e? Buried in the official reports of the victors there are indeed
imperfect accounts of the engagement: the vanquished have not thought it
expedient to relate it. It is ignored by General Sherman in his memoirs,
yet Sherman ordered it. General Howard wrote an account of the campaign of
which it was an incident, and dismissed it in a single sentence; yet
General Howard planned it, and it was fought as an isolated and
independent action under his eye. Whether it was so trifling an affair as
to justify this inattention let the reader judge.

The fight occurred on the 27th of May, 1864, while the armies of Generals
Sherman and Johnston confronted each other near Dallas, Georgia, during
the memorable "Atlanta campaign." For three weeks we had been pushing the
Confederates southward, partly by manoeuvring, partly by fighting, out of
Dalton, out of Resaca, through Adairsville, Kingston and Cassville. Each
army offered battle everywhere, but would accept it only on its own terms.
At Dallas Johnston made another stand and Sherman, facing the hostile
line, began his customary manoeuvring for an advantage. General Wood's
division of Howard's corps occupied a position opposite the Confederate
right. Johnston finding himself on the 26th overlapped by Schofield, still
farther to Wood's left, retired his right (Polk) across a creek, whither
we followed him into the woods with a deal of desultory bickering, and at
nightfall had established the new lines at nearly a right angle with the
old--Schofield reaching well around and threatening the Confederate rear.

The civilian reader must not suppose when he reads accounts of military
operations in which relative positions of the forces are defined, as in
the foregoing passages, that these were matters of general knowledge to
those engaged. Such statements are commonly made, even by those high in
command, in the light of later disclosures, such as the enemy's official
reports. It is seldom, indeed, that a subordinate officer knows anything
about the disposition of the enemy's forces--except that it is
unaimable--or precisely whom he is fighting. As to the rank and file, they
can know nothing more of the matter than the arms they carry. They hardly
know what troops are upon their own right or left the length of a regiment
away. If it is a cloudy day they are ignorant even of the points of the
compass. It may be said, generally, that a soldier's knowledge of what is
going on about him is coter