ARMY OPERATIONS. 



75 



Johnston to abandon his intrenchments at Xew 

 Hope Church, and move westward to the rail- 

 road to cover Marietta, and on the 6th the Fed- 

 eral army reached Ackworth, where it rested 

 for several days. Allatoona Pass was at once 

 fixed upon as a secondary hase, and put in a 

 defensible condition. A well-informed corre- 

 spondent, summing up the results of the cam- 

 paign to this date, observes : " We have in a 

 month's time, with a force not very much su- 

 perior to his, forced the enemy back nearly one 

 hundred miles, obliging him to abandon four 

 different positions of unusual strength and pro- 

 portions; have fought him sis times; have 

 captured twelve guns, three colors, over two 

 thousand prisoners, with considerable forage, 

 provisions, and means of transportation; have 

 placed at least fifteen thousand of his men hors 

 de combat, and have destroyed several impor- 

 tant foundries, rolling mills, iron works. tkx\, 

 at Eome, and in the Allatoona Mountains." 



On the 8th Gen. Blair reached Ackworth 

 with two divisions of the 17th army corps, 

 which were attached to Gen. McPherson's 

 command, and a brigade of cavalry belonging 

 to Gen. Garrard's division. These accessions 

 compensated for the Federal losses in battle, 

 and the garrisons left at Resaca, Rome, Kings- 

 ton, and Allatoona, and on the 9th the army, 

 refreshed by three days' much needed rest, and 

 abundantly supplied with stores, moved for- 

 ward to Big Shanty, the next railroad station 

 south of Ackworth. Between this place and 

 Marietta intervenes a mountainous district of 

 rast natural strength, having three detached and 

 well-defined summits, where Gen. Johnston had 

 made his next stand. Kenesaw Mountain, the 

 most easterly of these summits, is a double- 

 peaked eminence, about 1,200 feet high, lying 

 directly north and northwest of Marietta/and 

 west of the railroad, and sending out a spur for 

 several miles in a northeasterly direction. "\Vt->t 

 of Marietta, on the road to Dallas, is Lost 

 Mountain, and midway between the latter and 

 Kenesaw, half a mile further to the north, is 

 Pine Mountain, a rugged, cone-shaped peak, 

 which may be said to form the apex of a trian- 

 gle, of which Kenesaw and Lost Mountains 

 constitute the base. The three eminences are 

 connected by several ranges of lesser heights, 

 seamed with ravines, and covered with a dense 

 growth of oak and hickory, and upon their 

 summits the rebels had erected signal stations 

 which commanded an excellent view of all the 

 general operations of the Federal forces. As 

 the latter drew in sight, the most assailable 

 points in this succession of mountain fortresses 

 appeared bristling with cannon, and the spurs 

 were alive with men constructing earthworks, 

 felling timber for obstructions, and otherwise 

 preparing for an obstinate resistance. The 

 rebel front extended westward from the rail- 

 road, on which their right rested, about four 

 milea, and comprised several successive lines 

 of intrenchments. They had also some works 

 on the ridge east of the railroad. "The rebel 



works," says the correspondent above quoted, 

 " consisted of log barricades, protected by earth 

 thrown against them, with a formidable ; 

 and in many places a checauz-dc-jrise of sharp- 

 ened fence-rails besides. The thickness of this 

 parapet (which really resembled a parallel) was 

 generally six to eight feet at top, on the in- 

 fantry line, and from twelve to fifteen feet 

 thick at top where field guns were posted, 

 or where fire from our artillery was antici- 

 pated." 



The controlling point of the whole region is 

 Kenesaw Mountain, which covers the railroad 

 and the town of Marietta so effectually that a 

 direct advance upon the latter place from the 

 north would be well-nigh impossible. As the 

 rebel lines were drawn, it constituted a strong- 

 hold or citadel in a deep reentrant, Pine and 

 Lost Mountains and the connecting ridges being 

 in the nature of outworks, useful in retarding 

 the approach of an enemy, but not absolutely 

 essential as portions of a system of defences. 

 The accounts of prisoners, deserters, r.nd scouts, 

 placed Gen. Johnston's force at nine divisions of 

 seven thousand men each, which was probably 

 somewhat above the mark ; in addition to 

 which an auxiliary force of fifteen thousand 

 Georgia militia, called out by Governor Brown, 

 was placed at his disposal. The latter, though 

 comparatively undisciplined, did good service 

 as laborers on fortifications, and were capable 

 of offering considerable resistance behind earth- 

 works. Hardee's corps occupied their right, 

 Polk the centre, and Hood the left. Their cav- 

 alry, estimated at fifteen thousand, operated 

 on the flanks, and in the Federal rear. 



The order of the Federal advance was some- 

 what different from that previously observed 

 during the campaign. Gen. McPherson's com- 

 mand was now transferred to the extreme left, 

 and moved toward Marietta, having its right 

 on the railroad, while Gen. Schofield, shifting 

 to the right wing, marched for Lost Mountain. 

 Gen. Thomas kept his old position in the cen- 

 tre, and moved on Kenesaw and Pine Moun- 

 tain-. Gens. Stoneman and Garrard covered 

 the right and left wings with their cavalry, 

 and McCook guarded the communications and 

 rear. From the 9th to the 14th the Federal 

 lines were gradually closed up toward the rebel 

 position, Sherman's first object being to break 

 the line between Kenesaw and Pine Mountains; 

 and on the latter day, during a heavy cannon- 

 ade by the 4th corps, the rebel Gen. Polk, com- 

 manding on Pine Mountain, was killed by the 

 explosion of a shell. On the same night, the 

 rebels, perceiving that Hooker's corps was 

 moving around the base of the mountain to 

 cut off their retreat, abandoned their works 

 Avithout loss of guns or material of war, and 

 on the morning of the 15th the position was 

 quietly occupied by Stanley's division of the 

 4th corps. A paper was found affixed to a 

 stake, stating. u Here Gen. Polk was killed by 

 a Yankee shell;" and from the reports of de- 

 serters it appeared that Gens. Johpstmi and 



