Memoirs of General Sherman, vol 2 | Page 7

i., Appendix.
When the time for action approached, viz., May 1,1864, the actual
armies prepared to move into Georgia resulted as follows, present for
battle: Men. Army of the Cumberland, Major-General THOMAS.
Infantry ....................... 54,568 Artillery ...................... 2,377
Cavalry......................... 3,828 Aggregate............... 60,773 Number of
field-guns, 130.
Army of the Tennessee, Major-General McPHERSON.
Infantry ....................... 22,437 Artillery ...................... 1,404
Cavalry ........................ 624 Aggregate ............. 24,465 Guns, 96
Army of the Ohio, Major-General SCHOFIELD.
Infantry ....................... 11,183 Artillery....................... 679
Cavalry......................... 1,697 Aggregate .............. 13,559 Guns, 28.
Grand aggregate, 98,797 men and 254 guns

These figures do not embrace the cavalry divisions which were still
incomplete, viz., of General Stoneman, at Lexington, Kentucky, and of
General Garrard, at Columbia, Tennessee, who were then rapidly
collecting horses, and joined us in the early stage of the campaign.
General Stoneman, having a division of about four thousand men and
horses, was attached to Schofield's Army of the Ohio. General
Garrard's division, of about four thousand five hundred men and horses,
was attached to General Thomas's command; and he had another
irregular division of cavalry, commanded by Brigadier-General E.
McCook. There was also a small brigade of cavalry, belonging to the
Army of the Cumberland, attached temporarily to the Army of the
Tennessee, which was commanded by Brigadier-General Judson
Kilpatrick. These cavalry commands changed constantly in strength
and numbers, and were generally used on the extreme flanks, or for
some special detached service, as will be herein-after related. The
Army of the Tennessee was still short by the two divisions detached
with General Banks, up Red River, and two other divisions on furlough
in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, but which were rendezvousing at Cairo,
under Generals Leggett and Crocker, to form a part of the Seventeenth
Corps, which corps was to be commanded by Major-General Frank P.
Blair, then a member of Congress, in Washington. On the 2d of April I
notified him by letter that I wanted him to join and to command these
two divisions, which ought to be ready by the 1st of May. General Blair,
with these two divisions, constituting the Seventeenth Army Corps, did
not actually overtake us until we reached Acworth and Big Shanty, in
Georgia, about the 9th of June, 1864.
In my letter of April 4th to General John A. Rawains, chief of staff to
General Grant at Washington, I described at length all the preparations
that were in progress for the active campaign thus contemplated, and
therein estimated Schofield at twelve thousand, Thomas at forty-five
thousand, and McPherson at thirty thousand. At first I intended to open
the campaign about May 1st, by moving Schofield on Dalton from
Cleveland, Thomas on the same objective from Chattanooga, and
McPherson on Rome and Kingston from Gunter's Landing. My
intention was merely to threaten Dalton in front, and to direct
McPherson to act vigorously against the railroad below Resaca, far to
the rear of the enemy. But by reason of his being short of his estimated

strength by the four divisions before referred to, and thus being reduced
to about twenty-four thousand men, I did not feel justified in placing
him so far away from the support of the main body of the army, and
therefore subsequently changed the plan of campaign, so far as to bring
that army up to Chattanooga, and to direct it thence through Ship's Gap
against the railroad to Johnston's rear, at or near Resaca, distant from
Dalton only eighteen miles, and in full communication with the other
armies by roads behind Rocky face Ridge, of about the same length.
On the 10th of April I received General Grant's letter of April 4th from
Washington, which formed the basis of all the campaigns of the year
1864, and subsequently received another of April 19th, written from
Culpepper, Virginia, both of which are now in my possession, in his
own handwriting, and are here given entire. These letters embrace
substantially all the orders he ever made on this particular subject, and
these, it will be seen, devolved on me the details both as to the plan and
execution of the campaign by the armies under my immediate
command. These armies were to be directed against the rebel army
commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston, then lying on the defensive,
strongly intrenched at Dalton, Georgia; and I was required to follow it
up closely and persistently, so that in no event could any part be
detached to assist General Lee in Virginia; General Grant undertaking
in like manner to keep Lee so busy that he could not respond to any
calls of help by Johnston. Neither Atlanta, nor Augusta, nor Savannah,
was the objective, but the "army of Jos. Johnston," go where it might.
[PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL.]
HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES
WASHINGTON D. C., April 4, 1864.