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overthrow of the Southern Confedera cy. It was Sherman’s only channel for supplies for his immense army, and, during the campaign, he hugged it with a tenacity which showed that he considered it indispensable to success. His flank movement through Snake Creek Gap was to gain possession of it at Resaca, in the rear of Johnston at Dalton; his move against Calhoun, south of Resaca, via Lay’s Ferry, had the same end in view. Such, likewise, was his object, in the skillfully-planned and masterly march and strugglesabout New Hope Church, and such was his immediate aim in the movement south west of Marietta, after the failure of his grand and heroic assault upon Ken nesaw Mountain. One hundred and forty-five car loads per day of supplies were needed for the subsistence of his army during the cam paign, and over this railroad they were transported from Chattanooga. To insure its preservation, as he progressed farther and farther south ward, he placed garrisons to protect each bridge. Johnston, too, was fully alive to the supreme importance of this line to both armies, and, while his constant endeav or was to protect it behind him, it was also, his most ardent desire to find some means for breaking it in Sher man’s rear; and thus forcing upon the latter the alternative of retreat or star vation. To this eud, he and the Gov ernor of Georgia made the strongest appeals to the Richmond government for Forrest’s cavalry to be brought from Mississippi and kept actively at the work of destruction upon the railroad bridges, etc.; using the argument that it was better to take the risk of Feder al raids in northern Mississippi than to lose the opportunity of forcing into disastrous retreat the invading army which was driving its advance like a wedge of steel into the very heart of the Confederacy. These entreaties, however, were with out success, and the Western & Atlan tic Railroad, despite Sherman’s con stant apprehensions of the realization of Johnston’s wish, remained the chief means by which the invasion was sus tained, and crowned with the fall of Atlanta. As a prominent Federal authority said, after the war, to a Western & Atlantic official, “The Union element cannot be too thankful for the fact that your road was in existence.” “Then,” was the remark, “ the W. & A. road should be the pride of every true American, if by reason of its ex istence the Union was saved.” The Western and Atlantic Railroad train No. 19, leaving Atlanta at 5:50 p. m., connects with the N. & C. train which arrives at Nashville at 6:20 the next morning and reaches Louisville at 2:20 p. m. that day. It also con nects at Nashville with the train via Evansville, arriving at Chicago at 10:50 a. m. the next day, and which arrives at St. Louis at 8:00 p. m. the next night after leaving Atlanta. Jhe Kennesaw Route is the'quickest. (Special to the Commercial Gazette.) MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. Veterans Visiting Old Battle-Fields. The Old Soldiers’ Excursion to Scenes Familiar to Them Over Twenty Years Ago. Atlanta, Ga., September 22. — This has been a day full of the keen est interest and enjoyment to all taking part in the veteran excursion. Leav ing Chattanooga at seven o’clock, this morning, the whole day has been spent / \ \ OJ / . ' oiive\ s, ’hool C ( 7- ■?/ Cuvsilr>?lJut’tle of-K,eiineisnv Mt. h* \ \ *>f /X/, // 5 Z rC \\ Gre! PJ» a ttle WX’K Z»7 \ ZX, /k'Z's jpiilgal Chui-clA—/J .> 5 A • ■ sZSs-lh Tr MI i )) \ oV /AC , /-r J, fl/ I' V. T. O.< i>’ / Lr t-xz. -r\luAitutc'V R\\ \ A/ I F Xi V~ k XVs y / \ w 7X LI \ 'J \ MAr OF /up>w/o.7VMPj°T hu > •MARIETTA- ' AND VICINITY J VCButUe June 1 '<4 0 1 2 MILES S\\ / Nj\ \z' 1—.... , L nwruTir- rt~ i j C / X ) MATTHEWS. NORTHRIP 1 CO . - ART PRIN TlNli. WuRKS, BUFFALO. N. /. upon the road between there and At lanta. The weather, which early in the morning was hazy, and with clouds threatening rain, soon cleared up, and became clear, fresh and bracing. Stops of from half an hour to an hour and a half were made at the points of greatest interest along the road. The Western and Atlantic , Railroad is the road along which Sher man advanced in his march to At lanta, and it passes through or near k y^/iioweiis ßuckhgacl ’ MAPOF i -a t l a n t a- \ V AND VICINITY. / '-pvY ca r/ \ >) L- • _ ...11l 111 II II jßelforF rV Butt Ju. '\l/vZr-X,7 J scale of miles. °C .Teach Ax A n T'o . i C V^ ont c 4“ cr >V hapel f X I\ X < 5 JColKerM/HUo \ f Hilik.ParkVX \ MtSZioulCliirch « ‘vCT'v. V js <S >< <fl? uri K tl “ es (Shops 1 j '.ixL' rv \ i Uaril'iiaU^ChurcK 0 hzx W?e\ < \ 7 xL AbiiSl (XAU °'t u,j\\ \ >J | N Jinis ■ -L \/ f /a 07 st >^^::a::::::: c v«AveV e ' k N LiL°' x czrduhurchk V V'J UU! f j \ A 'J? ■( <■ fc N. r-CZ X:\Vhitenall MrsU’cMys Mill 1 TZ/ j Tv M AT\ & XtfMmTkVfi * C 2-l ABT-FBINIINS WORKS, BUFFALO, N. the scenes of nearly all the important conflicts of that memorable campaign. Among the places visited were Chicka mauga Station, Ringgold, Buzzards’ Roost, Dalton, Resaca, Allatoona, Big Shanty, Kennesaw Mountain