Chapter XIV

Cassville--The Line of Battle--Hood's Line Not
Enfiladed--History of that Conference--Two Lieutenant
Generals Invite Their Commander to a Council of War--Johnston
Obliged to Fall Back--We Cross the Etowah River--Dallas--New
Hope Church--Constant Fighting--Rain, Rain--Death of Lieut.
Gen. Polk--Battle of the Latimer House--My Division Occupies
Little and Big Kennesaw Mountains--The Battle--Incidents of
the Battle--Confederates Save Wounded Union Soldiers from
Burning--Kennesaw During Night Bombardment--Col. Martin's
Noble Conduct--The Irony of Fate--Maj. Poten and French
Soldier.

It will be seen that of those troops under Hood that were maneuvering to attack the enemy advancing on our right, I was the last to leave the position east of Cassville, for the whole line of battle was formed before I fell back, and I would have been in reserve entirely had Hood, as he should have done, extended his line to the left until it touched Canty's Division.

May 19, 1864. This morning the army was formed in line of
battle. At first I was on the extreme right, but soon after,
by change of dispositions, I occupied the line from the
hills, on Loring's right, across the valley to the top of
the first hill on my right. Hood's Corps was on my right,
maneuvering to attack the enemy, but from some cause no
fight was made. After this line was formed Cockrell, who
was in reserve, was placed on a range of hills _south_ of
Cassville, and behind the town. _At 4 P.M._, I was ordered
to fall back and form _behind_ the division of Gen. Canty and
Cockrell's Brigade, which I did. But as there was an interval
between Hood's line and Canty without troops, I placed there
in position Hoskin's Battery and half of Ector's Brigade.
This left me Sears's Brigade and half of Ector's Brigade in
reserve. Then came an order adding to my command the division
of Canty, which was directly in front of me. Cockrell, on
Canty's left, was put, for the occasion, under the orders of
Loring.

About 5 P.M. our pickets from the extreme front were driven
in toward the second line by the enemy's cavalry. Hoskin's
Battery opened on the cavalry and checked them. About 5:30
P.M. the Federals, having placed some batteries in position
on a ridge in front of Hood's right, opened fire on our
line, and the shells from their extreme left (in _front_ of
Hood's right) enfiladed Hoskin's gun and the line that for a
little while curved out to the battery. Hood's line was not
a prolongation of Polk's line, because it _fell back_ at the
point of junction about twenty-five degrees. [See map in the
"War Records."]

After dark, as I was returning from dinner, I met Gen. Hood,
who asked me to ride over with him to see Gen. Johnston at
Gen. Polk's headquarters, and take supper.

CONFEDERATE ARMIES of MISSISSIPPI & TENNESSEE
May 19th 1864,
under Command of General
J. E. JOHNSTON.
Army Tenn: Genl. Johnston.
Miss: Lt. Genl. Polk.]

When supper was over Hood and Polk asked Johnston to a conference that they had previously arranged, and Johnston asked me to go with him. At the conference, at this time, Hardee _was not_ present. Hood commenced by declaring that his line and Polk's line were so enfiladed by the Federal artillery that they could not be held. Polk was not so strenuous. Johnston insisted on fighting, and my diary says:

At 9 P.M. it was, I am sure, determined to fight at
Cassville, and, after remaining at the conference sometime
longer, I hastened to camp to entrench. Soon after it was
intimated to me by an officer riding along past me that we
would fall back, owing to the enemy moving so far on our
left.

20th. At midnight we commenced to leave our position.
Skirmishers were left, and a few men in the trenches were
given axes to fell trees to deceive the enemy and drown the
noise made in withdrawing the artillery.

I am obliged, before I proceed any further, to make a digression here in reference to the proceedings of this conference by reason of what has been published about it.

