15th, Gen. Osterhaus commanding in the absence of Gen. Logan; the 17th, Gen. Blair; and the 20th, Gen. Slocum; beside four brigades of artillery, one for each corps, two horse batteries, and two divisions of cavalry. Gen. Barry, chief of artillery, in fitting out this important arm, withdrew every doubtful or suspicious horse, and supplied enough serviceable animals to give each artillery carriage eight horses, and each battery a reserve of twelve horses. The cavalry were equipped with equal care. The total force numbered between 50,000 and 60,000 picked men, constituting one of the most effective armies ever organized. The following order of Gen. Sherman gives the plan of march and other details of the campaign: HEADQUARTERS MIT DIV OF THESIS SUPPL IN THE FIELD, KINGSTON, GA., Wednesday, Nov. 9th. Special Field Order No. 120. 1. For the purpose of military operations, this army is divided into two wings, viz.: The right wing, Maj. Gen. O. O. Howard commanding, the 15th and 17th corps. The left wing, Maj.-Gen. H. W. Slocum commanding, the 14th and 20th corps. 2. The habitual order of march will be, whenever practicable, by four roads, as nearly parallel as possible, and converging at points hereafter to be indicated in orders. The cavalry, Brig.-Gen. Kilpatrick commanding, will receive special orders from the Commander-in-Chief. 3. There will be no general trains of supplies, but each corps will have its ammunition and provision train, distributed habitually as follows: Behind each regiment should follow one wagon and one ambulance; behind each brigade should follow a due proportion of ammunition wagons, provision wagons, and ambulances. In case of danger, each army corps should change this order of march by having his advance and rear brigade unincumbered by wheels. The separate columns will start habitually at 7 A. M., and make about fifteen miles per day, unless other wise fixed in orders. 4. The army will forage liberally on the country during the march. To this end, each brigade commander will organize a good and sufficient foraging party, under the command of one or more discreet officers, who will gather, near the route travelled, corn or forage of any kind, meat of any kind, vegetables, corn meal, or whatever is needed by the command; aiming at all times to keep in the wagon trains at least ten days' provisions for the command and three days' forage. Soldiers must not enter the dwellings of the inhabitants or commit any trespass; during the halt, or a camp, they may be permitted to gather turnips, potatoes, and other vegetables, and drive in stock in front of their camps. To regular foraging parties must be entrusted the gathering of provisions and forage at any distance from the road travelled. 5. To army corps commanders is entrusted the power to destroy mills, houses, cotton gins, etc., and for them this general principle is laid down: In districts and neighborhoods where the army is unmolested, no destruction of such property should be permitted; but should guerrillas or bushwackers mofest our march, or should the inhabitants burn bridges, obstruct roads, or otherwise manifest local hostility, then army corps commanders should order and enforce a devastation more or less relentless according to the measure of such hostility. 6. As for horses, mules, wagons, etc., belonging to the inhabitants, the cavalry and artillery may appropriate freely and without limit; discriminating, however, between the rich, who are usually hostile, and the poor or industrious, usually neutral or friendly. Foraging parties may also take mules or horses, to replace the jaded animals of their trains, gades. In all foraging, of whatever kind, the parties or to serve as pack-mules for the regiments or bri engaged will refrain from abusive or threatening language, and may, when the officer in command thinks proper, give written certificates of the facts, but no receipts; and they will endeavor to leave maintenance. with each family a reasonable portion for their 7. Negroes who are able-bodied and can be of service to the several columns, may be taken along; but each army commander will bear in mind that the question of supplies is a very important one, and that his first duty is to see to those who bear arms. 8. The organization at once of a good pioneer battalion for each corps, composed, if possible, of negroes, should be attended to. This battalion should follow the advance guard, should repair roads and double them if possible, so that the columns will not be delayed after reaching bad places. Also, army commanders should study the habit of giving the artillery and wagons the road, and marching their troops on one side; and also instruct their troops to assist wagons at steep hills or bad crossings of streams. 9. Capt. O. M. Poe, Chief Engineer, will assign to each wing of the army a pontoon train, fully equipped and organized, and the commanders thereof will see to its being properly protected at all times. By order of Maj.