Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Friday, November 11, 1864

All is quiet in camp. We have company drill twice a day now for the purpose of drilling our conscripts. We received orders that the last mail would leave for the North tomorrow morning and that all who wanted to write farewell letters home would have to attend to it before that time. The rebel cavalry, about three thousand strong, made a raid on our forces at Atlanta, but were repulsed with heavy loss, for what little they gained.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 228