Johnston, in his "Narrative," gives his version of what occurred, and so far as what took place it is mainly correct. Hood, in his "Advance and Retreat," makes an incorrect statement of the condition of his line, and, whilst I was there, made no reference to being in a good position for acting on the aggressive and making an attack. His memory is defective, because in a letter of his, written to me ten years after, he had entirely forgotten that I was present at the conference. Then again, in October, 1894, there appeared in the New Orleans _Picayune_ an anonymous article that endeavored to transfer Polk's concurrence with Hood to not fight on to my shoulders. It was so entirely erroneous--nay, purely imaginative--that it required me to notice it for the benefit of my children, and it can be found in the _Southern Historical Magazine_, Vol. XXII., pages 1 to 9, published in Richmond, Va., January-December, 1894.

I regret that this fabulous _Picayune_ article, emanating in New Orleans, was ever written on account of Gen. Polk. It made him appear to be a weak man.

21st. Yesterday we crossed the Etowah river and encamped
at an iron furnace in charge of Gen. G. W. Smith, who had
resigned from the army. Remained in camp all day. There
was some firing in the evening on the river below where
we crossed. I received orders to be ready to move in any
direction.

23d. Left Allatoona to-day at noon and marched until dusk,
then encamped for the night.

24th. Started at 4 A.M. and marched westerly toward Dallas.
Encamped in line of battle. Heard guns in the direction of
Dallas.

25th. This morning I moved still farther toward Dallas.
Enemy reported on the road from Rome, striking for, or below,
Atlanta. In the evening I rode along our front. I met Gen.
Johnston while riding toward New Hope Church. The enemy made
an attack on Gen. Hood's front. I returned immediately to
hasten up my command, and arrived about dark in the midst of
a thunderstorm. After placing troop in position during the
night, I slept by the roadside under shelter of a fence.

26th. Assumed line of battle and passed the day in
intrenching. Cheatham is on my right and Canty on my left.
During the night Cheatham moved to the left, and on the 27th
I extended in that direction. In the afternoon there was
an attack on Gen. Hood, which he repulsed. At midnight I
received orders to move my division to the right to relieve
the division of Gen. Stevenson, which was not completed until
4 A.M. I found the line a miserable one, and the enemy's
sharpshooters within twenty yards of the lines. I relieved
his skirmishers and his division left. The Yankees called
this place "hell hole," because, among other things, we
shot twenty-one of their men, one after the other, in one
rifle pit. Soon after sunrise the Federals opened fire with
infantry and artillery, and during the day it increased,
and once I thought we had to repulse a charge on the line.
A great many shells have passed overhead and some through
the top of a little apple tree at the foot of which we are
sitting. They come without invitation. During the night
there was such firing that I got up to ascertain if they were
driving Loring's picket line in, on my right over the valley.
I will remember New Hope Church.

29th. Firing not so heavy to-day as yesterday. I rode over
to Gen. Polk's at 5 A.M. Yesterday there was an attack on
the left made by Gen. Bate, and on the right by Gen. Wheeler.
My line is a hard one to defend. In the evening after dark I
was sent for by Gen. Polk, and found him at Gen. Johnston's.
While there the enemy made an attack on Canty and my left.
The firing was severe. During the night there was continuous
firing on the left, and after midnight heavy artillery
firing. Owing to the condition of the atmosphere, the roar
of the guns was increased, and the sound of bursting shells
overhead was like near by thunder, while the glare makes
night hideous, consequently I got no sleep. This is getting
to be interesting now, but the play is too long, it takes all
night.

30th. Col. Riley, a most gallant officer, is killed. There
is trouble again on Canty's line. Some people are always
in trouble. After dinner I went to Gen. Johnston's, and he
sent me to examine Canty's line. There is not much firing
to-night. The enemy's line is close to ours in front of
Canty. We want engineers. [Next day nothing to relate.]

June 1. I wrote to headquarters for tubes for Enfield rifles.
This morning there is an artillery duel going on between
one of our batteries and those of the enemy. Enormous trees
are falling from the shot. I formed an engineer company,
and put Capt. Venet in command of it. I examined the whole
line. Canty withdrew his line last night, leaving mine to he
maintained, now quite six hundred yards in advance, connected
only by their cross line.

