“The General Commanding conveys his congratulations and thanks to the officers and men composing this command, for their most successful accomplishment of one of the great problems of the war. Meridian, the great railway centre of the Southwest, is now in our possession, and, by industry and hard work, can be rendered useless to the enemy, and deprive him of the chief source of supply to his armies. Secrecy in plan and rapidity of execution accomplish the best results of war; and the General Commanding assures all that, by following their leaders fearlessly and with confidence, they will in time reap the reward so dear to us all—a peace that will never again be disturbed in our country by a discontented minority.”
But as General Grant’s delay at Holly Springs, on account of its cowardly surrender, turned the first attack upon Vicksburg into a defeat, so by the failure of General Smith to start from Memphis till the 13th of February, the further success of the expedition was made impossible. Still, the affair was a magnificent raid into the heart of “rebeldom,” which spread terror along its way, and left the ruins of railroads, bridges, and storehouses behind, while securing animals and various material for the use of the Union army.
The great commander was now compelled to turn his column toward Vicksburg again, which he entered three weeks after his departure, having led his troops safely across hostile soil more than two hundred and fifty miles, surrounded by large armies. March 2d, General Sherman reached New Orleans in the gunboat Diana, and when referring to his expedition, termed it “a big raid only.” Before he had rested his heroic men, a law which had been before Congress while he was marching, was passed, creating the office of Lieutenant-General, the President conferring the honor of it upon Major-General Grant. The same order of March 12th gave to General Sherman the command before held by the hero of Vicksburg, called the Department of the Mississippi, and including the smaller departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee, with the Arkansas. Around him were to stand Generals McPherson, Hooker, Thomas, Hurlbut, Logan, Schofield, and Howard, the “Havelock of the army.”
The grandest and most decisive campaigns of the war were now planned. The Army of the Potomac, commanded by General Meade, was again to start for Richmond, under the eyes of the Lieutenant-General; and the divisions of General Sherman were to take Atlanta, the former the “head, the latter the heart of the Confederacy.”
It was a sublime crisis in the struggle. The two great heroes of the conflict had in their hands enterprises worthy of their genius, and which would hold the interest of the nation and of the world. For if either of the bold movements succeeded, the other it would seem must, because beyond the single victory were the vast results of the cöoperating armies on the coast, from the mouth of the James River to Savannah. Immediately upon receiving the notice of his appointment, in the middle of March, General Sherman began a tour of inspection, visiting Athens, Decatur, Huntsville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, and other places of military importance, carefully acquainting himself with the extent and resources of the new field of his command. From reports published, it is believed that on the 1st day of May the effective strength of the several armies, for offensive purposes, was about as follows:
| Army of the Cumberland, Major-General Thomas Commanding. | ||
| Infantry | 54,568 | |
| Artillery | 2,377 | |
| Cavalry | 3,828 | |
| ——— | ||
| Total | 60,773 | |
| Guns | 130 | |
| Army of the Tennessee, Major-General McPherson Commanding. | ||
| Infantry | 22,437 | |
| Artillery | 1,404 | |
| Cavalry | 624 | |
| ——— | ||
| Total | 24,465 | |
| Guns | 96 | |
| Army of the Ohio, Major-General Schofield Commanding. | ||
| Infantry | 11,183 | |
| Artillery | 679 | |
| Cavalry | 1,679 | |
| ——— | ||
| Total | 13,541 | |
| Guns | 28 | |
| Grand aggregate number of troops, 98,779; guns, 254. | ||
About these figures were maintained during the campaign, the number of men joining from furlough and hospitals about compensating for the loss in battle and from sickness. These armies were grouped on the morning of May 6th, as follows: That of the Cumberland at and near Ringgold; that of the Tennessee at Gordon’s Mill, on the Chickamauga; and that of the Ohio near Red Clay, on the Georgia line, north of Dalton.
A reference to the map again will show you Dalton on the railroad between Chattanooga and Atlanta, with Ringgold northwest of it. A distinguished general of the army describes the advance:
“Marching from Chattanooga on the 5th of May, and from Ringgold on the 7th, he first encountered Johnston at Tunnel Hill, a strong position, but which was used by him merely as an outpost to his still stronger one of ‘Buzzard Roost.’ This latter is a narrow gorge or pass in the Chatoogata Mountains, flanked on one side by the precipitous sides of Rocky Face Ridge (not unlike the Palisades of the Hudson River) and on the other by the greater but less precipitous elevation called John’s Mountain. This gorge was commanded on the Dalton side by an amphitheatre of hills, which, as well as the tops of Rocky Face and John’s Mountain, was crowned by batteries, lined with infantry, and terraced by sharpshooters. The railroad and wagon-road wind through the gorge, which is absolutely the only passage through the mountains at this place. Taking a leaf from the book of his Yorktown experience, Johnston had skilfully flooded the entrance to the gorge by damming a neighboring mountain-stream, and covering both railroad and wagon-road with water to the depth in some places of eight to ten feet. It is scarcely possible to conceive a stronger defensive position, and the rebels had been induced to believe that it was unassailable.”
The pass, which doubtless received its name from a large bird common at the south, was made impassable by abatis, and piles driven down filling the defile, and the whole overflowed by the waters of Mill Creek. Two days’ reconnoissance and sharp skirmishing proved to General Sherman that an attack in front would cost too great a sacrifice of life, and that the pass must be turned. The means for this were found in a gap called Snake Creek Gap, some fifteen miles to the southwest. The thick dark forest, by its concealment, would protect the march. Rising almost perpendicularly are the flinty sides of Rocky Face, on the other side of which stands Oak Knob. Into this wild and romantic seclusion our army pushed its front, while the rebels lurked in the heights around and above the Union “boys.”