CHAPTER XIX.
The Battle of Kenesaw Mountain—On to Marietta—Across the Chattahoochie—General Johnston succeeded by General Hood—Marching and Fighting—Death of McPherson—Fight at Jonesboro—The last struggle for Atlanta—Victory.
JUNE 14th, General Hooker was on the right and front of the rebel intrenchments, General Howard on the left and front. A heavy cannonading was opened, filling the air with bursting shells and whistling balls, till the old mountains echoed with the thunder and shouts of battle, and hung upon their tops the streamers of its sulphurous smoke. Look away among the rebel battalions, and mark that daring and conspicuous officer, with the air of dignified, cultivated, and mature manhood. With words of command on his lips, he reels, and falls from his steed. The fatal missile has opened the life current of the Bishop and General Polk, the severest loss to the rebels of that sanguinary day.
The next morning brightened the summit of Pine Mountain without the gleaming bayonets and bristling cannon on which the sunset rays fell a few hours before; the enemy had abandoned the summit during the night. The heroic Thomas and Schofield immediately advanced, and found the stubborn foe again strongly intrenched along a range of rocky hills running from Kenesaw to Lost Mountain. General McPherson crowded the opposing lines on the left. The unyielding and steady advance of the Union forces made the sides of Lost Mountain too warm for the rebels, and on the 17th, just when General Sherman was about to order a charge, they withdrew, leaving in our hands not only the formidable heights, but the “admirable breastworks connecting it with Kenesaw Mountain.” Onward through dark forests and across deep ravines, the resolute chief led the “boys,” fighting every step of the way, toward the next fiery barrier of bullets and steel. This was found at Kenesaw. The fastness had become the last defence against the Northern troops among the peaks which had for more than two weeks frowned upon them. It was the enemy’s front, the outer lines having fallen back to cover Marietta and the railroad to the Chattahoochie.
Sadly glorious deeds were done in these wilderness fights. When the One Hundred and Nineteenth New York regiment was so near the hostile ranks that a halt to throw up a temporary breastwork of logs was necessary, by some singular and melancholy mistake a party of twelve or fifteen men were ordered to advance beyond these works on picket duty. Though knowing that it was almost certain death to show their heads above the walls of their little fort, still they obeyed without question or hesitation. They had advanced scarcely more than a rod beyond their comrades, when a heavy volley of musketry prostrated to the ground every man save two! Two were killed instantly, and the rest wounded more or less severely. All of the wounded, however, were able to drag themselves back and escape, except one poor fellow, Sergeant Guider, who was so badly wounded that he could not stir from his place. There he lay almost within arms-length of his comrades, and yet they were powerless to rescue him or give him aid, so galling was the rebel fire. One bolder than the rest made the hazardous attempt, but scarcely had he got over the breastworks when he fell severely wounded. They endeavored to allay his raging thirst by throwing to him canteens of water, and even one of these was pierced by a rebel bullet. Finally, as they could not go over the breastworks, they dug a way under them with no other implements than their bayonets, and through it two men crawled and succeeded in reaching him unhurt. Just as they reached him their comrades in the rear gave an exultant cheer, which elicited from the rebels another volley. A fatal ball pierced the poor fellow’s breast for a second time, and he had only time to murmur feebly to his rescuers, “Now I die content; I am in your hands,” and expired.
Then came the terrible assault upon the stronghold to dislodge the enemy. Oh, how bravely yet vainly did the columns to whom the voice of their leader was enough to take them anywhere, dash against the rocks terraced with cannon! Again the charge sounded, and, like tides thundering on the face of Gibraltar, the lion-hearted Hooker hurled his forces upon the death-dealing intrenchments. There was an Illinois regiment, whose sublime patriotism, like that of the One Hundred and Nineteenth New York, shed immortal radiance on the sanguinary field, assuring all men that our conflict is no tragical play of ambition, or murderous work of revenge.
“In the bloody charge led by General Hooker, the Twenty-seventh Illinois was pressing upon the rebel works; and when they had approached very near them, Michael Delaney, the color-bearer, rushed some ten paces forward ahead of his regiment, and holding aloft the starry banner of his country, shouted to his comrades to follow. Just then a ball struck his left arm, inflicting a flesh wound, from which the blood trickled in profuse currents. Still grasping the flag, and keeping it to the breeze, he drew his revolver, and rushing forward, leaped upon the enemy’s works, waving his flag, and firing his pistol upon the foe. Thus, standing upon the enemy’s works, his pistol in hand, and his colors streaming over his head, two rebels approached him, one on each side, and thrust their bayonets into the sides of the hero martyr. He felt the cold steel pierce to the very quick of his young life, yet he did not falter. With the blood gushing from his wounds, he clasped the flag to his breast, and bore it back in safety to his comrades, among whom he soon after bled to death. Though no star or eagle decorated his shoulders, he is of the country’s heroes, his name stamped among theirs, high on the roll of honor. Though no sculptured marble may mark the spot of his lonely grave among the melancholy pines of northern Georgia, his intrepid bravery entitles him to the homage of all who honor the flag he so bravely bore, and laid down his life to save. The Twenty-seventh Illinois regiment suffered heavily, but behaved nobly, in this fierce and unequal contest.”
And the unresting, yet patient, sagacious commander, in his own report, tells us how he alarmed his antagonist, and drew him away from the slopes of Kenesaw to save his path of retreat: “On the 1st of July General McPherson was ordered to throw his whole army by the right down to and threaten Nickajack Creek and Turner’s Ferry, across Chattahoochie. General McPherson commenced his movement on the night of July 2d, and the effect was instantaneous. The next morning Kenesaw was abandoned, and with the first dawn of day I saw our skirmishers appear on the mountain top. General Thomas’s whole line was then moved forward to the railroad, and turned south in pursuit toward the Chattahoochie. In person I entered Marietta at 8.30 o’clock in the morning, just as the enemy’s cavalry vacated the place. General Logan’s corps of General McPherson’s army, which had not moved far, was ordered back into Marietta by the main road, and General McPherson and General Schofield were instructed to cross Nickajack, and attack the enemy in flank and rear, and, if possible, to catch him in the confusion of crossing the Chattahoochie; but Johnston had foreseen and provided against all this, and had covered his movement well. He had intrenched a strongtête-du-pontat the Chattahoochie, with an advanced intrenched line across the road at Smyrna camp-meeting ground, five miles from Marietta.”