2d. Gen. Ector was wounded this afternoon. An awful
thunderstorm came up, the peals of thunder were frightful,
and the Yankee tried to drown it with mimic artillery, as
if one at a time was not divertisement enough. Some people
can't be satisfied. The ditch is filled up to some depth with
water. Over this I sleep on one board with my face turned
up to the glare of the shells that shine through the closed
eyelids.

3d. Firing as usual, and the enemy moving to our right.
Another heavy thunderstorm is in progress. The roar of
artillery shakes the rain out of the clouds. We drove in the
enemy's skirmish line. One consolation the staff says we have
is that no one comes to see us; the ride is not interesting.
We see no one, and get no orders. That there is good in
everything, including shells, is their doctrine. This battle
has now lasted ten days.

4th. Rain again this morning. It was a disagreeable night in
the trenches. There is firing in front. I have good news from
Virginia. At 4 P.M. I received orders to withdraw our lines.
It is raining to-night. This, with previous rains, rendered
the roads as bad as they can well be, and the night was very
dark. Mud, mud everywhere, and the soldiers sink over their
shoe tops at every step. It took seven hours to move six
miles. At 7 A.M. on the morning of the 5th we were in line of
battle on Lost Mountain.

6th. I obtained a good night's rest. This morning I had to
change the line of battle. The view from this lone mountain
top is beautiful. It is about nine miles east of Marietta.
It swells from the plain solitary and lone to the height of
six hundred feet, affording a fine bird's-eye view of the
surrounding country. To the north the encampments of the
enemy are spread out below, and from hundreds of campfires
the blue smoke rises to float away as gently as though all
were peaceful. Beneath this silver cloud that hangs around
the mountain, there is an angry brow; the demons of war are
there.

7th. I slept in camp in the rear of the mountain, and for
once all is quietness. At 10 A.M. I was ordered to the
extreme right, and to the left at 1 P.M. All the information
I can deduce from a single equation, to which I have reduced
_five orders_ received verbally from Polk's staff, is: X
equal to a line to be formed in a dense wood 73 degrees
northeast. I found Loring plunging about in quest of some
center that is movable, and as invisible as the North Pole.
As I could not determine the value of X at dark, I concluded
to sleep the matter over on the ground where I am.

8th. This morning Maj. Prestman, engineer, examined the
ground for my line. It is a weak, faulty, miserable line. The
engineer took all my tools yesterday, so to-day I am unable
to construct any works. I have reported the matter to Gen.
Polk, but he is so much engrossed with fine-spun theories
that he fails to attend to things requiring prompt attention.

Well! just think of it! This staff of mine, unreasonable
fellows, wish they were back in the trenches again, where,
for about eight days, they were not troubled with orders.
Judge Wright came to see me. I have a high regard for him,
and have seen him several times lately. He is from Tennessee.

9th. Everything was quiet last night, and I heard no guns
until 3 P.M. My division was ordered to follow Loring's
toward the railroad. Contradictory orders again from Gen.
Polk's staff. I got into position at dark, and was called up
at 2 A.M. to change again by moving Ector's Brigade to the
right.

10th. Some skirmishing and artillery firing this morning.
At 1 P.M. a violent thunderstorm came up, and the rain
fell until dark. I believe it has rained now nine days in
succession. The enemy is reported advancing to-day, and the
firing shows it. In the evening I rode on the picket line
with Gen. Ector. Firing continued until dark.

11th. Rain.

12th. Rain once more, and everything is drenched. Enemy
firing with artillery from my front toward Kennesaw Mountain.

13th. Terrible rain last night and all day to-day till noon.
Eleven days' rain! If it keeps on, there will be a story told
like unto that in the Bible, only it will read,

It rained forty days and it rained forty nights,
And the ark it rested on the Kennesaw heights;

For to that place we are floating, it seems to me.

