esaw and thence
to Allatoona, over the heads of the enemy, a dispatch to be telegraphed to
Corse at Rome to move at once with all speed and with his entire command
to the relief of Allatoona. Sherman himself reached Kenesaw early on the
morning of the 5th, and from the summit, to use his own language, "had a
superb view of the vast panorama to the North and West. To the Southwest,
about Dallas and Lost Mountain, could be seen the smoke of camp fires
indicating the presence of a large force of the enemy, and the whole line
of railroad from Big Shanty up to Allatoona (full fifteen miles), was
plainly marked by the fires of the burning railroad. We could plainly see
the smoke of battle about Allatoona and hear the faint reverberation of
the cannon."

The fact was disclosed that Hood lay in force near Dallas, 15 miles to the
West and South of Kenesaw, and had detached a heavy column Eastward to
destroy the railroad and capture the scattered garrisons including the
all-important post of Allatoona.

About 8:30 a. m. Allatoona signalled Kenesaw, "Corse is here with one
brigade; where is Sherman?" As received at Kenesaw this message read,
"Corse is here with ----." My recollection is that while the signal
officer was working his flag it was cut from his hands by a fragment of
shell, interrupting the message, the latter part of which was not
received, or at least not recognized. I find, however, no official
confirmation of this. The mutilated report gave Sherman immense relief,
but left him to suppose that Corse had arrived with his entire division.
Had he known that the reinforcement was only a portion of one brigade, his
satisfaction would have been less. As he says himself, "I watched with
painful suspense the indications of the battle raging there, * * * but
about 2 p. m. I noticed with satisfaction that the smoke of battle about
Allatoona grew less and less, and ceased altogether about 4 p. m. * * *
Later in the afternoon the signal flag announced the welcome tidings that
the attack had been fairly repulsed."

The signal officer at Kenesaw reports that Sherman at the time, pronounced
these signal messages "Worth a million dollars."

CORSE.

Leaving now this bird's eye view of what was happening, let us go back a
little and follow Corse's movements. He had arrived at Rome from Atlanta
September 27th, with two of his brigades, the third being already
there,--and thereafter had been busy, in accordance with his general