Lee with sixty-four thousand had defeated Grant's one hundred and forty
thousand. Richmond was safe, and the North was besieging Washington with
an army of heart-broken mothers and fathers who demanded Grant's
removal.
No effort was spared by Davis to enable Johnston to stay Sherman's
advance and assume the offensive. The whole military strength of the
South and West was pressed forward to him. His commissary and ordnance
departments were the best in the Confederacy. His troops were eager to
advance and retrieve the disaster at Missionary Ridge--the first and
only case of panic and cowardice that had marred the brilliant record of
the Confederacy.
The position of Johnston's army was one of commanding strength. Long
mountain ranges, with few and difficult passes, made it next to
impossible for Sherman to turn his flank or dislodge him by direct
attack. Sherman depended for his supplies on a single line of railroad
from Nashville.
Davis confidently believed that Johnston could crush Sherman in the
first pitched battle and render his position untenable.
And then began the most remarkable series of retreats recorded in the
history of war.
Without a blow and without waiting for an attack, Johnston suddenly
withdrew from his trenches at Dalton and ran eighteen miles into the
interior of Georgia.
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