BATTLEFIELD AT RESACA, IN GEORGIA, MAY 13-16, 1864
BATTLEGROUND ON KENESAW MOUNTAIN, GEORGIA, IN JULY, 1864
BATTLEFIELD OF NEW HOPE CHURCH, IN GEORGIA, MAY 25 TO JUNE 4, 1864
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.
PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN WHILE SKELETONS OF DEAD SOLDIERS WERE BEING REMOVED SEVERAL MONTHS AFTER BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR