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