THE BATTLES OF KENESAW MOUNTAIN.

JUNE 14, 1864.

Heavy skirmishing had continued from the opening of this battle till the day on which the great fight occurred which ended in giving the Unionists possession of the enemy's position on Kenesaw Mountain. Upon the 14th, the rebel general, Bishop Leonidas Polk was killed, while com. manding on Pine Mountain, during a heavy cannonading by the Fourth corps. During the same night the enemy, having discovered that General Hooker was moving to cut off their retreat, abandoned their works, which were quickly occupied by Stanley's division of the Fourth corps. A paper was found affixed to a stake near the rebel works on Pine Mountain, on which was written, "Here General Polk was killed by a Yankee shell." It was subsequently ascertained that the rebel generals Johnston and Hardee, who were standing near Polk, narrowly escaped being killed at the same time.

General Johnston now drew back his centre to the chain of hills which connected Kenesaw and Lost Mountain, still keeping his right and left flank respectively on these mountains. During the 15th, 16th, and 17th, heavy skirmishing continued from morning till night; which told upon the endurance of the troops almost as much as a pitched battle would have done. Late in the evening of the 17th, severe skirmishing opened in front of Stanley's division. At the same time the enemy engaged Harkens' brigade, of Newton's division, and a regiment-the Ninety-third Ohio-of Hazen's brigade; and toward nightfall a heavy fire was opened all along the front of General Howard's line. The batteries of Bridge and Bradery were speedily brought to bear upon the rebels, and with telling effect; while upon the left the batteries of Logan and Blair were making themselves heard in most formidable manner. Night drew on, and a brief silence ensued, but the rebels had not yet abandoned the attack. A correspondent of the day thus describes the renewal of the battle: "It was a beautiful night. The soft moonlight beaming from the clear southern sky, floated through the forest trees, lighting them with a bewitching kind of beauty. The air was calm and balmy, the sky without a cloud. Fireflies, sparkling like diamonds, were flitting around. The cry of the whip-poor-will resounded through the forest, and the plaint cry of the croaking frogs rose from the marshes like the tinkling. of sleigh-bells. Smoke and flames shot up from buildings that had been fired by shells. Soon a dropping shot along the line, followed by rapid ( musketry-firing, roused us from our solemn kind of torpor. The rebels had opened on our skirmish line, and a brisk fight ensued. Our batteries

soon opened, hurling shell and canister into their ranks. The attack also extended to our left, where they vainly strove to regain their lost position, but were again repulsed by Logan's command. The rebels were foiled in their attack at all points, and the horrid din of battle soon gave way to the placid stillness of night."

A sudden rain storm came on in a perfect deluge, during the night, and the enemy abandoned his front line of works. Early in the morning General Howard ordered his whole line to push forward sharply. General Harkens' brigade led the advance, and, having come up with the enemy, and being reinforced with Wagner's brigade, charged forward, driving them from their first line of works. On this day the possession of the Dallas and Marietta roads was secured; and the Unionists continued to press the enemy so close and hard that at dusk the Twentieth corps was in a line perpendicular with the rebel line.

During the operations of the 18th, the loss to the National troops was very heavy; the rebel loss in killed and wounded was also severe, besides which the Unionists took prisoner several hundred of the enemy.

General Johnston took advantage of the night, and a heavy rain storm, to withdraw his left flank from its position on Lost Mountain, which he saw could not be maintained, making his strong point of resistance on Kenesaw Mountain. The National forces immediately took possession of the abandoned works on Lost Mountain.

On the next morning, Stanley's division followed up the enemy to their new position, and threw out two brigades as skirmishers. Newton's division formed on Stanley's left, and sent out the Thirty-sixth and Eighty-eighth Illinois as skirmishers. Wood's division then formed on the right, and fierce skirmishing began all along the line. General Harkens' brigade signally distinguished itself in this encounter, and aided by Kimball's brigade developed the enemy's lines and works.

