The gallant chieftain of the conquering battalions, followed with his official congratulations to the proud and exultant columns which had pierced, like a wedge, the “heart of the Confederacy.” It is a finished and eloquent order: “HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF MISSISSIPPI, } IN THE FIELD, ATLANTA, GA., _Sept. 8, 1864_. } “The officers and soldiers of the Armies of the Cumberland, Ohio, and Tennessee, have, already received the thanks of the Nation, through its President and Commander-in-Chief, and it now remains only for him who has been with you from the beginning, and who intends to stay all the time, to thank the officers and men for their intelligence, fidelity, and courage displayed in the campaign of Atlanta. “On the 1st of May our armies were lying in garrison, seemingly quiet from Knoxville to Huntsville, and our enemy lay behind his rocky-faced barrier at Dalton, proud, defiant, and exulting. He had had time since Christmas to recover from his discomfiture on the Mission Ridge, with his ranks filled, and a new commander-in-chief, second to none of the Confederacy in reputation for skill, sagacity, and extreme popularity. All at once our armies assumed life and action, and appeared before Dalton; threatening Rocky Face we threw ourselves upon Resaca, and the rebel army only escaped by the rapidity of its retreat, aided by the numerous roads with which he was familiar, and which were strange to us. Again he took position in Allatoona, but we gave him no rest, and by a circuit toward Dallas and subsequent movement to Ackworth, we gained the Allatoona Pass. Then followed the eventful battles about Kenesaw, and the escape of the enemy across Chattahoochie River.