But his supplies
depended upon a line of about one hundred and twenty miles of railroad
from Atlanta to Chattanooga, and very near one hundred and fifty miles
more from Chattanooga to Nashville. Hood, held at bay at Lovejoy's
Station, was not strong enough to venture a direct attack or undertake a
siege, but chose the more feasible policy of operating systematically
against Sherman's long line of communications. In the course of some
weeks both sides grew weary of the mere waste of time and military
strength consumed in attacking and defending railroad stations, and
interrupting and reestablishing the regularities of provision trains.
Toward the end of September, Jefferson Davis visited Hood, and in
rearranging some army assignments, united Hood's and an adjoining
Confederate department under the command of Beauregard; partly with a
view to adding the counsels of the latter to the always energetic and
bold, but sometimes rash, military judgment of Hood.
Between these two Hood's eccentric and futile operations against
Sherman's communications were gradually shaded off into a plan for a
Confederate invasion of Tennessee. Sherman, on his part, finally matured
his judgment that instead of losing a thousand men a month merely
defending the railroad, without other advantage, he would divide his
army, send back a portion of it under the command of General Thomas to
defend the State of Tennessee against the impending invasion; and,
abandoning the whole line of railroad from Chattanooga to Atlanta, and
cutting entirely loose from his base of supplies, march with the
remainder to the sea; living upon the country, and "making the interior
of Georgia feel the weight of war.
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