people. During the Civil War it was a leading Confederate depot of supplies, but its great growth has come since, and largely through the development of the railway system and manufactures, so that now the city and suburbs, which are extensive, have a population approximating two hundred thousand. Its State Capitol is an impressive building, costing $1,000,000, and it has many imposing business and public structures and fine private residences. Joel Chandler Harris, Uncle Remus, is a resident of Atlanta. Its great historical event was the memorable siege during the Civil War. The geographical position of the city made it of vital importance to the Confederacy. General Sherman, in his advance southward from Chattanooga in the spring and early summer of 1864, steadily fought and outflanked the Confederates, until in July they fell back behind the Chattahoochee and took a line covering Atlanta, General Hood assuming command July 17th. Sherman crossed the Chattahoochee and then Hood retired to the intrenchments around the city. For several weeks there were manoeuvres and battles around Atlanta, until near the end of August, when Sherman had got behind the city, cutting the railways supplying it. On the night of September 1st, Hood evacuated Atlanta, and next day Sherman entered. In this great siege and in the previous contests from Chattanooga the losses of the two armies were sixtysix thousand men, each army having been repeatedly

reinforced. This capture sealed the doom of the Confederacy, although there were subsequent battles and movements around Atlanta until November. Then Sherman, reinforcing General Thomas at Nashville, and leaving him to take care of Hood, ran back all the surplus property and supplies to Chattanooga, broke up the railway, cut the telegraph behind him, burnt Atlanta November 12th, and on the 15th started on his famous "March to the Sea," to cut the Confederacy in two, capturing Savannah in December. The destruction of Atlanta was almost complete, every building being burnt excepting a few in the centre, and a number of scattered dwellings elsewhere. After peace came, however, the restoration of Atlanta was rapid and thorough, and it is now one of the most progressive and wealthy Southern cities. It was Sherman's "March to the Sea" which furnished the theme for one of the most inspiriting songs of the Civil War, "Marching Through Georgia":

"Bring the good old bugle, boys! we'll sing another song-
Sing it with a spirit that will start the world along,
Sing it as we used to sing it fifty thousand strong,
While we were marching through Georgia.

Chorus-"Hurrah! Hurrah! we bring the Jubilee !

Hurrah! Hurrah! the flag that makes you free!'
So we sang the chorus from Atlanta to the sea,
While we were marching through Georgia.

"How the darkies shouted when they heard the joyful sound! How the turkeys gobbled which our commissary found!

How the sweet potatoes even started from the ground,
While we were marching through Georgia.—Chorus.

"So we made a thoroughfare for Freedom and her train,
Sixty miles in latitude-three hundred to the main,
Treason fled before us, for resistance was in vain,
While we were marching through Georgia.”—Chorus.

The railway leading north from Atlanta to Chattanooga exhibits, throughout the line, relics of Sherman's protracted struggle with the Confederates as he pressed southward, and they opposing him were repeatedly outflanked and retired to new defenses. Long ranges of hills cross the country from northeast to southwest, and on their crests are the remains of massive breastworks and battlements which time is gradually obliterating. Dalton, Resaca and Allatoona were all formidable defensive works, and each in turn was outflanked. Rome, the chief town on this route, now has seven thousand people and various factories. To the westward of Atlanta the railway leads a hundred miles to Anniston, Alabama, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge among the rich beds of Alabama iron-ores, and then to Talladega, the Indian "village on the border," where General Jackson fought one of his severest battles with the Creeks. It is now a busy manufacturing town. Beyond is the great industrial city of Birmingham with thirty-five thousand people, founded in 1871, a phenomenal development of the "New South," its industry being exhibited in enormous iron and steel

mills, foundries, and similar establishments. Near the city is its El Dorado, the Red Mountain containing vast stores of hematite iron-ores, with abundant coal and limestone, minerals which have made Alabama the third iron-producing commonwealth in the United States, three-fourths of it being made in the Birmingham district. Nearby is another iron town of recent foundation, Bessemer, and a short distance to the southwest the old Alabama city of Tuscaloosa, the seat of the University of Alabama. This Indian word means the "Black Warrior," and thus was named the river, Tuscaloosa being at the head of steamboat navigation on the Black Warrior. The tradition is that before the white man knew this region it was held by a proud and powerful Indian tribe. When De Soto came along in 1540, searching for gold, he encountered these Indians, whose sachem was the fearless and haughty black giant Tuscaloosa. By stratagem De Soto captured the giant and carried him off a hostage down to Mobile, whence he afterwards escaped. This old city is shown on a French map of Louisiana published in 1720.

Southeast of Atlanta is Macon, at the head of navigation on Ocmulgee River, a prominent cottonshipping city, with twenty-five thousand people. Here is the Wesleyan Female College with four hundred students, founded in 1836, and said to be the oldest female college in the world. To the south

ward, at Andersonville, was the great Stockade Prison of the Civil War, where large numbers of captured Union soldiers were confined, being so badly treated that thirteen thousand of them died. Henry Wirtz, a Swiss adventurer, was in charge, and the Confederate authorities in two official reports attributed the excessive mortality to the bad management of the prison. A military court after the close of the war convicted Wirtz of excessive cruelty, and he was executed in November, 1865. The prison-grounds are now a park, a memorial monument has been erected, and in an extensive National Cemetery the dead soldiers are buried. Southward of Atlanta is Columbus, with thirty-five thousand people and large cotton, woollen and flour-mills, one of the chief manufacturing cities of the Southern States. It stands on the Chattahoochee, which here rushes down rocky rapids, providing an admirable water-power improved by a massive dam. The river is navigable to the Gulf, and its steamboats have a large trade.

ATLANTA TO MOBILE.

Proceeding southwest from Atlanta, the route crosses the Chattahoochee at West Point, another shipping port for the vast cotton plantations of this region, whence steamboats take the cotton-bales down to the Gulf. Beyond is Tuskegee in Alabama, where is located the famous Industrial and