6. This stronghold was at once besieged. Here were the machine shops, foundries, and car works of the Confederacy. At the beginning of the siege the cautious General Johnston was superseded by the rash General J. B. Hood. On the 20th, 22d and 28th of July, the latter made three assaults on the Union lines, but was repulsed with dreadful losses. At last Hood was obliged to evacuate Atlanta; and on the 2d of September the Union army marched into the captured city. [Illustration: Sherman's Campaign, 1864.] [Sidenote: =Hood's Nashville Campaign.=] 7. General Hood now marched northward through Northern Alabama, and advanced on Nashville. Meanwhile, General Thomas, with the Army of the Cumberland, had been detached from Sherman's army and sent northward to confront Hood. General Schofield, who commanded the Federal forces in Tennessee, fell back before the Confederates, and took post at Franklin. Here, on the 30th of November, he was attacked by Hood's legions, and held them in check until nightfall, when he retreated within Thomas's defenses at Nashville. Hood followed, but on the 15th of December General Thomas fell upon the Confederate army, and, routing it with a loss of twenty-five thousand men, drove it back into Alabama. [Sidenote: =Sherman's Great March.=] 8. On the 14th of November General Sherman burned Atlanta and began his MARCH TO THE SEA. His army numbered sixty thousand men. He cut his communications with the North, abandoned his base of supplies, and struck out for the sea-coast, two hundred and fifty miles away. The Union army passed through Macon and Milledgeville, crossed the Ogeechee, captured Gibson and Waynesborough, and on the 10th of December arrived in the vicinity of Savannah. On the 13th, Fort McAllister was carried by storm. On the night of the 20th, General Hardee, the Confederate commandant, escaped from Savannah and retreated to Charleston. On the 22d, General Sherman made his headquarters in the city. [Illustration: Joseph E. Johnston.] 9. January, 1865, was spent by the Union army at Savannah. On the 1st of February, General Sherman began his march against Columbia, South Carolina. The Confederates had not sufficient force to stay his progress. On the 17th of the month, Columbia was surrendered. On the same night, Hardee, having destroyed the public property of Charleston, and kindled fires which laid four squares in ashes, evacuated the city; and on the following morning the national forces entered. From Columbia General Sherman marched into North Carolina, and on the 11th of March captured the town of Fayetteville. [Sidenote: =Surrender of Gen. Johnston.=]