decision. Johnston’s inferiority in numbers was now becoming lessened as Sherman had to detach more and more troops to his ever-lengthening communications with Chattanooga. Another manœuvre brought about a heavy combat near Dallas (Pickett’s Mills and New Hope Church, May 25–27). After a time Johnston fell back, and on the 6th of June the Federals appeared before Marietta (q.v.). Hitherto neither leader had offered a weak spot to his opponent, though the constant skirmishing had caused a loss of 9000 men to Sherman and about two-thirds of that number to the Confederates. At this moment Sherman suddenly changed his policy and sent his troops straight against the hostile entrenchments. The neighbourhood of Marietta witnessed for the next fortnight very heavy fighting, notably at Pine Mountain on the 14th and Kenesaw on the 27th, both actions being frontal assaults gallantly pushed home and as gallantly repulsed. Sherman acted thus in order to teach his own men and the enemy that he was not “afraid,” and the lesson was not valueless. He then resumed his manoeuvring, which was now facilitated by improved weather and better roads.
30. Atlanta.—Johnston in due time evacuated the Marietta lines. On the 7th of July his fortifications on the Chattahoochee river were turned, and he fell back into the Atlanta (q.v.) position, which was carefully prepared, like all the others, beforehand. Here Johnston was deprived of his command. His campaign had not been unsuccessful, for Sherman had never succeeded in taking him at a disadvantage, but the whole of the South, including President Davis and his chief of staff General Bragg, clamoured for a more “energetic” policy, and General J. B. Hood was put in command on the understanding that he should “fight.” The new general, whose bold and skilful leading had been conspicuous on most of the Virginia battlefields, promptly did so. At first successful, the Confederates had in the end to retire. A few days after this battle (called Peach Tree Creek) took place the battle of Atlanta, which was fiercely contested by the veterans of both sides, and in which McPherson, one of the best generals in the Union army, was killed. Still, Hood was again beaten. The Army of the Tennessee, under its new commander General O. O. Howard, fought and won the battle of Ezra Church on the 28th of July, and, Atlanta being now nearly surrounded, Hood was compelled to adopt the Fabian methods of his predecessor, and fell back to the southward. An attack on the Army of the Ohio near Jonesboro concluded the Atlanta campaign, which left Sherman in control of Atlanta, but hampered by the necessity of preserving his communications with Chattanooga and weakened by a total loss of 30,000 men. In this celebrated campaign the American generals rivalled if they did not excel the exploits of Marlborough, Eugene and Villars, under allied conditions.
31. The March to the Sea.—Although General Canby, with a Federal force in the south, had been ordered to capture Mobile early in the year—after which he was to operate towards Atlanta—Mobile still flew the Confederate flag, and Hood, about to resume the offensive, was thus able to base himself on Montgomery in order to attack Sherman in flank and rear. But the Federal commander was not to be shaken off from his prize. He held firmly to Atlanta, clearing the city of non-combatants and in other ways making ready for a stubborn defence. Thomas and the Army of the Cumberland were sent back to guard Tennessee. A heavy attack on the post of Allatoona (to the garrison of which Sherman sent the famous message, “Hold the fort, for I am coming”) was repulsed (October 5). The main armies quickly regained contact, each edging away northwestwards towards the Tennessee and coming into contact at Gaylesville, Alabama, and again at Decatur. General Slocum with Hooker’s old Potomac troops garrisoned Atlanta, and every important post along the railway to Chattanooga was held in force. Sherman had now resolved to execute his plan of a march through Georgia to the sea and thence through the Carolinas towards Virginia, destroying everything of military value en route. With the provisos that if Lee turned upon Sherman, Grant must follow him up sharply, and that Thomas could be left to deal with Hood (both of which could be, and were, done), the scheme might well be decisive of the war. Preparations were carefully made. Fifty thousand picked men were to march through Georgia with Sherman, and Thomas was to be reinforced by all other forces available. There was no force to oppose the “March to the Sea.” Hood was far away on the Tennessee, which he crossed on the 29th of October at Tuscumbia, making for Nashville. Want of supplies checked the Confederates after a few marches, while Schofield was pressing forward to meet them at Pulaski and Thomas was gathering, at Nashville, a motley army drawn from all parts of the west. It was at this same time that Sherman broke up his railway communication, destroying Atlanta as a place of arms, and set out on his adventurous expedition. There was little in his path. Skirmishes at Macon and Milledgeville alone varied the daily routine of railway-breaking and supply-finding, in which a belt of country 60 m. wide was absolutely cleared. On the 10th of December the army, thoroughly invigorated by its march, appeared before the defences of Savannah. On the 13th of December a division stormed Fort McAllister, and communication was opened with the Federal fleet. The march concluded with the occupation of Savannah on the 20th.
32. Nashville.—Hood, at a loss to divine Sherman’s purpose, hastened on into Tennessee amidst weather which would have stopped most troops. Schofield met him on the Duck river, while Thomas was shaping his army in rear. Hood manœuvred Schofield out of his lines and pushed on once more. At Franklin Schofield had to accept battle, and thirteen distinct assaults on his works were made, all pushed with extraordinary fury and lasting far into the night. Thomas ordered his lieutenant to retire on Nashville, Hood following him up, impressing recruits, transports and supplies, and generally repeating the scenes of Bragg’s march of 1862. The civil authorities and the lieutenant-general also urgently demanded that Thomas should advance. Constancy of purpose was the salient feature of Thomas’s military character. He would not fight till he was ready. But this last great counterstroke of the Confederacy alarmed the whole North. So great was the tension that Grant finally sent General J. A. Logan to take command. But before Logan arrived, Thomas had on the 15th and 16th of December fought and won the battle of Nashville (q.v.), the most crushing victory of the whole war. Hood’s army was absolutely ruined. Only a remnant of it reassembled beyond the Tennessee.
33. The Carolinas.—From Savannah, Sherman started on his final march through the Carolinas. Columbia, his first objective, was reached on the 17th of February 1865. As usual, all that could be of possible value to the enemy was destroyed and, by some accident, the town itself was burned. Sherman, like Sheridan, was much criticized for his methods of reducing opposition, but it does not seem that his “bummers” were guilty of wanton cruelty and destructiveness, at least in general, though the cavalry naturally gave more ground for the accusation than the main body of the army. And the methods of the Confederates had on occasion been somewhat similar. The Confederate general Hardee managed to gather some force (chiefly from the evacuated coast towns) wherewith to oppose the onward progress of the Federals. As commander-in-chief, Lee now reappointed Johnston to command, and the latter soon attacked and very nearly defeated his old opponent at Bentonville (March 19–20). But the “bummers” were no mere marauders, but picked men from the armies that had won Vicksburg and Chattanooga, and, though surrounded, held their ground stoutly and successfully. Advancing once more, they were joined at Goldsboro by the forces lately besieging Fort Fisher (see below), and nearly 90,000 men marched northward towards Virginia, pushing Johnston’s weak army before them. Meanwhile the bulk of the forces at Nashville had been sent to the north-east to close Lee’s escape to the mountains, and in March the final campaign had opened at Petersburg.
34. The Final Campaign.—At last Lee’s men had lost heart in the unequal struggle. Sheridan raided the upper James and destroyed all supplies. Grant lay in front of the Army of northern Virginia with 125,000 men, and when active operations
