Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-08-24
SHERMAN'S ARMY.
Tho Siege of AtIanta--A Clear Account
OF the Situation.

tCorrespondence Cincinnati Commercial.l
ONE AND HALF MILES SouTHwEsTl
OF EAST POINT, Aug. IL, 1854.
THE SITUATION.
At present the situation is greatly devoid
of interest except when regarded prophet
ically. The army has at length stretched
its great length about 'the doomed city,,
extending itself TO the utmost extent, ana
yet the enemy confront us the entire iengtn
NEARLY fourteen miles--with defiant
inc. of whatever strength, and the huge
walls of their earth and their timber still
keep at bay all our thrusts and passes at
Atlanta. Not only this, but, as have said
previously. their lines extend beyond our
own, to and probably, around, East Point;
and behind this, in comparative safety, their
railroad pulsates with the bread and the
bacon of life to the rebel armies, and we
have not yet been able to raid 1T III TWO, so
that it would stay thus.
All the movements and the engagements
since the 3D., when the 23d corps first was
sent in on the extreme right, or, rather,
since first the Army of the Tennessee, on
the 28th of July, came round ON the right
wing, have been directed solely with view
to driving the enemy's flank, and reaching
the railroad; or, in default OF that, compell-
ing him to develop his main line OF de,
Tense. The former, of course, has failed
thus far, but the latter has been accom-,
plished; and so sharply have we pressed
them, and SO persistent has been the irlc-
tion against it that we have in more than
one case well nigh rasped 1t through
with the skirmish line and artillery alone.
The daily record of this sort Of fighting is
tedious to make, and scarcely edifying to
read; the history of one day, with few
blottings and interlineations, is the history
of the next. The brave but unsuccessful
charge of the 23d Corps, on the 9Th, was
traced in bloodier lines than was the Ordi-
nary wont; but since then till now the
movement has been divested of prominent
incident. As division after division swings
into position on the right, it encountered
daily less of cavalry and more OF infantry;
The latter, under Wheeler, was massed
northwest of East Point till the 10th, when
the boiy of it moved out on his current
raid. Still it was remarked by old cam
paigners that the fighting done by the reb-
Ell cavalry at this point was by, far the
stoutest and most spiteful that they had
ever known rebel cavalry to wage. They
dismounted, and putting four
horses in charge of one man, advanced in
strong skirmish line, ana furnished, as many
of them were, with Mississippi rifles and
the Spencer seven-shooters, captured from
us in such quantities of late, they offered a
resistance by no means to be despised. But
they could only prolong the battle little,
and our infantry drove them continually,
while the little cavalry we had left follow
ed up to protect the right flank, as it was
gradually left uncovered. On the llth the
extending process was exhausted.
THE REBEI EARTHWORKS
About Atlanta, and all the way along the
front to East Point are of appalling
strength. In nothing is the desperate de-
termination of their leaders to hold the
place more enthusiastically set forth than in
the powerful forts and parapets which they
have caused to be constructed, with so much
labor and painstaking about the city. Our
lines are so closely approached to theirs in
many points, that their skirmishers cannot
live between them except in the night, but
where they do, the works they occupy are
every whit equal in strength and solidity
to the one held by our main force. Behind
this is the main line of works-the back
bone of their hope-which is like a chain
linked with great forts, very towers of
and behind this still, Hood only
knows what and how much. Against such,
flesh and blood are no argument.
SHELLS.
Since they have reached the confines of
Atlanta, the rebels have grown strangely
profuse oftheir artillery, in comparison with
their former caution and reserve. OF solid
shot they throw more than we, and of shells
fully as many. The former, in the circum
stances which surround us, are particularly
pestiferous. When aimed at the works (and
the rebel gunners have grown fearfully
accurate in their aim) they demolish them
much more effectually t.ian shells, and i'm
peril the men in the trenches by throwing
lown upon them ''head logs" and other
timbers of the works. Besides this, our
men are compelled to camp almost without
in dense woods, and the rebels
know well that by smashing these balls
through the thick trees, they can harass us
almost without limit with falling limbs and
Jagged splinters. 1t is described to me as
something absolutely Internal to be COM
pelled to pass clear, moon-lit night in
;ent near the line in woods through which |
hese bowling devils 60 thwacking among |
he trees, scattering limbs promiscuously, |
md, sometimes, sweeping low enough to |
AXE through whole row OF tents. An |
,fficer of the 111th Ohio told me that as he |
ay one night sleepless In his tent listening |
10 the shot which came every fifteen min |
ltes, he heard a solid ball strike tree over |
another regiment and glancing from 1t pass |
through the tent of poor fellow who, |
wearied with long watching on the skir- |
mish line. was sleeping, despite the noise, |
and carrying away his leg, plunge deep in |
TO the ground. The unfortunate man ut
tered long, moaning wall which told his |
startled comrades of his intense agony, but |
after few repetitions it grew feebler and |
feebler, and almost before the next missile |
arrived, his plaintive cries were silenced |
forever. Such is a single glimpse into the |
chilling terrors which are strewn through |
all this bloody siege of Atlanta.
From their great siege-guns the rebels |
throw many 64-pound shells into our lines,
and to those we can not reply In kind. A |
majority of these never burst, but are car |
ried off by the boys as trophies; but the pc |
culiar, deep voiced n-o-o-o-o-l has demor- |
alizing effect on the nerves. Sblo0dl how
It makes ones blood thick about his liver,
and his knees grow suddenly weak The
smaller shells, however, are more danger
GUS, since they give less warning Of their
and almost invariably burst. The
miseries to which these missiles have re-
duced our lads are set In a ludicrous, and,
at the same time, pathetic light by the re-
mark of veteran. when comparing with
his comrades their respective experiences
in campaigning, that ''he never before had
to build breastworks to cook behind" It
is thing greatly affecting mans happi-
ness when he is compelled not only to sleep,
but also to cook and eat, in strictly hori-
zontal position.
Great Uprising Of the People OF
Indiana Against the Loyal