After the first day, we found large fields of good grass in the vicinity of Smyrna campground and Marietta. At every halt, these fields were covered with the horses, mules, and cattle belonging to the army.
We lost large numbers of the poorer mules and artillery horses at first, and, in fact, till after passing Ship's Gap. As the ration-wagons became empty, the poorer mules were attached and sent to Chattanooga, and the good ones retained. At Resaca, at Rome, and at places in the vicinity of Rome, considerable transportation was broken up and mules assigned to the artillery, so as to be able to move it. At Galesville, pursuant to directions from General Sherman, the artillery was reduced to one battery to a division; by exchanges, the good horses were attached to the retained batteries, and the rest sent to Rome and Chattanooga.
We found plenty of forage, after passing Taylor's Ridge, in the different valleys, down as far as Little River. Vann's Valley is very fertile, and was filled with corn, sweet potatoes, flour, pigs, cattle, sheep, and fowl.
Cedar Town and its vicinity also gave us plenty of corn. The animals continued to improve, and the command was well supplied with provisions up to our return to Smyrna camp-ground. At this place we remained till the thirteenth of November, preparing for the ensuing campaign. During the twelfth, the army of the Tennessee destroyed the railroad from Big Shanty to the Chattahoochee River, burning the ties and bending the rails, a stretch of road twenty-two miles in extent.
On the thirteenth, the army marched to the vicinity of Atlanta; encamped near Whitehall.
While the sick, and the surplus stores of every kind that had accumulated at Atlanta, were being removed to Chattanooga and Nashville, General Corse was having the same thing done at Rome. On the tenth, after having destroyed the public storehouses, he evacuated Rome, and set out for Atlanta, reaching its vicinity on the evening of the fourteenth.
General John E. Smith's division, which had been guarding the railroad during our Atlanta campaign, and parts of which were located at Allatoona and Resaca, had concentrated near Cartersville by the tenth of November, and reached Atlanta the morning of the fourteenth.
By breaking up the line of communication, my army was increased in effective force by above two divisions, which had been detached.
After the reestablishment of the railroad, quite a large number of recruits joined the different regiments, so that the effective force for the coming campaign reached an aggregate of nearly thirty thousand. Taking every thing into consideration, the campaign of three hundred miles, which General Hood inaugurated with so much éclat, was to our army a positive advantage — both men and animals were better prepared for future operations at its end than at its beginning, and we certainly made more than a replacement of the damage done by Hood along our line of communication.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
The campaign of Savannah.
Captain L. M. Dayton, Aid-de-Camp:
General Sherman's Field Orders Nos. 115 and 119, issued from Kingston, Georgia--so remarkable for completeness, and so explicit that they could not be misunderstood, have been faithfully adhered to. They were the means of initiating preparations fully adequate to the work that has been accomplished.
My command consisted of two army corps, the Fifteenth, Major-General P. J. Osterhaus, of four divisions, as follows: First division, Brigadier-General Woods; Second division, Brigadier-General W. B. Hazen; Third division, Brigadier-General John E. Smith; Fourth division, Brigadier-General J. M. Corse.
The Seventeenth corps, Major-General F. P. Blair commanding, consisted of three divisions, as follows: First division, Major-General Joseph A. Mower; Third division, Brigadier-General M. D. Leggett; Fourth division, Brigadier-General Giles A. Smith; one regiment of cavalry, First Alabama; one engineer regiment, First Missouri; and a bridge-train of sufficient capacity to throw two bridges across any stream that we found en route.
At Gordon, I made the following report, which I will re-submit without change:
headquarters Department and army of the Tennessee, Gordon, Georgia, November 23, 1864.General: In accordance with Special Field Order No. 124, from your headquarters, dated November fourteenth, 1864, my command marched from Whitehall, near Atlanta, in two columns. The left column, Major-General Blair commanding, took the direct McDonough road. This column consisted of the Seventeenth corps, bridge-train, engineer regiment, and supply-train of General Kilpatrick's cavalry, the whole preceded by the First Alabama regiment. The right column of the Fifteenth corps, Major-General Osterhaus commanding department headquarter train, and the herds of cattle.
Major-General W. T. Sherman:This column moved via Rough and Ready, turning to the left toward McDonough, about five miles from Jonesboro.
Upon the evening of the fifteenth, the command went into camp; Kilpatrick near Jonesboro, the heads of the two infantry columns near
