Sherman's Atlanta Campaign

Map illustrating the Atlanta Campaign

The days of guard duty along the Tennessee railroad were no more. On April 4, 1864, the 11th and William's 12th corps were combined into a new Twentieth Army Corps. Together with other army corps, they would form an army of 100,000 under General William T. Sherman, which would become of one of the most famous armies in the history of warfare. 

The map to the left (Click to enlarge) graphically represents the movements of Sherman's new army from May to September 1864. Hopefully it will help the reader follow the Campaign's progress as discussed in the letters and commentary that follow.

Sherman's army was part of the plan to devastate the underbelly of the Confederacy. Starting on May 4, 1864, the Twentieth Corps joined the Atlanta campaign, participating during the next four months in all the important battles. 

During the first month, the hardest fighting occurring at Resaca on May 15, 1864 and at New Hope Church on May 25, 1864. 

William's 107th Regiment fought hard in the many skirmishes and battles on its way to Atlanta, losing a great many men in the battle of New Hope Church. The 107th would be among the first troops to enter Atlanta, ultimately becoming its police force and guard against any future Confederate attacks. 

 

Commentary

Cassville is sometimes referred to as the "Battle that never was", as Johnston had hoped to isolate and destroy part of Sherman’s army here. However, the trap was not sprung after John Bell Hood hesitated in the face of what he believed was a much larger Union force. Cassville was destroyed by Sherman (11/5/64) in retaliation for Southern guerrilla activity in the area. It was not rebuilt until the 20th century.

Rocky Face Ridge (May 7-12)

At Rocky Face Ridge, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston had entrenched his army on the long, high mountain of Rocky Face Ridge and eastward across Crow Valley. 

General Joseph Johnston

When Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman approached the trenches he decided to make contact against the position with two columns while he sent a third one to the right through Snake Creek Gap to hit the Western & Atlantic Railroad at Resaca. 

The two remaining Union columns under Sherman's direct command engaged the enemy at Buzzard Roost (Mill Creek Gap) and at Dug Gap. In the meantime, the third column, under Maj. Gen. James Birdseye McPherson, passed through Snake Creek Gap and on May 9th advanced to the outskirts of Resaca where it found Confederates entrenched. 

Fearing defeat, McPherson pulled his column back to Snake Creek Gap. On the 10th, Sherman decided to take most of his men and join McPherson 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 the 12th.

Resaca (May 13-15)

In the Battle of Resaca casualties were about equal on both sides. This is the battle William Graham describes in his letter.

Gen. Joseph E. Johnston had withdrawn from Rocky Face Ridge to the hills around Resaca. On the 13th, the Union troops tested the Rebel lines to pinpoint their whereabouts. The next day full scale fighting occurred, and the Union troops were generally repulsed except on the Rebel right flank where Sherman did not fully exploit his advantage. On the 15th, the battle continued with no advantage to either side until Sherman sent a force across the Oostanula River, at Lay’s Ferry, towards Johnston’s railroad supply line. Unable to halt this Union movement, Johnston was forced to retire.

Battle of Resaca

New Hope Church and Dallas (May 25-June 1) 

 

The Battles of New Hope Church and Dallas occurred as a series of engagements beginning after William's May 21 letter was sent. Prior to the battle, Johnston’s army fell back from the vicinity of Cassville-Kinston, first to Allatoona Pass and then to the Dallas area and entrenched. Sherman’s army tested the Rebel line while entrenching themselves.

The Battle of New Hope Church occurred with intense trench warfare and skirmishing associated with an attack on May 25 and 26 under Hooker's 20th Corps command. It was reported that 703 Union soldiers were killed and 350 taken prisoner as a result of this battle. The Battle of Dallas occurred on May 28 when Confederate Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee’s forces, looking for any weakness, probed the Union defensive line held by Maj. Gen. John A. Logan’s forces. Fighting ensued at two different points. The Rebels were repulsed, suffering some 600 more casualties than the Union forces.

Sherman looked for a way around Johnston’s line, and, on June 1, his cavalry occupied Allatoona Pass, which had a railroad and would allow his men and supplies to reach him by train. Sherman abandoned his lines at Dallas on June 5 and moved toward the railhead at Allatoona Pass forcing Johnston to follow soon afterwards. Since Sherman took great pains to ensure security measures for his supply and communications lines, he could be fairly confident that supplies would continue to flow without interruption. The battle resulted in a Union victory.

Confederate Strategic Error 

 

The unwillingness of Confederate authorities in Richmond to temporarily abandon Mississippi and to utilize the substantial forces available there to counter the primary Union threat against Atlanta demonstrated the flaws in Confederate President Davis’ command system. Union diversionary operations in Mississippi effectively kept Forrest – probably the only cavalry leader who could have seriously threatened Sherman’s logistics – away from the Union commander’s railroad lifeline. Because of Sherman’s detailed advance planning, the railroad from Chattanooga to Atlanta (the part of the line in Union hands) was well defended, and the Union army well maintained.

Commentary

William Tecumseh Sherman received recognition for his outstanding command of military strategy as well as criticism for the harshness of the "scorched earth" policies that he implemented in conducting total war against the Confederate States. Military historian Basil Liddell Hart famously declared that Sherman was "the first modern general".[1]

General William Tecumseh Sherman

Sherman served under General Ulysses S. Grant in 1862 and 1863 during the campaigns that led to the fall of the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg on the Mississippi River and culminated with the routing of the Confederate armies in the state of Tennessee. In 1864, Sherman succeeded Grant as the Union commander in the western theater of the war. 

