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soon recovered, and made sad havoc with the enemy, who had practiced one of his favorite games of attacking our left when in motion, and before it had time to cover its weak flank.’
Following this, among some general observations upon the battle, and the question of a successor, the extracts given at the opening of this chapter are found.
From the above fair outlines of
General Sherman's account, the reader would conclude that some of the warnings received in regard to
Hood's methods were disregarded, and that the new Confederate commander had sallied against, and passed entirely around our left, finding it unprepared and partly in motion by the flank, and that some confusion resulted, and a bloody battle, which was not particularly unexpected by
General Sherman, and did not, in a great degree, disturb him.
The real reason for this confusion on the left does not appear in the Memoirs.
The key to unlock the bloody mysteries of the 22d of July, where the
Union loss was thirty-five hundred men, with
General McPherson, and ten pieces of artillery, lies deeply covered under the sentence: ‘For some moments I supposed the enemy intended to evacuate.’
Some omitted leaves from the official record will show how long these ‘moments’ were.
In a report made by
General Sherman to
General Halleck, dated August 15, 1864, this paragraph occurs, though it is not mentioned in his book:
‘On the morning of the 22d, somewhat to my surprise, this whole line was found abandoned, and I confess I thought the enemy had resolved to give us Atlanta without further contest.
But General Johnston had been relieved of the command, and General Hood substituted.
A new policy seemed resolved upon, of which a bold attack upon our right was an index, * * * * About 10 A. M. I was in person with General Schofield examining the appearance of the enemy's line opposite the distillery, where we attracted enough of the enemy's fire of artillery and musketry to satisfy me the enemy was in Atlanta in force, and meant to fight.’
The last order recorded in
General McPherson's field letter
