Battle of Rocky Face Ridge

The Battle of Rocky Face Ridge was fought May 7–13, 1864, in Whitfield County, Georgia, during the Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War. The Union army was led by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman and the Confederate army by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. Confederates were forced to evacuate their strong position due to a Union flanking movement.

Battle of Rocky Face Ridge
Part of the American Civil War

Plaque memorializing action at Rocky Face Ridge
DateMay 7, 1864 (1864-05-07)–May 13, 1864 (1864-05-13)[1]
Location
Whitfield County, Georgia
34°44′28″N 85°00′56″W
Result Union victory
Belligerents
United States United States Confederate States of America Confederate States
Commanders and leaders
William T. Sherman Joseph E. Johnston
Units involved
Military Division of the Mississippi Army of Tennessee
Casualties and losses
837[2] 600[2]

Battle

General Johnston had entrenched his army on the long, steep Rocky Face Ridge and eastward across Crow Valley. When Sherman approached, he demonstrated against this position with two columns while he sent a third one through Snake Creek Gap, to the south, to hit the Western & Atlantic Railroad at Resaca. The first two columns engaged the enemy at Buzzard Roost (Mill Creek Gap) and at Dug Gap while the third column, under Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson, passed through Snake Creek Gap and on May 9 advanced to the outskirts of Resaca, where it found Confederates entrenched. Fearing the strength of the enemy, McPherson pulled his column back to Snake Creek Gap. On May 10, Sherman decided to join McPherson in an effort to take Resaca. The next morning, Sherman's army withdrew from in front of Rocky Face Ridge. Discovering Sherman's movement, Johnston retired south towards Resaca on May 12.[1]

Battlefield

In 2016, the American Battlefield Trust and its partners acquired, for purposes of preservation, 301 acres of the Rocky Face Ridge Battlefield, including surviving earthworks and the remains of a continuous entrenchment more than 2,000 feet long.[3] That purchase expanded the total battlefield acreage acquired and preserved by the Trust and its partners to 926 acres.[4]

  • Assault on Dug Gap by Alfred Waud, 1864.
    Assault on Dug Gap by Alfred Waud, 1864.
  • Map of battlefield core and study areas by the ABPP.
    Map of battlefield core and study areas by the ABPP.

See also

Notes
  1. "Rocky Face Ridge". National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2015-03-04.
  2. "The American Civil War in Georgia". Archived from the original on 2014-05-17. Retrieved 2012-07-20.
  3. "Thanks to the generosity of Civil War Trust members, more than 2,200 acres of hallowed ground are now protected in Georgia" (Press release). American Battlefield Trust. November 8, 2016. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
  4. "Rocky Face Ridge Battlefield". American Battlefield Trust. Retrieved June 20, 2023.

References


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