Strange scenes, indeed, are witnessed in this civil war: “The two armies in Georgia met in the persons of some of their superior officers—Generals Clayborne, Cheatham, Hindman, and Maney—parties having been detailed from each by mutual agreement, for the burial of their dead. Grouped together in seemingly fraternal unity were officers and men of both contending armies, who but five minutes before were engaged in the work of slaughter and death. Cheatham looked rugged and healthy, though seemingly sad and despondent. He wore his ‘fatigue’ dress, a blue flannel shirt, black necktie, gray homespun pantaloons, and slouch black hat. Colonel Clancy, of the Fifty-second Ohio, in talking to Generals Maney and Hindman, remarked that it was a sad state of affairs to witness human beings of a common origin and nationality dig two hours every day to bury the dead of twenty minutes’ fighting. ‘Yes, yes, indeed,’ said one, ‘but if the settlement of this thing were left to our armies there would be peace and good fellowship established in two hours.’ ”
With the “forward to Atlanta!” ringing over the proud ranks of Generals Logan, Howard, Palmer, and Hooker, moving out through the enemy’s works, and defiling into the valley along the railroad toward Marietta, let us look into the deserted mountain fortress. First you will notice twenty feet in front of the battlements, to prevent approach, the small trees cut down and sharpened, presenting an impenetrable thicket of pointed green-wood under the “dread artillery.” Besides, “hay-rakes,” as they are called by the “boys,” are added. They are trees half of a foot in diameter, pierced with two rows of auger holes about the same distance apart, through which are driven sticks sharp at both ends—no trifling barrier to a successful charge. Inside of the defences all the means of strength suggested by military art had been employed to make them impregnable. But before the irresistible Sherman, General Johnston is obliged to retreat, hastening on toward the bulwarks of Atlanta.
At Smyrna, General Sherman continues: “General Thomas found him, his front covered by a good parapet, and his flanks behind the Nickajack and Rottenwood Creeks. Ordering a garrison for Marietta, and General Logan to join his own army near the mouth of Nickajack, I overtook General Thomas at Smyrna. On the 4th of July we pushed a strong skirmish line down the main road, capturing the entire line of the enemy’s pits, and made strong demonstrations along Nickajack Creek, and about Turner’s Ferry. This had the desired effect, and the next morning the enemy was gone, and the army moved to the Chattahoochie, General Thomas’s left flank resting on it near Price’s Ferry, General McPherson’s right at the mouth of Nickajack, and General Schofield in reserve; the enemy lay behind a line of unusual strength, covering the railroad and pontoon bridges and beyond the Chattahoochie.”
The commander-in-chief now began to cast about for places to ford the Chattahoochie, whose waters crossed his path. He had secured three safe points of passage above his enemy, with good roads running toward the city, ten miles distant, on which his eager eye was fixed.
Marietta, where General Johnston paused to make a faint resistance before reaching the river, is a pleasant town which before the war contained a thousand inhabitants, with neat villas and elegant brick mansions. Nearly all the families left before or with the rebel army on their retreat, leaving their deserted houses and gardens as trophies for the “invading horde of Lincolnites.” But about forty houses were occupied, principally by rabid rebel women, who, as our officers rode through the town, betrayed evident uneasiness, rushing into their houses in some instances, and locking their doors against all callers who politely asked admittance. The town is beautifully situated in the Kenesaw valley, with nearly all the houses nestling in beautiful groves of southern trees that gave forth fragrant odors, to mingle with the air that is wafted to the mountain resort, where the ladies made their lookout to witness the efforts of the Federals to drive back Johnston and his followers. Our troops occupied the town about ten o’clock, while the bells of the Episcopal Church pealed out the call to public worship. The minister and the congregation were not interrupted in their devotions, the troops behaved very orderly, and, after a brief rest, resumed the march to the Chattahoochie.
While here, the chieftain wrote the following noble letter to a friend of former days, the wife of Rev. Charles Bowen, in reply to a note reminding him of the cherished past in their social relations, and of the melancholy present with its cruel “Yankee invasion.”
“Headquarters Military Division of the Mississippi,}In the Field near Marietta, Ga.,June 30. }“Mrs. Anna Gilman Bowen, Baltimore, Md.“Dear Madam: Your welcome letter of June 18th, came to me here amid the sound of battle, and, as you say, little did I dream, when I knew you, playing as a school-girl on Sullivan’s Island beach, that I should control a vast army, pointing, like the swarm of Alaric, toward the plains of the South. Why, oh why is this? If I know my own heart it beats as warmly as ever toward those kind and generous families that greeted us with such warm hospitality in days long past but still present in memory, and to-day, were Frank and Mrs. Porcher, and Eliza Gilman, and Mary Lamb, and Margaret Blake, the Barksdales, the Quashis, the Pryors, indeed any and all of our cherished circle, their children, or even their children’s children, to come to me as of old, the stern feelings of duty and conviction would melt as snow before the genial sun, and I believe I would strip my own children that they might be sheltered; and yet they call me barbarian, vandal, and monster, and all the epithets that language can invent that are significant of malignity and hate. All I pretend to say, on earth as in Heaven, man must submit to some arbiter. He must not throw off his allegiance to his Government or his God without just reason and cause. The South has no cause; not even a pretext. Indeed, by her unjustifiable course she has thrown away the proud history of the past, and laid open her fair country to the tread of devastating war. She bantered and bullied us to the conflict. Had we declined battle, America would have sunk back, coward and craven, meriting the contempt of all mankind. As a nation, we were forced to accept battle, and that once begun, it has gone on till the war has assumed proportions at which even we in the hurly-burly sometimes stand aghast. I would not subjugate the South in the term so offensively assumed, but I would make every citizen of the land obey the common law, submit to the same that we do—no worse, no better—our equals and not our superiors. I know and you know that there were young men in our day, now no longer young, but who control their fellows, who assumed to the gentlemen of the South a superiority of courage and manhood, and boastingly defied us of northern birth to arms. God knows how reluctantly we accepted the issue, but once the issue joined, like the northern race in other ages, though slow to anger, once aroused are more terrible than the more inflammable of the South. Even yet my heart bleeds when I see the carnage of battle, the desolation of homes, the bitter anguish of families; but the very moment the men of the South say that instead of appealing to war they should have appealed to reason, to our Congress, to our courts, to religion, and to the experience of history, then will I say Peace—Peace; go back to your point of error, and resume your places as American citizens, with all their proud heritages. Whether I shall live to see this period is problematical, but you may, and may tell your mother and sisters that I never forgot one kind look or greeting, or ever wished to efface its remembrance; but in putting on the armor of war I did it that our common country should not perish in infamy and dishonor. I am married, have a wife and six children living in Lancaster, Ohio. My course has been an eventful one, but I hope when the clouds of anger and passion are dispersed, and truth emerges bright and clear, you and all who knew me in early years will not blush that we were once dear friends. Tell Eliza for me that I hope she may live to realize that the doctrine of ‘secession’ is as monstrous in our civil code as disobedience was in the Divine law. And should the fortunes of war ever bring you or your sisters, or any of our old clique under the shelter of my authority, I do not believe they will have cause to regret it. Give my love to your children, and the assurance of my respects to your honored husband.“Truly,W. T. Sherman.”
