Atlanta, July 31st, 1864.
. . . You doubtless have heard before this reaches you of
the removal of General Johnston, and the placing of Gen. Hood in command of the
Army. The dispatch was received the night of the seventeenth, and Genl.
Johnston's farewell address bore that date. The three corps commanders next day
telegraphed to Richmond requesting that the order should be revoked, but it was
refused. This is what I understood and I think it is true. Genl. Hood accordingly
assumed command that day, the 18th. Gen. Johnston went into Atlanta that
morning and left for Macon next day. I rode into town in the evening to say
good-bye and saw Mrs. Johnston and himself. No one could ever have told from
his countenance or manner that anything unusual had occurred. Indeed he seemed
in rather better spirits than usual though it must have been at the cost of
much exertion. An universal gloom seemed cast over the army, for they were
entirely devoted to him. Gen. Hood, however, has all the qualities to attach
men to him, and it was not a comparison between the two, but love for, and
confidence in, Gen. Johnston which caused the feeling I have before alluded to.
Gen. Hood, as you will see, assumed command under circumstances of no ordinary
difficulty. He has applied himself, however, heart and soul to the task and I
sincerely trust will bring us out of the campaign with benefit to the country
and honor to himself. The Administration, of course, is compelled to support
him both with moral and material aid, and that assistance which was asked for
by General Johnston unsuccessfully will no doubt be afforded now. A portion if
not all of Gen. Roddy's command is now on the way, if it did not reach here
to-night. If Gen. Forrest is thrown on the road in their rear everything will
be as we want it. Time will tell us all. On the 20th, Stewart and Hardee
advanced on the enemy in their front and drove them a short distance before
them capturing some prisoners and one or two stands of colors. On the 22nd,
Gen. Hardee's corps which had been moved the night before to a position on
their flank, attacked and drove the enemy from their vidette line, their
skirmish line and two main lines of works, and held them, capturing some twelve
hundred prisoners, eight guns, and thirteen stands of colors. Gen. Wheeler with
his cavalry drove a brigade of infantry from their works and through Decatur
which is seven miles from town on the Augusta R. R., capturing some two or
three hundred prisoners and one gun. A portion of Cheatham's corps, (Gen.
Hood's old corps) drove the enemy from the first main line of works in their
front, but were forced to retire, bringing off however three or four hundred
prisoners, five stands of colors and six pieces of Artillery.
The fruits of the victory were fifteen guns, eighteen colors
and between eighteen and nineteen hundred prisoners. There was another fight on
the 28th in which three Divisions were engaged. They drove the enemy into
slight works which they had erected, but did not take the works. The attack was
made to prevent the enemy's gaining possession of a road. Major Preston, son of
Gen. John S. Preston, was killed in the fight of the 20th by a cannon shot. He
was universally regretted. Gen. Stevens of South Carolina was mortally wounded
in the same fight and has since died. On the 22nd, Gen. W. H. T. Walker was
killed and Gen. Gist and Gen. Smith, commanding Granbury's Texas brigade,
wounded. On the 28th Gen. Stewart, Gen. Loring, and Gen. Johnson, who received
his appointment as Brig. Gen. on the march to the fight, were wounded. Gen.
Ector was wounded during an artillery duel — and has lost his leg. Col. Young,
whom you remember to have seen at Charlottesville, is now commanding the
brigade. Gen. Mackall, Gen. Johnston's Chief of Staff, has been relieved at his
own request, and Genl. Shoep, formerly Chief of Artillery of the Army, is now
Gen. Hood's Chief of Staff. Col. Beckham is Chief of Artillery of the Army and
will I suppose be made Brigadier. I am messing at present with Gen. Hood, am
living in a house, and have a room all to myself. I write very frequently to
L., generally every two or three days. The last letter I received was dated the
24th. Mrs. Johnston had obtained a large house in a very pleasant part of the
town and would move into it in a few days. L. and F. will be with her there and
L. says she thinks she will spend a very pleasant summer comparatively ' when
these awful battles are over.'
Genl. Stephen D. Lee has taken command of Gen. Hood's old
corps. He told me he had heard you were on your way across the river and I
suppose by this time you are safely in Louisiana. The Yankee cavalry has been
very actively at work on the railroads in Georgia and Alabama for the last week
or two. A force which had cut the road between here and Macon, only tearing up
a mile and a half, were pursued by our Cavalry and when they reached the West
Point R. R. came upon some of Roddy's forces on the cars, were held in check
until some of the pursuers came up, and from all accounts it seems that the
only ones of them who will get back to their lines will be the fugitives who
can make their way through the woods. Remember me to all the servants.
SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in
’61, p. 181-5
