On the 1st of November I want nothing in Atlanta but what is necessary for war.

Send all trash to the rear at once, and have on hand thirty days' food and but little forage.

I propose to abandon Atlanta, and the railroad back to Chattanooga, to sally forth to ruin Georgia and bring up on the seashore.

Make all dispositions accordingly.

I will go down the Coosa until I am sure that Hood has gone to Blue Mountain.
On the 21st of October I reached Gaylesville, had my bivouac in an open field back of the village, and remained there till the 28th.
During that time General Schofield arrived, with the two divisions of Generals Wagner (formerly Newton's) and Morgan, which were returned to their respective corps (the Fourth and Fourteenth), and General Schofield resumed his own command of the Army of the Ohio, then on the Coosa River, near Cedar Bluff.