ARMY OPERATIONS. 



145 



Griswoldville, to continue the demonstration 

 nsa'mst Macon so successfully commenced by 

 Ivilpatriek two days previous. After 

 burning the principal buildings in the town, 

 the troops took position in a wood, protected 

 in front by an open morass, and threw up a 

 rail barricade. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon 

 a rebel force about five thousand strong was per- 

 ceived approaching from the direction of Macon. 

 The Federal cavalry fell slowly back on either 

 flank of the infantry, protecting them from 

 attack in flank and rear, and leaving the enemy 

 no alternative but to make a direct front at- 

 tack. The latter, comprising several brigades 

 of militia under Gen. Phillips, with a part of 

 Ilardee's old command brought up from Sa- 

 vannah, advanced with considerable confidence; 

 and with that ignorance of danger common to 

 raw troops, attempted to carry by storm the 

 Federal position. Six desperate assaults were 

 made, which Gen. "Walcott's troops from behind 

 their breastworks repelled with ease and with 

 trifling loss, while the enemy, exposed to a 

 withering fire and part of the time floundering 

 in the morass, paid dearly for their temerity 

 and inexperience. They finally retired toward 

 Macon, leaving three hundred dead upon the 

 field, and having met with a total loss esti- 

 mated at two thousand five hundred, including 

 Gen. Anderson severely wounded. Their own 

 estimate placed their loss at six hundred and 

 fourteen, which, from all the facts attainable, is 

 manifestly an under estimate. Macon could 

 easily have been taken by Gen. Howard after this 

 encounter, but the Federal commander-in-chief, 

 from prudential motives, did not deem it ad- 

 visable to make the attempt. His base being, 

 in technical language, li in the air," the capture 

 of a place of so little intrinsic importance, now 

 that its railroad connections were severed, was 

 not essential to the plan of the campaign. 



Meanwhile the left wing of the expedition- 

 ary army pursued its march along the Augusta 

 and Macon Railroad in two parallel columns, 

 of which the left or outer one was the 20th 

 corps. The 14th corps was accompanied by 

 Gen. Sherman in person. The latter, having 

 destroyed the railroad effectually as far as 

 Covington, turned thence, on the 19th, south- 

 east toward Milledgeville, while the 20th corps, 

 which had previously marched somewhat north 

 of the railroad, continued the work of de- 

 duction as far as Madison, sixty-nine miles 

 east of Atlanta and one hundred and two west 

 of Augusta. This was intended to be a dem- 

 onstration against the latter city, and the 

 more completely to deceive the enemy the 

 Federal cavalry moving on this wing was sent 

 as far east as Union Point, seventy-five miles 

 from Augusta. From Madison the 20th corps 

 marched nearly due south through Eatonton to 

 Milledgeville, where its advance arrived on the 

 21st, followed o.n the next day by the 14th 

 corps, which passed through Shady Dale and 

 Eatonton. Neither corps encountered any op- 

 position worth mentioning during the march. 

 VOL. rv. 10 A 



At the time the expedition started from At- 

 lanta the Georgia Legislature was in session at 

 Milledgeville. The announcement of the ap- 

 proach of Kilpatrick's cavalry gave them at 

 first no alarm, Macon being supposed to be 

 the place aimed at, and the movement itself a 

 raid. But when on the 18th it was ascertained 

 that Gen. Howard's wing was moving through 

 McDonough in a southeasterly direction, and 

 that Gen. Slocum was evidently approaching 

 from the north, an almost ludicrous panic and 

 consternation seized upon the whole body of 

 legislators, who, with Gov. Brown, fled in un- 

 seemly haste to Augusta with such valuables 

 as could be packed within a few hours. On 

 the morning of the 20th, two days after the 

 departure of the legislature, a small party of 

 Federal scouts dashed into the town, which 

 was at once surrendered to them by the Mayor. 

 For several days previous to the evacuation 

 of Atlanta, rumors of the probability of such 

 an event were prevalent both in the loyal and 

 disloyal States. By the latter the movement 

 was supposed to have been forced upon Gen. 

 Sherman by the aggressive campaign of Hood in 

 Tennessee, and to promise substantial advan- 

 tages to the rebel cause, no doubt being enter- 

 tained that the Federal general, unable to 

 maintain his communications with Chatta- 

 nooga, had resolved to abandon his recent 

 conquest and march back to Tennessee. The 

 evacuation of Atlanta was in fact claimed as a 

 rebel triumph. The cavalry advance toward 

 Macon became in that light merely a demon- 

 stration to cover the retreat of the main body. 

 When, however, the real purpose of Gen. 

 Sherman became apparent, the unprepared 

 condition of Georgia to oppose such a move- 

 ment seems for the first time to have occurred 

 to the State and Confederate authorities. Ut- 

 tering almost in a single breath predictions of 

 the speedy overthrow of Sherman and appeals 

 to the people to rally against the invader, they 

 exhibited in reality a degree of alarm which 

 had any thing but an encouraging effect upon 

 the public mind. On the 18th the following 

 characteristic appeal was issued by Gen. Beau- 

 regard from his headquarters at Corinth, Ala. : 



To the People of Georgia : 



Arise for the defence of your nativfe soil ! Rally 

 around your patriotic Governor and gallant soldiers. 

 Obstruct ana destroy all the roads in Sherman's 

 front, flank, and rear, and his army will soon starve 

 in your midst. Be confident. Be resolute. Trust 

 in an overruling Providence, and success will soon 

 crown your efforts. I hasten to join you in the de- 

 fence of your homes and firesides. 



G. T. BEAUREGARD. 



Simultaneous with this came the following 

 appeal from one of the Georgia Senators in 

 the Confederate Congress : 



ElCBQCOXD, NV. 13. 



To the People of Georgia : 



You have now the best opportunity ever jet pre- 

 sented to destroy the enemy. Put every thing at 

 the disposal of our Generals, remove all provisions 

 from the path of the invader, and put all obstruc- 

 tions in his path. 



