The army went into camp in the vicinity of 
Atlanta for a short period of rest; and as 
Sherman said, "to think well over the next 
step required in the progress of events."

Hood also had to reorganize his tattered 
elements, rest the strong ones, and plan. He 
had not twenty thousand in all of the eighty 
thousand which Johnston had turned over to 
him not a month before.

---------------------------------------------

Camp Near winings Station  
gorgia                            Sept 29 /64

father rote to me on th 8 of Sept init he had 
a grest deal about William but he was not here 
for me to Show it to him  i heard that they wer 
going to exchange a lot of Prisners and Perhaps 
he will git exchanged  we ar lying in Camp now 
but we ar on duty Evry day  ithink i can git a 
furlow to come home but it will Cost me Sixty 
Dolars and i think that is to much for fun

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End notes:

"winings Station" is Vinings Station. This is 
John's Pennsylvania Dutch coming out. They 
pronounce "W's" for "V's."

Earlier in the war, it was common practice for 
each side to exchange, or "parole" prisoners. A 
parole meant that the man would promise not to 
take up arms again if he were released. It did 
not work; men on both sides would get captured 
again and again. After awhile, the practice was 
virtually abandoned. Sometimes, though, 
particularly if one side had more prisoners than 
they wanted to bother with, some were paroled. 
This was a rare event, however. But...there was 
always hope.

Although the campaign was far from over, it 
would do well here to pause a moment and look 
at what had been the cost, so far, to the Brigade:

From May 1 to September 2, 1864 they had marched 
925 miles and fought 31 battles, besides almost 
constant skirmishing (little impromptu firefights), 
and doing duty, as infantry, under fire, day and 
night for fourteen days in the trenches.
        
They left Columbia, Tennessee with seventy one 
officers, twenty-four hundred and forty-four men, 
twenty-two hundred and seventy-four serviceable 
horses, and two thousand and one carbines. On 
September 2, they had at the front, forty-nine 
officers, and six hundred and eighty-seven men
for duty, eight hundred and eleven serviceable 
horses, (ten officers and seventy men at 
headquarters), and one thousand and one carbines.