After I found the source stating that Baker's Brigade departed Atlanta for Mobile on August 25th, 1864, I went back and looked for this in what by now is my well-thumbed copy of Castel's Decision in the West. Sure enough, a published version of the source is in the bibliography. And Castel mentions the departure of Baker's Brigade for Mobile on page 499, but without the comment the information demands: what in heavens were Hood and the Confederate high command thinking? Had they grown that complacent that they were sending men away from the decisive point? Didn't they know how important the capture of Atlanta would be for the North? As Frederick the Great said, "He who defends everything, defends nothing." The presence of Baker's Brigade at Atlanta probably would not have made much difference, but sending it away a week before Atlanta's (and consequently the war's) loss was sheer madness.
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