Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Chattahoochee, passage of the.

On the morning of July 3, 1864, General Johnston's Confederate army passed in haste through Marietta, Ga., and on towards the Chattahoochee River, a deep and rapid stream, closely followed by Sherman with the National army, who hoped to strike his antagonist a heavy blow while he was crossing that stream. By quick and skilful movements, Johnston passed the Chattahoochee without much molestation and made a stand behind intrenchments on its left bank. Again Sherman made a successful flanking movement. Howard laid a pontoon bridge 2 miles above the ferry where the Confederates crossed. [109] Demonstrations by the rest of the Nationals made Johnston abandon his position and retreat to another that covered Atlanta. The left of the Confederates rested on the Chattahoochee, and their right on Peach-tree Creek. There the two armies rested some time. On July 10, or sixty-five days after Sherman put his army in motion southward, he was master of the country north and west of the river on the banks of which he was reposing—nearly one-half of Georgia—and had accomplished the chief object of his campaign, namely, the advancement of the National lines from the Tennessee to the Chattahoochee.