“Headquarters Military Division of the Mississippi,}
In the Field near Marietta, Ga.,June 30. }
“Mrs. Anna Gilman Bowen, Baltimore, Md.
“Dear Madam: Your welcome letter of June 18th, came to me here amid the sound of battle, and, as you say, little did I dream, when I knew you, playing as a school-girl on Sullivan’s Island beach, that I should control a vast army, pointing, like the swarm of Alaric, toward the plains of the South. Why, oh why is this? If I know my own heart it beats as warmly as ever toward those kind and generous families that greeted us with such warm hospitality in days long past but still present in memory, and to-day, were Frank and Mrs. Porcher, and Eliza Gilman, and Mary Lamb, and Margaret Blake, the Barksdales, the Quashis, the Pryors, indeed any and all of our cherished circle, their children, or even their children’s children, to come to me as of old, the stern feelings of duty and conviction would melt as snow before the genial sun, and I believe I would strip my own children that they might be sheltered; and yet they call me barbarian, vandal, and monster, and all the epithets that language can invent that are significant of malignity and hate. All I pretend to say, on earth as in Heaven, man must submit to some arbiter. He must not throw off his allegiance to his Government or his God without just reason and cause. The South has no cause; not even a pretext. Indeed, by her unjustifiable course she has thrown away the proud history of the past, and laid open her fair country to the tread of devastating war. She bantered and bullied us to the conflict. Had we declined battle, America would have sunk back, coward and craven, meriting the contempt of all mankind. As a nation, we were forced to accept battle, and that once begun, it has gone on till the war has assumed proportions at which even we in the hurly-burly sometimes stand aghast. I would not subjugate the South in the term so offensively assumed, but I would make every citizen of the land obey the common law, submit to the same that we do—no worse, no better—our equals and not our superiors. I know and you know that there were young men in our day, now no longer young, but who control their fellows, who assumed to the gentlemen of the South a superiority of courage and manhood, and boastingly defied us of northern birth to arms. God knows how reluctantly we accepted the issue, but once the issue joined, like the northern race in other ages, though slow to anger, once aroused are more terrible than the more inflammable of the South. Even yet my heart bleeds when I see the carnage of battle, the desolation of homes, the bitter anguish of families; but the very moment the men of the South say that instead of appealing to war they should have appealed to reason, to our Congress, to our courts, to religion, and to the experience of history, then will I say Peace—Peace; go back to your point of error, and resume your places as American citizens, with all their proud heritages. Whether I shall live to see this period is problematical, but you may, and may tell your mother and sisters that I never forgot one kind look or greeting, or ever wished to efface its remembrance; but in putting on the armor of war I did it that our common country should not perish in infamy and dishonor. I am married, have a wife and six children living in Lancaster, Ohio. My course has been an eventful one, but I hope when the clouds of anger and passion are dispersed, and truth emerges bright and clear, you and all who knew me in early years will not blush that we were once dear friends. Tell Eliza for me that I hope she may live to realize that the doctrine of ‘secession’ is as monstrous in our civil code as disobedience was in the Divine law. And should the fortunes of war ever bring you or your sisters, or any of our old clique under the shelter of my authority, I do not believe they will have cause to regret it. Give my love to your children, and the assurance of my respects to your honored husband.
“Truly,W. T. Sherman.”
Wrote a loyal pen in that grand cavalcade of freedom from the heights on the banks of the Chattahoochie: “The view is exceedingly interesting. Away off to the southeast, ten miles distant, can be distinctly seen the farm-houses that nestle in the forests around Atlanta—the tall spires of the churches and public buildings, and the fortifications that guard the approaches to the ‘Gate City.’ Stretching away to the south, the eye beholds a vast forest, dotted by innumerable plantations and villages. Nearer, almost at the base of the mountain, the Serpentine River can be seen through the thick growth of trees that line its banks, while the military, State, and private roads to the east and south, remind the beholder of a huge spider’s web, so numerous are they, and forming so many angles.
“On the 4th the curiosity of the troops to see Atlanta was so strong, that stragglers left their regiments and climbed the side from which they viewed the promised land to which they are ‘pilgrimaging.’ Many of the poor fellows, I fear, will never live to obtain a nearer view, as a desperate defence will be made ere Johnston evacuates it for another position, and by surrendering it open the doors for greater Federal success beyond and on either side.”
July 10th found General Sherman in possession of the country north and west of the river, with only the smoking ruins of the enemy’s bridges left to tell of his hurried retreat toward Atlanta, for whose gates the race was renewed. Manœuvring, marching, and skirmishing again, marked the movements of the contending armies.
I shall let you read further the great commander’s own story of the chase after leaving the banks of the river, in which he pays a passing tribute to the gallant McPherson:
“On the 21st of July we felt the enemy in his intrenched position, which was found to crown the heights overlooking the comparatively open ground of the valley of Peach-tree Creek, his right beyond the Augusta road to the east, and his left well toward Turner’s Ferry, on the Chattahoochie, at a general distance from Atlanta of about four miles.
“On the morning of the 22d, somewhat to my surprise, this whole line was found abandoned, and I confess I thought the enemy had resolved to give us Atlanta without further contest; but General Johnston had been relieved of his command, and General Hood substituted. A new policy seemed resolved on, of which the bold attack on our right was the index. Our advancing ranks swept across the strong and well-finished parapet of the enemy, and closed in upon Atlanta, until we occupied a line in the form of a general circle of about two miles radius, when we again found him occupying in force a line of finished redoubts, which had been prepared for more than a year, covering all the roads leading into Atlanta; and we found him also busy in connecting these redoubts with curtains strengthened by rifle trenches, abatis, and chevaux-de-frise.
