"What I now want more particularly to say is that, if the two main attacks, yours and the one from here, should promise great success, the enemy may, in a fit of desperation, abandon one part of their line of defence and throw their whole strength upon a single army, believing a defeat with one victory to sustain them better than a defeat all along their whole line, and hoping, too, at the same time, that the army, meeting with no resistance, will rest perfectly satisfied with its laurels, having penetrated to a given point south, thereby enabling them to throw their force first upon one and then on the other.
"With the majority of military commanders they might do this; but you have had too much experience in travelling light, and subsisting upon the country, to be caught by any such ruse. I hope my experience has not been thrown away. My directions, then, would be, if the enemy in your front shows signs of joining Lee, follow him up to the extent of your ability. I will prevent the concentration of Lee upon your front if it is in the power of this army to do it."
Grant proposed to move against Lee on May 5th, and it was arranged that Sherman should at the same time move against Johnston. For this work Sherman now put forward his preparations with all possible zeal and thoroughness. On April 27th he ordered all his troops to Chattanooga, and the next day placed his own headquarters there. On May 6th his mighty host was marshalled for the advance. Three armies were under his command. The Army of the Tennessee was on the bank of Chickamauga Creek, near Gordon's Mill. It comprised the Fifteenth and parts of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Army Corps, under Generals Logan, Dodge and Blair, with the gallant McPherson in general command. The Army of the Cumberland was at Ringgold. It included the Fourth, Fourteenth and Twentieth Corps, under Generals Howard, Palmer and Hooker, with Thomas in general command. The Army of the Ohio was near Red Clay, north of Dalton, Georgia. It consisted of the Ninth and Twenty-third Corps, and was commanded by General Schofield. The strength of these armies was as follows: Tennessee—Infantry, 22,437; Artillery, 1,404; Cavalry, 624; total, 24,465; guns, 96. Cumberland—Infantry, 54,568; Artillery, 2,377; Cavalry, 3,828; total, 60,773; guns, 130. Ohio—Infantry, 11,193; Artillery, 679; Cavalry, 1,697: total, 13,559; guns, 28. Sherman had planned an army of 100,000 men and 250 guns. He actually had, according to the above statement, 98,797 men and 254 guns.
The opposing Rebel army was now commanded by Joseph E. Johnston, who had succeeded Bragg, and comprised three corps, under Hardee, Hood and Polk. According to Johnston's official statement, its total strength in April, 1864, was 52,992, and at the middle of May, when the battle of Resaca was fought, 71,235. The number of guns on both sides was about equal.
The Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan on May 4th, and Grant, sitting on a log in the Virginia woods, telegraphed to Sherman at Chattanooga to move forward. General Howard's account of the opening of the great march is as follows:
"When we were ready for the bold offensive, the left of Thomas, (Howard's Corps) rested at Catoosa Springs his centre, (Hooker) at Ringgold, and his right, (Palmer) at Leet's Tan Yard. McPherson was near Villanow, and Schofield moving southward from Cleveland, Tennessee, approached Dalton. It was the sixth of May.
"Notice Catoosa Springs, a summer resort. The surrounding hills were covered with trees, light green, in tender leaf; and the mountain ranges on two sides, Lookout and Taylor's Ridge, gave substantial back ground to a variegated and charming landscape. The effect of war had already nearly depopulated the village, so that there was little use for the large hotel buildings or the smaller boarding-houses—a few trembling citizens and a few dubious black people were all that remained to satisfy official curiosity and supply local knowledge.
"This bright May morning I saw Thomas and Sherman together. Sherman, now that things were in motion, appeared happy and confident. With a map before him, he gave us briefly the entire situation. Here is Dalton,—there your force—on this side Schofield. Down there McPherson, soon to pass the Snake Gap and strike Johnston's line. Thomas in his quiet way put forth then the bolder view, viz: send at once the larger force, not the smaller, through the gap. Sherman shook his head, and signified that he was not yet ready to exchange bases with Johnston. But there was no jar, only confidence in each other and strong hope in our hearts as we separated that day.
"Early the next morning was another meeting, out in the open field. Stanley with his strong build, fine face and long beard. T. J. Wood of smaller stature, grayish hair and decisive, caustic ways; and Newton with his handsome figure and keen sensitive looks, never thoroughly contented till the conflict was actually joined. These Division Commanders of the fourth corps stood near each other intently gazing upon the crest of Tunnel Hill. Our troops were already deployed and advancing in the beautiful morning light—arms were never brighter—and the Confederate cavalry, in full array, coming up from beyond the ridge, with skirmish interval, added interest and emotion to the parade. A battery or so, hastening to place, only deepened the feeling in the breasts of our experienced veterans.
"At a word of command and a bugle call the outer line took up the run, and soon cleared the whole front. A few zip, zips of the foremost rifles, a few cannon salutes, a few screeches of shells, a few men wounded to the death or maimed for life! and that was all! When I took my stand by Stanley's side on the crest of the hill just gained, and thence sought to reconnoitre Tailor's craggy mountain range which still sheltered the bulk of Johnston's host, Stanley cried out: General, the ball is opened! And so it had. It was a curious ball, a long dance, for more than one hundred days. And it was a terrible dance, wilder at times than comes to foresters amid the bending and falling of trees in a hurricane; it was fearfully suggestive of the savage war-dance of the red men that ends in death to white men and desolation to homes.