142 



ARMY OPERATIONS. 



103 miles in length, connecting Atlanta with 

 Macon; and of the Central Georgia road, 190 

 miles long, connecting Macon with Savannah. 

 From Augusta there also runs a cross-road, 

 due south, to Millen, on the Georgia Central 

 road, 53 miles in length, which affords a second 

 route from Atlanta to Savannah, ten miles 

 longer than that through Macon. The average 

 width of the belt of country embraced be- 

 tween the two main lines as far eastward as 

 Augusta and Millen is about 40 miles; east- 

 ward of those points the country gradually 

 expands to a width of nearly 100 miles. 



The Georgia road, from Augusta to Atlanta, 

 since the capture of the latter place, had lost 

 much of its importance ; but all the others, in- 

 cluding that between Augusta and Millen, were 

 essential links in the great chain of communica- 

 tions between the northern and southern por- 

 tions of the Confederacy ; and their destruction, 

 which was one of the objects of the expedition, 

 would sever the Gulf States as completely from 

 Virginia and the Carolinas, as the trans-Mis- 

 sissippi States were cut off from the rest of the 

 Confederacy after the fall of Vicksburg and 

 Port Hudson. The country included in this 



railroad system was probably the richest and 

 most populous of Georgia, containing the 

 capital, Milledgeville, and many other im- 

 portant towns ; and all accounts concurred in 

 describing it as abundantly supplied with horses, 

 cattle, and subsistence for an invading army. 

 Here also had been conveyed for greater safety 

 large numbers of slaves from the exposed parts 

 of the rebel States. Not less important than 

 these facts was the additional one, that, with 

 the exception of a few brigades of cavalry under 

 Gen. "Wheeler, and such troops as could be 



athered from Wilmington, Charleston, or 

 avannah, there was nothing but the Georgia 

 militia to oppose the progress of Gen. Sherman. 

 Under every circumstance, therefore, the two 

 lines above described seemed likely to offer the 

 most feasible route to the coast. The ultimate 

 objective point of the expedition, whether 

 Charleston or Savannah, it was left to circum- 

 stances to determine. 



On the llth of November the army was dis- 

 tributed as follows : the 14th corps, with which 

 was Gen. Sherman, at Kingston; the 15th and 

 17th corps on the Powder Spring road, a little 

 west of the Chattahoochee ; and the 20th corps 



at Atlanta. The latter, after the appointment 

 of Gen. Slocum as commander of the left wing 

 of the army, was commanded by Gen. Williams, 

 On the morning of the 12th the 14th corps 

 moved out of Kingston, leaving a brigade to 

 cover the last shipment north of supplies and 

 rolling stock. This was completed in the after- 

 noon; a parting message, "All is well," was 

 sent to Chattanooga by the telegraph wires, 

 which were then cut, and by nightfall not a 

 soldier of the expeditionary army remained 

 north of Kingston. Following the line of the 

 railroad, the 14th corps thoroughly destroyed 

 every mile of track between Kingston and the 

 Chattahoochee, and every building that could 

 be of any possible use to the enemy. Some 

 instances of wanton destruction by negroes and 

 stragglers occurred, including churches and un- 

 occupied buildings in Kingston, Ackworth, 

 Marietta, and elsewhere ; but, in general, pri- 

 vate property was respected wherever the main 

 body of the corps marched. On the evening 

 of the 10th, Gen. Corse's division of the 15th 

 corps had burned the public buildings and 

 machine shops of Rome. On the 14th the 

 corps reached the Chattahoochee, and on the 



