The Battle of Atlanta was a battle of the Atlanta Campaign fought during the American Civil War on July 21, 1864, just southeast of Atlanta, Georgia. Continuing their summer campaign to seize the important rail and supply center of Atlanta, Union forces commanded by William T. Sherman overwhelmed and defeated Confederate forces defending the city under John Bell Hood. Union Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson was killed during the battle. Despite the implication of finality in its name, the battle occurred midway through the campaign, and the city did not fall until September 2, 1864, after a Union siege and various attempts to seize railroads and supply lines leading to Atlanta. After taking the city, Sherman’s troops headed south-southeastward toward Milledgeville, the state capital, and on to Savannah with the March to the Sea.
The fall of Atlanta was especially noteworthy for its political ramifications. In the 1864 election, former Union general George B. McClellan, a Democrat, ran against President Lincoln, on a peace platform calling for a truce with the Confederacy. The capture of Atlanta and Hood’s burning of military facilities as he evacuated were extensively covered by Northern newspapers, significantly boosting Northern morale, and Lincoln was re-elected by a significant margin.
Background
In the Atlanta Campaign, Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman commanded the Union forces of the Western Theater. The main Union force in this battle was the Army of the Tennessee, under Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson. He was one of Sherman’s and Grant’s favorite commanders, as he was very quick and aggressive. Within Sherman’s army, the XV Corps was commanded by Maj. Gen. John A. Logan,[5] the XVI Corps was commanded by Maj. Gen. Grenville M. Dodge, and Maj. Gen. Frank P. Blair Jr. commanded the XVII Corps.[6]
During the months leading up to the battle, Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston had repeatedly retreated from Sherman’s superior force. All along the Western and Atlantic Railroad line, from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Marietta, Georgia, a pattern was played and replayed: Johnston took up a defensive position, Sherman marched to outflank the Confederate defenses, and Johnston retreated again. After Johnston’s withdrawal following the Battle of Resaca, the two armies clashed again at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, but the Confederate senior leadership in Richmond was unhappy with Johnston’s perceived reluctance to fight the Union army, even though he had little chance of winning. Thus, on July 17, 1864, as he was preparing for the Battle of Peachtree Creek, Johnston was relieved of his command and replaced by Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood.[7] The dismissal and replacement of Johnston remains one of the most controversial decisions of the civil war.[8] Hood, who was fond of taking risks,[7] lashed out at Sherman’s army at Peachtree Creek, but the attack failed with more than two thousand five hundred Confederate casualties.[9]
Hood needed to defend the city of Atlanta, which was an important rail hub and industrial center for the Confederacy, but his army was small in comparison to the armies that Sherman commanded. He decided to withdraw, classically threatening Sherman’s supply lines in his army’s rear. Hood hoped his aggressiveness and the size of his still formidable force on-the-move, would entice the Union troops to come forward against him; if only to protect their rear supply lines. This the Union did not do. McPherson’s army closed in upon Decatur, Georgia, to the east side of Atlanta. Hood, would twice more in separate, later campaigns, seek to lure the thrust of a union axis of advance, upon a position and/or force that he was commanding, seeking an engagement. The Union’s forces were not turned in those cases either.[citation needed]
Battle
Meanwhile, Hood ordered Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee’s corps on a march around the Union left flank, had Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler’s cavalry march near Sherman’s supply line, and had Maj. Gen. Benjamin Cheatham’s corps attack the Union front. However, it took longer than expected for Hardee to get his men into position, and, during that time, McPherson had correctly deduced a possible threat to his left flank, and sent XVI Corps, his reserve, to help strengthen it.[1] Hardee’s men met this other force, and the battle began. Although the initial Confederate attack was repulsed, the Union left flank began to retreat. About this time, McPherson, who had ridden to the front to observe the battle, was shot and killed by Confederate infantry.[10]
Near Decatur, Brig. Gen. John W. Sprague, in command of the 2nd Brigade, 4th Division of the XVI Corps,[11] was attacked by Wheeler’s cavalry. Wheeler had taken the Fayetteville Road, while Hardee’s column took the Flat Shoals Road toward McPherson’s position. The Federals fled the town in a stampede, but managed to save the ordnance and supply trains of the XV, XVI, XVII, and XX corps. With the failure of Hardee’s assault, Wheeler was in no position to hold Decatur, and fell back to Atlanta that night.[12] Sprague was later awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.[13]
The main lines of battle now formed an “L” shape, with Hardee’s attack forming the lower part of the “L,” and Cheatham’s attack on the Union front as the vertical member of the “L”. Hood intended to attack the Union troops from both east and west. The fighting centered on a hill east of the city known as Bald Hill. The Federals had arrived two days earlier, and began to shell the city proper, killing several civilians.[12] A savage struggle, sometimes hand-to-hand, developed around the hill, lasting until just after dark. The Federals held the hill while the Confederates retired to a point just south of there. Meanwhile, two miles to the north, Cheatham’s troops had broken through the Union lines at the Georgia railroad. In response, twenty artillery pieces were positioned near Sherman’s headquarters at Copen Hill, and shelled the Confederates, while Logan’s XV Corps regrouped and repulsed the Southern troops.[1]
The Union had suffered about 3,400 casualties, including Maj. Gen. McPherson,[5] to the Confederate’s 5,500.[4] This was a devastating loss for the already reduced Confederate army, but they still held the city.
Siege and closure
Sherman settled into a siege of Atlanta, shelling the city and sending raids west and south of the city to cut off the supply lines from Macon, Georgia. Both of Sherman’s cavalry raids including McCook’s raid and Stoneman’s Raid were defeated by Confederate cavalry collectively under General Wheeler. Although the raids partially achieved their objective of cutting railroad tracks and destroying supply wagons, they were soon after repaired and supplies continued to move to the city of Atlanta.[14] [12] Following the failure to break the Confederates’ hold on the city, Sherman began to employ a new strategy. He swung his entire army in a broad flanking maneuver to the west.[12] Finally, on August 31, at Jonesborough, Georgia, Sherman’s army captured the railroad track from Macon, pushing the Confederates to Lovejoy’s Station. With his supply lines fully severed, Hood pulled his troops out of Atlanta the next day, September 1, destroying supply depots as he left to prevent them from falling into Union hands. He also set fire to eighty-one loaded ammunition cars, which led to a conflagration watched by hundreds.[15]
On September 2,[7] Mayor James Calhoun,[16] along with a committee of Union-leaning citizens including William Markham,[15] Jonathan Norcross, and Edward Rawson, met a captain on the staff of Maj. Gen. Henry W. Slocum, and surrendered the city, asking for “protection to non-combatants and private property”.[15] Sherman, who was in Jonesborough at the time of surrender,[15] sent a telegram to Washington on September 3, reading, “Atlanta is ours, and fairly won”.[17][18] He then established his headquarters there on September 7, where he stayed for over two months. On November 15, the army departed east toward Savannah, on what became known as “Sherman’s March to the Sea”.[7]
Content retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Atlanta.