Headquarters military division of the west
October 17, 1864

In assuming command, at this critical juncture, of the Military Division of the West, I appeal to my countrymen, of all classes and sections, for their generous support.  In assigning me to this responsible position, the President of the Confederate States has extended to me the assurance of his earnest support.  The Executives of your States meet me with similar expressions of their devotion to our cause.  The noble army in the field, composed of brave men and gallant officers, are strangers to me, but I know they will do all that patriots can achieve.....

The army of Sherman still defiantly holds Atlanta.  He can and must be driven from it.  It is only for the good people of Georgia and surrounding states to speak the word, and the work is done, we have abundant provisions.  There are men enough in the country, liable to and able for service, to accomplish the result.....

My countrymen, respond to this call as you have done in days that are past, and, with the blessing of a kind and overruling Providence, the enemy shall be driven from your soil.  The security of your wives and daughters from the insults and outrages of a brutal foe shall be established soon, and be followed by a permanent and honorable peace.  The claims of home and country, wife and children, uniting with the demands of honor and patriotism, summon us to the field.  We cannot, dare not, will not fail to respond.  Full of hope and confidence, I come to join you in your struggles, sharing your privations, and, with your brave and true men, to strike the blow that shall bring success to our, arms, triumph to our cause, and peace to our country!......

G. T. Beauregard, General.

Notwithstanding this somewhat boastful order or appeal, General Beauregard did not actually accompany General Hood on his disastrous march to Nashville, but took post at Corinth, Mississippi, to control the movement of his supplies and to watch me.

At Gaylesville the pursuit of Hood by the army under my immediate command may be said to have ceased.  During this pursuit, the Fifteenth Corps was commanded by its senior major-general present, P. J. Osterhaus, in the absence of General John A. Logan; and the Seventeenth Corps was commanded by Brigadier-General T. E. G. Ransom, the senior officer present, in the absence of General Frank P. Blair.

General Ransom was a young, most gallant, and promising officer, son of the Colonel Ransom who was killed at Chapultepec, in the Mexican War.  He had served with the Army of the Tennessee in 1862 and 1863, at Vicksburg, where he was severely wounded.  He was not well at the time we started from Atlanta, but he insisted on going along with his command.  His symptoms became more aggravated on the march, and when we were encamped near Gaylesville, I visited him in company with Surgeon John Moors, United States