USA > Georgia > The history of the State of Georgia from 1850 to 1881, embracing the three important epochs: the decade before the war of 1861-5; the war; the period of Reconstruction, v. 1 > Part 29
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Sherman, presuming that Johnston would utilize the Allatoona Pass for a stand, made another flank movement for Dallas. The sleepless
277
THE NEW HOPE CHURCH BATTLE.
Johnston detected the new step and quietly interposed his army at New Hope Church. Here was a desperate bout, furious and bloody, in which Sherman was frightfully punished. Early he made an effort to turn our right and get in between Johnston and the railroad. This was the afternoon of the 26th of May, 1864. Col. Avery was thrown at the double quick with a part of the 4th Georgia Cavalry to check the movement until troops could get up to thwart it. Gen. Johnston in his Narrative says of this perilous attempt upon his flank, "Although desperately wounded in the onset, Col. Avery, supported in his saddle by a soldier, continued to command, and maintained the contest until the arrival of forces capable of holding the ground." Major Sidney Herbert, the capable and careful correspondent of that powerful paper, the Savannah News, writing in 1878 the particulars of a conversation with Gen. Johnston, reported him as making this additional statement about this most dangerous and nearly successful effort of a corps of the enemy to cut him from his base, an effort prevented in a manner show- ing the value of moments and of the determined resistance of even a small force against a large one at the opportune time: " Finding him- self confronted by the advance guard of several divisions of Federal troops, Col. Avery saw that it was hopeless to contend against such odds, yet a stern sense of duty made it plain to him that he must resist their advance until the Confederate forces could have time to place themselves in action. Under these circumstances, and impelled by this strong sense of duty, he fought against overwhelming numbers and with bloody results, until the needed reinforcements came up. Ilis rare personal courage inspired his brave soldiers. Although severely wounded, he remained in his saddle supported by a soldier, and thus ac- complished, under great physical suffering, his grand self-imposed task for duty's sake." From this time to the 4th day of June the two armies lay in a dead-lock, fighting daily. Every effort made by Sherman to trip his adversary was abortive. Every assault was bloodily repulsed.
Sherman began to flank again, this time moving to the right of Johnston, and the two vast gladiators faced each other, Sherman near Acworth, and Johnston near Marietta. Johnston manned a line of emi- nences, of which Pine Mountain in the center, Lost Mountain on his left, and Memorable Kennesaw Mountain on his right composed the ob- structive trio. Rested, reinforced, provisioned, Sherman determined to break the cordon if possible by force, and on the 9th of June, 1864, he commenced. The history of war reveals no such battle. Until the 3rd day of July, twenty-three savage days, he battered away with his ponder-
278
THE DESPERATE TWENTY-THREE DAYS' BATTLE.
ous human mallet to break down and through the interposing wall of flesh and steel. It was one incessant straining battle, lulling occasionally to a hot skirmish, and then blazing into a deadly struggle. Hood had the right, Hardee the left, and Polk the center. McPherson confronted Hood, Schofield faced Hardee, and Thomas grappled with Polk. On the 14th of June the Bishop-soldier Polk yielded his sacred life. Sher- man pushed the mortal game with a grand tenacity. Pine Mountain was first abandoned, and then Lost Mountain was sullenly relinquished, and Johnston contracting his line presented a stronger chain of obstacles than ever, while Sherman had spent men in vain with a prodigal thrift- lessness. For the first time Johnston threw Hood against the enemy's right in a crisp tentative reconnoisance, but it was done with a repulse and a loss. On the 27th of June Sherman made his crucial drive, and a mad, terrific clash it was, Thomas and McPherson with three-fourths of the Federal army striking Hardee and Loring, who had succeeded the noble Polk. The Federal line, with a desperate courage unsurpassed anywhere, rolled against Johnston's entrenched ranks, but it recoiled, smitten and shattered, in crumbling, bloody fragments, with the loss of thousands. Sherman was satisfied with a direct march upon our army for over three straight crimson weeks, and he returned to his tactical waltzing. He shot McPherson's army for the Chattahoochee on the right, and back slid the undeceivable Johnston out of the strategic trap, and after a number of days of lively snapping, on the 9th of July, 1864, he crossed the Chattahoochee with his army as solid as a packed cotton bale, and North Georgia, reposing in Sherman's grim clutch, helpless and miserable.
Both armies went to sponging off for the next grapple. For two . weeks they rested. It is always wise to heed a foe. The following pregnant and impressive sentences so aptly tell the truth that quoting them is an irresistible temptation. They are from Swinton's famous Book.
