Battle of Atlanta

Army Commanders at Atlanta

Maj. Gen.
William T. Sherman, USA

Gen.
John B. Hood, CSA

In the Atlanta Campaign, Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman commanded the Union forces of the Western Theater. The main Union force in the battle was the Army of the Tennessee, under Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson. He was one of the favorite commanders of Sherman and Ulysses Grant for being very quick and aggressive. Within McPherson'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, 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 2500 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. The Union did not do so. McPherson's army closed in upon Decatur, Georgia, to the east side of Atlanta. Twice more in later campaigns, Hood would seek to lure the thrust of a Union axis of advance upon a position and/or force that he was commanding to seek an engagement. The Union's forces were not turned in those cases either.

Sherman's forces in the Atlanta campaign included three armies: the Army of the Tennessee under Major General James B. McPherson (until he was killed at the Battle of Atlanta); the Army of the Cumberland under Major General George H. Thomas and the small Army of the Ohio (including only the XXIII Corps and a few small units) under Major General John M. Schofield. At the Battle of Atlanta, after McPherson's death, the Army of the Tennessee comprised the XV Corps under the command of Major General John A. Logan[10] the XVI Corps under the command of Major General Grenville M. Dodge, and the XVII Corps under the command of Major General Frank P. Blair Jr.[11] The Confederate Army of Tennessee was commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston until July 17, 1864 when he was replaced by Lieutenant General John Bell Hood. At the start of the campaign, the Army of Tennessee comprised three infantry corps under the command Lieutenant Generals William J. Hardee, Leonidas Polk and John Bell Hood, and a cavalry corps under Major General Joseph Wheeler.[fn 3][12] After Polk was killed on June 14, he was temporarily replaced in corps command by Major General William Wing Loring and on July 7 by Lieutenant General Alexander P. Stewart.[13][fn 4]

Many, but not all, of the units of both armies fought in the Battle of Atlanta and related action at Decatur on July 22, 1864.

The armies, corps, divisions and brigades in the Union Order of Battle at the Battle of Atlanta under the overall command of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman were:
At Atlanta

• The Army of the Tennessee under the command of Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson, and after he was killed in action under the command of Maj. Gen. John A. Logan:
  • Fifteenth Corps: Maj. Gen. John A. Logan, then Brig. Gen. Morgan L. Smith. ••First Division: Brig. Gen. Charles R. Woods: •••First Brigade: Col. Milo Smith. •••Second Brigade: Col. James A. Williamson. •••Third Brigade: Col. Hugo Wangelin. •••Artillery: Maj. Clemens Landgraeber. ••Second Division: Brig. Gen. Morgan L. Smith, then Brig. Gen. Joseph A. J. Lightburn. •••First Brigade: Col. James S. Martin. •••Second Brigade: Brig. Gen. Joseph J. A. Lightburn, then Col. Wells S. Jones. •••Artillery: Capt. Francis De Gress. ••Fourth Division: Brig. Gen. William Harrow. •••First Brigade: Col. Reuben Williams. •••Second Brigade: Brig. Gen. Charles C. Walcutt. •••Third Brigade: Col. John M. Oliver. •••Artillery: Capt. Henry H. Griffiths.
  • Sixteenth Corps: Maj. Gen. Grenville M. Dodge. ••Second Division: Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Sweeny. •••First Brigade: Brig. Gen. Elliott W. Rice. •••Second Brigade: Col. August Mersy (wounded), then Lt. Col. Robert N. Adams. •••Artillery: Capt. Frederick Welker. ••Fourth Division: Brig. Gen. John W. Fuller. •••First Brigade: Col. John Morrill (wounded), then Lt. Col. Henry T. McDowell. •••Artillery: Capt. George Robinson.
  • Seventeenth Corps: Maj. Gen. Frank P. Blair, Jr.: ••Third Division: Brig. Gen. Mortimer D. Leggett. •••First Brigade: Brig. Gen. Manning F. Force (wounded), then Col. George B. Bryant. •••Second Brigade: Col. Robert K. Scott (captured), then Lt. Col. Greenberry F. Wiles. •••Third Brigade: Col. Adam G. Malloy. •••Artillery: Capt. William S. Williams. ••Fourth Division: Brig. Gen. Giles A. Smith. •••First Brigade: Col. Benjamin F. Potts. •••Third Brigade: Col. William Hall. •••Artillery: Capt. Edward Spear, Jr.
• The Army of the Ohio (Twenty-Third Corps) under the command of Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield. ••Second Division: Brig. Gen. Milo S. Hascall. •••Artillery: Capt. Joseph C. Shields. •••Third Division: Brig. Gen. Jacob D. Cox. **Artillery: Maj. Henry M. Wells.[14]

