the northwest flank of Georgia,
Hood made the last grand sortie from the beleaguered South. It was
a desperate adventure to go north against the Federal troops in
Tennessee, with Kentucky and the line of the Ohio as his ultimate
objective, when Lincoln had been returned to power, when Grant
was surely wearing down Lee in Virginia, and when Sherman's
preponderance of force was not only assured in Georgia but in Tennessee
as well. Moreover, Thomas, the "Rock of Chickamauga," had been sent
back to counter Hood from Grant's and Sherman's old headquarters
at Nashville on the Cumberland. And Thomas was soon to have the
usual double numbers; for all the Western depots sent him their
trained recruits, till, by the end of November, his total was over
seventy thousand. Hood's forty thousand could not be increased or
even stopped from dwindling. Yet he pushed on, with the consent
of Beauregard, who now held the general command of all the troops
opposed to Sherman.

The next moves were even more peculiar than the first. For while
Hood hoped to close the breach in Georgia by drawing Sherman back,
and Sherman expected that when he went on to widen the breach he
would draw Hood back, what really happened was that each advanced
on his own new line in opposite directions, Hood north through
Tennessee, Sherman southeast through Georgia. So firm was the grip
of the Union on all the navigable waters that Hood could only cross
the Tennessee somewhere along the shoals. He chose a place near
Florence, Alabama, got safely over and encamped. There, for the
moment, we shall leave him and follow Sherman to the sea.

The region of the Gulf and lower Mississippi being now under the
assured predominance of Union forces, Grant, with equal wisdom
and decision, entirely approved of Sherman's plan to cut loose
from his western base, make a devastating march through the heart
of fertile Georgia, and join the eastern forces of the North at
Savannah, where Fort Pulaski was in Union hands and the Union navy
was, as usual, overwhelmingly strong.

Sherman's March to the Sea at once acquired a popular renown which
it has never lost. This, however, was chiefly because it happened
to catch the public eye while nothing else was on the stage. For
its many admirable features were those about which most people
know little and care less: well-combined grand strategy, perfection
in headquarter orders and the incidental staff work, excellent
march discipline, w