On the following day, Sherman attempted to defeat the right of the Southern line by a surprise attack. In a battle known as Pickett’s Mill, the Northerners were hurled back with about 1,500 casualties. For the Federals, this engagement was one of the most desperate of the campaign. One company of the 41st Ohio Regiment lost 20 of its 22 men. The 49th Ohio carried slightly over 400 men into the battle and lost 203 of them. The commander of another regiment wrote that he lost a third of his men in the first few yards of the advance. “The rebel fire ... swept the ground like a hailstorm,” wrote another Unionist, adding, “this is surely not war it is butchery.” A third Northerner noted in his diary that evening, “our men were slaughtered terribly 2 brigades of infantry were almost cut to pieces.” The Southerners lost about 500 men. Over the next few days fighting continued almost incessantly. Both sides made assaults with strongly reinforced skirmish lines, seeking to hold the enemy in position. This type of combat was very tiring on the men. One soldier wrote after a night battle, “O God, what a night. They may tell of hell and its awful fires, but the boys who went thru the fight at Dallas ... are pretty well prepared for any event this side of eternity.” The days spent in the jungles near New Hope Church were among the most arduous of the war for the soldiers of both armies. In addition to the normal dangers of combat, the men had to undergo unusual physical hardships. Rain, heat, constant alarms, continuous sharpshooting, the stench of the dead, the screams of the wounded, and a serious shortage of food all added to the normal discomforts of life in the field. One Federal soldier described the time spent near Dallas as “Probably the most wretched week” of the campaign. Another wrote of it as “a wearisome waste of life and strength.” A third Northerner, referring to an unsuccessful foray against the Confederate lines, wrote, “We have struck a hornet nest at the business end.” So severe had the fighting been that Sherman’s men would ever afterward refer to the struggle around New Hope Church as the “Battle of the Hell Hole.” When it became clear that no decisive battle would be fought at Dallas, Sherman gradually sidled eastward to regain the railroad. On June 3, advance elements of the Federal forces reached the little town of Acworth, and within a few days, almost all the Northern troops were in that general area. Sherman had outmaneuvered Johnston and bypassed the strong Confederate position at Allatoona, but he had not seriously weakened his opponent. Once again the Federal commander ordered a short halt to rest his troops and allow time to repair the railroad and for reinforcements to arrive. [Illustration: {uncaptioned}] KENNESAW MOUNTAIN