its commander during the atlanta campaign was james b. mcpherson, a west point graduate. he had served on grant's staff earlier in the civil war. and he was a great, great favorite of both grant and sherman. in fact, both men wrote that they could see mcpherson commanding all the union armies. sherman writes a letter during the campaign, i believe, that he predicts that something happens to him, something happens to grant, he feels confident that mcpherson can take command of the union armies, and win ultimate victory. the smallest of sherman's armies, which, in fact, is just a single core, is the army of the ohio. it numbers close to 13,000 men under general john m. skofield, a west-pointer and someone who sherman trusts and who performs very well during the campaign. sherman also had three divisions