14th. This morning, by written orders (I am glad they have
found paper to write on), Loring went to the right, Canty
from the left to the center, and I extended to the right. No
rain! Telegram of Forrest's victory. During the morning I
rode over to Gen. Polk's quarters and asked him (when Gen.
Johnston rode with him to our left) to come down my line.
He said probably he would do so. Alas! "man proposes, God
disposes." I heard at 12 M. that he had been killed. I sent
an officer to his headquarters, and he returned saying that
the report was true. I then went immediately to his camp and
found that his remains had been sent to Marietta. I was very
much shocked at his untimely fate. A universal sadness seemed
to rest on the countenance of every one. He had accompanied
Johnston to the left and gone on Pine Mountain, and while
in front of our lines the party was fired on by one of
the enemy's batteries, and the third shot fired struck the
General on the left side and killed him instantly. Thus died
a gentleman and a high Church dignitary. As a soldier he was
more theoretical than practical.

I was ordered last night to be in readiness for an advance of
the enemy at 3 A.M. He came not.

15th. All quiet at sunrise. Soon after desultory firing
commenced along the line and continued until 3 P.M., when it
became quite heavy. Featherston had his skirmishers driven
in to their ranks. At 9 P.M. my skirmish line was attacked
unsuccessfully.

16th. Early this morning the enemy opened on my front with
a battery, and at 10 A.M. they shelled the picket line and
skirmish line very severely. At 3 P.M. they again shelled my
line for an hour without serious damage. Cockrell is held in
reserve for Gen. Hardee, and thus I am constantly holding a
reserve for some one else; never yet has a brigade been held
for me, and never, not once, have I asked for assistance.

17th. The now monotonous artillery awakened us this morning
to reveille _before_ we had made any parched ---- for coffee,
the unfeeling hirelings of _toute du monde_! Last night all
the troops on my left swung back and took a new line that
placed me in command of a salient with an angle of about
eighty-five degrees, liable to be enfiladed and taken in
reverse.

18th. Early this morning both pickets and skirmishers on
my left (Walker's Division) gave way and let the Federals
in behind Cockrell's skirmishers, and thus the enemy gained
possession of the Latimar House in my front. Ector's Brigade
skirmishers also came in. The way being clear, the enemy soon
advanced in line of battle, and with many guns enfiladed my
line all day. This constant firing never ceased, but I could
not induce them to come out and make an assault on my front
with infantry, and ere night came my loss was 215 men. Capt.
Guibor's Battery has lost more men (13) to-day than it did
during the entire siege of Vicksburg. Men became in time so
familiar with danger and death that, Gallio-like, they "care
for none of those things." Toward evening I was ordered to
withdraw from this line and occupy Kennesaw Mountain. This
was done during the night.

19th. Early this morning the enemy followed us, and soon the
skirmishing commenced, and by noon the artillery fire was
severe. It ranged up the slope and over the mountain with
great fury, and wounded Gen. Cockrell, and thirty-five of his
men were _hors du combat_.

The position of our army to-day is: Hood is on our right
covering Marietta or the northwest. From his left Polk's
Corps (now Loring's) extends over both Big and Little
Kennesaw Mountains, with the left on the road from Gilgal
Church to Marietta. From this road Hardee extends the line
nearly south, covering Marietta on the west. The left of my
division was established on the Marietta road; thence it ran
up the spur, or incline, of the mountain called Little or
West Kennesaw, and thence to the top of the same; thence on
up to the _top of Big Kennesaw_, where it connected with Gen.
Walthall's troops. Featherston was on the right of Walthall
and joined Gen. Hood. Walker, of Hardee's Corps, was on my
left. Then in order. Bate, Cleburne, and Cheatham came.

