Today in History:

80 Series I Volume XXXVIII-III Serial 74 - The Atlanta Campaign Part III

Page 80 THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. Chapter L.

some point on the Tennessee. The party wa sin excellent condition and well equipped. I relieved Lieutenant Sample from duty with the Fifteenth Corps, and placed him in charge of this sub-detachment. On the 10th the army marched to Big Shanty. We now came in sight of the enemy's signal station on Kenesaw Mountain, and learned that he had changed his code. A station was established from which the numbers could be taken down, and with the numbers so obtained their code was worked out on the second day after coming in view of their station. After this no messages were sent by the enemy from their stations in sight of us that were not promptly deciphered and furnished for the information of the commanding generals.

While our army was in position in front of Kenesaw communication was established by signals from Generals Thomas' and McPherson's headquarters to those of Generals Howard and Hooker. Afterward, when the army pushed forward on the right and left of Kenesaw, a station was established near General McPherson's headquarters which communicated with one on Pine Mountain, worked by Lieutenants Worley and Allen, and thorough their station to General Thomas' headquarters. It also communicated with a station of observation on Brush Mountain, in General Blair's front, the highest point of the line relieved the signal line between the different headquarters. The communicating stations in operation on the 1st day of July were as follows: One at Major-General Blair's headquarters, in charge of Lieutenants Conard and Stickney; one in General Leggett's front, which served also as a station of observation, in charge of Lieutenants Sample and Dunlap; and one near Generals McPherson's and Dodge's headquarters, in charge of Lieutenants Sherfy and Shellabarger. These stations were in communication by signals. On the morning of the 2nd orders were received to move at sunset. At sunset the station at General Blair's headquarters was abandoned; the station of observation and the station at department headquarters in communication with it were kept open until the troops withdrew about 10 p. m. At 9 p. m. Lieutenant Sample sent a message stating that a large column of smoke could be seen rising in the direction of Marietta, and that the usual camp-fires could not be seen in the rear of the enemy's lines. On the following morning it was learned the enemy had evacuated the previous evening. On the morning of the 3rd Captain McClintock established a station on Kenesaw Mountain, working from the platform built by the enemy's signal officers. This station, in charge of Lieutenants Sherfy and adams, communicated with different points in front to the headquarters of Generals Thomas, Hooker, Schofield, and McPherson. Communication was kept open from this point while the armies were moving toward the Chattahoochee until the 6th, when it became impossible to communicate with Generals Thomas and Hooker, and the station was abandoned. On the 5th, near the mouth of the Nickajack Creek, upon the army going into position, stations of observation were established commanding an excellent view of the enemy's works and lines. The station near General Blair's headquarters, in charge of Lieutenants Sample and Edge, was placed in communication with the headquarters of the division commanders of the Seventeenth Corps, and on the 8th with a station in General Howard's


Page 80 THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. Chapter L.