Generals Sherman, Thomas, Howard, and other officers, were now occupying the house of a Mr. Wallace, on the Marietta road, eagerly watching the effect of the Union batterics upon the rebel works. Together with the batteries named above, those of Goodspeed and Spencer were now got into position, and all opened at once on the rebels, who promptly replied with a couple of batteries from the slope of the hill, and a section of heavy guns from the crest. A regular duel now opened between the opposing artillery, and all along the intervening valley the clouds of dense smoke hung midway in the air.

The whole line was soon engaged, and from early morning till late night the crash and flash, the roar and scream of battle never ceased; and when at length the night interrupted the fierce fight, it but served to recruit the strength with which both sides renewed it in the morning. A slight, forked ridge which jutted out in front of General Wood's divi

sion was selected, and at once made use of, as a position for a battery; and two heavy guns were dragged forward, and placed so as to bear heavily upon the rebel line, and set to work immediately. Shortly after this it was ascertained from rebel prisoners that a portion of Hood's and Hardee's corps were massing against Sherman's centre; the attack was made, and gallantly repulsed, the rebels being driven back with loss. They next assailed Kirby's division, but met with similar misfortune, being fiercely repulsed, but not beaten. They again attacked, and were stubbornly resisted for one hour; at the end of that time they gained a slight temporary advantage, taking possession of a prominent knoll in Kirby's front, which they continued to occupy, although severely attacked by the brigades of Gross and Whittaker. Again night temporarily put a stop to the battle. The divisions of Newton and Wood had perceptibly advanced -that of Stanley, having been most severely pressed, had succeeded in keeping its ground, with the exception of the knoll lost to the enemy. Just as night fell intense anxiety was felt by all, for the rebels were seen pressing heavily upon Stanley's front; but after a few minutes' suspense a loud ringing cheer from the brave Unionists proclaimed the rebel repulse, and indicated that nothing had been gained by them.

Early on the 21st, the fight opened with heavy skirmishing in all direc. tions, which continued during the whole day.

On the 22d, the enemy made a sudden attack upon portions of Generals Hooker's and Schofield's troops on the Federal right, near what is known as the "Kulp House," and was handsomely repulsed, leaving his dead, wounded, and many prisoners behind him. The Federal centre was now established squarely in front of Kenesaw, but it required so many men to hold the railroad and the line running along the base of the mountain, that but a small force was left with which to attempt a flank movement to the right. So small was it that General Sherman hesitated to push it vigorously toward the railroad, in the rear of Marietta, for fear that it might be altogether detached from the army, and exposed to disaster. He therefore contented himself with extending his right along the enemy's flank, hoping that General Johnston would thereby be induced to weaken his centre sufficiently to render an assault in that direction practicable. "Although inviting the enemy at all times," says General Sherman in his official report," to make such mistakes, I could not hope for him to repeat them after the examples of Dallas and the 'Kulp House; and upon studying the ground, I had no alternative but to assail his lines or turn his position. Either course had its difficulties and dangers. And I perceived that the enemy and our own officers had settled down into a conviction that I would not assault fortified lines. All looked to me to outflank.' An army to be efficient must not settle down to one single mode of offence, but must be prepared to execute any

plan which promises success. I waited, therefore, for the moral effect, to make a successful assault against the enemy behind his breastworks, and resolved to attempt it at that point where success would give the largest fruits of victory."

BATTLE OF LITTLE KENESAW.

JUNE 24, 1864.

