, 1864-10-17

oyer"helu ed me with grief, but this living
oelnatded my Whole thoughts. I instantly
disrstched a stbG officer to Gen. John q
LcgaD,, commaI ding the 18th corps, to tell
linn What bad hap lened; TINT hs must IS.
trme conmsDd OF the army OF the rennes-
see, and hold stubbotnl5 the ground already I
chIsen.
TRIBUTE TO GENERAL M'PHERsoy.
Bnt among tie dead Was MAJOR General
McPherfop, whose body was recovered aud
brought to me in the heat OF battle. aud
had sent It IN charge of his personal staff oacz
to Ma1ietts, on Its way to his Northern
hcue. He was Eoble youth of striking
pertona1 appearance, OF the highest profes.
slobs1 capacity, sid with hesft aboanding
In k,ndness that DIRE y to bin the affections
Of all men. His sudden death tleyolged the
command Of the Army Of the Tennessee on
tcs no less brave and gallant General Logan,
who nobly sustained bis reputation and tuat
OF bis veteran army. aud avenged the death
Of his comrade ard commander.
TIE GRAND MOVEMENT BT THE RIGHT FLANK,
I had become satisfied that, to reach the
Macon road, and thereby control the supplies
for Atlanta, / W0uld have to move the whole
a1my but befose beginning, ordered down
| from Chattanooga fonr IL inch rif1ed guus,
/ to Try their effect. These arrived on the 10th,
and were put to work night and day, and did
| execution Oh the city, causing frequent fires,
and creating confusion, yet the enemy SEEM
eo detesmlned to hold his forts, even II the
city were destroyed. On the 10TH OF Aug,
made my ordt1e, No. 81, prescribing tue
node and nauner Of executing the grand
noytment by the right flang, to begin on
tp~ 18th.
This movement contemplated the withdraw
a Of he 2o1h corps. Gea. Williams. to the in.
t1cnchtd position 1t the Coattahoochee
br dge, and the march of the main army to
| tts West PoiIt Railroad, near Fairborn. and
atttrwards to The Macon Road, at or near
JtMehoro, With nur wagons Loaded with
pr.visioIs for fifteen daJe. About thu time
| 0l the publication OF these ordbrs, learned
Il ut Wheeler, with large mounted force Of
The enemy, varlo1ely estimated at from {. 600
| to 0,t00 men, had passed around By the east
ara north, and had made his appearance on
our lines Of communication near Adairsville,.
ato bad succeeded in capturing 200 of cur
rsi1oad near Calhoun. could not have
asked nything better, for / had provided
we'll against h contingency, and this de-
tacbment left me superior to the enemy In
cavslry: I eusptlaed the execution of my
orders for the time being, and ordered Gen.
fitzpatrick to make up Well appointed force
Of about 5000 cavalry, and to move from
bis camp about sandtown during the night
Of thu 18th to the West Point road,
and break 1t good near Fairborn.
After m in'elView with
whatever damage be had done 1onld not
Produce The result desfrtd, aud I renewed
| n ; orders for the movement of the whole
army: This inyolsed the necessity Of raising
the siege of Atlantis, taking the field with our
nicatitne Of Atlanta fnstea ad Of against It's in.
trtI chmcEts. All the army Commanders
we're at once notified to send thei1 suplus
wagons, incumhrances Of all KIM and sick,
obek T. our intrenched position at the bridge,
aid that the movement would begin on the
| n'ghs of the 25th. Accordingly, ali tutngs
being ready, the Fourth Corps, Gen Stanley,
I dew ont of It's lines on our extreme left, and
marched to position below Proctor's Creek,
The TWentieth Corps, Gen. Williams, moved
vas made without loss, save few things
lett in our camp By thoughtless officers or
men The night Of the 25th the movement
coEtfpned, The Army of the Tennessee draw
itbg tnzo out end moving rapiely By circuit well
the Army Of the Cumberland below Utoy
Creek, Gen. Schofeld remaining in position.
This was eAected with the loss Of but single
man In the Army Of the Tennessee wounded |
By shell from the enemy. The third more
tie West Point Railroad, above Fairborn,
tbe Army Of The Cumberland about Red Oak. |
e. Gen. schofeld closed in near Digs and |
Mims then ordered one days work to be |
exRendea s6pe N;ih IN dest59sfng The road snd It VA
miles were destroyed, the ties burned, AMI
the iron rails heated and tortured bg tie ut. !
most ingenuity Of old hands at the works. /
s5Eeral cuts re1e filled up wlth the .tranks
Of trees, with logs. rock and earth interuin- |
gled with loaded shells, prepared with tor
pedoee, to explode in case Of an attempt to |
cltar them out Having personally Inspect. |
ed this work, md satisfied With it's cxecu. |
tion, ordered The whole army to move the
Howard, on the right, toward Jonesboro':
Gen. Thomas, the centre. BY shol Creek |
Church to Couth's, on the Decatur s. Fay |
etteei.le road; and Gen. Schofeld, on the |
left, about MoToW's Mills.