Kennesaw Mountain is about four miles northwest of Marietta,
It is over two and a half miles in length, and rises abruptly
from the plain, solitary and alone, to the height of perhaps
seven hundred feet. Its northwestern side is rocky and
abrupt. On the northerly and southerly extremities it can
be gained on horseback. Little Kennesaw, being bald and
destitute of timber, affords a commanding view of all the
surrounding country as far as the eye can reach, except where
the view is hidden by the higher peak. The view from this
elevation embraces Lost Mountain, Pine Mountain, and all
the beautiful cultivated plain, dotted here and there with
farmhouses, extending to the Allatoona Mountains, a spur of
the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina.

20th. Busy this morning in establishing batteries to command
the road, and others on the line extending up the mountain
and on the top of Little Kennesaw. I changed the line of
infantry lower down the side of the mountain fronting the
enemy, so as to command the ascent down as far as possible.
Lost ten horses and a few men killed and wounded to-day.

21st. I went to the top of the mountain this morning, and
while there witnessed an artillery duel between the batteries
on Hardee's lines and those of the enemy in front of it.
Rather interesting to look down upon, and more exciting than
a grand display of fireworks.

22d. The constant rains have ceased, the sky is clear, and
the sun, so long hid, now shines out brightly. Skirmishing (I
am tired of that word) on my line last night. I rode to the
top of the mountain quite early, to where I had placed nine
guns in position. During the night the enemy had moved a camp
close to the base of the mountain. It was the headquarters
of some general officers. Tent walls were raised, officers
sitting around on camp stools, orderlies coming and going,
wagons parked, soldiers idling about or resting in the shade
of the trees, and from the cook fires arose the odors of
breakfast, and all this at our very feet. It was tantalizing,
that breakfast, not to be tolerated. So I directed the powder
in a number of cartridges for the guns to be reduced, so as
to drop the shells into the camp below us. I left them in
their fancied security--for no doubt they believed that we
could not place artillery on the height above them, and they
were not visible to our infantry on the mountain side by
reason of the timber. How comfortable they appeared, resting
in the shade and smoking! At length the gunners, impatient
of delay, were permitted to open fire on them. Thunder from
the clear, blue sky could not have surprised them more. They
sprang to their feet, and stood not on the order of their
going, but left quickly, every man for himself, and soon
"their tents were all silent, their banners alone," like
Sennacherib's of old, and there was a deserted camp all this
day.

The enemy appeared this morning to be moving permanently to
our left, and the firing in the afternoon extended farther
in that direction, Toward dark I opened fire on the enemy's
batteries; also again at 11 P.M.

23d. Yesterday Gen. Cockrell had fourteen men wounded. During
the night the enemy removed their tents, wagons, etc., from
their abandoned encampment that was shelled yesterday, and
the place looks desolate. At 10 A.M., when all was quiet on
the mountain, the enemy commenced a rapid fire from guns put
in position during the night, and concentrated it on our guns
on the point of the mountain. Yesterday we had it all our own
way; to-day they are repaying us, and the cannonade is "fast
and furious." Last night there was fighting on our left, but
so different are the reports received that I cannot get at
the truth.

24th. There has been but little fighting during the day.

25th. The everlasting "pop," "pop" on the skirmish line is
all that breaks the stillness of the morning. I went early
to the left of my line, but could not ride in the rear of
Hoskin's Battery on account of the trees and limbs felled by
the shells. From the top of the mountain the vast panorama
is ever changing. There are now large trains to the left of
Lost Mountain and at Big Shanty, and the wagons are moving to
and fro everywhere. Encampments of hospitals, quartermasters,
commissaries, cavalry, and infantry whiten the plain here
and there as far as the eye can reach. Look at our side of
the long line of battle! It is narrow, poor, and quiet, save
at the front where the men are, and contrasts, with here
and there some spots of canvas amidst the green foliage,
strangely with that of the enemy.