and Ma rietta. At Chattanooga the excursion train was taken charge of by C. E. Har man, the General Western Agent for the Western and Atlantic Railroad ; and to his good management and cour teous and affable demeanor was due much of the enjoyment of the trip. THE KENNESAW GAZETTE. Part of those who had come from i Cincinnati were left at Chattanooga, but among those who continued the trip were the representatives of thirty regiments Os these regiments one was from Massachusetts, eight from Indiana, eighteen from Ohio, two of the United States Regimental Cavalry, and one from Georgia—the latter be ing represented by a single Confederate soldier of the First Georgia. Besides these, there was a delegation of five ladies, belonging to the Old Guard Relief Corps, Post No. 121, of Dayton, Ohio. It has been remarked as a singular and unaccountable circumstance that at all gatherings of ex-soldiers, both North and South, since the war, all veterans are officers, and that the pri vates, as a class, have become utterly extinct. But this excursion is an ex ception to the rule, and among all the veterans present there are not half a dozen commissioned officers, and of these none were of higher rank than Captain. Dayton, 0., sends the largest dele gation from any single place, among whom are Lieutenant T. L. Steward and wife and Privates E. B. Lyon, John Mull and Henry Kissenger. From Mansfield, Ohio., is Captain J. S. Hedges, of the Fourth United State Regular Cavalry, with his wife and daughter. Our only Confederate is Captain T. J. Lyon, of Cartersville, Ga., whose regiment served in General Toombs’ brigade of the Army of Northern Virginia, He is a lawyer, the local attorney of the Western and Atlantic Rail road, and a gentleman, whose ser vice in the rebel army and extensive knowledge of war history from the Confederate standpoint, make him a most valuable addition to the party. Although there was no great pitched battles between the armies of Sherman and Johnston during the Atlanta cam paign, yet there were fierce conflicts involving corps and divisions, terrific assaults of intrenched positions, and sharp fights between brigades and regiments, while nearly every mile of the distance had its skirmish or cavalry fight. To many a veteran the peculiar interest of the whole campaign cen ters in some of these minor conflicts not mentioned in the reports, and which will never appear in history, but where more of his comrades were lost than in the great battles of the war. The first position of Johnston’s army along Rocky Face Ridge, guarding Buzzard Roost Gap, and covering Dal ton, was fortified by works of the most formidable character. The great forts on each side of the gap can still be plainly seen from the train, although the view is somewhat obstructed by the bushes which have grown up since the war. A single glance at the ridge, with its precipitous sides, and the line of works along its crest frowning down upon you, is sufficient to show why Sherman made no attempt to force the position by assault. In front of the Gap is pointed out the place where Lieu tenant Steward, commanding Com pany K, of the Eleventh Ohio, built a bridge across Mill Creek under a ter rific fire of both artillery and infantry, losing several men in the work, only to find it useless by reason of the com manding position of the rebel bat teries. At Dalton is obtained one of the finest views along the whole route. From the summit of a large earth work called Fort Hill, built, I believe, by Union soldiers after the capture of the town, you see to the northward the reverse side of Rocky Face, with its patches of white limestone cliffs glistening in the sun. Running your eye along the ridge to the westward you see Dug Gap, famous almost as the Buzzard’s Roost in the history of the campaign, Twelve miles beyond, where the ridge fades to a misty blue line, you seethe point along whose fur ther side is Snake Creek Gap, through which McPherson marched with the Army of the Tennessee, turning John ston’s position and compelling its evac uation. Turning to the eastward, you see the beautiful Cohutta Mountains, twenty miles distant, and running off to the northward in a series of alternate peaks and depressions, scalloping the blue of the horizon. A native of Dal ton officiously informs you that the fort upon which you stand was the scene of the slaughter of a colored regiment by a portion of Hood’s army when he marched northward upon Sherman’s line of communication, af ter the fall of Atlanta. Failing to re call the circumstances from your read ing of war history, you wonder if this, too, is some of the history of the war that did not appear in the reports. On to Resaca. As the train stops the vets jump from the cars and start for the hills to the west of the town, each intent upon finding a point from which he can locate the place in which his regiment played its part in the bloody conflicts which compelled the abandonment of the town. The rebel breastworks, which line the westward slope of every elevation, and the artil- Coneluded on 13