MAP OF GEORGIA
MAP OF GEORGIA
“General McPherson, who had advanced from Decatur, continued to follow substantially the railroad, with the Fifteenth Corps, General Logan; the Seventeenth, General Blair, on its left; and the Sixteenth, General Dodge, on its right; but as the general advance of all the armies contracted the circle, the Sixteenth Corps, General Dodge, was thrown out of line by the Fifteenth connecting on the right with General Schofield near the Howard House. General McPherson, the night before, had gained a high hill to the south and east of the railroad, where the Seventeenth Corps had, after a severe fight, driven the enemy, and it gave him a most commanding position, within easy view of the very heart of the city. He had thrown out working-parties to it, and was making preparations to occupy it in strength with batteries. The Sixteenth Corps, General Dodge, was ordered from right to left to occupy this position and make it a strong general, left flank. General Dodge was moving by a diagonal path, or wagon track, leading from the Decatur road in the direction of General Blair’s left flank. General McPherson remained with me until near noon, when some reports reaching us that indicated a movement of the enemy on that flank, he mounted and rode away with his staff. I must here also state that the day before I had detached General Garrard’s cavalry to go to Covington, on the Augusta road, forty-two miles east of Atlanta, and from that point to send detachments to break the two important bridges across the Yellow and Ulcofauhatchee Rivers, tributaries of Ocmulgee, and General McPherson had also left his wagon-train at Decatur under a guard of three regiments, commanded by Colonel, now General Sprague. Soon after General McPherson left me at the Howard House, as before described, I heard the sounds of musketry to our left rear—at first mere pattering shots, but soon they grew in volume, accompanied with artillery, and about the same time the sound of guns was heard in the direction of Decatur. No doubt could longer be entertained of the enemy’s plan of action, which was to throw a superior force on our left flank, while he held us with his forts in front, the only question being as to the amount of force he could employ at that point. I hastily transmitted orders to all points of our centre and right to press forward, and to give full employment to all the enemy in his lines, and for General Schofield to hold as large a force in reserve as possible, awaiting developments. Not more than half an hour after General McPherson had left me, viz., about 12½p. m.of the 22d, his adjutant-general, Lieutenant-Colonel Clark, rode up and reported that General McPherson was either dead or a prisoner; that he had ridden from me to General Dodge’s column, moving as heretofore described, and had sent off nearly all his staff and orderlies on various errands, and himself had passed into a narrow path or road that led to the left and rear of General Giles A. Smith’s division, which was General Blair’s extreme left; that a few minutes after he had entered the woods a sharp volley was heard in that direction, and his horse had come out riderless, having two wounds. The suddenness of this terrible calamity would have overwhelmed me with grief, but the living demanded my whole thoughts. I instantly despatched a staff officer to General John A. Logan, commanding the Fifteenth Corps, to tell him what had happened; that he must assume command of the Army of the Tennessee, and hold stubbornly the ground already chosen.
“But among the dead was Major-General McPherson, whose body was recovered and brought to me in the heat of battle, and I had it sent, in charge of his personal staff, back to Marietta, on its way to his northern home. He was a noble youth, of striking personal appearance, of the highest professional capacity, and with a heart abounding in kindness, that drew to him the affections of all men. His sudden death devolved the command of the Army of the Tennessee on the no less brave and gallant General Logan, who nobly sustained his reputation and that of his veteran army, and avenged the death of his comrade and commander.”
What high appreciation of a gifted and gallant officer, tender regard, and sublime self-control, are displayed in those words from the field of carnage! Lieutenant-General Grant was not ashamed to weep in his tent over McPherson’s death; in the closing circle of conflict around Atlanta, General Sherman could only feel the pang of poignant regret, and marshal the unfallen for further and bloodier strife.
At this crisis, Congress having passed a law authorizing the organization of colored troops, a Massachusetts State Agent applied to him to know where, in the rebel States penetrated by our troops, would be the best points for recruiting stations. His letter in reply will possess interest, because while it furnishes the desired information, it contains the writer’s views of the subject. The best treasure, and the best blood of the nation, has been his estimate of the great and glorious sacrifice demanded in our struggle for national existence. He scorns all evasions of duty, and resorts to doubtful expedients, for relief from any of the burdens of such a war.
“Headquarters Military Division of the Mississippi,}In the Field, near Atlanta, Ga.,July 30, 1864. }“Sir: Yours from Chattanooga, July 28th, is received, notifying me of your appointment by your State as lieutenant-colonel and provost-marshal of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, under the act of Congress approved July 4, 1864, to recruit volunteers to be credited to the States respectively. On applying to General Webster, at Nashville, he will grant you a pass through our lines to those States, and, as I have had considerable experience in those States, would suggest recruiting depots to be established at Macon and Columbus, Miss., Selma, Montgomery, and Mobile, Alabama, and Columbus, Milledgeville, and Savannah, Georgia. I do not see that the law restricts you to black recruits, but you are at liberty to collect white recruits also. It is [a] waste of time and money to open rendezvous in Northwest Georgia, for I assure you I have not seen an able-bodied man, black or white, there, fit for a soldier who was not in this army or the one opposed to it.“You speak of the impression going abroad that I am opposed to the organization of colored regiments. My opinions are usually very positive, and there is no reason why you should not know them. Though entertaining profound reverence for our Congress, I do doubt their wisdom in the passage of this law:“1st. Because civilian agents about an army are a nuisance.“2d. The duty of citizens to fight for their country is too sacred a one to be peddled off by buying up the refuse of other States.“3d. It is unjust to the brave soldiers and volunteers who are fighting, as those who compose this army do, to place them on a par with the class of recruits you are after.“4th. The negro is in a transition state, and is not the equal of the white man.“5th. He is liberated from his bondage by the act of war; and the armies in the field are entitled to all his assistance and labor and fightingin additionto the proper quotas of the States.“6th. This bidding and bantering for recruits, white and black, has delayed the reënforcement of our armies at the times when such reënforcements would have enabled us to make our successes permanent.“7th. The law is an experiment which, pending war, is unwise and unsafe, and has delayed the universal draft which I firmly believe will become necessary to overcome the wide-spread resistance offered us; and I also believe the universal draft will be wise and beneficial; for under the Providence of God it will separate the sheep from the goats, and demonstrate what citizens will fight for their country, and what will only talk.“No one will infer from this that I am not a friend to the negro as well as the white race. I contend that the treason and rebellion of the master freed the slave, and the armies I have commanded have conducted to safe points more negroes than those of any general officer in the army; but I prefer negroes for pioneers, teamsters, cooks, and servants, others gradually to experiment in the art of the soldier, beginning with the duties of local garrisons, such as we had at Memphis, Vicksburg, Natchez, Nashville, and Chattanooga; but I would not draw on the poor race for too large a proportion of its active, athletic young men, for some must remain to seek new homes and provide for the old and young, the feeble and helpless. These are some of my peculiar notions, but I assure you they are shared by a large proportion of our fighting men.”