The usual extension is going on. Troops of the enemy are
moving to the left, our left, to outflank us, and we lengthen
out correspondingly; and now the blue smoke of the musket
discloses the line by day trending away, far away south
toward the Chattahoochee, and by night it is marked, at
times, by the red glow of the artillery amidst the sparklike
flashes of small arms that look in the distance like
innumerable fireflies.

At 10 A.M. I opened fire on the enemy from the guns on
Kennesaw. The enemy replied furiously, and for an hour the
firing was incessant. I received an order to hold Ector's
Brigade in reserve. In the afternoon there was considerable
firing, and all the chests of one of my caissons were blown
up by shell from the enemy, and by the explosion of a shell
in one of the chests a gunner was killed. They have now about
forty guns in front of me, and when they concentrate their
fire on the mountain at any one point it is pretty severe,
but, owing to our great height, nearly harmless. Thousands
of their Parrott shells pass high over the mountain, and,
exploding at a great elevation, the after part of the shell
is arrested in its flight and, falling perpendicularly, comes
down into camp, and they have injured our tents. Last night
I heard a peculiar "thud" on my tent and a rattle of tin pans
by the side of my cot, and this morning my negro boy cook put
his head into my tent with the pans in his hands and said:
"See here, master Sam, them 'fernal Yanks done shot my pans
last night. What am I going to do 'bout it?" A rifle ball,
coming over the mountain, had fallen from a great height and
perforated the pans and penetrated deep into the earth.

26th. This is Sunday, and all is comparatively quiet on the
lines up to this 4 P.M., except one artillery duel, but now
cannon are heard on our extreme left.

27th. This morning there appeared great activity among the
Federal staff officers and generals all along my front and up
and down the lines. The better to observe what it portended
I and my staff seated ourselves on the brow of the mountain,
sheltered by a large rock that rested _between_ our guns and
those of the enemy, while my infantry line was farther in
front, but low down the mountain sides.

Artillery-firing was common at all times on the line, but
now it swelled in volume and extended down to the extreme
left, and then from fifty guns burst out simultaneously in my
front, while battery after battery, following on the right,
disclosed a general attack on our entire line. Presently, and
as if by magic, there sprang from the earth a host of men,
and in one long, waving line of blue the infantry advanced
and the battle of Kennesaw Mountain began.

I could see no infantry of the enemy on my immediate front,
owing to the woods at the base of the mountain, and therefore
directed the guns from their elevated position to enfilade
the blue line advancing, on Walker's front, in full view. In
a short time this flank fire down their line drove them back,
and Walker was relieved from the attack.

We sat there perhaps an hour enjoying a bird's-eye view of
one of the most magnificent sights ever allotted to man,
to look down upon a hundred and fifty thousand men arrayed
in the strife of battle below. 'Twere worth ten years of
peaceful life, one glance at their array!

Better an hour on this mountain top
Than an age on a peaceful plain.

As the infantry closed in, the blue smoke of the musket
marked out the line of battle, while over it rose in
cumulilike clouds the white smoke of the artillery. So many
were the guns concentrated to silence those three guns of
ours on the mountain brow behind us, and so incessant was the
roar of cannon and explosion of shells passing over our heads
or crashing on the rocks around us, that naught else could
be heard; and so, with a roar as constant as Niagara and as
sharp as the crash of thunder with lightning yet in the eye,
we sat in silence watching the changing scenes of this great
panorama.

Through the rifts of smoke, or as it was wafted aside by
the wind, we could see the assault made on Cheatham. There
the struggle was hard, and there it lasted longest. From
the fact that I had seen no infantry in my front, and heard
no musketry near, I thought I was exempted from the general
infantry attack. I was therefore surprised and awakened from
my dream when a courier came to me, about 9 o'clock, and said
that Gen. Cockrell wanted assistance, that his line had been
attacked in force. Gen. Ector was at once directed to send
two regiments to report to him. Soon after a second courier
came and reported an assault made on the left of my line.
I went immediately with the remainder of Ector's Brigade
to Cockrell's assistance, but on reaching him I found the
Federal assault had been repulsed. The assaulting column had
struck Cockrell's works near the center, recoiled under the
fire, swung around into a steep valley where, exposed to the
fire of the Missourians in the front and right and of Sears's
Mississippians on their left, it seemed to melt away, or sink
to the earth, to rise no more.

