WHILE Sherman's Army was literally standing at the gates of Atlanta, this photograph was taken. The great general was with his staff in a Federal fort on the outlying hills. He was leaning on the breech of the cannon in one of his most characteristic attitudes. At this time Sherman was forty-four years of age. When sixteen years old he had entered West Point as a cadet, through the influence of his father, who was a Supreme Court judge in Ohio. At twenty years of age he entered the United States regular army and during the Mexican War was engaged in service in California. When thirty-three years of age, Sherman resigned from the army and became President of the State Military Institute of Louisiana. At the outbreak of the Civil War he left the South and offered his services to the Union. He was a colonel at the Battle of Bull Run. After that battle, when the Northern Army was reorganized, Sherman was appointed Brigadier-General of Volunteers and commanded the Department of the Cumberland. He demanded 200,000 men to reach the Gulf, but it was refused and he was ordered into Missouri. He was for a time inactive but came to the front again at Shiloh in command of a division under Grant. His bravery secured his promotion to Major-General and he became active in the campaign around Vicksburg. He then entered into the Mississippi Campaign and led the forces against Atlanta, resulting in his famous march to the sea. This photograph was taken on the eighteenth day of July, in 1864, on the lines before Atlanta. Sherman was much interested in the new science of photography and he always protected the cameras. [Illustration: BATTLEFIELD OF PEACH TREE CREEK, GEORGIA, JULY 20, 1864--HOOD'S FIRST SORTIE NEAR ATLANTA] [Illustration: WHERE GENERAL MCPHERSON WAS KILLED, JULY 22, 1864, NEAR ATLANTA--HOOD'S SECOND SORTIE] [Illustration: BATTLEFIELD AT ATLANTA, GEORGIA, JULY 22, 1864--HOOD'S SECOND SORTIE] [Illustration: MILL AND RAILROAD DESTROYED BY CONFEDERATES ON EVACUATION OF ATLANTA, SEPTEMBER 2, 1864] [Illustration: CAPTAIN JOHN A. WINSLOW AND OFFICERS ON DECK OF "KEARSARGE" ON RETURN TO AMERICA AFTER DESTRUCTION OF THE "ALABAMA" IN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL] [Illustration: CONFEDERATE IRONCLAD RAM "TENNESSEE" CAPTURED AT MOBILE BAY AUGUST 5, 1864, BY ADMIRAL FARRAGUT]