Atlanta is now behind Gen. Hood’s army
and in the hands of Sherman’s Yankees.
With Gen. Hood’s remaining munitions railroad cars destroyed, Gen.
Hood has been moving northward with hope in threatening the Western &
Atlantic Railroad, Sherman's supply line. Five days earlier, Hood began
his move. After wrecking havoc on railroads in the center of the state of
Georgia to make it more difficult for Sherman to advance, Hood moved west.
We began crossing the Chattahoochee in the area of West Point. Then the
General takes his decimated army north into the rolling, forested
countryside to the west of Atlanta. The army is ragged and most without
shoes or full bellies. They march with heads high, though feelings of
defeatism fill the air. General
Hood is the topic of scorn amongst the men, inspight efforts by their
officers to quiet the slanderous comments and songs now being spoken and
sung by the ranks. Shameful and
at times blasphemous words are thrown about the ranks with no care as to who
might hear, especially Gen. Hood, who they blame for the defeat at Atlanta
and the current movement of what seems retreat.
The men are rapidly losing any respect and admiration for Gen. Hood
that they once held or for that matter, our Southern Confederacy, which they
repeatedly damn. It is only
through the respect of Regimental and Battalion command that they follow.
Every day the ranks grow smaller as soldiers who have had enough of
this bloody business leave the bivouac fires for home fires, if they have a
home left to go to. Those that
remain march on through the forests and country of Georgia.
It was here that Gen. Joe
Johnston successfully defended Georgia soil at the battles of New
Hope Church, Dallas, and Pickett's Mill.
This all seems so long ago now, but just months before.
Further
north Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest is
traipsing across Tennessee trying to distract the entire Yankee Army with
limited success. There was little Hood could do in the thick underbrush of
West Cobb and East Paulding County to distract
any Yankees let alone Sherman. It
is claimed that Virginia’s own loyal Union man, General George Thomas,
moved to Chattanooga
forming a northern border through which Hood should not be able to move.
Further reports state Yankee Gen. John Corse is to move on Rome
with a division to defend the city. It is felt that the Federals believe
that the city must be Hood's objective because of his fortifications and
manpower at Kennesaw Mountain. The
Yankee is wrong, and caught completely off-guard. Hood
attacked a number of minor garrisons and damaged track during actions of
October 2-4. Gen.
A. P. Stewart popped out of the forest in the vicinity of Lost Mountain,
attacking and destroying the Federal garrison near the depot in Big Shanty,
then moving up the Western and Atlantic to Acworth. Hood's goal
is Allatoona Pass, which has been left lightly defended. It is a Federal
staging area for provisions on the way to Atlanta, so the attraction is
twofold. First, the pass is an easily defended strategic stronghold, and
second, it can supply much-needed rations for our hungry troops. Corse moved
from Rome to the pass on October 3rd. Thirty-six
hours later our Confederate troops attacked the now-entrenched Corse, but
failed to dislodge the Yankee General from his stronghold. After
demanding surrender and receiving a negative reply, Gen. French attacked.
The Union outer line, beyond conception, survived a sustained two and a half
hour furious attack, but then fell back and regrouped in the earthen fort of
Allatoona Pass. Our boys began to run out of ammunition, and reports of
arriving Union reinforcements influenced them to move off and rejoin Hood's
main force. By the end of the day, nearly out of ammunition, our army
retreats, oddly enough to the north. It
was high time for Sherman to move and move he did. Mobilizing a significant amount of his men and material at Kennesaw Mountain, Sherman
finally begins to chase Hood, this being the overall plan. At Allatoona he
is three days behind the retreating Hood. Even separated, either of
Sherman's armies outnumbered the Army of Tennessee by a significant margin.
Hoods only hope is to continue to force the Federals to chase him and
fight at Gen. Hood’s desire. On
October 10, Hood's men
skirmish with the Federal rear in the vicinity of Rome. Upon finding our
boys near Rome, the Union Army moves in that direction. Resaca became Hood's
next destination, where he hastily demands surrender of the garrison
protecting the railroad. The commander bluntly refused the offer and with
the Yankees on his heels, Hood opts to move further north, to Dalton, where he
successfully takes the Yankee garrison and, for a short time, controls a
section of the Western and Atlantic Railroad.
This small victory cannot be toasted as Hood's tactical advance ends
a short time later at Buzzard's Roost, just west of Dalton. The Federals
hold off a significant portion of Hoods Army with roughly 41 men on October 13. The Defenders
are of the 115th Illinois Infantry, which held the blockhouse here for more
than 10 hours during repeated attacks. A sharp skirmish at Ship's Gap marks
the last battle of Hood's army in Georgia. Gen. Hood’s ragged, shoeless
and hungry soldiers, brave boys one and all, begin marching out of Georgia
to God knows where.
Tom
R. Grandy
Daily
Richmond Examiner