Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1864-09-05
Atlanta,

Referring to the capture Of Atlanta, Of
which We gave the full particulars in our
extra of Saturday evening, the S. F. Buleti"
says:
The taking Of no other one city in the
whole Confederacy would infict so great a
loss upon the rebel cause as this. Atlanta
was only laid out in 1915, butts rapid growth
attested the value Of its position. Before the
war it was a very busy, active town, since the
war began it has been forced into extraordl-
nary growth. The rebels regarded its posi-.
ton where four railroads met in the heart OF
cotton and grain growing region as the true
centre Of their realm. Its distsnce from any
river that Federal gunbUat could ascend
gave it additional Importance. The heights
about Chattanooga (which no enemy could
take from a resolved people gave 1t immu-
nifty from attack by way Of the North. Alto
gether no other town Of its railroad facilities
within so rich an agricultural country, was
anything like so secure, and it was assumed
for the Confederate metropolis. There they
established their armories and turned out
from them rifles scarcely inferior in quality
or numbers to those Of Springfield. There
they erected foundries for casting cannon.
There they had factories for the production
of army clothing. There they stored i'm
mense quantities Of cotton-the solitary eX-
change Of the Confederacy for foreign arms,
ammunition and ships for piratical purposes
and grain and other provisions, from which
they drew for the support Of their conscripts
in the field.
Gen. Sherman's advance from the north
side of the Chattahoochie was so rapid, and
he SO soon cut off all communication between
the city and the rest of the world by railroad,
that the great bulk Of all these supplies,
stores and materials must still have remained
there when the Union army began, at nine
o'clock yesterday morning, to march into
Atlanta.
II any one suspects we estimate too highly
the value of this new prize that Sherman has
captured, let us call in very earnest rebel
testimony. On the 9th of July, Gov. Brown,
OF Georgia, issued a proclamation to the re-
serve militia Of his State: Georgians, he
said, "you must reinforce Gen. Johnston's
army and aid in driving back the enemy, or
| he will drive you back to the Atlantic, burn
your cities and public buildings, destroy
your property and devastate the fair fields OF
your noble State" He complained of the
JEFF. Davis Government that it wasted its
energies in foolish raids into Kentucky,
while the long line Of railroads over which
Sherman brought his supplies from Nash.
| vile remained unharmed. He invoked the
people Of Geurgia-he begged them to do
| what the Confederacy would not do. II
General Johnston's army is destroyed, the
| Gulf States are thrown open to the enemy
and we are ruined. Ii General Sherman's
army is cut off, the West is thrown open to
us to the Ohio river, and all raids into Mis-
sissippi, Georgia, and Alabama will at once
| cease" On the 18th of July, the Governor
! had learned that men OF wealth and property
would not obey his order and report at At
! lanta ITO aid in driving back the army Of
invasion which now threatens to overrun our
| beloved State, which is the key in the Con-
| rederate arch" We need not repeat the
! language in which the Governor expressed
| his indignation and the determination that
| the skulkers should be brought to the front.
| The "people of wealth and property in
Georgia" did not rally, Johnston's army was
not reinforced to such degree by the reserve
militia that he dare stand before Sherman,
who pushed on TO Atlanta, isolated it, closed
up to it, and yesterday, as this evenings de-
| spatchcS show, entered and possessed it
Atlanta was the key Of Georgia-Georgia is
the key Of the Confederacy.
Grant and Sherman employ the same tao
tics, move by the same rules, operate in uni
| son. The fall Of Atlanta is the prelude to
| the fall of Richmond. or the two cities the
! rebels could better spare Richmond. 1t was
of little account, however, which should fall
first for all the signs indicate that the re-
duction Of the two cannot long be separated.