Lapas attēli
PDF
ePub
[graphic][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

7

[blocks in formation]

OR, A SOUTH-SIDE VIEW OF SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "FIELD AND CAMP."

CHAPTER IV.

CAMPAIGN.

CAUSE OF THE FAILURE OF THE WESTERN the west, which find their way into the Gulf of

east, that flow into the Atlantic, from those of

Mexico through that father of waters, the
Mississippi. In these mountains the Ohio

Before proceeding further, it will be necessary, for a clear understanding of the sub-river also has its source, and flowing west, ject, to go back and take a brief view of the between the Confederate States of Virginia condition of affairs in what was known as and Kentucky, and the Federal States of the Military Department of the West, prior Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, empties into the to the investment of Atlanta. For this pur- Mississippi-thus affording, at almost every pose we must revert to the commencement season of the year, an uninterrupted inland of the war, in 1861, and follow the army, at navigation from the Gulf of Mexico to the that time operating in Kentucky, in its grad-western portion of Pennsylvania, and with- ́ ual retreat into Georgia.

in a distance of less than two hundred miles of that great chain of lakes which, in part, forms the Northern boundary of the United States. That these rivers, with this great chain of mountains filling the intervening space between their sources, and thus presenting an uninterrupted line of natural obstruction, would attract the attention of the scientific soldier and engineer, must be apparent to the most superficial observer; and hence we find, at the very outset of the war, they were looked upon as offering, upon the whole, defensive features far superior to any other portion of the Confederacy.

If the reader will turn to the map he will see that the States of the Confederacy are divided from those which at that time (1861) still held allegiance to the Federal Government, by the following great geographical barriers: On the East the Potomac, with its source in the mountains, and its outlet, through the Chesapeake, into the Atlantic, formed, as it may be called, the first section This is a noble stream, capable of floating on its broad bosom the united navies of the world, and being honored (?)—at least in the estimation of our Northern brethren-with having on its banks the Capital of a once free and glorious country-alas! free and glorious now no longer. Along the sources of this river, and crossing the continent in a southwestern direction, is a great chain of mountains, which divides the waters of the VOL. VI.-No. I.

[blocks in formation]

26

[blocks in formation]

ما را

6301.

« iepriekšējāTurpināt »