HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, In the Field, near Atlanta, August 7, 1864.
General McARTHUR:
Your dispatch received. General Garrard’s cavalry on our left frequently patrols up as far as McAfee’s Brigade above Roswell. The dust may have been his cavalry. Still I know the enemy will attempt by his cavalry to strike our road, and I want you to keep all on the lookout, and to fight like the devil. If any party allows itself to be surprised or defeated, he [the commander] had better drown himself.
W. T. SHERMAN,
Major-General, Commanding.