At Decatur

• Army of the Cumberland under the command of Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas. •Cavalry Corps: Brig. Gen. Washington L. Elliott. ••Second Division: Brig. Gen. Kenner Garrard. •••Chicago Board of Trade Battery: two sections under Lt. Trumbull D. Griffin and Lt. Henry Bennett.
• The Army of the Ohio (Twenty-Third Corps) under the command of Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield. ••Third Division: Brig. Gen. Jacob D. Cox. •••First Brigade: Brig. Gen. James W. Reilly.
• The Army of the Tennessee under the command of Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson, and after he was killed in action under the command of Maj. Gen. John A. Logan. •Sixteenth Corps: Maj. Gen. Grenville M. Dodge. ••Second Division: Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Sweeny. •••Second Brigade: Col. August Mersy (wounded), then Lt. Col. Robert N. Adams. •••Artillery: Capt. Frederick Welker. ••Fourth Division: Brig. Gen. John W. Fuller. •••Second Brigade: Col. John W. Sprague. •••Artillery: Lt. Henry Shier.[15]

The Confederate army at the Battle of Atlanta was The Army of Tennessee under the command of Gen. John Bell Hood. The corps, divisions and brigades and their commanders in the Confederate Order of Battle were:

At Atlanta:

• Hardee's Corps: Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee. ••Bates Division: Maj. Gen. William B. Bate. •••Finley's Brigade: Brig. Gen. Jesse J. Finley. •••Lewis's Brigade: Brig. Gen. Joseph H. Lewis. •••Tyler's Brigade: Brig. Gen. Thomas B. Smith. •• Cheatham's Division: Brig. Gen. George E. Maney. ••• Maney's Brigade: Col. Francis M. Walker (killed). •••Stahl's Brigade: Brig. Gen. Otho F. Strahl (wounded). •••Vaughan's Brigade: Col. Michael Magrevney, Jr. •••Wrights Brigade: Col. John C. Carter. ••Cleburne's Division: Maj. Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne. •••Govan's Brigade: Brig. Gen. Daniel C. Govan. ••• Lowrey's Brigade: Brig. Gen. Mark P. Lowrey. •••Smith's Brigade: Brig Gen. James A. Smith (wounded), then Col. Roger Q. Mills (wounded), then Lt. Col. Robert B. Young. ••Walker's Division: Maj. Gen. William H. T. Walker (killed), then Brig Gen. Hugh W. Mercer. •••Gist's Brigade: Brig. Gen. States R. Gist (wounded), then Col. James McCullogh. •••Mercer's Brigade: Brig. Gen. Hugh W. Mercer, then Col. Charles H. Olmstead (wounded), then Col. William Barkuloo (wounded), then Lt. Col. Morgan Rawls (wounded), then Lt. Col. Cincinnatus S. Guyton. •••Stevens's Brigade: Col. George A. Smith (wounded). ••Artillery: Col. Melancthon Smith. •••Cobb's Battalion: Maj. Robert H. Cobb. •••Hotchkiss's Battalion: Maj. T. R. Hotchkiss. •••Hoxton's Battalion: Maj. Llewellyn Hoxton. •••Martin's Battalion: Maj. Robert Martin.
• Hood's Corps: Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Cheatham. ••Clayton's Division: Maj. Gen. Henry D. Clayton. •••Baker's Brigade: Col. John H. Higley. Gibson's Brigade:Brig. Gen. Randall L. Gibson. •••Holtzclaw's Brigade: Col. Bushrod Jones. •••Stovall's Brigade: Col. Abda Johnson. ••Hindman's Division: Brig. Gen. John C. Brown. •••Dea's Brigade: Col. John G. Coltart. •••Manigault's Brigade: Brig. Gen. Arthur M. Manigault. •••Tucker's Brigade: Col. Jacob H. Sharp. •••Walthall's Brigade: Col. Samuel Benton (mortally wounded), then Col. William F. Brantley. ••Stevenson's Division: Maj. Gen. Carter L. Stevenson. •••Brown's Brigade: Col. Joseph B. Palmer. •••Cumming's Brigade: Brig. Gen. Alfred Cummings. •••Pettus's Brigade: Brig. Gen. Edmund W. Pettus. •••Reynold's Brigade: Brig. Gen. Alexander W. Reynolds. ••Artillery: Col. Robert F. Beckham. •••Courtney's Battalion: Maj. Alfred R. Courtney. Eldridge's Battalion: Maj. J. Wesley Eldridge. Johnston's Battalion Maj. John W. Johnston. ••Georgia Militia: Maj. Gen. Gustavus W. Smith. Two Brigades. •••Artillery: ••••Anderson's Georgia Battery: Capt. Ruel W. Anderson. ••••Lumden's Alabama Battery: Capt. Charles L. Lumden.[16]

