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Colonels Hayes and
Estes, dashed in to Waynesboroa and burned the railroad bridge over
Brier Creek, near by. Then, being assured that the prisoners had been removed from
Millen, he fell back with his whole force to the vicinity of
Louisville, to which point
Slocum had advanced.
In this retrograde movement,
Kilpatrick was closely pressed by
Wheeler, and at one time, the former, with his staff, and the Eighth Indiana and Ninth Michigan, was, through a misunderstanding of orders, cut off from the main body and nearly surrounded by the foe. They fought their way out with very little loss, and rejoined their companions.
Wheeler still pressing,
Kilpatrick chose a good position, dismounted his men, cast up a breastwork, and received a desperate charge from his antagonist.
It was repulsed at all points.
Soon after this,
Kilpatrick was met by
Hunter's brigade of
Baird's division of the Fourteenth Corps, which
Davis had sent out to his relief.
The peril was over.
Wheeler was keeping at a respectful distance, and
Kilpatrick joined the left wing of the army near the
Ogeechee River.
Meanwhile the right wing, under
Howard, had been moving toward the
Ogeechee, southward of the railway, and on the 30th,
Sherman's entire army, with the exception of the Fifteenth Corps, which covered the right wing, had passed that stream, and was ready to march on
Millen.
Sherman's admirable stratagem in securing the passage of the
Ogeechee — a most formidable barrier — without serious difficulty or loss, was highly applauded by experts.
Thus far his march had been a wonderful success.
His orders had been faithfully executed, and no plan, as to time or circumstance, had miscarried.
He had destroyed, over long distances, the great railways of
Georgia.
That leading from
Atlanta to
Augusta was utterly ruined from the former place to the
Oconee; and the
Georgia Central road was destroyed from
Gordon to the
Ogeechee.
The Conspirators at
Richmond, and the local
politicians and military leaders, who had been trying to deceive the people into a belief that
Sherman was making a most disastrous retreat from
Atlanta, were now compelled to own that he was making a thorough conquest of
Georgia.
It cannot be denied that
Sherman's march to the sea, was a necessity imposed by the perils of his situation at
Atlanta, with a powerful