Adam Badeau, Military history of Ulysses S. Grant from April 1861 to April 1865. Volume 2

[283] under Howard, and the Fourteenth and Twentieth the left wing under Slocum. The aggregate strength was sixty thousand infantry, besides five thousand five hundred cavalry, commanded by Kilpatrick. The artillery had been reduced to sixty guns. Each soldier carried forty rounds of ammunition on his person, and in the wagons were cartridges enough to make up two hundred rounds per man. One million two hundred thousand rations were in the trains, sufficient for twenty days; and there was a good supply of beef-cattle to be driven on the hoof; but forage was taken for only five days. Twenty-five hundred wagons and six hundred ambulances accompanied the command.

All the foundries, machine-shops, and warehouses in Atlanta were now destroyed, and on the morning of November 15th, the march began. Sherman's first object was to place his army in the heart of Georgia, interposing between Macon and Augusta, so as to oblige the rebels to divide their forces and defend not only those two points, but Millen, Charleston, and Savannah. The right wing and the cavalry accordingly moved southeast, towards Jonesboroa, while Slocum led off to the east, by way of Decatur and Madison. These were divergent lines, designed not only to threaten Macon and Augusta, but to prevent a concentration upon Milledgeville, which lies between, and was the point that Sherman desired first to strike. Milledgeville is the capital of the state, and distant from Atlanta about a hundred miles. The time allowed for each column to reach it was seven days.

The army habitually moved by four roads as nearly parallel as possible, converging at points