On the twenty-fourth of June General Sherman ordered an attack to be made at two points south of Kenesaw-the one to be made upon Little Kenesaw, by General McPherson, and the other, about a mile south of that point, by General Thomas. At six A. M. of the twenty-seventh-the appointed day-the Seventeenth corps, commanded by General Blair, moved upon the eastern point of the mountain, threatening the enemy's right; while the Fifteenth (General Logan), and the Sixteenth (General Dodge), attacked the northern slope. The three brigades forming the Fifteenth corps scattered the enemy's skirmishers, and pushing up the slope with daring impetuosity, carried a large part of the rebel rifle-pits. Rushing forward, the troops found themselves at the foot of a precipitous cliff not less than thirty feet high, which they attempted to scale, but from which they were beaten back by the fire of the enemy formed in line of battle at its summit, and by a shower of heavy stones, which were hurled down upon them. A second attack was ordered, and, for the purpose, a portion of General Newton's division of the Fourth corps, and General Davis's, of the Fourteenth, were selected. Buoyant with courage, the troops rushed forward, charged up the mountain in the midst of a murderous fire, and gallantly carrying the line of rifle-pits, reached the works beyond. Many of them scaled the ramparts, but the fire of musketry and artillery was so overpowering that the men were hastily recalled. General Newton's troops returned to their original line, but the Second brigade of General Davis threw up works between those they had carried, and the enemy's main line, and there they held their position. Brief as this fight was, it cost General Sherman a loss of three thousand men in killed and wounded, while that of the rebels, intrenched behind strong works, was comparatively trifling.

Referring to this defeat General Sherman says, "Failure as it was, and for which I assume the entire responsibility, I yet claim it produced good fruits, as it demonstrated to General Johnston that I would assault, and that boldly, and we also gained and held ground so close to the enemy's parapets that he could not show a head above them."

It would have been wholly out of character in General Sherman to have rested under the imputation of defeat; and, accordingly, immediate

preparations were made to turn the rebel left. On July 1st, General McPherson was relieved by Garrard's cavalry in front of Kenesaw, and was in that way enabled to threaten Nickajack creek and Turner's Ferry across the Chattahoochie, Stoneman's cavalry being pushed down below the ferry. The effect of this movement was instantaneous, and on the morning of the 3d, Kenesaw was utterly abandoned by the rebels, and its summit covered by Union soldiers before the sun had risen. General Thomas's line was then moved toward the Chattahoochie, in pursuit of the rebels, and at half past eight o'clock General Sherman entered Marietta, and took possession of the city. During the rebel retreat upwards of two thousand prisoners were captured by the Union soldiers.

General Thomas overtook the enemy at the Smyrna camp-mecting ground, about five miles from Marietta, protected in front with a strong parapet; and in rear by the Nickajack and Rottenwood creeks. General Sherman assigned a garrison for Marietta, and joined General Thomas at Smyrna. On the 4th, the whole line of rebel pits was captured, and on the next morning the enemy was gone. The army of General Sherman then moved directly on the Chattahoochie, beyond which the enemy was found behind a very strong line. Heavy skirmishing opened at once, which served to show the strength of the rebels, and to prove to General Sherman that the line could be turned only in one way-namely, by crossing the main river. On the 7th, General Schofieid having been ordered to cross the Chattahoochie, did so with success, surprised the enemy, and effected a lodgment on high ground, from which the rebels. fled to the eastward. General Garrard next secured the fort at Rosswell, which he was ordered to hold till relieved by infantry; which was done, while General Schofield crossed the river two miles below Powens' Ferry, and took a strong position on the right. Thus three safe points of passage across the river were secured. Each position obtained had good roads leading direct to Atlanta, and at daylight on the tenth of July, the enemy had fled, leaving the Unionists in full possession of all they had won. One of the most important objects of the campaign was now accomplished; and beyond-only eight miles distant-lay the city of Atlanta, to obtain possession of which was the next object of General Sherman's march. Without an hour's delay the first step was taken.

An expedition, commanded by General Rousseau, in command of the district of Tennessee, was sent out at that time to break the railroad between Montgomery and Opelika, by which Johnston received his sup plies.

General Rousseau, as his commanding general states, " fulfilled his or ders and instructions to the very letter;' and on his route encountered and defeated the rebel General Canton, returning safely to Marietta on the twenty second; having sustained a loss of not more than thirty men.