June, 1864. |
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| Summit of great Kenesaw Mountain.2 |
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(Big and Little), with Lost and Pine mountains forming with it a triangle, on each of which the Confederates had signal-stations.
Batteries covered their summits, and thousands of men were busy in the dark forest, casting up intrenchments from base to base, in a connected chain, in preparation for a great struggle.
Cannon on the summit of Great Kenesaw completely commanded the beautiful town of Marietta.
There Johnston, with the Chattahoochee River at his back, determined to make a vigorous stand.
“The scene was enchanting,” said Sherman, in his report; “too beautiful to be disturbed by the harsh clamors of war, but the Chattahoochee lay beyond, and I had to reach it.”
After much planning and maneuvering, and drawing his lines close to those of the Confederates, Sherman made disposition for breaking through those of Johnston between Kenesaw and Pine mountains.
Hooker was on the right and, front of his line, Howard on its left and front, and Palmer between it and the railway.
Under cover of a heavy cannonade, the advance began on the 14th.
The troops pressed over the rugged ground with difficulty, fighting at almost every step, and on the morning of the 15th they found that the Confederates had abandoned Pine Mountain, and taken position on their line of intrenchments between Kenesaw and Lost mountains.1 Upon these Thomas, Schofield, and McPherson advanced, while rain was falling copiously, and on the 17th the Confederates abandoned
Lost Mountain, and the long line of works connecting it with Kenesaw.
Sherman continued to press them heavily at all points, skirmishing in dense forests that were furrowed by ravines and tangled with vines, and compelling
1 At the time of this advance, General Polk, formerly Protestant Episcopal Bishop of the diocese of Louisiana, was killed instantly, by a piece of shell which passed through his body. Polk, Johnston, and Hardee, were upon the summit of Pine Mountain when the cannonade commenced, reconnoitering. Seeing the group, General Thomas, it is said, ordered a shot to be fired at them from Knapp's battery. This caused them to retreat to a place of safety. Polk soon reappeared, when another shell was fired, which exploded near him, and killed him, instantly. The two shells were fired by a young man named William Atwell, of Alleghany City, Pennsylvania, attached to Knapp's battery.
2 this was the appearance of the summit of great Kenesaw, when the writer sketched it, in May, 1866. in the foreground is seen the remains of a Confederate battery and signal-station. To the left is seen the top of little Kenesaw. In the distance, at the center of the picture, rises lost Mountain; and on the extreme right, the higher elevation, seen beyond the two large stones in the foreground, is Pine Mountain or Knob, on which General Polk was killed. A little to the left of lost Mountain was New hope Church.
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