-Gen. W. T. SHERMAN. L. M. DAYTON, Aide-de-Camp. The following order issued by Gen. Slocum to the troops under his immediate command gives additional directions for the conduct of the march: HEADQUARTERS TWENTIETH CORPS, ATLANTA, GA., Nov. 7th, 1864. [Circular.] When the troops leave camp on the march about to commence, they will carry in haversack two days' rations salt meat, two days' hard bread, ten days' coffee and salt, and five days' sugar. Each infantry soldier will carry sixty rounds of ammunition on his person. Every effort should be made by officers and men to save rations and ammunition; not a round of ammunition should be lost or unnecessarily expended. It is expected that the command will be supplied with subsistence and forage mainly from the country. All foraging will be done by parties detailed for the purpose by brigade commanders, under such rules as may be prescribed by brigade and division commanders. Pillaging, ma rauding, and every act of cruelty or abuse of citizens will be severely punished. Each brigade commander will have a strong rear guard on every march, and will order the arrest of all stragglers. The danger of straggling on this march should be impressed upon the mind of every officer and man of the command. Not only the reputation of the corps, but the personal safety of every man, will be dependent, in a great measure, upon the rigid enforcement of discipline and the care taken of the rations and ammunition. By command of Maj.-Gen. SLOCUM. H. W. PERKINS, Asst. Adj.-Gen. A glance at the map will show that two parallel lines of railway, having a general southeasterly direction, connect Atlanta with the Atlantic seaboard, one terminating at Charleston, 308 miles distant, and the other at Savannah, 293 miles distant. The former line is composed of the Georgia Railroad, 171 miles in length, connecting Atlanta with Augusta, and of the South Carolina Railroad, extending from Augusta to Charleston, 137 miles; and the latter, of the Western and Macon road, 103 miles in length, connecting Atlanta with Macon; and of the Central Georgia road, 190 miles long, connecting Macon with Savannah. From Augusta there also runs a cross-road, due south, to Millen, on the Georgia Central road, 53 miles in length, which affords a second route from Atlanta to Savannah, ten miles longer than that through Macon. The average width of the belt of country embraced between the two main lines as far eastward as Augusta and Millen is about 40 miles; eastward of those points the country gradually expands to a width of nearly 100 miles. G railroad system was probably the richest and most populous of Georgia, containing the capital, Milledgeville, and many other important towns; and all accounts concurred in describing it as abundantly supplied with horses, cattle, and subsistence for an invading army. Here also had been conveyed for greater safety large numbers of slaves from the exposed parts of the rebel States. Not less important than these facts was the additional one, that, with the exception of a few brigades of cavalry under Gen. Wheeler, and such troops as could be gathered from Wilmington, Charleston, or Savannah, there was nothing but the Georgia militia to oppose the progress of Gen. Sherman. Under every circumstance, therefore, the two lines above described seemed likely to offer the most feasible route to the coast. The ultimate objective point of the expedition, whether Charleston or Savannah, it was left to circumstances to determine. On the 11th of November the army was distributed as follows: the 14th corps, with which was Gen. Sherman, at Kingston; the 15th and 17th corps on the Powder Spring road, a little west of the Chattahoochee; and the 20th corps afternoon of the 15th marched into Atlanta. On the latter day, the 15th and 17th corps went into camp two miles south of the city, and the 20th corps marched out to a position somewhat further east. On the 7th, while the latter corps alone garrisoned Atlanta, a brigade of rebel cavalry which had been watching their opportunity, made a dash at the defences, but were easily driven off. They nevertheless continued their demonstration-which they called the "Siege of Atlanta"-for several days, until constrained by the approach of the main Federal army to retire. The several corps having been newly supplied with clothing and such equipments as were necessary from the depots in Atlanta, and every thing valuable to the Government removed, the torch was, on the evening of the 15th, applied to the store houses, machine shops and depot buildings, the most substantial of which had previously been mined. For many hours the heavens were lighted up by the flames of this vast conflagration, which was rendered more awful by the roar of exploding shells and magazines, and, by dawn of the 16th, all that was valuable of the city which, next to Richmond, had furnished more material for prosecuting the rebellion than any other in the South, lay in ashes. As far as was possible, private property was spared, and the city rendered of no immediate use to the enemy. The army being now concentrated and ready to march, Gen. Sherman caused the following order to be promulgated: HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, IN THE FIELD, KINGSTON, GA., Nov. 8th, 1864. 