At Decatur: The Army of Tennessee under the command of Gen. John Bell Hood.

• Wheeler's Cavalry Corps: Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler. ••Martin's Division: Maj. Gen. William T. Martin. •••Allen's Brigade: Brig. Gen. William W. Allen. •••Iverson's Brigade: Brig. Gen. Alfred Iverson. ••Kelly's Division: Brig. Gen. John H. Kelly. •••Anderson's Brigade: Col. Robert H. Anderson. •••Dibrell's Brigade: Col. George G. Dibrell. •••Williams's Brigade: Brig. Gen. John Stuart Williams. ••Artillery: Lt. Col. Felix H. Robertson.
• Army of Mississippi: Lt. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart. •••Ferguson's Brigade: Brig. Gen. Samuel W. Ferguson.[17]

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. Confederate Maj. Gen. William H. T. Walker was killed—shot from his horse by a Union sharpshooter as he scouted the front to prepare his forces for the beginning of the battle.[18] During the time that Hardee's corps was deploying for an attack, McPherson had correctly deduced a possible threat to his left flank. He sent XVI Corps, his reserve, to help strengthen the position.[1] Hardee's men met this other force, and the battle began. About this time, McPherson, rode to the front with two aides to determine the situation and redeploy some regiments as gunfire continued to build to the south of his line. While on this reconnaissance, McPherson was shot and killed by Confederate infantry unexpectedly moving forward. When the Confederates called on him to halt, he turned his horse and tried to escape after refusing a demand to surrender.[19][20]

Although the initial Confederate attack was repulsed, the Union left flank began to retreat under heavy pressure.Initially, Hardee's column took the Flat Shoals Road toward McPherson's position. Union troops under Brig. Gen. Mortimer D. Leggett, commanding the 3rd Division of the XVII Corps moved back from the road and swung to a more east- west position to fill a gap between Blair's corp and Dodge's corp and defend Bald Hill. 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.[21] 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 on a small knoll near Sherman's headquarters and shelled the Confederates, while Logan's XV Corps regrouped and repulsed the Southern troops.[1][22]

In a separate action near Decatur, Colonel John W. Sprague, in command of the 2nd Brigade, 4th Division of the XVI Corps,[23] was attacked by Wheeler's cavalry. Wheeler had taken the Fayetteville Road and moved into the town of Decatur. Union troops fell back from the town while successfully protecting the ordnance and supply trains of the XV, XVI, XVII, and XX corps. Sprague received some reinforcements but Wheeler withdrew due to being recalled by Hardee three times in quick succession at about 5:00 p.m. to help in Hardee's attack on Bald Hill. Sprague was later awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.[24]

The Union had suffered over 3,700 casualties, including Maj. Gen. McPherson,[25] to the Confederacy's 5,500.[3] This was a heavy loss for the already reduced Confederate army, but they still held the city.