" In the latter days of the Confederacy, the grim fatality which from the outset had walked with it, side by side, along its destined course, silent and unseen, seemed to throw off, at length, the cloak of invisibility, to stab it boldly with mortal blows. While in the enthusiasm of the contest, it seemed hardly fanciful to declare that fate itself, shadowing the Confederacy so long through successes, with unsuspected presence, at length revealed its sardonic figure in the moment of destiny, to fix its doom and down- fall. One such.mysterious blow to the Confederacy was that by which Gen. Johnston was removed from its Western army, at the moment when he was most needful for its salvation, kept from command till an intervening general had ruined and disintegrated it, and then gravely restored to the leadership of its pitiful fragments."
279
1
GENERAL JOE JOHNSTON'S REMOVAL.
On the 17th of July, 1864, the Federal army resumed its active work, and on the same day the President, Mr. Davis, relieved Gen. Johnston of the command of his army, and substituted Gen. Hood in his stead. . Johnston had made vigorous preparations for the defense of Atlanta. He was sitting in his tent talking with Gen. Mansfield Lovell, when a package of communications was brought to him. He read one, and then with a quiet unconcern and a pleasant smile handed it to Gen. Lovell, saying, " What do you think of that ?" It was the order reliev- ing him of command. Stunned at the order, General Lovell begged him to make no obedience to it until an effort could be made to get it reversed. Johnston declined to make any effort. Gen. Lovell, how- ever, got the corps commanders together, Generals Hardee, Stewart and Hood, and they petitioned and protested against the change, deputizing Gen. Hood himself as a matter of courtesy to send the protest. Gen. Hood sent the dispatch, but it was worded in such a way as to carry no force and exert no effect. Mr. Davis declined to withdraw the order and Johnston returned to privacy.
In this connection it is said upon the authority of two gentlemen closely connected with Mr. Davis, one of them, alleged to be Gen. A. R. Lawton, who had been made the Quartermaster-General of the Con- federate armies, and the other, Gen. Gilmer, that he was opposed to removing Gen. Johnston, and reluctantly yielded to the advice of his Cabinet advisers. The account goes that at the meeting when it was determined, Mr. Davis walked up and down the room with his hands behind him in deep anxiety, saying with earnest emphasis and a most troubled manner, that he doubted the propriety of it. This report is the more important because it conflicts with the generally accredited opinion and puts Mr. Davis in a different light.
. It is not perhaps irrelevant nor an exaggeration to say that Gen. Johnston's career presents the most remarkable anomaly of military annals. From the beginning to the end he was distrusted and depre- ciated by the Confederate authorities, yet he held from first to last the confidence and admiration of armies and people. And every effort of the several made to retire him to obscurity, but strengthened him in popular esteem, and resulted in calling him to new exaltation of power, new display of genius and increase of fame. It seemed impossible to dispense with him. The public outery for his installation in responsible leadership was irresistible. His genius was openly decried, and his administration condemned by his superiors, yet it was utterly in vain so far as the public confidence was concerned. The people stubbornly
,
280
THE DOWNFALL BEGAN.
1
believed in him, and the soldiers clamored for his Generalship and fought under it with an unshakable trust and a loving enthusiasm. And while he labored under a continuous censure from the Confederate rulers, he enjoyed a constant triumph of praise from the masses of the people. It certainly presents a strange incident of the war, this incon- gruity of Johnston's connection with the struggle. Another curious fatality of Johnston was, that his genius was conspicuously and most mournfully vindicated by the blundering failure of others, instead of the successes achievable by the enforcement of his counsels and plans.
When Gen. Johnston was removed he had been fighting an army double his own for seventy-four consecutive days. He had lost in killed and wounded 9,450 men, and inflicted a loss upon the enemy equal to the Southern army. He turned over to Gen. Hood a splendid experienced army of 50,627 veteran soldiers, disciplined, seasoned and buoyant, as fine a band of fighters as the world ever saw, well equipped and armed, well officered, well organized and invincible in Gen. John- ston's hands against attack. The removal of Johnston was the begin- ning of the end. It was the turning point to ultimate failure. Sher- man gave a long, deep breath of relief, and said, " Heretofore the fight- ing has been as Johnston pleased, but that hereafter it would be as he pleased."
From this time on, the cause steadily sank, until it was engulfed in ruin. The army was the prop of the cause, and the leadership was given to one who was brave enough, but who fatally underestimated its value. Territory lost could be regained. The army gone, the cause was dead. The downfall was progressing surely, and our great Georgia was the theater of its enactment in strange fulfillinent of romantic destiny.
.
GEN. J. E. JOHNSTON
CHAPTER XXIX.
SHERMAN TEARS ATLANTA FROM HOOD.
