Of this campaign Halleck wrote: “I do not hesitate to say that it has been the most brilliant of the war,” and Grant himself, with that mutual magnanimity that characterized the two great friends and competitors for fame, declared to Sherman, “You have accomplished the most gigantic undertaking given to any general in this war, and with a skill and ability that will be acknowledged in history as unsurpassed, if not unequalled.”
But much remained.
The dragon of rebellion, though sorely smitten, still lay writhing and would not die until his time was fully come.
Lee, sullen and desperate, lay within the still invincible intrenchments of Richmond, nursing his wounds, but with power able yet to strike a heavy blow, and gathering his remaining strength for the final effort.
Sherman’s antagonists, though demoralized and bewildered, were still unconquered; and forced out from Atlanta, filled the open country with an angry buzzing, as of an overturned hive. To add to their discomfiture, the astute Johnston, the most intellectual soldier of the Confederacy, whose stubborn dispute of every inch of territory, perfect skill in defending his successive positions, and marvelous success in withdrawing without loss at the latest moment, displayed a capacity second only to that of his opponent, and whose patient policy of drawing Sherman after him, to a constantly increasing distance from his base, without himself risking the disaster of a defeat, was, as history has proved, the last crutch of the Rebellion,—had been plucked from his command by the narrow-minded Confederate President and replaced by Hood, whose fighting qualities had been proved on many a field of battle, but who otherwise lacked every requisite for leadership in such a contest.
But a thousand long miles still separated Atlanta from Richmond; and these must be traversed before that proximate conjunction of forces could take place that was needed to give rebellion its coup de grace, and to tear forever from the free sky of America the fluttering and ragged emblem of a maleficent and arrogant domination.
Sherman, in Atlanta, was resting, granting well-earned furloughs to his veterans, recruiting his ranks, guarding from the cavalry, who swarmed in his rear and sought to break it, the extended line—over 250 miles—of railroad from Nashville to Chattanooga, and thence to Atlanta, upon which he depended for his supplies, and incessantly planning his next move, which he had already determined would be to the Sea, with Savannah as an intermediate base for the farther march to the rear of Lee’s Army, and a conjunction with Grant;—upon whom, in his correspondence, he repeatedly urged assent to his proposal, and suggested the capture of Savannah by the Eastern forces in advance of his own arrival there.
The Washington authorities, always timorous and vacillating, were not yet brought to assent to this superb strategic project, based upon the military theorem, “An Army operating offensively must maintain the offensive,” and constructed with Sherman’s solid judgment that he must go onward, since to withdraw would be to lose all the morale of his success up to that point.
Even Grant, with all his confidence in and reliance upon Sherman, expressed unwillingness that he should embark upon it while Hood’s Army was still undestroyed.
Meanwhile, Sherman, in full conviction that the necessity would presently be demonstrated, was watching Hood, who lay some thirty miles to the Southeast of Atlanta, and whose intentions he could not even guess at,—and with tremendous energy was endeavoring to accumulate supplies in excess of daily needs, in order that when the time was ripe he should be ready to start.