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  Palisades and chevaux de frise in front of the Potter (or Pondor) House, Atlanta, Georgia, 1864
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  Atlanta Campaign: Atlanta and Vicinity (Summer 1864).
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  A sketch of the Battle of Atlanta, July 22, 1864.
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  Positions of the 17th Army Corps, July 22, 1864.
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  Battle of Atlanta, GA., July 22, 1864

Confederate sappers constructed a number of artillery emplacements covering the avenues of approach to Atlanta. The artillery in this fortification overlooks Peachtree Street.

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.[26] [21] 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.[21] 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.[27]

On September 2,[7] Mayor James Calhoun,[28] along with a committee of Union-leaning citizens including William Markham,[27] 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".[27] Sherman, who was in Jonesboro at the time of surrender,[27] sent a telegram to Washington on September 3, reading, "Atlanta is ours, and fairly won".[29][30] 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]

Ruins of Atlanta Union Depot after burning by Sherman's troops, 1864

The fall of Atlanta and the success of the overall Atlanta Campaign were extensively covered by Northern newspapers, and were a boon to Northern morale and to President Lincoln's political standing. In the 1864 election, Democratic challenger George B. McClellan ran against Lincoln. McClellan ran a conflicted campaign: McClellan was a Unionist who advocated continuing the war until the defeat of the Confederacy, but the Democratic platform included calls for negotiations with the Confederacy on the subject of a potential truce. The capture of Atlanta and Hood's burning of military facilities as he evacuated showed that a successful conclusion of the war was in sight, weakening support for a truce. As a result, Lincoln was re-elected by a wide margin, with 212 out of 233 electoral votes.[7]

Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson, who was one of the highest-ranking Union officers killed in action during the Civil War, was mourned and honored by Sherman, who declared in his official report:

His public enemies, even the men who directed the fatal shot, never spoke or wrote of him without expressions of marked respect; those whom he commanded loved him even to idolatry; and I, his associate and commander, fail in words adequate to express my opinion of his great worth. I feel assured that every patriot in America, on hearing this sad news, will feel a sense of personal loss, and the country generally will realize that we have lost, not only an able military leader, but a man who, had he survived, was qualified to heal the national strife which has been raised by designing and ambitious men.[31]

Despite the damage caused by the war, Atlanta recovered from its downfall relatively quickly; as one observer noted as early as November 1865, "A new city is springing up with marvelous rapidity".[32][33] Within a week of the fall of Atlanta however, Sherman had ordered all non-military personnel out of Atlanta. Reportedly he remembered the cities of Memphis and Vicksburg which became a burden immediately after victory, so he told the civilians specifically to go north or go south. A truce of sorts was quickly established at a town nearby called Rough And Ready with General Hood, where Union and Confederate prisoners were in small numbers exchanged and civilians wishing to go south could get help to that end.[26]

In 1880, Atlanta ranked among the fifty largest cities in the United States.[32] The battlefield is now urban, residential, and commercial land, with many markers memorializing notable events of the battle,[34] including McPherson's place of death. The marker was erected in 1956 by the Georgia Historical Commission.[35] To commemorate the 140th anniversary of the battle, in 2004, two new markers were erected in the Inman Park neighborhood. The Atlanta Cyclorama building, built in 1921 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is located in Grant Park and formerly contained a panoramic painting of the battle.[32][36] In 2014, the City of Atlanta sold the Battle of Atlanta Cyclorama to Atlanta History Center.[37] Atlanta History Center constructed new, purpose-built building at their Buckhead Campus to house the art piece. The painting itself underwent an extensive restoration to reverse changes made to the original painting in the 1890s.[38] The Cyclorama and accompanying exhibition (Cyclorama: The Big Picture) opened at Atlanta History Center on February 22, 2019.[39]

One notable establishment destroyed by Union soldiers was the Potter (or Ponder) House, built in 1857, and owned by Ephraim G. Ponder, a holder of 65 slaves before the war. In the battle, it was used by Confederate sharpshooters until Union artillery inflicted heavy damage. It was never rebuilt. One of Ponder's slaves, Festus Flipper, was the father of Henry Ossian Flipper, who later became the first African American cadet to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point.[40]

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  Georgia Historical Marker for the surrender of Atlanta
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  The Potter (or Ponder) House in Atlanta housed Confederate sharpshooters until Union artillery made a special target of it
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  Map of Atlanta battlefield core and study areas by the American Battlefield Protection Program