“Headquarters Military Division of the Mississippi,}
In the Field, near Atlanta, Ga.,July 30, 1864. }
“Sir: Yours from Chattanooga, July 28th, is received, notifying me of your appointment by your State as lieutenant-colonel and provost-marshal of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, under the act of Congress approved July 4, 1864, to recruit volunteers to be credited to the States respectively. On applying to General Webster, at Nashville, he will grant you a pass through our lines to those States, and, as I have had considerable experience in those States, would suggest recruiting depots to be established at Macon and Columbus, Miss., Selma, Montgomery, and Mobile, Alabama, and Columbus, Milledgeville, and Savannah, Georgia. I do not see that the law restricts you to black recruits, but you are at liberty to collect white recruits also. It is [a] waste of time and money to open rendezvous in Northwest Georgia, for I assure you I have not seen an able-bodied man, black or white, there, fit for a soldier who was not in this army or the one opposed to it.
“You speak of the impression going abroad that I am opposed to the organization of colored regiments. My opinions are usually very positive, and there is no reason why you should not know them. Though entertaining profound reverence for our Congress, I do doubt their wisdom in the passage of this law:
“1st. Because civilian agents about an army are a nuisance.
“2d. The duty of citizens to fight for their country is too sacred a one to be peddled off by buying up the refuse of other States.
“3d. It is unjust to the brave soldiers and volunteers who are fighting, as those who compose this army do, to place them on a par with the class of recruits you are after.
“4th. The negro is in a transition state, and is not the equal of the white man.
“5th. He is liberated from his bondage by the act of war; and the armies in the field are entitled to all his assistance and labor and fightingin additionto the proper quotas of the States.
“6th. This bidding and bantering for recruits, white and black, has delayed the reënforcement of our armies at the times when such reënforcements would have enabled us to make our successes permanent.
“7th. The law is an experiment which, pending war, is unwise and unsafe, and has delayed the universal draft which I firmly believe will become necessary to overcome the wide-spread resistance offered us; and I also believe the universal draft will be wise and beneficial; for under the Providence of God it will separate the sheep from the goats, and demonstrate what citizens will fight for their country, and what will only talk.
“No one will infer from this that I am not a friend to the negro as well as the white race. I contend that the treason and rebellion of the master freed the slave, and the armies I have commanded have conducted to safe points more negroes than those of any general officer in the army; but I prefer negroes for pioneers, teamsters, cooks, and servants, others gradually to experiment in the art of the soldier, beginning with the duties of local garrisons, such as we had at Memphis, Vicksburg, Natchez, Nashville, and Chattanooga; but I would not draw on the poor race for too large a proportion of its active, athletic young men, for some must remain to seek new homes and provide for the old and young, the feeble and helpless. These are some of my peculiar notions, but I assure you they are shared by a large proportion of our fighting men.”
The honesty, directness, and philanthropy of these views, will command respect from those who opposed them, and would raise an army of emancipated slaves. With him it was not contempt of the negro, but the scorn of a timid, easy policy by the North, while exactly the opposite course was taken by the South.
General Sherman now ordered from Chattanooga four rifled cannon, whose calibre was four and a half inches, and whose signals of his arrival were to be dropped into streets of Atlanta. August 10th, these messengers ofpeace with victory, arrived and began their negotiations. Night and day they sent their globes of fire into the city, kindling conflagrations and spreading confusion and terror on every hand. But the enemy had come to the strongest position along the entire war-path between Chattanooga and the ocean; and although the “Gate City” was made a heap of ruins, he was resolved to hold the forts, which would guard the way, even over the smoking embers of destruction.
The fine cavalry officer, General Stoneman, was sent on a raid to the Macon Railroad, in which he was taken prisoner. This had so elated the rebels they began to think of “turning the tables” on General Sherman. Suddenly Major-General Wheeler appeared before Dalton, which you recollect was the first important position taken after leaving Chattanooga, with a force of infantry and cavalry variously reported at from seventeen hundred to five thousand men. It was defended by a garrison of four hundred men under Colonel Seibold. Approaching the town in line of battle, General Wheeler demanded the surrender of the place in the following terms: “To prevent the effusion of blood, I have the honor to demand the immediate and unconditional surrender of the forces under your command at this garrison.” To which Colonel Seibold replied: “I have been placed here to defend the post, but not to surrender it. B. Seibold, commanding U. S. forces.”
On the receipt of this reply, an attack was made on the garrison, who retired into their defences, where they succeeded in holding their position until the arrival of General Steedman with reënforcements from Chattanooga, when the rebels were forced to retreat after inflicting some slight damage to the railroad track near Dalton.
A few days later General Sherman issued orders for a general advance of the army by the right flank. All the sick, with surplus wagons and encumbrances of every kind, were sent back to the intrenched position near the river bridge, reducing the number of wagons to three thousand and of ambulances to one thousand; and on the night of August 25th the canvas city gave place to the marshalled host, moving forward in the darkness to gather more closely the fatal cordon around Atlanta. The following night flung its shadows upon the still marching thousands, getting nearer and nearer the throat of the foe. The Army of the Tennessee moved to the West Point Railroad, when General Sherman ordered “a day’s work to be expended in destroying the road, and it was done with a will,” to use his own words. Having surveyed in person the ruins, and satisfied with the thoroughness of the devastation, he led the whole army forward.
