The Union armies pressed forward as rapidly as possible, along roads on which the dust lay a foot deep. The heat was intense and the men suffered greatly. On the afternoon of the 17th the advance guards struck the rear guard of the enemy at Adairsville, and had a sharp skirmish. Here, between 4 and 5 P. M., Howard and Newton with their respective staffs, all mounted, were watching from elevated ground, Newton's skirmish line, as it joined fire with Johnston's rear guard. "Musketry was lively," says Howard, "and a few cannon were sounding. It was something like a lion's interrupted roar, or the thunder of an approaching storm. Sherman and other officers rode up and began to take observations. Suddenly, from a new place, from the edge of a wood, a hostile four-gun battery took us for a practice-target. Shell after shell cut the air and burst beside and behind us, and over our heads. It was probably the fourth shot which exploded high up, skyward, but at just the point to scatter its fragments among the men and animals of our company; Colonel Morgan's horse was injured; Lieutenant-Colonel Fullerton's was put _hors du combat_ and several others of the orderlies and escort lamed or slain. Captain Bliss, of Newton's staff, by a flying fragment lost his shoulder-strap, and he himself was painfully hurt. Of course, that social crowd instantly altered the shape of the practice-target and changed its location." That night the enemy hastened the flight, different divisions of the army going in different directions, but on the next day Sherman came up with Johnston again at Kingston. The two armies faced each other in a rolling, wooded region, on to and beyond Cassville, and Sherman hoped to bring on a decisive battle. But Johnston again retreated, and that night, across the Etowah River, "a step," says Johnston, "which I have regretted ever since." This step was taken, it was said, on the advice of Polk and Hood, who regarded their position to be already turned and untenable. By this retreat across the Etowah a valuable region was given up to Sherman. The army now rested for three days, while supplies were brought forward. Rome had been captured with its important foundries and stores. The two bridges across the Etowah were secured, and all was made ready for the next stage of the campaign. About this time a remarkable thing began to be observed. Sherman displayed a knowledge of the country through which they were marching that was most amazing to his comrades, to whom it was an unknown land. He seemed to know by intuition that this road ran so and that one so, that beyond this hill was a pleasant valley, and beyond that an impassable swamp. The whole topography of the country was at his command. But the explanation was simple. They were now in the region that Sherman had travelled through on horseback and afoot many years before.