Camp Near Atlanta gorgia                
Sept the 4  1864

iam not Well i have got a bad Cold and that 
Seteld in my Breast but ithink iwill be over 
in afiew days more iam very week now for i 
have had it fir to weeks  

William Earnest and one of his Company was 
taken Prisner on the 30 of Aug they wer out 
after green corn a Bout 6 miles from Camp 
near a little town Called Rossville and they 
knew that the Rebs Came in that town Evry day 
and i hear they wer taken a Bout to miles from 
town i heard that they Both tied up ther horses 
to the fense and went into a house and the Rebs 
Came and took them out of the house that is the 
way that i heard they wer taken he was always 
Riding a Round to houses through the Country i 
often told him that he would Be taken But he 
Said there was no danger But ithought that he 
would find it yet   

atlanta is taken on the Second of this month 
the Seventh Went in first with a Bout 75 men 
under Capt greno marched into town fir the 
first yanks genral thomas and his three Cors 
is down near macon in front of the Reble army 
i think if them Prisners is Sharp i think that 
there is a Great many that Can run a way for 
the Reble army is Cut in to Peases and thomas 
there in the front with the thre Cors and 
Sherman in the Senter with five Cors and Slokum 
Coming up in the Rear with 20 Cors  i think they 
will git the greates Chasen that they ever had
idont think the war will last Six months longer   

we wer on a Raid at a plase called Sand town we 
Started in the evening  the next morning just at
Sun Rise we Struck the West Point Rail Road just 
as my Company got a Cross the Road the Rebs 
opened to Peases of artilery in my Company and 
asharp fire of musketry and we had to git out of 
that the Best we Could  the 4the michigan Regt 
Came up in hour Rearand drove the a way and we 
only lost afiew men  

then we got on to the macon Rail Road that day 
yet at Jones town and distroyed the Rail Road 
and part of the town and a Bout 8 a Clock it
Comenst to Rain and Rained till the next 
morning and a Bout aleven a Clock we Started on 
the march for Down the Rail Road  the next day 
a Bout to a Clock we foun the Rebs a Gain and 
then we dismounted and Went to fight on foot  
But they Soon made us git back and by that time 
ther was a brigade of Reble Cavelry Playing in 
hour Rear we mounted hour horsrs and charged 
them and drove them in evry directions and 
Raining Jus wat it Could Put down and they 
folowed us up til knight that hole knight we 
wer on the march and Raining just wat it Could 
Rain the next mornin we had to Swim the River 
and trailed all day til we got to Camp
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End Notes:

"Capt greno" is Captain Charles Greeno.

Things were starting to come unraveled badly for 
Hood and his army. After Atlanta fell, and Hood 
began to retreat, Sherman began his drive to the
sea. At this point things looked bleak for John 
Bell Hood. He had Generals Thomas, Sherman, and 
Slocum on three sides and the circle was closing
fast.

The Confederates would repair railroads as fast 
as they were destroyed, prompting Sherman to 
make unkind remarks in his memoirs about the 
effectiveness of the cavalry under his command. 
This is why there was another raid on the 
railroad at Jonesboro. However, he should have, 
instead, remarked about the efficiency of the 
Confederates to repair such damage. Once the 
Union army started to build fires with the cross 
ties and lay the steel rails across those fires 
and heat them red hot, then bend them around 
poles or trees, the railroads did not get 
repaired so quickly.These twisted and bent rails 
were called "Sherman's bow ties", because Sherman 
was fond of wearing a bow tie.