against Vicksburg from the river, which resulted in its capture, with 31,000 prisoners, on 4 July, 1863, thereby opening the Mississippi and fully accomplishing the original purpose. During this brilliant campaign Gen. Sherman was most active, and therefore was appointed a, brigadier-general in the regular army, to date 4 July, 1863.
Meantime Rosecrans, having expelled the enemy from middle Tennessee, had forced him to evacuate Chattanooga, fought the bloody battle of Chickamauga, and fell back into Chattanooga, where he was in a precarious condition. On 4 Oct. Sherman was ordered to take his corps, the 15th, from the Big Black via Memphis, with such other troops as could be spared from the line of the Memphis and Charleston railway, toward Chattanooga. He moved, repairing the road as he went, according to the express orders of Gen. Halleck. But on the 27th he received orders from Gen. Grant to discontinue all work and march rapidly toward Bridgeport on the Tennessee. He lost no time in doing so. Sherman's 15th corps, with other commands, by the rapid movement for Chattanooga, was now getting into position; he was preparing to cross the river from the west bank, below the mouth of the Chickamauga, with the purpose of attacking the northern end of Mission ridge, while a division of cavalry was sent to the enemy's right and rear to cut the railroad behind him. At 1 o'clock, on the morning of 24 Nov., Sherman crossed on pontoon-bridges, and by 3 o'clock P. M. he was intrenched at the north end of Mission ridge. Thus the disposal of troops in Grant's line of battle was: Sherman on the left, in front of Tunnell Hill; Thomas in the centre, at Fort Wood and Orchard Knob; while Hooker was to come up from Wauhatchie, take Lookout mountain, and, crossing to Rossville, advance upon the ridge, to complete the organization. There was open communication between these bodies by special couriers. While preparations were making for the centre attack under Thomas, it was evident that the enemy's design was to crush Sherman. Fierce assaults were made upon him in quick succession, which he resisted, and thus performed good service in drawing the foe to his flank, while Thomas was making the main attack upon the ridge, which was successful. On the morning of the 25th Sherman pursued the enemy by the roads north of the Chickamauga, arriving at Ringgold on that day, and everywhere destroying the enemy's communications.
During these operations Gen. Burnside was besieged by Longstreet in Knoxville, Tenn., and was in great straits. On 3 Dec., under orders from Grant, which another commander was slow to obey, Sherman made forced marches to Burnside's relief, and reached Knoxville not a minute too soon, and after supplying Burnside with all the assistance and re-enforcements he needed marched back to Chattanooga. Toward the end of January, 1864, he returned to Memphis and Vicksburg, whence with parts of McPherson's and Hurlburt's corps, then unemployed, he marched to Jackson and Meridian, where he broke up the Confederate combinations and destroyed their communications. On 2 March, Grant had been made lieutenant-general; on the 12th he assumed command of all the armies of the United States, with the purpose of conducting in person the campaign of the Army of the Potomac. On 12 March he assigned Sherman to the command of the military division of the Mississippi, comprising the Departments of the Ohio, the Tennessee, the Cumberland, and the Arkansas — in a word, of the entire southwestern region, with temporary headquarters at Nashville. In a letter of 4 March, 1864, Grant acknowledges to Sherman his great gratitude for the co-operation and skill which so largely contributed to his own success, and on 19 Feb., 1864, Sherman received the thanks of congress for his services in the Chattanooga campaign. On 25 March he began to prepare his command for action, to put the railroads in good condition, and protect them and to make provision for the supplies of the army in its approaching campaign. On 10 April he received his final instructions from Grant to move against Atlanta. Ordering his troops to rendezvous at Chattanooga, he made it his headquarters on 28 April. His force consisted of the armies of the Cumberland, Gen. George H. Thomas; the Tennessee, Gen. James B. McPherson; and the Ohio, Gen. John M. Schofield. It was 99,000 strong, with 254 guns, while the Confederate army, under Johnston, about 41,000 strong, soon re-enforced up to 62,000 men, was prepared to resist his advance, and if Sherman had the advantage of attack, Johnston had that of fighting behind intrenchments and natural obstacles. Moving from Chattanooga, Sherman came up with him at Dalton, 14 May, and turned his position at Buzzard's Roost by sending McPherson through Snake Creek gap, when Johnston fell back to Resaca. After an assault, 15 May, Johnston retreated to Cassville and behind the Etowah on the 17th. After the turning of Allatoona pass, which he made a secondary base, and fierce battles near New Hope church, in the neighborhood of Dallas, Johnston still further retreated to a strong position on Kenesaw mountain, having contracted and retired his flanks to cover Marietta. Sherman advanced his line with each retrograde movement of the enemy and pressed operations, continually gaining ground. Both armies habitually fought from behind log parapets until Sherman ordered an attack on the fortified lines, 27 June, but did not succeed in breaking through. He then determined to turn the position, and moved Gen. James B. McPherson's army on 3 July toward the Chattahoochee, which compelled Johnston to retire to another intrenched position on the northwest bank of that river, whence he fell back on Atlanta as Sherman began to cross the river, threatening to strike his rear with a part of the army, while the rest lay intrenched in his front. On 17 July began the direct attack on Atlanta. Gen. John B. Hood, who had superseded Gen. Johnston on 17 July, made frequent sorties, and struck boldly and fiercely. There was a severe battle at Peach Tree creek on 20 July, one on the east side of the city two days later, and on the 28th one at Ezra church, on the opposite side of Atlanta, in all of which the National forces were victorious. After an ineffective cavalry movement against the railroad, Gen. Sherman left one corps intrenched on the Chattahoochee and moved with the other five corps on the enemy's only remaining line of railroad, twenty-six miles south of Atlanta, where he beat him at Jonesboro', occupied his line of supply, and finally, on 1 Sept., the enemy evacuated the place.
Here Hood's presumption led to his own destruction. Leaving the south almost defenceless, he moved upon Nashville, where he was disastrously defeated by Thomas. Sherman had sent Thomas to that city purposely to resist his advance, and with the diminished army he moved upon Savannah, threatening Augusta and Macon, but finding little to oppose him in his march to the sea. Sherman moved steadily forward until he reached the defensive works that covered Savannah and blocked Savannah river. These were promptly taken by
