ARMY OPERATIONS. 



37 



Augusta and Macon, and part destroyed. 

 "We have," says Gen. Sherman, in his de- 

 spatch announcing the capture of Atlanta, " as 

 the result of this quick, and, as I think, well- 

 executed movement, twenty-seven guns, over 

 three thousand prisoners, and have buried 

 over four hundred rebel dead, and left as 

 many wounded that could not be removed. 

 The "rebels have lost, besides the important city 

 of Atlanta and their stores, at least five hun- 

 dred dead, twenty-five hundred wounded, and 

 three thousand prisoners ; whereas oar aggre- 

 gate loss will not foot up fifteen hundred. If 

 that is not success I don't know what is." 



Of the losses in killed, wounded, and miss- 

 ing, sustained by the Federal army up to this 

 period, the following table, based upon the most 

 trustworthy information at present attainable, 

 may be considered to give a fair estimate : 



Skirmishing from Chattanooga to Eesaca 1.20) 



Battle of Eesaca 4,500 



Skirmishing from Eesaca to Allatoona 500 



Battles around Dallas 3,000 



Battle of Kenesaw Mountain, July 27th 3,010 



Lesser contests around Kenesaw, June 9th to July 1st 4,500 



Skirmishing between Kenesaw and the Chattahoo'chee 1,000 



Battle of July 20th ' 1,900 



" ofJuly22d 3.700 



" ofJul"y2Sth 600 



Skirmishing from July 17th to August 2;th 8,000 



Fighting at Jonesboro, August 81st and Sept. 1st 1,500 



Losses in cavalry raids 2.000 



80,400 



Of the total number, less than one-sixth 

 come under the head of missing. The loss in 

 cannon was fifteen pieces ten in the battle of 

 July 22d, three taken from Stoneman, and two 

 abandoned by McCook. Notwithstanding these 

 casualties, amounting to nearly a third of the 

 force with which he set out from Chattanooga, 

 Gen. Sherman was enabled to report, after the 

 fall of Atlanta, that by the arrival of re- 

 enforcements, recruits, furloughed men and 

 convalescents, he had maintained his original 

 strength. Of the rebel losses it is more difficult 

 to form an estimate, but the following is be- 

 lieved to be reasonably correct : 



Loss in skirmishing from Chattanooga to Atlanta 6.000 



Battles at Eesaca 7 2,500 



" around Dallas 8,500 



Battle of Kenesaw Mountain 1,000 



tt of July 20th 5.000 



" of July 22d 12.000 



" ofJuly2Sth 5.500 



Lesser contests around Atlanta. 1,500 



Battles at Jonesboro 5,000 



42,000 



The enemy lost more than twenty general 

 officers, killed and wounded, according to their 

 own showing, besides from forty to fifty pieces 

 of cannon, of which eight were 64-pounders, 

 and over 25,000 stand of small arms.- Their 

 loss in colors Was also much greater than that 

 of the Federals. 



Gen. Hood, upon abandoning Atlanta, di- 

 rected his march toward McDonough, whence 

 moving west he succeeded in forming a junc- 

 tion with Gens. Hardee and Lee. On the 2d 

 Gen. Sherman followed in Gen. Hardee's traces, 

 but finding him intrenched in a position of great 

 strength, and learning the capitulation of the 



city, he desisted from further attack, and on th 

 4th gave orders for the army to proceed by easy 

 marches in the direction of Atlanta. On the 8th 

 the Army of the Cumberland encamped around 

 the city, that of the Tennessee about East Point, 

 and that of the Ohio at Decatur. Atlanta it- 

 self was held by Gen. Slocum's (20th) corps. 



Previous to the departure of the cavalry un- 

 der Gen. Wheeler, on their raid against the 

 railroad communications of Gen. Sherman, as 

 mentioned above, the latter had enjoyed a com- 

 parative immunity from such demonstrations. 

 This was mainly the result of the skilful dis- 

 positions which he had made for guarding the 

 road between Atlanta and Chattanooga. In 

 the latter place he had also wisely accumulated 

 a sufficient quantity of stores to render him in 

 a measure independent of Nashville, in tho 

 event of any interruption of travel between tho 

 two places. He consequently felt little imme- 

 diate uneasiness upon hearing of the departure 

 of Gen. Wheeler, but rather congratulated him- 

 self that he was at a critical moment superior 

 to the enemy in cavalry. Gen. Wheeler left 

 Atlanta soon after the miscarriage of Gen. 

 Stoneman's raid, with a mounted force of six 

 thousand men, and moving around to the north- 

 east, struck the Western and Atlanta road near 

 Adairsville, just midway between Atlanta and 

 Chattanooga. Here he succeeded in capturing 

 nine hundred beef cattle. He next approached 

 the road at Calhoun, nine miles north of Adairs- 

 ville, where he committed some damage, and on 

 August 14th made his appearance at Dalton, of 

 which place, " to prevent the effusion of blood," 

 he demanded the immediate and unconditional 

 surrender. Col. Leibold, who held the town 

 with five hundred or six hundred men, replied 

 that he had " been placed there to defend the 

 post, but not to surrender." Apprising Gen. 

 Steedman, in command at Chattanooga, of his 

 danger, he kept Gen. Wheeler at bay until the 

 next day, when reenforcements arrived from 

 that place, by whose aid the enemy were driven 

 off in confusion. Gen. Wheeler then passed up 

 into East Tennessee, leaving the Federals to 

 repair at their leisure the damage he had done, 

 and in a few days the railroad Avas again in 

 good running ord"er between Atlanta and Chat- 

 tanooga. He subsequently destroyed a con- 

 siderable portion of the road between Chat- 

 tanooga and Knoxville, and moving west dur- 

 ing the latter part of August and first week of 

 September, made strenuous efforts to interrupt 

 railroad and telegraph communication between 

 Chattanooga and Nashville ; but being pursued 

 by Gens. Rousseau, Steedman, and Granger, 

 he was speedily driven toward Florence, and 

 thence into Northern Alabama. The damage 

 committed by him between Chattanooga and 

 Atlanta was so slight, that Gen. Sherman, 

 writing from the latter place on September 

 15th, was enabled to say, " Our roads and tele- 

 graphs are all repaired", and the cars run with 

 regularity and speed." 



The news of the capture of Atlanta reached 



