thirty miles northwest, when Hood made a desperate attempt on
Allatoona with a greatly superior force. Twelve miles off, on
Kenesaw Mountain, Sherman could see the smoke and hear the sounds
of battle through the clear, still, autumn air. But as his
signalers could get no answer from the fort he began to fear that
Allatoona was already lost, when the signal officer's quick eye
caught the faintest flutter at one of the fort windows. Presently
the letters, C - R - S - E - H - E - R, were made out; which
meant that General John M. Corse, one of the best volunteers
produced by the war, was holding out. He had hurried over from
Rome, on a call from Allatoona, and was withstanding more than
four thousand men with less than two thousand. All morning long
the Confederates persisted in their attacks, while Sherman's
relief column was hurrying over from Kenesaw. Early in the
afternoon the fire slackened and ceased before this column
arrived. But Sherman's renewed fears were soon allayed. For
Corse, after losing more than a third of his men, had repulsed
the enemy alone, inflicting on them an even greater loss in
proportion to their double strength.

Corse was still full of fight, reporting back to Kenesaw that
though "short a cheek bone and an ear" he was "able to whip all
hell yet." Sherman thanked the brave defenders in his general
orders of the seventh for "the handsome defense made at
Allatoona" and pointed the moral that "garrisons must hold their
posts to the last minute, sure that the time gained is valuable
and necessary to their comrades at the front."

The situation at the beginning of November was most peculiar.
With the whole Gulf coast blockaded and the three great ports in