AT JosEsBoRo.
On the S1st Of August the enemy came ont |
OF bis Torks at Jonesboro aud attacked Gen. !
Howard In position as described. Gen. How
AID Was admirably situated to receive him,
ard repnlsed the attack thoroughly Tue
enemy attacked with Lees and Hardee's /
corps, and after contest Of over two hours,
Withdrew, leaving over 900 dead on the
ground, and hls wounded, Of which about
800 were left in Jonesboro. could not have
been much less than $500. Hearing the
sounds of battle at Jonesboro about noon,
ordsrs were renewed to push the other
movements On the left ard center, and about
4 p. N. the. reports arrived simultaneously
that Gen. Howard had thoroughly repplsed
the enemy at Jonesboro, that Gen. Schode1d
had reached the railroad mile below Rough
snd.Ready, and were working mp the road,
0A%@aA4E At NO AE HG4t kUl1k oG1s GMQlETs
Of Gen. Thomas army, had also got the road
below Gen. Schodeld, and was destroying its !
working south; and that Gen. Baird, of
Gen. Davis corps, had struck 1t still lower |
duEn, within four miles Of Jonesboro.
Orders were at once given for all the army
to turn On Jonesboro, Gen. Howard to keep
the enemy busy whilst Gen. Thomas should |
move down from the north, with Gen. Scho. |
field on hie left- I also ordered the troops as
they moved down to continue the thorough
HfHffurf1nn 0f fha faf1enpH h.na yrn |
It then and did not know but that events
might divert our attention. Gen. Garrard's
Cavalry was directed to watch the roads to
our rear, the north. Gen. Fitzpatrick was
sent south down the vest bank Of the Flint,
with Instructions to attack or threaten the
railroad below Jonesbo1o. I expected the
Whole army would close down on Jonesboro
BY noon OF the LIST Of September Gen.
Davls' corps, having shorter distance
TO t1aVel vas on time and deployed,
with Gen. Howard, ana nis lett on the raii.
road. Gen, Stan1ey and Gen. Schotteld were
coming down along the Rough-and Ready
r1so AID along the, railroad, breaking it as
they came: When Gen. Davis joined to Gen.
howard; Gen. Blatf'e corps, on Gen. How
ards LEFT, Was thrown in reserve and was
lmne ediately sent well to the right, below
JoEesboro', to act against that flank. along
with Gen: kilpatrick's cavalry. About 4 r
n Gen. Davis WAS all ready, and assaulted
lux Sut1uJs HHtb ac[oss open utld5 carry |
ipg them very handsomely, and taking ~
PRISONERS the greater Fart ofGoran's Brigade,
including its Commander, with two four-gun
batteries. OF course, the next morning the
enemy Vas gone, and had retteated South.
TIE FINAL SUCCESS.
Rumors began to asriye through prisoners
captured that Atlanta had been abandoned
during the night OF Sept. l, that aood had |
bio an up bis ammunition trains, which &C.
counted tor the sounds so plainly heard by
ut, and which were yet unexplained, that
steWa1t's corps WAS then retreating towards |
McDonougb, and that the militia had gone |
of towards CoVington. It was then too late |
to interpose and prevent their escape, aud |
Wns satisfied With the substantial success al-
ready gained Accordingly, I ordered the
work OF destroying the railroad to cease, and
the troops to bs held in hsnd ready for any
movement TINT further information from At
1anta might warrant.
Gen. JeI. c. Davis corps had been left !
above Jone ebofo, and Gen. Garrard's cavalry
vas still further back, spd the latter WAS or
dtred to send back to Atlantis and ascertain :
the exact truth and the r.al situation of al
fairE. But the same night, viz; Sept; 4,
conritr arrived from Gen. 6locum, reporting
thu TACT that the enemy h d esacaited Atlan-
ia, blown up seyen trains OF cars. and had
retre.ted on the McDo1ough road. Gen, {
S1ocum had entered aud taken possession on
the I'd of September.
The object Of my movement against the 4;
rai1f6ad Was, therefore, already reacned ard
concluded, and, as 1t was idle to pursue our
enemy in that wooded country With vieg