78 



ARMY OPERATIONS. 



eral general having determined that the ene- 

 my's position was unassailable except by a flank 

 movement across the river, amused his enemy 

 by demonstrations south of the railroad bridge, 

 as if he intended crossing there. His real ob- 

 ject was, by rapidly shifting masses of troops 

 from extreme right to extreme left, to turn the 

 enemy's right flank, and seize and hold the vital 

 strategic points in that direction. 



Gen. Schofleld was, accordingly, directed to 

 move due eastward from his position at Smyrna 

 to the Chattahoochee, and to make a crossing 

 near the mouth of Soap Creek, eight miles 

 north of the railroad bridge. This was suc- 

 cessfully accomplished on the 7th, with the 

 capture of a gun and a number of prisoners, 

 and a lodgment was effected on high ground 

 on the left bank, and a substantial bridge con- 

 structed. At the same time Gen. Garrard occu- 

 pied Rosswell, a town near the Chattahoochee, 

 nearly due north of Atlanta, and about seven 

 miles above Gen. Schofield's -crossing, where 

 he destroyed some woollen and cotton mills 

 which had supplied the rebel armies. In accord- 

 ance with Gen. Sherman's orders he secured 

 the ford at this place until a corps could be sent 

 thither from the Army of the Tennessee on the 

 right wing. On the 9th, while the enemy were 

 amused by feints extending from Power's Ferry, 

 four miles above the railroad bridge, to Turner's 

 Ferry, three miles below it, a crossing was 

 effected at Rosswell, and the river firmly bridg- 

 ed ; and under cover of the same demonstra- 

 tions Gen. Howard was enabled to throw a 

 bridge across at Power's Ferry. Gen. John- 

 ston at length took the alarm, and during the 

 night of the 9th gave orders for another retreat. 

 His heavy guns were removed to Atlanta, seven 

 miles distant, Gen. Hardee's corps was safely 

 crossed to the left bank, and at daylight of the 

 10th the railroad bridge, the road bridge, and 

 the pontoons, were in flames. The rebel army 

 then fell back toward the fortifications of 

 Atlanta, abandoning the whole line of the 

 river, although its left wing kept in the neigh- 

 borhood of Turner'^ Ferry, in the expectation 

 of an attack from that quarter. Leaving Gen. 

 Johnston to his delusion, Gen. Sherman rapidly 

 and quietly moved the rest of the Army of the 

 Tennessee behind the line of our forces, to its 

 old position on the extreme left, and busied 

 himself with strengthening his bridges and col- 

 lecting supplies, which, as early as the 8th, 

 were brought by railroad within a mile of the 

 railroad bridge. 



A week's rest was now allowed the army, a 

 sufficient force being detailed to the left bank 

 of the Chattahoochee to secure the several posi- 

 tions there and occupy the works of the enemy. 

 These proved to be of the most formidable 

 character, and had evidently cost many months 

 of labor, the lines extending for upward of five 

 and a half miles along the river, with almost 

 impenetrable abatis 'in front. The sudden 

 abandonment of them caused more consterna- 

 tion to the enemy than any previous disaster of 



the campaign, as it was anticipated that here, in 

 the immediate neighborhood of his supplies, 

 Gen. Johnston could make a long and probably 

 successful stand ; or at least keep Gen. Sherman 

 at bay until reinforcements from other parts of 

 the confederacy should arrive. The catastro- 

 phe completed the long catalogue of complaints 

 against this general which his enemies had 

 sedulously arrayed before the public, and his re- 

 moval was clamored for as indispensable to the 

 salvation of the cause. The inhabitants of 

 Atlanta in particular urged that the retreating 

 policy had been followed far enough. It can 

 hardly admit of a doubt, however, that he had 

 conducted the campaign with prudence and 

 skill, and considering his inferiority in numbers 

 to Gen. Sherman, who was always in a condi- 

 tion to outflank him, he had probably delayed 

 the Federal advance as long as it was possible. 

 On the 17th the whole army was across the 

 Chattahoochee, with the exception of Gen. Da- 

 vis's division of the 14th corps, left to watch the 

 railroad bridge and the rear, and prepared to 

 move upon Atlanta. The Army of the Cum- 

 berland now occupied the right wing and right 

 centre, resting on the river just above the rail- 

 road bridge, the Army of the Ohio the left cen- 

 tre, and the Army of the Tennessee the left. In 

 this order a grand right wheel was commenced, 

 the right wing of the Army of the Cumberland 

 serving as the pivot, which, on the evening of 

 the 17th, brought the Federal line into a posi- 

 tion about northeast of the railroad bridge, 

 along what is known as the old Peach Tree 

 road. On the 18th the left wing, swinging 

 rapidly around, struck the Georgia Railroad, 

 which connects Atlanta with Augusta, at a 

 point two miles west of Stone Mountain, a vast 

 elevation of. granite towering over the sur- 

 rounding country, fifteen miles northeast of 

 Atlanta. With, the aid of Gen. Garrard's cav- 

 alry, which moved on his flank, Gen. Mc- 

 Pherson broke up a section of about four 

 miles of the road, while Gen. Schofield oc- 

 cupied Decatur, six miles east of Atlanta, 

 and Gen. Thomas brought his troops close 

 up to Peach Tree Creek, a small stream rising 

 five or six miles northeast of Atlanta, and 

 flowing southwesterly into the Chattahoochee, 

 near the railroad bridge. In these manoeuvres 

 our extreme left encountered little else than 

 cavalry, supported by a few guns and a very 

 inadequate force of infantry, an evidence that 

 the enemy was still laboring under the delusion 

 that his left and not his right was the real point 

 of attack, and that Atlanta was to be ap- 

 proached from the southwest instead of from 

 the northeast. Under these circumstances Gens. 

 McPherson and Schofield were enabled, on the 

 19th, to pass with little trouble westward of 

 Decatur, within the naturally strong defensive 

 lines of Nance's and Peach Tree Creeks. Gen. 

 Thomas, moving more directly from the north 

 of Atlanta, found the enemy in larger force, 

 but succeeded on the same day in crossing Peach 

 Tree Creek in front of their intrenched lines. 



