The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-09-03
ATLANTA.


General Sherman's advance entered Atlanta
bout noon Of yesterday is the great intel
hence which flashed over tho wires last night.
|nd this morning eectrides the people Of the
orth. The contamination Of that magnificent
|hmpaiRn which the genius and indomtable reso.
ltion of General Sherman have conducted from
hatiar oOga to the heart of Georgia is reached at
st. Territorial kew Of the Confsdoracy. Atlanta
links in military Importance beyond even Rich
bond, and passes into onr hands as the assurance
I the final dismcmberment Of the Rebellion, and
be hopeless isolation Of its component States.
When Chattanooga fell the first centre N the
|reat railway intercommunications which held
be Rebellion together Ia military conference was
1sfeTred TO loyal possession and control. With
fa falls the second and practically the last
|opded maintaining the integrity Of that rebel
Gus empire, which was linked together by iron
pads capable of uphoding system Of military
efense for n territory 80 immense. There
mains only railway line, devious, pro.
Eacted, and uncertain; a line which scarcely
pr any military purpose impairs the com.
leteness Of the possession Of the roads which
mite at Atlanta; and upon which as n means of
|oncenlratiug at either end the Joint resources o.
Virginia and Alabama and the Intermediate
tates, the Rebellion cannot depend for a mo-
pent. BY common consent Atlanta has been
|eemed the Gibraltar Of the Rebellion; it's value
Understood and admitted on both sides its con-
|ess, the vanishing resources, the exhausted
|trength of this accursed Rebellion.
Lacking details, we infer that-and from pre-
IA Information we partly gather-that the per-
10 0xtension Of Shermans lines toward the
Hact bad has enforced upon Hood the alterna-
I've Of being shut mp in Atlanta, or of abandon
bg the city, to save yet for a while the remnant
u his army. The Rebel leader chooses the latter
Is the least disastrous result-but where is he 10
b, or what hope of prolonged resistance remains
k.sa. .lAE.. i.
northwest of Georgia was network Of natural
|oTtresses, every one of which had to be success
lively abandoned
When the line OF the Chattahoochee was forced,
|here remained Atlanta, fortified with care de-
|ended with desperate courage-and now Atlanta
3 abandoned, and there is absolutely no line and
|o fortified town, and not even broken country
Ehefe the Rebels can hope 10 fight with chance
f success. The fail of Atlanta is truly, and in
|ull military sense, the loss Of Georgia; and 1t is
bot too much to say that this crowning triumph
|f General Sherman's campaign does in effect
|nclOse the Rebellion within the narrow limits of
|he CarOlinas and of Southern Virginia. IL de-
|troys beyond all hope of recovery the unity of
|he Coufederacy, and all probability Of its retain
ing permanent hold on the continent.
Not New Orleans, not Vicksburg, not Chatta-
IOOga, not Gettysburg was such a victory as this
Il comes at an oppOrtune moment. Let the Loyal
North take heart. DevOutly thankful for the
reat mercy which is granted us, let us grow
stronger In resolve, more unalterabe in purpose,
more religiously confirmed in faith, that the
Rebellion shall be utterly crushed, and the Free
Union of these States be re-established forever.
LATBR--An official despatch from Major r-Gene-
|al Slocum abundantly confirms previous intelli-
Eence. The Goth Corps occupies Atlanta. Still
|nore momentous is the news that the main army
IS on the Macon road, near East Point, and that n
battle was fought near that station, In which the
Rebel army was cut in two, Hood defeated, aud
Eiardee killed. The Rebel army, then, has no
line of retreat is shut up in the triangle
between the Macon and Augusta roads; and may
Iyen be already destroyed or scattered. At all
events, there has been great battle, and it is as
|he result of that battle that Sherman to-day
holds not only Atlanta but the Macon road also.
There seems no reason to doubt that the over
fhrow of the Rebel power in Georgia is complete
bnd irremediable.