Original Photographs Taken on the Battlefields during the Civil War of the United States
John Stuart Mill · en
WHILE Grant was moving on toward Richmond, Sherman's armies of Arkansas,
Cumberland, Ohio and Tennessee, with 352,000 men distributed in many
garrisons over this wide expanse of territory, was moving against
Atlanta, Georgia. Opposed to Sherman was Lieutenant-General Joseph E.
Johnston, who commanded all the Confederate troops in the West,
including the men of Bragg's old army. Atlanta was of equal importance
with Richmond. It was a great railroad center and it contained the
Confederate depots, mills, foundries and the manufactories of military
supplies. Sherman had moved simultaneously with the Army of the Potomac,
on the second day of the Battle of the Wilderness. On the thirteenth of
May, Sherman's men met the Confederates at Resaca, Georgia. There was
brisk, sharp fighting all along the lines. On the night of the fifteenth
the Confederates abandoned the town and crossed the Oostenaula River,
setting fire to the bridges. At dawn of the sixteenth the Federals
entered Resaca and began a vigorous pursuit, and the camera recorded the
scene of the abandoned entrenchments. The fields across which the
Confederates withdrew may be seen in the distance. The Confederates
concentrated their forces near New Hope Church on the twenty-fifth, and
attacked the advancing Union troops but were driven back with heavy
loss. The war photographers here secured a photograph of the
entrenchments in the woods where there was continuous fighting for six
days. The Federal Army forced its way through the mountainous country to
the towering peaks of Kenesaw Mountain, Lost Mountain, and Pine
Mountain. On all these heights the Confederates had signal towers. The
outlying hills were occupied by batteries. The cameras were carried to
the heights of Kenesaw Mountain and taken into its entrenchments.
Sherman's troops climbed this slope, through its tangled wood and rifle
pits, in the face of a steady musketry and artillery fire. This really
ended the first movement of Sherman's campaign against Atlanta.
Sherman's losses during May and June were over 2,000 killed and 13,000
wounded. Johnston's losses were about 1,200 killed and nearly 14,000
wounded. During the fifty-four days, both armies were depleted by 3,200
killed, 27,000 wounded.
[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN WHILE SKELETONS OF DEAD SOLDIERS WERE
BEING REMOVED SEVERAL MONTHS AFTER BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR]