Excerpt from Report of the Secretary of War: War Department, Confederate States of America, Richmond, November 3, 1864 In the great central State of Georgia, the campaign opened about the same time, but operations have been, so far, less favorable to our arms. Preparation had, been there made, early to meet, with adequate forces, exceeding the relative disproportion which has usually existed with all our armies, and repel the enemy on the threshhold of the State, but prudence or strategy led the General entrusted with the conduct of the campaign to prefer a retreating and defensive line of action. In consequence, our forces, though not without, on several occasions, severely checking and punishing their adversaries, whenever venturing direct assault, were gradually maneeuvred or pressed back towards Atlanta, the leading objective point of the campaign. When that important central point of union to various converging lines of communication had been nearly reached, and ap peered about to be abandoned, a change was made in the commander, and a strenuous effort was made to hold and defend, by force of arms, this place, which had become more important in a political and moral than in'a military view, from the significance the public of both sides had attached to its possession. It was bravely held for several weeks, and some successes, achieved with skill and valor, for a time seemed to assure to us its retention, when a hazardous movement of the enemy, which, with as much success to our arms as there was prompti tude in seizing the occasion by our commander, must have caused his ruin, resulting in victory, compelled our evacuation of the city and its occupancy by the enemy. This was felt as a serious reverse, and caused some depression of feeling throughout the Confederacy, while it was hailed with unbounded acclamation and revived hopes by the enemy. For the time, the loss of prestige and the political effects were unquestionably adverse to us, but results may show that its consequences were, on both sides, strangely misunderstood and ex aggerated. It has liberated our army for offensive Operations, whil it has chained down our enemies to the tenure of a far inland position of no real strategical value since the breaking up of its railroad con nections, in the midst of a hostile population, and to be sustained only by supplies drawn hundreds of miles by a single line of road. The opportunities presented by such a situation have been seized and used by our bold and enterprising leader with promptitude and energy. The communications of the enemy have been cut in many places. Our army is in his rear, and he, instead of resting securely behind the strong entrenchments of his recent capture, is forced to come forth to encounter his skillful adversary on ground of his choice and where defeat is ruin to the enemy, only reverse to us. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.