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‘Our camp-fires shone bright on the mountain’ The war-time view of the Chattanooga River, from Lookout Mountain, gives a good notion of the country through which Sherman advanced on the first half of his ‘march to the sea.’ Byers reckons this famous military operation as beginning with the campaign against Joseph E. Johnston. Sherman's forces were centered at Ringgold, a little south of the point here pictured. The fighting in this campaign was of the most picturesque variety. Johnston was a master of defensive warfare. The mountainous nature of the country enabled him to entrench his forces at every step. He could always wait to be attacked, could always be sure of having the advantage in position, and could retreat through the passes to a new stand before the Federal forces could arrive. The Union troops, on the other hand, must advance along the railway to keep in touch with their base of supplies in the rear, must fight their way through forests, over boulders, across torrents and broad rivers, ever in the face of a vigilant foe. Thus from May 6th to September 2d, 1864, Sherman fought every foot of his way into the city of Atlanta. ‘Each valley and glen’ had seen some of his sturdy followers fall, but his victorious banners fluttered in the breeze on every mountain side.