General Howard moved on the right toward Jonesboro’, General Thomas had the centre, whose goal was Conch’s, on the Decatur and Fayetteville road, and General Schofield the extreme left. To get a clear impression of the army operations here, you will need the help of a large map, on which the railroads and towns about Atlanta can be seen in their relation to it. Meanwhile General Hood was growing merry over a fancied retreat by the manœuvring and confident Sherman. The long trains moving to the rear, and the course of the battalions backward toward Sandtown on the Chattahochie,lookedlike it. But the commander knew his enemy and the way to trap him.
August 28th, the grand army was keeping cheerful step to the music of the march to conflict and victory; the long columns of warriors proudly gazing after their chief, who with equal pride cared for and led them to the fields of conquest.
Atlanta was now the object of enthusiastic interest. It was profound strategy which divided the rebel forces at Jonesboro’ and Atlanta, throwing the Union army like a wedge between them, thus making the fall of Atlanta certain: “During the night of the 28th, the rest of the army being well under way, the Twenty-third Corps withdrew and followed the general movement toward the Macon Road, General Schofield timing his movements with the corps further on the left, which had the longer arc of the circle to traverse. The general line of march for the Twenty-third Corps was toward the junction of the two railroads at East Point, the Third division, under General Cox, holding the advance, and with the Second Division, under General Hascall, occasionally erecting temporary works to guard against threatened attacks from the enemy, who were on the alert against this demonstration. On the 31st these two divisions effected a junction with General Stanley, of the Fourth Corps. General Hascall’s division went into position to guard the left toward East Point, and General Cox pushed forward toward the Macon road, which was reached by two or three o’clockp. m., General Stanley, of the Fourth Corps, striking it about the same time. The troops of these two corps at once set to work fortifying, while details were sent out, which destroyed the track for miles. No opposition was encountered, and by dark strong works had been thrown up, facing east and south, the work of destruction on the railroad being continued through the night. On the morning of the 1st of September, Newton’s and Kimball’s divisions were marched along the line of the railroad the length of a brigade front, and at a given signal the ties and rails were lifted from their bed, piled up and burnt. Thus a mile and a half was turned up and destroyed in half an hour. An advance of another mile and a half was then made down the road, and the operation repeated. Thus alternately marching and destroying the road, the two divisions marched a distance of ten miles, to within two miles of Jonesboro’, where they formed a junction with the Fourteenth Corps. Soon after the Twenty-third Corps, which followed the Fourth, came into position on its left. Further to the left was the Army of Tennessee.
“Previous to this the enemy had discovered the direction of General Sherman’s march, and two corps under Hardee had been sent to confront him at Jonesboro’, Hood meanwhile remaining for the defence of Atlanta. Daring the night of August 30th the march of a rebel column was heard on our left and centre, and in the morning two corps were found massed on our right. At daybreak, the Second brigade of Hazen’s division of the Fifteenth Corps advanced and drove the enemy from a hill, which gave, our artillery command at Jonesboro’, and the railroad less than one half mile distant. This success was immediately followed up by the reënforcement of the brigade holding the hill, by a brigade from Osterhaus’ division. Toward threep. m.the enemy appeared in front of Hazen’s position, Lee’s corps advancing to the assault through a field of corn, while Hardee’s Corps attempted a flanking movement on the right, which was checked by Harrow’s division. Both divisions were soon engaged in checking the desperate and determined assault with which the enemy sought to overwhelm them. The rebels were driven back, only to rally again and again for the assault, until after two hours of desperate fighting they were finally repulsed. They had fortunately struck a position which we held too strongly to be easily dislodged. A reënforcement of two regiments were sent during the attack, by General Howard to General Wood, and a brigade of the Seventeenth Corps, Colonel Bryant’s, to General Hazen. Failing in this assault, Cleburne’s rebel division marched to our extreme right, and assaulted Kilpatrick, who held the bridge on Flint River. General Kilpatrick succeeded, however, in holding his position until relieved by General Giles B. Smith’s division.
“During the night Hardee despatched Lee’s corps to look after the safety of Atlanta, so that but a single rebel corps was found opposed to our army on the morning of September 1st. This corps lay in position in front of Jonesboro’, with their right resting on the railroad. Having failed in the assault with which they hoped to drive back our army, they were prepared to resist its further advance in the best position they could secure. They had a large number of guns in position, which did effective service during the day. Late in the afternoon General Davis formed his troops for a charge upon the enemy’s position; Brigadier-General Carlin’s division on the left, and Brigadier-General Morgan, joining the Fifteenth Corps on the right, General Baird being in reserve. The line was formed in the arc of a circle on the edge of the woods, the two flanks thrown forward overlapping the enemy, who held a position on some commanding ridges in front, covering Jonesboro’. In the face of a deadly fire of musketry, shell, and canister, the gallant Fourteenth Corps charged upon the rebel position, driving them from their breastworks and capturing many prisoners, including Brigadier-General Govan, several colonels and other commissioned officers. Eight guns were also taken, among them part of Loomis’s battery captured at Chickamauga. The troops captured belonged to the fighting division of Cleburne. The approach of night prevented pursuit of the broken columns of the rebels, who escaped under cover of the darkness.
“At daybreak on the 2d, the Fourth and Twenty-third Corps advanced in pursuit of the retreating rebels, who came to bay near Lovejoy’s Station, six miles beyond Jonesboro’, toward Macon, taking position on a wooded ridge behind a swamp bordering a creek. Some skirmishing was had with the enemy’s first line until night, which was spent by our troops in intrenching. The enemy being found in strong position, and his retreat being assured, no further advance was attempted.
