WHILE the combined armies under Sherman lay in and around Atlanta until October, 1864, the war photographers were used extensively. Fierce encounters took place early in that month around Kenesaw Mountain and along Allatoona Pass. During this famous encounter Sherman stood on the top of Kenesaw. General Corse, who was leading the Union Division into combat, sent him this message: "I am short a cheek-bone and one ear, but am able to whip all hell yet." It was to this that Sherman made his famous reply: "Hold the fort, for I am coming." Sherman began his famous march to the sea on the fifteenth of November. As the columns left Atlanta the Federal engineers applied their torches to the depot, roundhouse, and the machine shops of the Georgia railroad. The columns extended to the northern part of the city. Stores, warehouses, hotels, and mills, with many private dwellings, were destroyed to the value of more than three millions of dollars. Amid the fierce heat and roar Sherman rode out of Atlanta on the afternoon of November 16th. The great army for five consecutive weeks swept across Georgia. The 62,000 men, 20,000 horses and mules, marched 300 miles in a route from 20 to 60 miles wide. The army captured twenty million pounds of corn and fodder, three million rations of bread and meat, one million rations of coffee and sugar and 350 miles of railroad track were destroyed. Sherman estimated the property losses at over one hundred millions of dollars. The Federal losses during the campaign were but 63 men killed on the field, 245 wounded, and 259 missing. The Confederacy was severed and a decisive step taken toward ending the Civil War. [Illustration: DESTRUCTION FROM EXPLOSION OF ORDNANCE BARGES AT WHARVES AT CITY POINT, VIRGINIA, AUGUST 9, 1864]