 Johnston's army at Dalton ; but finding the enemy's 

 positions at Buzzard Roost, covering Dalton, too 

 strong to be assaulted, General McPherson was sent 

 through Snake Gap to turn it, whilst Generals Thom- 

 as and Schofield threatened it in front and on the 

 north. This movement was successful. Johnston, 

 finding his retreat likely to be cut off, fell back to 

 his fortified position at Resaca, where he was at- 

 tacked on the afternoon of May 15th. A heavy battle 

 ensued. During the night the enemy retreated south. 

 Late on the 17th his rear guard was overtaken near 

 Adairsville, and heavy skirmishing followed. The 

 next morning, however, he had again disappeared. 

 He was vigorously pursued, and was overtaken at 

 Cassville on the 19th, but during the ensuing night 

 retreated across the Etowah. Whilst these opera- 

 tions were going on, General Jefferson C. Davis's 

 division of Thomas's army was sent to Rome, cap- 

 turing it with its forts and artillery, and its valuable 

 mills and foundries. General Sherman, having given 

 his army a few days' rest at this point, again put it 

 in motion on the 23d for Dallas, with a view of turn- 

 ing the difficult pass at Allatoona. On the afternoon 

 of the 25th the advance under General Hooker had 

 a severe battle with the enemy, driving him back to 

 New Hope Church, near Dallas. Several sharp en- 

 counters occurred at this point. The most important 

 was on the 28th, when the enemy assaulted General 

 McPherson at Dallas, but received a terrible and 

 bloody repulse. 



On the 4th of June Johnston abandoned his in- 

 trenched position at New Hope Church, and retreat- 

 ed to the strong positions of Kenesaw, Pine, and 

 Lost Mountains. He was forced to yield the two 

 last-named places and concentrate his army on Ken- 

 esaw, where, on the 27th, Generals Thomas and Mc- 

 Pherson made a determined but unsuccessful assault. 

 On the night of the 2d of July Sherman commenced 

 moving his army by the right flank, and on the morn- 

 ing of the 3d found that the enemy, in consequence 

 of this movement, had abandoned Kenesaw and re- 

 treated across the Chattahoocb.ee. 



General Sherman remained on the Chattahoochee 

 to give his men rest and get up stores until the 17th 

 of July, when he resumed his operations, crossed 

 the Chattahoochee, destroyed a large portion of the 

 railroad to Augusta, and drove the enemy back to 

 Atlanta. At this place General Hood succeeded 

 General Johnston in command of the rebel army, 

 and, assuming the offensive-defensive policy, made 

 several severe attacks upon Sherman in the vicinity 

 of Atlanta, the most desperate and determined of 

 which was on the 22d of July. About 1 p. M. of this 



day the brave, accomplished, and noble-hearted Mc- 

 Pherson was killed. General Logan succeeded him, 

 and commanded the Army of the Tennessee through 

 this desperate battle, and until he was superseded by 

 Major-General Howard, on the 26th, with the same 

 success and ability that had characterized him in the 

 command of a corps or division. 



In all these attacks the enemy was repulsed with 

 great loss. Finding it impossible to entirely invest 

 the place, General Sherman, after securing his line 

 of communications across the Chattahoochee, moved 

 his main force round by the enemy's left flank upon 

 the Montgomery and Macon roads, to draw the ene- 

 my from his fortifications. In this he succeeded, 

 and, after defeating the enemy near Rough and 

 Ready, Jonesboro', and Loveioy's, forcing Turn to 

 retreat to the south, on the 2d of September occu- 

 pied Atlanta, the objective point of his campaign. 



About the time of this move, the rebel cavalry, 

 under Wheeler, attempted to cut his communications 

 in the rear, but was repulsed at Dalton, and driven 

 into East Tennessee, whence it proceeded west to 

 McMinnville, Murfreesboro', and Franklin, and was 

 finally driven south of the Tennessee. The damage 

 done by this raid was repaired in a few days. 



During the partial investment of Atlanta, General 

 Rousseau joined General Sherman with a force of 

 cavalry from Decatur, having made a successful raid 

 upon the Atlanta and Montgomery Railroad, and its 

 branches near Opelika. Cavalry raids were also 

 made by Generals McCook, Garrard, and Stoneman, 

 to cut the remaining railroad communication with 

 Atlanta. The first two were successful the latter 

 disastrous. 



General Sherman's movement from Chattanooga 

 to Atlanta was prompt, skilful, and brilliant. The 

 history of his flank movements and battles during 

 that memorable campaign will ever be read with an 

 interest unsurpassed by any thing in history. 



His own report, and those of his subordinate com- 

 manders accompanying it, give the details of that 

 most successful campaign. 



He was dependent for the supply of his armies 

 upon a single-track railroad from Nashville to the 

 point where he was operating. This passed the en- 

 tire distance through a hostile country, and every 

 foot of it had to be protected by troops. The cavalry 

 force of the enemy under Forrest, in Northern Mis- 

 sissippi, was evidently waiting for Sherman to ad- 

 vance far enough into the mountains of Georgia to 

 make a retreat disastrous, to get upon his line and 

 destroy it beyond the possibility of further use. To 

 guard against this danger, Sherman left what he sup- 

 posed to be a sufficient force to operate against For- 

 rest in West Tennessee. He directed General Wash- 

 burn, who commanded there, to send Brigadier-Gen- 

 eral S. D. Sturgis in command of this force to attack 

 him. On the morning of the 10th of June General 

 Sturgis met the enemy near Guntown, Mississippi, 

 was badly beaten, and driven back in utter rout and 

 confusion to Memphis, a distance of about one hun- 

 dred miles, hotly pursued by the enemy. By this, 

 however, the enemy was defeated in his designs upon 

 Sherman's line of communications. The persistency 

 with which he followed up this success exhausted 

 him, and made a season for rest and repairs neces- 

 sary. In the mean time Major-General A. J. Smith, 

 with the troops of the Army of the Tennessee that 

 had been sent by General Sherman to General Banks, 

 arrived at Memphis on their return from Red River, 

 where they had done most excellent service. He 

 was directed by General Sherman to immediately 

 take the offensive against Forrest. This he did with 

 the promptness and effect which has characterized 

 his whole military career. On the 14th of July he 

 met the enemy tft Tupelo, Mississippi, and whipped 

 him badly. T?he fighting continued through three 

 days. Our loss was small compared with that of the 

 enemy. Having accomplished the object of bis ex- 

 pedition, General Smith returned to Memphis. 