The Georgia Militia .- Gen. G. W. Smith .-- Gov. Brown's Heroic Ardor .- Johnston's Praise of Brown .- Brown and Davis .- Hood's Gallant Waste .- The Battles of the 18th and 22nd of July around Atlanta .- The Death of Col. John M. Brown, brother of Gov. Brown .- Sherman's Cavalry .- Stoneman's Capture .- Hood's At- tack 28th July .- Bombardment of Atlanta .- Gov. Brown orders out County Officers .- Hood Sends off his Cavalry .- Jonesboro .- Atlanta Falls .- Its Moral Effect .- The South Stunned .- The North Vivified .- Compliments to the State Militia .- Gov. Brown and Mr. Sedden in their Last Stern Correspondence .- The Close of a Series of Intellectual Conflicts that will Gain Interest with Time .- De Fontaine's Pen Picture of Joe Brown .- Sherman in Atlanta .- His Exile of her People .-- Hood and Sherman .-- Tart Letters .- Beauregard .- Convention of Gov- ernors .- Mr. Davis and Ben Hill Visit Georgia .- Davis' Unwise Speech at Macon .- A Photograph of Mr. Davis .- His Qualities and Needs .- Hood sent to Tennessee. -- And the Dark End at Hand .- The Appointment of General A. R. "Lawton Quartermaster-General of the Confederate Government .- A Distinguished Officer. -- The Great Compliment of this Assignment .- A Vast Responsibility Well Borne. -Georgia's Controlling Agency Continued in this .- Gen. Lawton's Brilliant Admin- istration .- Destruction of all the Quartermaster's Papers .- The Enlistment of Negro Soldiers .- A Remarkable Document.
WE have come to Hood's fatal assumption of command, in the heart of Georgia, of the most important of the twin armies of the Confeder- acy, on the 17th day of July, 1864. Atlanta and its vicinity were to become the arena of momentous occurrences. The defenses around Atlanta had been going on for weeks. Heavy rifled cannon had been brought from Mobile; the military shops had been removed. Gov. Brown had organized over 10,000 of the State militia, and placed them in the trenches around Atlanta, under Major-General Gustavus W. Smith, with Gen. Toombs as chief of staff, who was placed under Gen. Hood's orders. The conduct of Gov. Brown in this crisis deserves all praise. He did all that mortal man could to aid the desperate and fail- ing cause. His appeals were eloquent and urgent for the sons of the State to rally to its defense. He had used every possible means to supply the troops with arms and clothing. He had chartered ships to import supplies. The Confederate Secretary of the Treasury refused to permit any vessel to clear unless she carried out one-half of the cargo for the Confederate government, which blocked Gov. Brown's
282
THE BATTLE OF ATLANTA, JULY 22ND, 1864. -
operations. He had bought 30,000 blankets for soldiers and 30,000 cotton cards, and had 300 bales of cotton loaded on the ship Little Ada to send out and pay for them, when Mr. Memminger refused a clearance for her. Gov. Brown, in conjunction with Gov. Clark, Gov. Watts and Gov. Vance appealed to Congress for relief. The matter created much comment at the time, but the Confederate authorities refused to yield.
Gen. Johnston states in his " Narrative," that on all occasions he was zealously seconded by Gov. Brown. Quite an important correspond- ence took place between Gov. Brown and Mr. Davis in June, 1864. Gov. Brown wrote to Mr. Davis asking if reinforcements could not be sent to Georgia, and suggesting that Forrest or Morgan cut Sherman's communications. Mr. Davis replied, saying that he could not change the disposition of our forces so as to help Gen. Johnston more effec- tually. Gov. Brown answered: "If your mistake should result in the loss of Atlanta and the occupation of other strong points in this State by the enemy, the blow may be fatal to our cause, and remote posterity may have reason to mourn over the error."
Gen. Hood lost little time in assuming the aggressive. Throwing completely over the cautious Fabian strategy of Johnston, Hood com- mitted an error that the most ordinary soldier would have avoided- threw his army against Sherman's double force, strongly entrenched, and met with a bloody repulse. If Sherman with twice the men had been unable to ever drive Johnston, what hope could Hood possibly have to force strong entrenchments with half the men. Hood took command at sunset on the 18th July, 1864. On the 20th, in the after- noon, he struck Sherman on the Buckhead road running from the Chattahoochee river to Decatur. He indented the Federal line at the first onset, but a five hours' gory battle sent him hustling back with a loss of about 5,000 men against a Federal loss of 1700. Nothing daunted, Hood moved out on the Federal left on the night of the 21st, and on the morning of the 22nd pounced savagely upon Sherman. There has been no heavier fighting than this fierce battle. From 11 o'clock until night it raged. The Confederates secured several important advantages by sheer audacity. Gen. James P. McPherson was killed in this battle. Gen. McPherson, though a young officer, was one of the most brilliant in the Federal armies. A monument in the woods near Atlanta marks the spot where he fell. Several batteries were captured, and several valuable positions taken gallantly. Wheeler's cavalry did good service. Prodigies of superb but useless valor were
now. in L'espion & Pain.
