"
WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN
In the spring of that year the Confederates had two large armies in the
field. One of them, under General Lee, was defending Richmond. The other,
under General Joseph E. Johnston, was in Tennessee, defending the
Confederate cause in that region. General Grant's plan was to send General
Sherman, in whom he had great confidence, against General Johnston, with
orders to capture Atlanta, which was now the workshop and storehouse of
the Confederacy. Grant himself was to march against Lee and capture
Richmond. The two great watchwords were: "On to Atlanta!" and "On to
Richmond!"
[Illustration: William Tecumseh Sherman.]
Early in May both Grant and Sherman began their campaigns. Starting from
Chattanooga, in Tennessee, Sherman began to crowd Johnston toward Atlanta.
In order to keep his line of supplies open from Nashville Sherman kept his
army close to the railroad, and to hinder him as much as possible, the
Confederates sent back bodies of troops to the rear of the Union army to
tear up the railroads. But so quickly were they rebuilt by Sherman's men
that the Confederates used to say: "Sherman must carry a railroad on his
back.
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