THE GRAND STRATEGY OF THE LAST YEAR OF THE WAR. ■ 253

Protected by the best line of field intrenchments I have ever seen, prepared° n g in advance. No officer or soldier who ever served under me will ques-tion the generalship of Joseph E. Johnston . His retreats were timely, in good0 l ’der, and he left nothing behind. We had advanced into the enemy’sCountry 120 miles, with a single-track railroad, which had to bring clothing,J*°d, ammunition, everything requisite for 100,000 men and 23,000 animals,he city of Atlanta, the gate city opening the interior of the important StateGeorgia , was in sight; its protecting army was shaken but not defeated,'hid onward we had to go, — illustrating the principle that “an army once onle offensive must maintain the offensive.”

feigned to the right, but crossed the Chattahoochee by the left, and soon^fronted our enemy behind his first line of intrenchments at Peach Tree * ee k, prepared in advance for this very occasion. At this critical momente Confederate Government rendered us most valuable service. Being dis-satisfied with the Fabian policy of General Johnston , it relieved him, ande Heral Hood was substituted to command the Confederate army [July 18th].°°d was known to us to be a “fighter,” a graduate of West Point of theass °f 1853, No. 44, of which class two of my army commanders, McPhersonSchofield, were No. 1 and No. 7. The character of a leader is a large fac-1 ' 111 the game of war, and I confess I was pleased at this change, of which Ito a u °tice. I knew that I had an army superior in numbers and morale° that of my antagonist; but being so far from my base, and operating in aintry devoid of food and forage, I was dependent for supplies on a poorlyls trueted railroad back to Louisville , five hundred miles. I was willing to- the enemy in the open country, but not behind well-constructed parapets.

Pr,

20th

3Ust

r °rnptly, as expected, General Hood sallied from his Peach Tree line on the

°f July, about midday, striking the Twentieth Corps (Hooker), which had

e oin C1 ' 0sse ti Peach Tree Creek by improvised bridges.

The troops becameq. J,l,t| Ufidod and fought hand to hand desperately for about four hours, whenP 6 Confederates were driven back within their lines, leaving behind theirar| d wounded. These amounted to 4796 men, to our loss of 1710. We fol-Go 1 l l ti’ an< t Hood fell back to the main lines of the city of Atlanta . WeMth^ w tien again Hood, holding these lines with about one-lialf his force,^ le °ti ier half made a wide circuit by night, under cover of the woods,to ti ie 22d of July enveloped our left flank “ in air,” a movement that lede Modest battle of the campaign. He encountered the Army of the Ten-by j, 66 ’ skilled veterans who were always ready to fight, were not alarmedtiatt ^ 11 ^ ° r leai> stacks, and met their assailants with heroic valor. Thef e p f , a k e d from noon to night, when the Confederates, baffled and defeated,8499 , ac ' : 'within the intrenchments of Atlanta . Their losses are reportedof ^ 0 ours of 3641; but among our dead was McPherson, the commanderat Ant| y °f the Tennessee . While this battle was in progress, Schofieldhq r 6 CeiAer an( i Thomas on the right made efforts to break through thepj c kttients at their fronts, but found them too strong to assault.

(H 0 ^ e Arm Y °f the Tennessee was then shifted, under its new commanderai ti), from the extreine left to the extreme right, to reach, if possible,