The assault on my line repulsed, I returned to the mountain
top. The intensity of the fire had slackened, and no movement
of troops was visible, and, although the din of arms yet
resounded far and near, the battle was virtually ended.

From prisoners, and from papers and diaries found in their
possession, I learned that my line, from its position, had
been selected for assault by Gen. McPherson, as that of
Cheatham's and Cleburn's had by Gen. Thomas.

Gen. McPherson was a distinguished officer, and it would be a reflection on his judgment and skill as a general to infer that he did not, under the eye of his commander, with ample men and means, make what he deemed adequate preparations for its accomplishment; but owing to the ground and the determined resistance encountered, his men by intuitive perception, awakened by action, realized that the contest was hopeless, and, where persistence was only death, very properly abandoned the field.

Gen. Cheatham's loss was 195; mine (French's), 186; all other Confederate losses, 141. Being a total of 552. What the Federal loss was I do not know, but it was estimated at from _five to eight thousand_.

The following orders of Gen. Sherman will explain the attack clearly; and the telegrams the result of the battle.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, }
IN THE FIELD NEAR KENNESAW MOUNTAIN, June 24, 1864. }

The army commanders will make full reconnoissances and
preparations to attack the enemy in force on the 27th inst.,
at 8 A.M. precisely.

The commanding general will be on Signal Hill, and will have
telegraphic communication with all the army commanders.

1. Maj. Gen. Thomas will assault the enemy at any front
near his center, to be selected by himself, and will make
any changes in his troops necessary, by night, so as not to
attract the attention of the enemy.

2. Maj. Gen. McPherson will feign, by a movement of his
cavalry and one division of his infantry, on his extreme
left, approaching Marietta from the north, and using
artillery freely, but will make his _real attack_ at a point
south and west of Kennesaw.

3. Maj. Gen. Schofield will feel to his extreme right and
threaten that flank of the enemy, etc.

4. Each attacking column will endeavor to break a single
point of the enemy's line and make a secure lodgment beyond,
and be prepared for following it up toward Marietta and the
railroad in case of success.

By order of Maj. Gen. W. T. Sherman.

L. M. DAYTON,
_Aid de Camp_.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, }
IN THE FIELD, June 27, 1864, 11:45 A.M. }

_Gen. Schofield_: Neither McPherson nor Thomas has succeeded
in breaking through, but each has made substantial progress
at some cost. Push your operations on the flank and keep me
advised.

W. T. SHERMAN,
_Major General Commanding_.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, }
IN THE FIELD NEAR KENNESAW, June 27, 1864, 11:45 A.M. }

_Gen. Thomas_: McPherson's column marched near the top of
the hill, through very tangled brush, but _was repulsed_. It
is found impossible to deploy, but they hold their ground.
I wish you to study well the positions, and if possible to
break through the lines to do it. It is easier now than it
will be hereafter. I hear Leggitt's guns well behind the
mountain.

W. T. SHERMAN, _Major General Commanding_.

As nothing decisive was obtained by Sherman's attack, the fire slackened, except on the skirmish line. After dark the enemy withdrew to their main trenches, the roar of guns died gradually away, and the morning of the 28th dawned on both armies in their former positions. The battle of Kennesaw, then, was a display of force and an attack on the entire length of our line by artillery and infantry, under cover of which two grand attacks were made by assaulting columns, the one on my line and the other on Cheatham's.

28th. After the battle of yesterday there is less activity in
front, and the enemy move about in a subdued manner and less
lordly style, and yet they resent defeat by a cannonade this
afternoon.

