As August wore on, the opposing lines crept slowly toward East Point, Hood's finally encircling the town. Continual skirmishing, sometimes amounting to sharp engagements, marked each passing day. On the Sandtown (Cascade) Road, near the south fork of Utoy Creek, a repulse by Bate's(C) division of an attempt by Schofield (F) to break his line resulted in the Battle of Utoy Creek. But on the morning of the 26th the defenders found the trenches opposite them empty. Sherman was gone.

In many places the siege lines were plainly visible from the city parapets. As watchers beheld the empty works, rumors flew thick and fast. Although Hood had sent most of his cavalry on a fruitless raid to break Sherman's supply line, Jackson(C) had remained. He reported to Hood that Sherman's columns were moving south. Convinced that his cavalry had interrupted Sherman's supplies and forced him to retreat, Hood concluded that he was crossing the Chattahoochee River at Campbeilton Ferry. He relaxed his vigilance.

While shelling Atlanta and probing Hood's lines toward East Point, Sherman had been planning a turning movement around Hood's left to break his railroads. Had Johnston remained in command, his watchfulness, together with the striking power of his intact army, would have made the move hazardous. But neither the depleted army which remained, nor its general, now deterred Sherman.

On the night of the 25th the XX Corps (F) moved back to the Chattahoochee River at Bolton, to cover and protect the railroad and Turner's and Pace's ferries. Through the night, the other corps passed to the right and rear, toward Lickskillet (Adamsville) and Mt. Gilead Church. But not until the blue columns had destroyed the Atlanta & West Point railroad at Red Oak and Fairburn, was Gen. Hood convinced that a "raid" was directed at Jonesboro, as cavalry reports had indicated. But he still refused to believe that Sherman was moving on Jonesboro in force.

On the 30th Gen. Hood was finally satisfied that "two corps" were moving that way. He sent Hardee (C) to Jonesboro, with his own and Lee's (C) corps, to drive them back.

The march began late on the 30th, hence it was noon the next day before the last of the troops reached Jonesboro, hot, tired, and with little stomach for another "killing."

Also on the 30th, Howard's three corps (F) marched from-Fairburn and Shadnor Church (Union City) to Renfroe's plantation, west of Jonesboro; but finding no water there, Gen. Howard moved on to the Flint River, close to the town. Cavalry had disputed his advance, and he had received reports of an enemy force entrenched to protect the railroad, so he moved forward in two columns, with Gen. Logan (F) on the left and Ransom's (Dodge's) XVI Corps(F) on his right. Blair (F) arrived the next morning. Kilpatrick's (F) cavalry preceded both columns.

While Schofield (F) and Stanley(F) were busy destroying the railroad, Stanley, nearest to Jonesboro, Gen. Davis (F), accompanied by Sherman and Thomas, arrived near Gen. Howard's (F) left with his XIV Corps. Hardee (C) now faced four Federal corps, with two others within easy march.

Learning that Lee (C) had gone, Sherman ordered Thomas to bring Stanley (F) forward quickly and attempt to surround Hardee (C). Before Stanley (F) could arrive, the attack was launched, the brunt falling on the angle of the works. Bayonets and clubbed muskets sought to stem the tide, but Govan's (C) and Lewis' (C) brigades were swept away. Govan was captured, with 600 of his officers and men and eight guns.

Anxious that Hardee (C) not escape, Thomas (F) himself galloped up the railroad to hurry Stanley's (F) advance. But before Stanley could deploy his corps through the unfamiliar woods, night closed down, Hardee (C) extricated his remaining men and retired down the railroad to Lovejoy's Station, where he halted and again formed an entrenched line of battle. But before leaving Jonesboro he sent a courier to tell Hood that Jonesboro had fallen, and that the railroad was gone.