Sherman's March to the sea. |
This text is part of:
[690]
flank of the infantry, so as to screen, so far as possible, the direction of our advance and the points to which it was directed.
Each wing had its separate and efficient pontoon train.
Gen. Sherman marched and camped first with one wing, then with the other.
Moving rapidly to Atlanta,1 Howard advanced thence by McDonough, Monticello, and Clinton, to Gordon;2 while Slocum advanced by Covington, Madison, and Eatonton, concentrating on Milledgeville,3 which was entered without opposition; Sherman thus far accompanying the 14th corps, which was the last to leave Atlanta,4 and had not had a chance to fire a shot.
In fact, the principal resistance encountered by our infantry was that of the bad roads of Georgia at that rainy season.
Osterhaus had seen (for a moment) a few Rebel cavalry at the crossing of Cotton river; but, though they set fire to the bridge, they were driven off so promptly that only the planks were damaged.
Thus far, our infantry had mainly been busied with destroying railroads and foraging on the plenty of central Georgia; each subordinate commander being instructed to live on the country so far as possible; saving to the utmost the twenty days bread, forty days beef, coffee, sugar, &c., and three days forage, contained in our wagons.
Helping the trains across the Ocmulgee and its tributaries, and up the long, steep hills beyond, had been the principal labor of the march; which was intended to average 15 miles per day.
Kilpatrick held the laboring oar. Moving south5 from Atlanta with Howard, he had been confronted at East Point by Rebel cavalry; with whom he skirmished, driving them to Flint river, which he crossed at Jonesboroa at 7 A. M. next day; following the enemy to Lovejoy's, where they had taken post in the old Rebel works, having two guns.
Dismounting Murray's brigade, Kilpatrick attacked and carried the works, capturing 50 prisoners; Atkins's brigade soon after charging the fleeing foe, and taking their guns.
Kilpatrick pushed thence by McDonough and
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.