283
GOVERNOR BROWN'S BROTHER KILLED.
done by Hood's noble men. But Sherman was too strong and too game. Hood withdrew from his fatally earned inches of progress with two pitiful guns and the loss double the enemy, whose hard fighting was shown in a summary of 3,122 casualties. In this battle Gen. W. H. T. Walker was killed and Gen. Mercer wounded. Among the desper- ately hurt was Lieut. Col. John M. Brown, a brother of Gov. Brown, who was wounded while leading his regiment, one of the State organi- zations, gallantly in a charge. He was twenty-five years old. . He had been wounded at the battle of Resaca while holding the rank of Major. He returned to his command before his wound was healed, and was unani- mously elected Lieut. Colonel. He took part in the Kennesaw battle. He was commanding the regiment on the 22nd. He was a very prom- ising officer, and beloved by his regiment. This was the second brother that Gov. Brown lost in the service. Col. Brown died from his, wound at the executive mansion on the 25th of July, 1864. While standing by the bedside of his dying brother, Gov. Brown was called upon to provide means for the defense of Milledgeville threatened by a raid, and it seemed doubtful if he would be permitted to bury his brother in peace.
Sherman's cavalry were very active. Garrard broke some bridges near Covington on the Georgia road. Rousseau tore up the West Point road at Opelika. Stoneman with 5,000 troopers and MeCook with 4,000 went out to meet on the Macon road and rip up matters. Both com- mands were surrounded. McCook escaped, but Stoneman surrendered to a force consisting of Iverson's Georgia brigade, Adams' Alabama brigade and Williams' brigade, under command of Brig. Gen. Alfred Iverson. Stoneman had attacked Macon but had been repulsed by a part of Gov. Brown's militia under Gen. Cobb, both Gov. Brown and Gen. Cobb being on the field, and acting under suggestion of Gen. Jos. E. Johnston, who was present supervising the engagement. Over 600 Federals were captured. The grateful citizens of Macon proposed a dinner to Iverson and his command, but the command was ordered away before the purpose could be carried out.
The fighting around Atlanta up to this time had been done on the South-east. Sherman moved his forces over on the west side, and Hood followed him up. On the 28th of July, 1864, Hood made another of his daring onslaughts upon Sherman with the same unsuccessful and bloody result, a loss of three or four of his own men to one of the enemy. The losses of Hood in killed and wounded, not including the captured, up to July the 31st, from the night of the 18th, or thirteen
284
THE BOMBARDMENT OF ATLANTA.
days, were 8,841, or only 609 less than Johnston had lost in seventy-four days' continuous battle, in which Johnston had whipped every conflict and Hood lost every one he had fought. On the 5th of August Schofield struck Hood's line, but was driven back with a loss of 400 men. This was the sole Confederate success won by Hood, and it illustrated the wisdom of Johnston's strategy. A division of Federal cavalry made an attack upon Macon, but were repulsed by Maj. Gen. Howell Cobb with two regiments of militia and several other commands.
Sherman constantly bombarded Atlanta, throwing his shot and shell into the heart of the city. The private residences were daily struck. The dwelling of Judge C. H. Strong, the present clerk of the superior court, the stores of Beech & Root and W. F. Herring on Whitehall street, the residences of E. B. Walker and A. M. Wallace on Ivy street, and hundreds of others, were damaged. People burrowed in their cellars for protection; basement stories were at a decided premium; and holes in railroad cuts were utilized in the cause of personal safety.
The campaign was rapidly culminating. Sherman finding that direct assault was unavailing, and that Hood had learned by costly experience the lesson that Johnston had so astutely understood at the start, that he must economize his army, again resorted to his old strategy. In the meantime Gov. Brown, appreciating the emergency, was reinforcing the State militia. He used every means to get men to the front. Some foreigners were dodging military duty. He issued an order driving aliens from the State unless they would do service. He ordered out the county officers. He infringed pretty nearly upon the cradle and the grave. His energy was unbounded. And the raw State militia did noble duty. Gen. Johnston on the "th of July wrote to Gov. Brown complimenting the Georgia State troops. After the battle of the 22nd of July Gen. Hood wrote Gov. Brown that they had fought with great gallantry. The field officers were as follows:
First Brigade, Brigadier General R. W. Carswell.