【 Special Field Orders No. 119. All The General Commanding deems it proper at this time to inform the officers and men of the 14th, 15th, 17th, and 20th corps, that he has organized them into an army for a special purpose, well known to the War Department and to Gen. Grant. It is sufficient for you to know that it involves a departure from our present base, and a long and difficult march to a new one. All the chances of war have been considered and provided for, as far as human sagacity can. he asks of you is, to maintain that discipline, patience, and courage which have characterized you in the past, and hopes through you to strike a blow at our enemy that will have a material effect in producing what we all so much desire his complete overthrow. Of all things, the most important is that the men, during marches and in camp, keep their places, and not scatter abroad as stragglers and foragers, to be picked up by a hostile people in detail. It is also of the utmost importance that our wagons should not be loaded with any thing but provisions and ammunition. All surplus servants, non-combatants, and refugees, should now go to the rear, and none should be encouraged to encumber us on the march. At some future time we will be enabled to provide for the poor whites and blacks who seek to escape the bondage they are now suffering under. With these few simple cautions in your minds, he hopes to lead you to achievements equal in imortance to those of the past. By order of Gen. W. T. SHERMAN. L. M. DAYTON, Aide-de-Camp. On Nov. 16th the whole army marched eastward in four columns, the two under Slocum, with which was Gen. Sherman, following the railroad toward Augusta, while the right wing, under Howard, moved along the Macon and Augusta road. Each wing had cavalry moving on its flanks. Whether the immediate objective was to be Augusta or Macon, or both, it was no part of the Federal general's plan to divulge. To perplex the enemy and divide his forces by pretended demonstrations on places widely separated, he judged would be most likely to ensure him a speedy and uninterrupted march to the coast. Gen. Howard's command, of which the 15th corps formed the right wing, followed the the railroad as far south as Jonesboro, where the mounted troops of Iverson essayed to make a stand, but were quickly dispersed by Kilpatrick. Thence the column moved east through McDonough and Jackson to the Ocmulgee, which it crossed at Planter's Factory, and passing south, through Monticello and Hillsboro, and between Milledgeville and Clinton, on the 22d struck the Georgia Central Railroad, with its left wing at Gordon, twenty miles east of Macon; the right wing being extended westward toward Griswoldville. In conjunction with the operations of this column the greater part of the Federal cavalry, under the immediate command of Gen. Kilpatrick, made a detour on the extreme right, through Griffin and Forsyth, toward Macon, within five miles of which place he was ordered to demonstrate. The rebels at first believed this to be another raid on a large scale; but learning of the approach of Gen. Howard's column they made haste to concentrate at Macon all their available troops, consisting of some cavalry under Wheeler, a small body of regulars, and several brigades of militia. They still remained in ignorance of Gen. Slocum's movement in the direction of Augusta, but believed Macon to be the main objective point of Gen. Sherman. On the 20th about eight hundred Federal cavalry, with four cannon, made a feigned attack on East Macon, two miles east of the city, which though resulting in little loss on either side, very effectually accomplished its of deceiving the enemy. purpose period of the fight a rebel battery was captured in a daring charge by the Federal troops, who, however, having no means of carrying off the guns, were obliged to relinquish them to the enemy. The Federal cavalry finally retired in the direction of Griswoldville after destroying several miles of railroad east of Walnut Creek. At one Upon striking the Georgia Central Railroad, on the 22d, the 15th and 17th corps immediately began to destroy the track and the road bed between Gordon and Griswoldville in that thorough manner in which previous experience had rendered the troops adepts. It was while this work was going on that the most serious battle of the campaign up to this date took place. A brigade of infantry, with a section of artillery and some cavalry, under Gen. Walcot, forming the extreme right wing of the 15th corps, had been thrown forward to |