796 



SHERMAN, WILLIAM TECUMSEII. 



November. In Grant's dispositions for raising 

 the siege of Chattanooga by driving the army of 

 Bragg from its position on Lookout mountain 

 and Missionary Ridge overlooking the town, 

 Sherman's command was placed on the left, op- 

 posite the head of Missionary Ridge. Thomas 

 was in the center and Hooker on the right. 

 Sherman laid two bridges in the night of Nov. 

 23, and the next day advanced against the Con- 

 federate works, but the ground was very didi- 

 cult, and he was only partially successful. 

 Hooker and Thomas were completely so. and the 

 enemy was routed. The task of Hooker and 

 Thomas was lightened by the enemy's attacking 

 Sherman heavily, hoping to crush him. After 

 the battle he advanced promptly by the roads 

 north of the Chickamauga, as far as Ringgold, 

 destroying their communications. 



Early in December, 1863, Sherman, by forced 

 marches, went to the relief of Burnside, who was 

 besieged in Knoxville by Longstreet, and arrived 

 just in time to save him from defeat. In Febru- 

 ary, 1864, with troops from the corps of Hurl- 

 burt and McPherson, he made a brief campaign 

 to Jackson and Meridian to destroy the enemy's 

 communications. 



In the spring of that year Gen. Grant was 

 made lieutenant-general, and planned a grand 

 campaign in which all the military resources of 

 the Northern States should be brought to bear 

 at once upon the Confederacy and kept in active 

 operation until its armies should be destroyed. 

 To Sherman he assigned the command of the 

 military division of the Mississippi. On Feb. 1!) 

 Sherman received the thanks of Congress for his 

 services in the Chattanooga campaign, and in 

 March he began repairing the railroads and 

 making ready for the great task. He made 

 his headquarters at Chattanooga, and concen- 

 trated his troops there. His force included 

 the Army of the Cumberland, Gen. George H. 

 Thomas; the Army of the Tennessee, Gen. 

 James B. McPherson; and the Army of the 

 Ohio, Gen. John M. Schofield. With about 

 98,000 men and 250 guns, leaving behind all un- 

 necessary baggage, and taking no tents except 

 for sick and wounded, he set forward on May 5 

 to attack the Confedarate army at Dalton, which 

 was commanded by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, 

 who had somewhat over 60,000 men (if counted 

 in the same way in which Sherman's were 

 counted). The campaign that followed, up to 

 the date of Johnston's removal, July 17, is briefly 

 described on page 399 of this volume. 



Gen. John B. Hood, who succeeded Gen. 

 Johnston, was as rash as Johnston had been 

 cautious. On July 20, while Sherman's army 

 was slowly closing in around Atlanta, the Con- 

 federates left their intrenchments along Peach- 

 tree creek and made a heavy assault on the 

 right of the national line, which was held by 

 Thomas. There was terrible fighting, much of 

 it hand-to-hand, for two hours, at the end of 

 which time the Confederates were driven back 

 to their works. Two davs later Hood, by a flank 

 movement, attacked Sherman's left, held by 

 McPherson. The fighting was kept up from 

 noon till night, and seven heavy assaults were 

 repelled ; after which Wood's division closed the 

 battle with a counter-attack. On this day Sher- 

 man lost 3,500 men and 10 guns. Hood's loss 



was never reported, but it was known to be much 

 heavier. Gen. McPherson was killed, and Gen. 

 Oliver 0. Howard was promoted to command the 

 Army of the Tennessee. This offended Gen. 

 Hooker, who thought the promotion belonged to 

 him, and he asked to be relieved. His corps was 

 given to Gen. Henry W. Slocum. 



Sherman now made another move by the right 

 flank to threaten the enemy's communications, 

 and on the 28th Hood made a bloody attack on 

 his right, but did not effect anything. Sherman 

 then sent out detachments of cavalry to break 

 the railroads south of Atlanta, but with no 

 satisfactory result. He therefore, after posting 

 Slocum's corps at the bridge over the Chatta- 

 hoochee, swung all the rest of his army, by a 

 rapid and partly concealed movement, around to 

 a position south of the city, where he destroyed 

 the railroads and then advanced in force on 

 Atlanta. He captured one brigade entire and 

 10 guns; but the greater part of Hood's forces, 

 after setting fire to the Government property, 

 escaped eastward, and Slocum's corps promptly 

 moved in. 



Gen. Sherman determined to make a purely 

 military garrison or depot with no civil popula- 

 tion, and he therefore ordered the inhabitants to 

 leave the city, giving them their choice whether 

 to go north or south ; and this gave rise to an 

 angry correspondence between him and Gen. 

 Hood. The telegraph and railroad were re- 

 paired, and ample supplies were brought down 

 from the North. For two months there was no 

 significant change in the military affairs of that 

 department. Sherman's army had reached the 

 goal for which it set out, and the army of Hood 

 moved about with apparently no very definite 

 purpose, occasionally breaking the communica- 

 tions, which were quickly re-established, or at- 

 tacking an outpost. At last Hood, late in OctOr 

 ber, moved to a point opposite Florence, on 

 Tennessee river, and began collecting supplies 

 for an invasion of Tennessee and Kentucky. 

 Sherman sent Thomas to Nashville to meet this 

 invasion, and proposed to march to Savannah 

 with the remainder of his army ; but he found 

 considerable difficulty in persuading the Presi- 

 dent and Gen. Grant to consent to such a move. 

 When at last he gained their consent he at once 

 sent out men to cut the telegraph wires lest the 

 orders should be countermanded, and years aft- 

 erward he learned that they would have been 

 countermanded had not the authorities at Wash- 

 ington found, as they supposed, that " the enemv 

 had cut the wires." He sent to the rear all his 

 sick and disabled men, and all baggage that 

 could be spared, and had his men paid. When 

 the last train left Atlanta he had a large section 

 of the track destroyed and the bridges burned. 

 Wagon trains were got in readiness and exact 

 orders for the march were issued. The machine 

 shops, depots, and other such buildings in At- 

 lanta were torn down and fire set to the ruins. 



Sherman had first definitely proposed the 

 march to the sea in a telegram to Gen. Thomas, 

 dated Oct 9. On Nov. 12, with 55,000 infantry. 

 5.000 cavalry, and 1,800 artillerymen with 6-"> 

 guns, he set out, and nothing more was hoard of 

 him till nearly Christmas. His army moved in 

 two parallel columns, cutting through the State 

 a swath 40 miles wide, and living off the conn- 



