On the 19th the three armies were converging toward Atlanta, meeting such feeble resistance that I really thought the enemy intended to evacuate the place.  McPherson was moving astride of the railroad, near Decatur; Schofield along a road leading toward Atlanta, by Colonel Howard’s house and the distillery; and Thomas was crossing “Peach-Tree” in line of battle, building bridges for nearly every division as deployed.  There was quite a gap between Thomas and Schofield, which I endeavored to close by drawing two of Howard’s divisions nearer Schofield.  On the 20th I was with General Schofield near the centre, and soon after noon heard heavy firing in front of Thomas’s right, which lasted an hour or so, and then ceased.

I soon learned that the enemy had made a furious sally, the blow falling on Hooker’s corps (the Twentieth), and partially on Johnson’s division of the Fourteenth, and Newton’s of the Fourth.  The troops had crossed Peach-Tree Creek, were deployed, but at the time were resting for noon, when, without notice, the enemy came pouring out of their trenches down upon them, they became commingled, and fought in many places hand to hand.  General Thomas happened to be near the rear of Newton’s division, and got some field-batteries in a good position, on the north side of Peach-Tree Creek, from which he directed a furious fire on a mass of the enemy, which was passing around Newton’s left and exposed flank.  After a couple of hours of hard and close conflict, the enemy retired slowly within his trenches, leaving his dead and many wounded on the field.  Johnson’s and Newton’s losses were light, for they had partially covered their fronts with light parapet; but Hooker’s whole corps fought in open ground, and lost about fifteen hundred men.  He reported four hundred rebel dead left on the ground, and that the rebel wounded would number four thousand; but this was conjectural, for most of them got back within their own lines.  We had, however, met successfully a bold sally, had repelled it handsomely, and were also put on our guard; and the event illustrated the future tactics of our enemy.  This sally came from the Peach-Tree line, which General Johnston had carefully prepared in advance, from which to fight us outside of Atlanta.  We then advanced our lines in compact order, close up to these finished intrenchments, overlapping them on our left.  From various parts of our lines the houses inside of Atlanta were plainly visible, though between us were the strong parapets, with ditch, fraise, chevaux-de-frise, and abatis, prepared long in advance by Colonel Jeremy F. Gilmer, formerly of the United States Engineers.  McPherson had the Fifteenth Corps astride the Augusta Railroad, and the Seventeenth deployed on its left.  Schofield was next on his right, then came Howard’s, Hooker’s, and Palmer’s corps, on the extreme right.  Each corps was deployed with strong reserves, and their trains were parked to their rear.  McPherson’s trains were in Decatur, guarded