First Regiment, Colonel E. II. Pottle.
Second Regiment, Colonel C. D. Anderson.
Fifth Regiment, Colonel S. S. Stafford.
First Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel MeCay.
Second Brigade, Brigadier General P. J. Phillips.
Third Regiment, Colonel Jno. M. Hill.
Fourth Regiment, Colonel R. McMillan.
Sixth Regiment, Colonel J. W. Burney.
Independent Artillery Battalion, Colonel C. W. Styles.
285
ATLANTA LOST BY THE CONFEDERATES.
The Staff was as follows:
Major General, Gustavus W. Smith.
Inspector General, General Robert Toombs.
Adjutant General, Major W. K. De Graffenseid.
Chief of Artillery and Ordnance, Colonel Joseph S. Claghorn.
Chief Quartermaster, Colonel L. H. O. Martin.
Chief Commissary, Major W. J. Williford.
Medical Director, Dr. H. R. Casey.
Division Surgeon, Dr. Thomas A. Rains. Aid-de-Camp, Colonel Linton Stephens.
Gen. Sherman struck out on the 25th of August, 1864, for his final mischief in the matter of securing Atlanta. Gen. Hood perpetrated another of his irreparable blunders, that Gen. Johnston so unerringly avoided. He sent off Wheeler's cavalry to cut the State road. Sherman leaped to the opportunity. He dashed down on the West Point railroad and tore up twelve continuous miles. He then made for the Macon railroad, threatening it for eleven miles from Rough and Ready to Jones- boro. Hardee and S. D. Lee were at Jonesboro, and made a rushing onslaught upon the Federal force on the 31st of August, 1864, but retired finally with a heavy punishment upon both sides. The next day, the 1st of September, Lee having been withdrawn by Hood the night before, Sherman attacked Hardee's attenuated line late in the afternoon. The fight was a frightful one, and Hardee's dauntless corps, fighting overwhelming odds, covered itself all over with glory. But a break was made at one point by the pure pressure of numbers. The line reformed in the short distance of one hundred and fifty yards from the break, and held until night. But the campaign was ended. The road to Atlanta was in Sherman's hands, and Hood moved out of Atlanta amid the thunder of exploded magazines and the baleful light of burning military stores, fired to destroy them. In the silence of the night the reverbera- tions of this ominous noise, the counterfeit of battle, and the gloomy glare of conflagrations at Atlanta, came down the twenty miles to cheer the slumbering Federal conquerors, and to salden the weary, mutilated legions of Hardee, sullenly leaving the blood-stained streets of Jonesboro.
The moral effect of the fall of Atlanta was simply immeasurable. In Virginia, Lee had repulsed every assault, destroying innumerable Fed- erals, and manning his lines with a seemingly untouched capacity of resistance. Jubal Early, in the Valley, had won a startling success. The North was gloomy. A convention there clamored for peace. The peo- ple grumbled savagely. An additional half a million of soldiers was
286
THIE EFFECT OF THE FALL OF ATLANTA.
drafted, and Lincoln squinted at peace negotiations. In this pervasive depression, the capture of Atlanta thrilled the Union with its ringing spell. The Southern Heart was reached. Half of Georgia lay writhing in Sherman's iron grasp, and with it the Gate City, the Key to our Southern railroads, workshops, granaries, prisons, and arsenals. Stand- ing midway between the cotton and grain belts the Federal commander, viewing the successful issue of his wonderful campaign, with its superb succession of battles and strategy, and the sorely wounded army of his foe, driven, shattered and bleeding from its cherished and vital strong- hold, sent back to the North such a note of encouragement and triumph as gave lasting inspiration to the Union cause.
But if the taking of Atlanta so enthused and strengthened the North, it fell upon the South with a proportionately depressing effect .. Men began to talk of peace. Some gentlemen wrote to Alec Stephens and Herschell V. Johnson, the two strong Union men at the beginning of the war, for their views of the propriety of attempting a peace move- ment. Both replied advising against it then. In the lull in operations following the fall of Atlanta, Gov. Brown furloughed the state militia for thirty days to go home and look after domestic matters and prepare for the next campaign. This militia force embraced men not included in the conscription law, the state officers and boys down to 16 years, and old men up to 55. Many of them had seen service and been discharged for disability. They were dubbed "Joe Brown's Pets." They were unable to stand much hardship, but as has been seen they had fought heroically, and performed service that was gratefully ac- knowledged by both Generals Joliston and Hood, in the following letters:
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