In my dispatch of July 6th to General Halleck, at Washington, I state that: Johnston (in his retreat from Kenesaw) has left two breaks in the railroad--one above Marietta and one near Mining's Station.

The former is already repaired, and Johnston's army has heard the sound of our locomotives.

The telegraph is finished to Mining's Station, and the field-wire has just reached my bivouac, and will be ready to convey this message as soon as it is written and translated into cipher.
I propose to study the crossings of the Chattahoochee, and, when all is ready, to move quickly.

As a beginning, I will keep the troops and wagons well back from the river, and only display to the enemy our picket-line, with a few field-batteries along at random.
I have already shifted Schofield to a point in our left rear, whence he can in a single move reach the Chattahoochee at a point above the railroad-bridge, where there is a ford.

At present the waters are turbid and swollen from recent rains; but if the present hot weather lasts, the water will run down very fast.