29th. Everything is quiet this morning, and so continued till
5:30 P.M., when they opened on our guns on Kennesaw with a
new battery to aid the previous ones. Perhaps they design
attacking my line again. A great number of shells fell in
camp, or rather they were fragments of shells bursting high
over the mountain. At dusk cannonading burst out again.

30th. Rather quiet this morning. At 2:30 A.M. last night we
were all aroused by a severe rattle of musketry on the left.
We got up and saddled our horses, but after about twenty
minutes the firing ceased and all was quiet till morning. It
appears that this night attack was caused by a false alarm.
This morning I rode to Marietta, it being the first time I
have left my line. This afternoon I went to the batteries
on the mountain with Gen. Mackell, and then again with Gen.
Stevens. There has been but little firing to-day.

July 1. After lying down last night I was aroused by some
shells passing overhead, and then again by some sharp
musketry on my left. The awful lies found in the newspapers,
manufactured by correspondents, lauding certain generals and
magnifying their victories, should ruin them.

This afternoon the enemy turned fifty-two pieces of artillery
on the three guns I have on the west brow of Little
Kennesaw, and continued the fire until long after dark.
Seldom in war have there been instances where so many guns
have been trained on a single spot. But it was only in the
darkness of the night that the magnificence of the scene
was displayed--grand beyond imagination, beautiful beyond
description. Kennesaw, usually invisible from a distance
at night, now resembles Vesuvius in the beginning of an
eruption. The innumerable curling rings of smoke from the
incessant bursting of shells over the mountain top, added to
the volumes belching forth from our guns, wreathed Kennesaw
in a golden thunder-cloud in the still sky, from which came
incessant flashes of iridescent light from shells, like
bursting stars. The canopy of clouds rolling around the peak
looked softer than the downy cotton, but ever changing in
color. One moment they were as crimson as the evening clouds
painted by the rays of the summer setting sun, and the next,
brighter than if lit by the lightning's flash, or bursting
meteors. However brilliant and varied and beautiful to the
sight, it was not one of pure delight, because it was not a
grand display in the clouds for amusement, and when it died
away, when silence came, and night threw her dark mantle over
the scene, there was no feeling of joy, only one of relief
from the excitement of hope and fear ever incident to the
wager of battle.

The good people of Marietta, who often watched from house tops these scenes of excitement, will never forget them.

It was during this battle that one of the noblest deeds of humanity was performed the world has ever witnessed. We have the Bible account of the man who, "going from Jerusalem to Jericho, fell among thieves," and the good Samaritan who "had compassion on him and bound up his wounds;" we have Sir Philip Sidney, and the generous conduct of a French cuirassier at Waterloo who, seeing Maj. Poten, of the King's German Legion, had lost his right arm, when about to cut him down, dropped the point of his sword to the salute and rode away. The French soldier was happily discovered, and received the cross of the Legion of Honor. But here _we_ have "Col. W. H. Martin, of the First Arkansas Regiment, of Cleburne's Division, who, seeing the woods in front of him on fire burning the wounded Federals, tied a handkerchief to a ramrod and amidst the danger of battle mounted the parapet and shouted to the enemy: 'Come and remove your wounded; they are burning to death; we won't fire a gun till you get them away. Be quick!' And with his own men he leaped over our works and helped to remove them. When this work of humanity was ended a noble Federal major was so impressed by such magnanimity that he pulled from his belt a brace of fine pistols and presented them to Col. Martin with the remark: 'Accept them with my appreciation of the nobility of this deed. It deserves to be perpetuated to the deathless honor of every one of you concerned in it; and should you fight a thousand other battles, and win a thousand other victories, you will never win another so noble as this.' Alas! alas! The noble Col. Martin lived to return to his home. His lovely wife died, leaving an only child. Broken-hearted, he sailed to Honduras, as he said, to make a fortune for his little girl, and there, one day when sailing in a small boat on the ---- river, with only a boy to help him, the boom struck him on the head, knocking him overboard, where he was drowned. Such is the irony of fate."[27]