CHAPTER V. Prospects of the new campaign in Northern Georgia.-The Character of the Country and the People.-Preparations for Battle.-Sherman's Force,―The Battles of Buzzard's Roost and Rocky-Faced Ridge.-Comparative importance of the disaster to the Rebels.-A Touching Incident.-A father burying his son.-Brilliant Fighting of Geary's Division. Northern Georgia consists of a series of natural terraces, ascending by easy gradations from the level of the roads below, to summits of several hundred feet high, affording from every summit a splendid view of a wide and varied landscape. This region is threaded by mountain streams, pierced by picturesque ravines, rimmed and ribbed with rocks. The situation of these mountains exceeds in grandeur and commanding views, anything I have ever seen. The prospect from their summits is almost boundless, presenting to the eye, scenes of magnificent grandeur and beauty. On such heights, we see more of the earth below, and the splendor of the Heavens above. The stars shine brighterthe sun rises and sets with new glories. Whittier, the Quaker poet must have had such scenery in view when he wrote: "We had checked our steeds, Silent with wonder: where the mountain wall Is piled to Heaven; and through the narrow rift The people of this section are loyal and patriotic, else God had not bestowed on them the gift of mountains. On April 27th, Grant notified Sherman to be ready to move about the 6th of May. The attaiment of Atlanta, a great railroad center, they hoped would give them full possession of that part of rebeldom extending from New Orleans to Charleston, South Carolina. By rapid movements and strong combinations, they then expected to hold and possess the cities of Mobile, Montgomery, Columbus and Savannah. This is a gigantic and enormous campaign, and one which will be rewarded with complete success. Our Government, penetrating the designs of the enemy, has pursued the best policy. When Marius was reprimanded for not giving battle to the Cambrians and Teutons, who were over-running the country, he answered: "We have to fight not for trophies, but for existence; we will not give battle till victory is secure.' When the battle did take place, the Teutonic host was annihilated, and Italy saved. The immense force under Sherman, was as follows: ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND, MAJOR GENERAL Making an aggregate of eighty-eight thousand, one hundred and eighty-eight infantry, four thousand four hundred and sixty artillery, and six thousand one hundred and forty-nine cavalry, and two hundred and fiftyfour guns. On the 6th of May the armies were cantoned at the following places: The Army of the Cumberland, _comprising the Fourth Corps, General Howard; the Fourteenth Corps, General Palmer, and the Twentieth Corps, General Hooker, at Ringgold. The army of the Tennessee, the Fifteenth Corps, John A. Logan, and the Sixteenth Corps, Gen. Dodge, at Gordon's Mills. The Army of the Ohio, the Twenty-Third Corps, Major General Schofield, on the road North of Dalton. The rebel army, commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston, consisted of Hardee's, Polk's and Hood's Corps, and the Cavalry Division of Wheeler. The whole rebel army were supposed to number seventy thousand. It might be interesting, before proceeding with the narratives of battles and skirmishes, to take a glance, however cursory and imperfect, of Rocky-Faced Ridge and Buzzard Roost, where our brave soldiers raised the shout of exultation and triumph; and starting from which, they entered on the untried perils of a campaign remarkable for signal occurrences and extraordinary results. Rocky-Faced Ridge is a rugged mountain range, fifteen hundred feet high, and running in a South-westerly direction from Dalton. The view from Rocky-Faced Ridge is inconceivable. To be imagined or felt, it must be seen and sur veyed. Its sides are sparsely covered with trees and brushwood. The unmeasured extent of the view, the unbrokenness of the solitude, the majestic bleakness of the mountains, reaching as far as the eye can sweep, scattered as at random by the giant hand of God, darting their forked and rugged summits into the Heavensthese present a combination of physical features, in the survey of which, the feeling of terror or sublimity struggles for mastery, in the mind of the beholder. Nothing can exceed it in sublimity, accompanied with the feeling of rocky sterility and utter desolation. It is not to be supposed, however, that amid the general desolation, there are no patches of beauty, no points of interest. The region has its oases, its green and sunny spots. Under the shelter of its bold, precipitous crags, and at their feet, are sleeping in all their loveliness and fertility, verdant and smiling valleys.. So far, however, from making the scene, in its general appearance or influence, more pleasing and bewitching, they throw a sort of unnaturalness over the entire view," bringing out, and into more striking impressiveness, the prevailing desolation. To make the lowering storm, the thunder's roar, or the lightning's gleam, altogether overwhelming, you require but to add to the picture the straggling beams of the sun, and thus even the beauty of the valleys, which exist in this wild waste, wrapped as if in the silence of death, only add an intensity of desolation to the stern and rugged appearance of the scenery. Buzzard Roost is a narrow defile, through which the railroad passes. In most parts, it is almost inaccessible, rendering it difficult of access, and equally difficult of 'egress. There is not a spot in all Georgia, which is more singular and wonderful. Its height is eighteen hundred feet. The name of Buzzard Roost is employed by the natives to signify the idea not only of utter solitude, but of boundless desolation, of untrodden dreariness. There has been much discussion why this place is so called. Like other instances of American nomenclature, it is not because buzzards roost there, but because they do not. There were once a few old grogshops, and a railroad station, where the chivalric gamblers of the South did congregate to drink cheap toddy, and to cut each other's throats. What they did afterward, with the carcasses, the appellation of Buzzard Roost, with the people around this locality, is too suggestive to mention. In our walks over the bloody field, we saw a newly opened grave. It was for a Michigan boy of eighteen, who had been shot down at the side of his father, who was a private in the same company. The father sat beside the grave, carving the boy's name upon a rude head-board. It was his first-born. I took him by the hand and gave him all my heart. There was no coffin; but a few pieces of board were laid in the bottom of the grave, between the body and the bare ground. "Wrap him in his blanket," said the father, "it is one his sister sent him. Ah, me! How will they bear it at home? what will his poor mother do? She must have a lock of his hair!" I stooped to cut the lock with my penknife, when a soldier came forward with a pair of scissors from his little housewife. My heart blessed the Sabbath School child who made that timely gift. And so having rendered the offices of faith and affection, we laid the brave boy in his grave, while the cannons were still roaring the doom of others, young and brave, whom we had just left on the battle-field. The following troops participated in the obstinate fighting which drove the rebels from Rocky-Faced Ridge and Buzzard Roost: The Divisions of Stanley, Woods and Harker, of Howard's Corps; the Divisions of Cox and Judah, of Schofield's Corps; the Divisions of John W. Geary, with the Brigades of Ross, Woods, Ireland, Candee and Jones, of Hooker's Corps. The Brigades of Colonels Mitchell and Morgan, of Palmer's Corps, were also engaged. The fighting of Geary's Division at Mill Creek Gap was splendid. This Divisiou was selected to attempt the passage of the Gap, in order to flank Dalton, and |