Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-04-30
LETTER FROM THE SOUTH.

village, VINO Is HOW tEdVollnS oAIOuSn
the South:
The grade OF Lieutenant General
having been revived by an act of Con-
gress, Gen. L. S. Grant was promoted
to that rank in March, 1864, and made
absolute commander of the Federal
| armies; Gen. W.T.. Sherman succeed
ing Gen. Grant as commander of the
army of Tennessee, with headquarters
at Ringgold, Ga. The armies were all
recruited to their maximum strength,
gigantic plans were made for prose-
cutting the war with great vigor with
the opening of spring. Gen. JOS. 81
Johnston, one of the ablest of the
Confederate commanders, confronted
Sherman with we'll equipped army,
ready to dispute any movement un-
dertaken by the Union commander.
When Sherman was ready he gave his
s'astute antagonist" as he was wont
to dub Johnston, full opportunity to
exercise his genius and show his met
tie.
The campaign opened with move
ments on the chess board of war that
were watched with intense interest.
Sherman soon proved to be the most
skilled strategist; by brilliantly exc
cuted flank marches he baff1ed john
ston's attempts to give battle on
ground that would give him an ad-
vantage Of position, and forced him to
rapidly fall back until he took shelter
behind the defenses around Atlanta.
The Confederate administration, dis
pleased with Johnston's generalship,
moved him and appointed in his
place Gen. Hood, who was known as
dashing leader, though he had never
had an independent command. Sher-
man, resourceful in tactics and con-
stantly On the alert, soon succeeded
in Turing Hood into the open field,
when he threw McPhersons' corps
between Hood and his abandoned de-
lenses, thus forcing him to give battle
at Peachtree Greek in which he was
roughly handled and suffered a great
loss in killed, wounded and impris-
oned. Here, the gifted Gen. McPher-
son was slain. Though only thirty
years of age, he was one the ablest
major generals in the army, a distin-
guished corps commander and recOg-
nized as an officer Of superior attain
ments, one who had before him brill
liant career. Hood was shut out from
Atlanta, and in attempting to get in
Sherman's rear, he suffered a second
defeat that nearly deprived him of
an army. He succeeded in gathering
his badly scattered forces, and was
permitted to move towards the Ten
nessee river.
deploring his defeat, congratulated
Hood on his success in gaining Sher-
mans rear and advised his threaten
ing an invasion of Tennessee and pos
sibly, Kentucky, believing that that
would provoke Sherman to Counte
march, and follow him; but the plans
that had been mapped out by Sher-
man for his future movements, were
not correctly anticipated by Hood.
With an army of sixty five thousand
veterans, Gen. Sherman entered on
one of the most brilliant military cam
paigns recorded in history. In con-
ception and execution it has no par
allel. Cutting loose from his base of
supplies at Atlanta, adopting the prin-
ciple of war to forage on the enemy,
with Savannah, at distance of over
three hundred miles, as his objective
point through The richest, most pro-
ductive section of Georgia; covering
a distance of from fifty to seventy
five miles in width, destroying every
article of value that could not be util-
lied by the army. Meeting with little
resistance, although Gov. Joe Brown
issued heart-rending proclamation
calling on the sons of the state Of
Georgia to organize, to resist and turn |
back the wicked invaders from their |
soil. The Confederate governor at |
Richmond issued orders to the forces
within the threatened territory to de-
stroy all supplies and property that |
would be liable to be seized by the in
vaders, and thus mete out a repetition |
of the fate that awaited Napoleon |
when he invaded Russia.
Sherman, when young lieutenant,
travelled over the southern portion of |
Georgia, buying mules for the U. S.
Army in Mexico, and thus his pecu-
liar genius for acquiring of the topog-
raphy of the section he was marching
over stood him we'll in hand, and he
was able to always locate his route
ord outuit tho oponov. he kont than