“Meantime Atlanta was alive with excitement. Despair had succeeded confidence as it became known that Hardee had been driven from Jonesboro’ south, while Hood was left in Atlanta with his communications severed, and our army threatening both from the north and the south. Early on Thursday, September 1st, the removal of supplies and ammunition commenced, and was continued through the day. Large quantities of provisions that could not be removed were distributed to the citizens, the storehouses at the same time being thrown open to the troops as they passed through the city. The rolling stock of the railroad, consisting of about one hundred cars and six engines, was gathered together and destroyed. The cars were laden with the surplus ammunition taken out on the Augusta Railroad, and set on fire and blown up, making the earth tremble with the explosion. Over one thousand bales of cotton were also given to the torch. The scene of confusion and excitement among the town’s people when it became evident that the city was to be evacuated, is beyond description. Every possible and impossible vehicle was brought into requisition to carry away the effects of the inhabitants, who, in sorrowful procession, took up their line of march toward the South. For the third time the peripatetic MemphisAppealwas on the wing, its editor reporting himself at this time ‘thoroughly demoralized.’ From the shanties and cellars of the city swarmed out the lower classes of the population to seize what they could from the general wreck. The explosion of ammunition was heard by General Slocum, of the Twentieth Corps, seven miles distant. Suspecting the cause, he sent out a heavy column to reconnoitre at daybreak on the morning of the 2d instant. They met with no opposition, and pushed forward on the roads leading into Atlanta from the north and northwest. Arriving near the city, they were met by the mayor, Mr. Calhoun, who formally surrendered the city. The formalities disposed of, our troops entered Atlanta with banners flying and music playing, the inhabitants looking on in silence. General Slocum established his headquarters at the Trout House, the principal hotel of the city. Eleven heavy guns, mostly sixty-six pounders, were found in the forts of the city, and others were subsequently discovered buried in fictitious graves. About three thousand muskets, in good order, and three locomotives were also secured, besides large quantities of manufactured tobacco. About two hundred rebel stragglers were gathered up by the Second Massachusetts, which was detailed for provost duty, its colonel, Cogswell, being appointed provost-marshal. But a small proportion of the inhabitants remained in the city, and these principally of the lower classes, and tradesmen who proposed to make an honest penny out of the army. Their hopes were speedily cut short by a peremptory order from General Sherman ordering all civilians from the city.”
In looking back upon this campaign, a very remarkable feature of it was the protection of his line of communication: “It was not a little precarious, and more than once aroused the anxiety of the nation. It might well occasion solicitude. His base was, in one sense, not at Chattanooga, but at Nashville; with the former point as a secondary base. Accordingly, the enemy bent his efforts not only to breaking the railroad between Atlanta and Ringgold, striking it at Dalton and Calhoun, but also to raiding on the road from Chattanooga back to Nashville. From Atlanta to Chattanooga the railroad is one hundred and thirty-five miles long; from Chattanooga to Nashville, only a little less. With this line of two hundred and fifty miles, stretched clear across the great Alleghany chain from flank to flank, in a disputed country, filled with guerrillas and hostile inhabitants, with myriads of nooks and eyries in the mountainous region, apt for the assemblage and protection of marauding bands, with that attenuated line infested by many squadrons of the best cavalry in the Confederacy, long accustomed to be victorious everywhere—cavalry who had devastated almost with impunity the broad States of Kentucky and Tennessee again and again, under such bold and skilful leaders as John Morgan, Forrest, Wheeler, Stephen Lee, Rhoddy, and Chalmers—in spite of all, for four eventful months, through victory and repulse, in action and repose alike, Sherman has been able to keep his lines strong and clear.
“While all the Southern newspapers and many Southern generals, and while even English journals of great ability were proving by all the laws of logic and strategy that Shermanmustnow retreat, Sherman did not retreat. At the very moment, indeed, when the exultation of the Confederates was the highest at the absolute certainty of his downfall, Sherman pushed on and took Atlanta, ending logic and campaign both at once.”
It was one of the grandest, most decisive and exciting scenes of the civil war, when the great leader of the Union battalions in Georgia enjoyed the pause in marches and battles afforded by the occupation of Atlanta. The sound of booming cannon, the crack of musketry, all the Babel discord of war, was comparatively hushed. In the distance the foe was reluctantly, slowly retreating; and along the track of both armies the new-made graves and the wounded were lying, the waymarks of a gigantic struggle for
“The land of the brave, and the home of the free.”
CHAPTER XX.
The Tidings of Victory at Washington—The President’s Messages to the People and to the Army—General Sherman congratulates his Battalions—The Rebel General is indignant—The Correspondence between him and General Sherman—The authorities of Atlanta also unreconciled to the new order of things—The noble Letters and Conduct of the Conquerer.
“
ATLANTA has fallen!” flew on lightning-wing over the country, making the wildest rejoicing of the loyal millions, and darkening with despondency and wrath the faces of traitors in their own camps and those among the patriots of the north. “Atlanta is ours, and fairly won!” was the sublimely simple message of General Sherman. The importance and grandeur of the achievement called forth an enthusiastic expression of rejoicing in the Executive mansion, and of gratitude to God.
We can almost imagine our calm and excellent President gathering about him his Cabinet, and proposing three cheers for Sherman; then retiring to his private apartment, raising his tearful eye upward to the “King of kings,” in thankful recognition of the source of strength and conquest, before he took the pen to send over the land the brief and stirring messages given below:
“To Major-General Dix, New York:“The President has issued the following recommendations and orders in relation to the recent successes by the United States forces at Mobile and Atlanta.“Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War.”“Executive Mansion, Washington City,September 3, 1864.“The signal success that Divine Providence has recently vouchsafed to the operations of the United States army and navy in the harbor of Mobile, and the reduction of Forts Powell, Gaines, and Morgan, and the glorious achievements of the army under Major-General Sherman in the State of Georgia, resulting in the capture of the city of Atlanta, call for devout acknowledgments to the Supreme Being, in whose hands are the destinies of nations.“It is therefore requested that on next Sunday, in all places of public worship in the United States, thanksgiving be offered to Him for His mercy in preserving our national existence against the insurgent rebels who so long have been waging a cruel war against the Government of the United States for its overthrow, and also that prayer be made for the Divine protection to our brave soldiers and their leaders in the field, who have so often and so gallantly perilled their lives in battling with the enemy, and for blessings and comfort from the Father of Mercies to the sick, and wounded, and prisoners, and to the orphans and widows of those who have fallen in the service of their country, and that he will continue to uphold the Government of the United States against all the efforts of public enemies and secret foes.“Abraham Lincoln.”“Executive Mansion,September 3.“The national thanks are tendered by the President to Major-General William T. Sherman, and the gallant officers and soldiers of his command before Atlanta, for the distinguished ability, courage, and perseverance displayed in the campaign in Georgia, which, under Divine favor, have resulted in the capture of the city of Atlanta.“The marches, battles, sieges, and other military operations that have signalized this campaign, must render it famous in the annals of war, and entitle those who have participated therein to the applause and thanks of the nation.“Abraham Lincoln.”“Executive Mansion,September 3.“Ordered—First. That on Monday, the 5th day of September, commencing at the hour of twelve o’clock noon, there shall be given a salute of one hundred guns at the arsenal and navy yard at Washington, and on Tuesday, the 6th of September, or the day after the receipt of this order, at each arsenal and navy yard in the United States, for the recent brilliant achievements of the fleet and the land forces of the United States in the harbor of Mobile, in the reduction of Fort Powell, Fort Gaines, and Fort Morgan. The Secretary of War and Secretary of the Navy will issue the necessary directions in their respective Departments for the execution of this order.“Second.That on Wednesday, the 7th day of September, commencing at the hour of twelve o’clock noon, there shall be fired a salute of one hundred guns at the arsenal at Washington, and at New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburg, Newport, Ky., and St. Louis, and at New Orleans, Mobile, Pensacola, Hilton Head, and Newbern, the day after the receipt of this order, for the brilliant achievements of the army under the command of Major-General Sherman in the State of Georgia, and the capture of Atlanta. The Secretary of War will issue directions for the execution of this order.“Abraham Lincoln.”
