GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPT. OF THE CUMBERLAND, No. 134. Atlanta, Ga., September 9, 1864.

SOLDIERS OF THE ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND:

The major-general commanding, with pride and pleasure, congratulates you upon the fact that your achievements during the campaign which has just closed, in connection with those of the Armies of the Tennessee and Ohio, have received such distinguished marks of appreciation as the thanks of the President of the United States and of the major-general commanding the Military Division of Mississippi.

Your commander now desires to add his thanks to those you have already received, for the tenacity of purpose, unmurmuring endurance, cheerful obedience, brilliant heroism, and all those high qualities which you have displayed to an eminent degree, in attacking and defeating the cohorts of treason, driving them from position after position, each of their own choosing, cutting their communications, and in harassing their flanks and rear, during the many marches, battles, and sieges of this long and eventful campaign.

It is impossible, within the limits of an order like this, to enumerate the many instances in which you gallantry has been conspicuous, but among them may be mentioned the actions of Rocky Face Mountain and before Dalton, fought between the 8th and 13th of May, of Resaca on the 14th and 15th, of Adairsville on the 7th, and of New Hope Church on the 25th of the same month, of Kolb's Farm June 22, Peach Tree Creek July 20, and the crowning one of Jonesborough, fought September 1, which secured the capture of the city of Atlanta, the goal for which we set out more than four months ago, and furnished a brilliant termination to your struggles for that long period.

Let these successes encourage you to the continued exercise of those same high qualities, and to renewed exertions in the case of our country and humanity when you shall again be called upon to meet the foe, and be assured the time is not far distant when our prowess will conquer what territory now remains within the circumscribed limits of the rebellion. A few more fields like those whose names now crowd your standards and we can dictate the terms of a peace alike honorable to yourselves and our country. You can then retire to your homes amid, the plaudits of your friends and with the proud consciousness that you have deserved well of the country.

Our rejoicing are not unmixed with a proud regret for our brave comrades who have fallen. Their graves mark the spots where they went down amid the din and roar of battle, dotting every field and hillside, or lying beneath the spreading boughs of the forest along our route; they will in future days serve like finger boards to point out to the traveler the march of your victorious column. Those silent mounds appeal to us to remain true to ourselves and the country, and to so discharge the high duty devolving upon us that their lives, which they so freely offered up, may not prove a useless sacrifice.

By command of Major-General Thomas:

WM. D. WHIPPLE,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

NASHVILLE, TENN., September 10, 1864.

Major-General SHERMAN,

Atlanta:

Telegram just received from quartermaster at Athens, Ala., that Generals Rousseau, Steedman, and Granger formed junction there on