The National tribune., 1909-02-18

the time to leave had come, and again
he made one of those highly skilful
Withdrawals. successfully passing the
Oostanaula with all his men and ma
terial, leaving behind him only the
four guns which had been captured
on the extreme right by the men Of
Butterfield's Division. Hoods and
Hardee's Corps withdrew in the night
without molestation from the troops
in front of them, and, crossing the
river on the railroad bridge and another
built near it of trestles, they marched
directly to Calhoun to confront the
Sixteenth Corps, which was coming
across Lays Ferry. Hood brought up
the rear. and crossed on the new pom
toon bridge above the town. taking the
road to AdairsviIle by the way of
Spring Place. AS his rear guard
crossed the river Johnston had his pom
toon bridges taken up and the other
bridges burned.
Sherman Enters Resaca.
The retreat of the enemy was dis
covered at daybreak, and the whole
line moved promptly forward to occu-
py the evacuated works. Sherman en-
tered the town shortly after. grasped
the situation with his usual quickness,
and ordered an immediate pursuit with
skilful direction of the columns jeff
c. Davis's Division of the Fourteenth
Corps was ordered down the valley
toward Rome to support Garrard's
Cavalry, Mcpherson was to take the
Army of the Tennessee across Lays
Ferry, while Thomas followed the rail-
road. He did this so promptly as to.
overtake the Confederate rear guard,
with which Stanley skirmished all the
way to Calhoun.
Sherman did not expect Johnston te
halt at Calhoun. but to move on toward
the highest hills on the further side of
the valley. Schofield, with the Army
of the Ohio, was to move off to the left,
the Oostanaula above New
town, on the old United States Road
The engineers were set to work re-
pairing the bridge. so that Thomas got
most of his men across the river May
16, and marched as far as Calhoun,
where he met the Army of the Tennes-
see coming across by Lays Ferry. In
order to gain time Hooker's Corps was
sent across the fords in the neighbor-
hood of Newtown. and followed anoth-
er road due south toward Adairsville.
Sherman's Comment. 4
Gen. Sherman, in his memoirs"
makes this comment on the terminus |
IF Resaca. which is generally spoken |
II as the second epoch" in the Atlanta
"On the night Of May Is Johnston
got his army across the bridges, set |
hem on fire and we entered Resaca
It daylight. Our loss up to that time
vas about 500 dead and 1875 wound
light wounds that did not !,
lecessitate sending the men to the rear !,
or treatment. That Johnston had de- II
iberately designed in advance to give II
lp such strong positions as Dalton and II
aesaca for the purpose of drawing us II
arther south is simply absurd. Had II
lie remained in Dalton another hour it III
would have been his total defeat, and II
lie only evacuated Resaca because his H
afety demanded 1t. The movement by II
is thru Snake Creek Gap was a total II
urprise to him. My army about dou-
lied his in size. but he had all the ad-
antages of natural positions, of arti-
cial forts and roads and of concen-
rated action. We were compelled to
rope our way thru forests, across L
fountains, with a large army, neces-
arily more or less dispersed. OF course. If
was disappointed not to have Grip
led his army more at that particular
tage of the game; but. as it resulted,
hese rapid successes gave us the initia-
we. and the usual impulse Of q con- :
uerfng army
(To be continued) il