“To Major-General Dix, New York:
“The President has issued the following recommendations and orders in relation to the recent successes by the United States forces at Mobile and Atlanta.
“Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War.”
“Executive Mansion, Washington City,September 3, 1864.“The signal success that Divine Providence has recently vouchsafed to the operations of the United States army and navy in the harbor of Mobile, and the reduction of Forts Powell, Gaines, and Morgan, and the glorious achievements of the army under Major-General Sherman in the State of Georgia, resulting in the capture of the city of Atlanta, call for devout acknowledgments to the Supreme Being, in whose hands are the destinies of nations.“It is therefore requested that on next Sunday, in all places of public worship in the United States, thanksgiving be offered to Him for His mercy in preserving our national existence against the insurgent rebels who so long have been waging a cruel war against the Government of the United States for its overthrow, and also that prayer be made for the Divine protection to our brave soldiers and their leaders in the field, who have so often and so gallantly perilled their lives in battling with the enemy, and for blessings and comfort from the Father of Mercies to the sick, and wounded, and prisoners, and to the orphans and widows of those who have fallen in the service of their country, and that he will continue to uphold the Government of the United States against all the efforts of public enemies and secret foes.“Abraham Lincoln.”
“Executive Mansion, Washington City,
September 3, 1864.
“The signal success that Divine Providence has recently vouchsafed to the operations of the United States army and navy in the harbor of Mobile, and the reduction of Forts Powell, Gaines, and Morgan, and the glorious achievements of the army under Major-General Sherman in the State of Georgia, resulting in the capture of the city of Atlanta, call for devout acknowledgments to the Supreme Being, in whose hands are the destinies of nations.
“It is therefore requested that on next Sunday, in all places of public worship in the United States, thanksgiving be offered to Him for His mercy in preserving our national existence against the insurgent rebels who so long have been waging a cruel war against the Government of the United States for its overthrow, and also that prayer be made for the Divine protection to our brave soldiers and their leaders in the field, who have so often and so gallantly perilled their lives in battling with the enemy, and for blessings and comfort from the Father of Mercies to the sick, and wounded, and prisoners, and to the orphans and widows of those who have fallen in the service of their country, and that he will continue to uphold the Government of the United States against all the efforts of public enemies and secret foes.
“Abraham Lincoln.”
“Executive Mansion,September 3.“The national thanks are tendered by the President to Major-General William T. Sherman, and the gallant officers and soldiers of his command before Atlanta, for the distinguished ability, courage, and perseverance displayed in the campaign in Georgia, which, under Divine favor, have resulted in the capture of the city of Atlanta.“The marches, battles, sieges, and other military operations that have signalized this campaign, must render it famous in the annals of war, and entitle those who have participated therein to the applause and thanks of the nation.“Abraham Lincoln.”
“Executive Mansion,September 3.
“The national thanks are tendered by the President to Major-General William T. Sherman, and the gallant officers and soldiers of his command before Atlanta, for the distinguished ability, courage, and perseverance displayed in the campaign in Georgia, which, under Divine favor, have resulted in the capture of the city of Atlanta.
“The marches, battles, sieges, and other military operations that have signalized this campaign, must render it famous in the annals of war, and entitle those who have participated therein to the applause and thanks of the nation.
“Abraham Lincoln.”
“Executive Mansion,September 3.“Ordered—First. That on Monday, the 5th day of September, commencing at the hour of twelve o’clock noon, there shall be given a salute of one hundred guns at the arsenal and navy yard at Washington, and on Tuesday, the 6th of September, or the day after the receipt of this order, at each arsenal and navy yard in the United States, for the recent brilliant achievements of the fleet and the land forces of the United States in the harbor of Mobile, in the reduction of Fort Powell, Fort Gaines, and Fort Morgan. The Secretary of War and Secretary of the Navy will issue the necessary directions in their respective Departments for the execution of this order.“Second.That on Wednesday, the 7th day of September, commencing at the hour of twelve o’clock noon, there shall be fired a salute of one hundred guns at the arsenal at Washington, and at New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburg, Newport, Ky., and St. Louis, and at New Orleans, Mobile, Pensacola, Hilton Head, and Newbern, the day after the receipt of this order, for the brilliant achievements of the army under the command of Major-General Sherman in the State of Georgia, and the capture of Atlanta. The Secretary of War will issue directions for the execution of this order.“Abraham Lincoln.”
“Executive Mansion,September 3.
“Ordered—First. That on Monday, the 5th day of September, commencing at the hour of twelve o’clock noon, there shall be given a salute of one hundred guns at the arsenal and navy yard at Washington, and on Tuesday, the 6th of September, or the day after the receipt of this order, at each arsenal and navy yard in the United States, for the recent brilliant achievements of the fleet and the land forces of the United States in the harbor of Mobile, in the reduction of Fort Powell, Fort Gaines, and Fort Morgan. The Secretary of War and Secretary of the Navy will issue the necessary directions in their respective Departments for the execution of this order.
“Second.That on Wednesday, the 7th day of September, commencing at the hour of twelve o’clock noon, there shall be fired a salute of one hundred guns at the arsenal at Washington, and at New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburg, Newport, Ky., and St. Louis, and at New Orleans, Mobile, Pensacola, Hilton Head, and Newbern, the day after the receipt of this order, for the brilliant achievements of the army under the command of Major-General Sherman in the State of Georgia, and the capture of Atlanta. The Secretary of War will issue directions for the execution of this order.
“Abraham Lincoln.”
The glad tidings swept over the broad belt of hostile soil to the headquarters of the lieutenant-general, who sent back a laconic, but noble response: