From a high position some of Sherman's signal corps discovered a signal flag waving from a hole in the block house at Allatoona.

It was from Corse.

He had been shot through the face, but he signalled to his chief a message which left no doubt of his determination to hold his post at all hazards.

It was at this point probably, that Sherman first realized that with the forces at his disposal, the keeping open of his line of communication with the North would be impossible if he expected to retain any force with which to operate offensively beyond Atlanta.

He proposed, therefore, to destroy the roads back to Chattanooga, when all ready to move, and leave the latter place garrisoned.