He proceeded to lead his troops to the capture of the city of Atlanta, a military success that contributed to the re-election of President Abraham Lincoln. Sherman's subsequent march through Georgia and the Carolinas further undermined the Confederacy's ability to continue fighting. He accepted the surrender of all the Confederate armies in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida in April 1865.

Prior to Atlanta, William Graham's 107th Regiment participated in two more battles after Dallas; Kennesaw Mountain at the end of June and Peachtree Creek two days after this letter was written.

Kennesaw Mountain (June 27)

The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain took place on June 27, 1864. On the night of June 18-19, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, fearing envelopment, withdrew his army to a new, previously selected position astride Kennesaw Mountain. This entrenched arc-shaped line, to the north and west of Marietta, protected the Western & Atlantic Railroad, the supply link to Atlanta. Having defeated General John B. Hood troops at Kolb’s Farm on the 22nd, Sherman was sure that Johnston had stretched his line too thin and, therefore, decided on a frontal attack with some diversions on the flanks. On the morning of June 27, Sherman sent his troops forward after an artillery bombardment. At first they made some headway overrunning Confederate pickets. However, attacking an enemy that was well dug in is usually futile. The fighting ended by noon, and Sherman suffered high casualties - 3000 to 1000 for the Rebels.

Major General Joseph Hooker

Joseph Hooker became known as "Fighting Joe" during the Civil War. He gained a reputation as a solid commander when he was transferred westward to reinforce the Army of the Cumberland around Chattanooga, Tennessee. Hooker was in command at the Battle of Lookout Mountain, playing an important role in Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's decisive victory at the Battle of Chattanooga. He was brevetted to major general in the regular army for his success at Chattanooga, but he was disappointed to find that Grant's official report of the battle credited his friend William Tecumseh Sherman's contribution over Hooker's.

Hooker led his now 20th Corps (William Graham's Corps) competently in the 1864 Atlanta Campaign under Sherman, but asked to be relieved before the capture of the city because of his dissatisfaction with the promotion of Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard to command of the Army of the Tennessee, upon the death of Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson.

 

Chattahoochee River Line  (July 8 - 9)

Example of pontoon bridge used to quickly cross rivers

The Chattahoochee River Line was revolutionary in its design and formidable in its strength. Sherman called it "one of the strongest pieces of field fortifications I ever saw". It stretched about seven miles along a ridge on the northern bank of the Chattahoochee River. The fortifications included 36 distinctive small forts called Shoupades after their designer, Confederate Brigadier General Francis A. Shoup. A network of trenches connected them.

General Joseph Johnston's Confederates took up the line as a defensive position following the battle of Kennesaw Mountain. The River Line was such a well-engineered defensive system that Union forces declined a direct assault; instead they dug themselves in to engage in daily artillery duels.

At the River Line on July 8 and 9, Union forces feigned to the right, but crossed the Chattahoochee by the left. Rapidly assembled bridges soon spanned the Chattahoochee, and wagons and men of Sherman’s army were pouring across the waterway to flank the Confederate position. This was the pontoon bridge mentioned in William's letter. Johnston abandoned the River Line on the evening of July 9, 1864.

To secure the real prize – the city of Atlanta – the Federals had to sever its railroads; four lines radiating out of the city to various vital points of the Confederacy. Once across the Chattahoochee, Sherman controlled the first, the Western & Atlantic railroad. Johnston was forced once more to retreat.

Johnston's strategy throughout the Atlanta Campaign seemed to be withdrawal. He would prepare strong defensive positions, only to see Sherman maneuver around them, causing Johnston to fall back in the general direction of Atlanta. Johnston saw the preservation of his army as most important. He handled his army well, slowing the Union advance and inflicting heavier losses than he sustained. However, given the Union's advantage in numbers, it was not enough.

Peachtree Creek (July 20)

By noon of July 17th Johnston's forces waited behind his first line of entrenchments (prepared in advance for this very occasion) south of Peach Tree Creek, an east to west flowing stream, about three miles north of Atlanta. Confederate President Jefferson Davis becoming increasingly irritated by Johnston's withdrawal strategy removed Johnston from command on July 17, 1864.  Lt. General John Bell Hood was substituted to command the Confederate army on July 18, 1864, the date of William Graham's letter. 

Sherman split his army into three columns for the assault with George H. Thomas’s Army of the Cumberland moving from the north. Johnston had decided to attack Thomas, but it was Hood who actually attacked on July 20, 1864 after Thomas's army crossed Peach Tree Creek. The determined assault threatened to overrun the Union troops at various locations. Ultimately, though, the Yankees held, and the Rebels fell back. Victory went to the Union with the Confederates suffering a level of casualties which they could not long sustain: 4,796 to the Union's 1,710.

Clement Vallandigham

Clement Laird Vallandigham was an Ohio member of the Copperhead faction of anti-war, pro-Confederate Democrats during the American Civil War. Vallandigham was a vigorous supporter of Constitutional "States' Rights" and although personally opposed to slavery, believed that the federal government had no power to regulate the institution. He further believed that the Confederacy had a right to secede and could not constitutionally be conquered militarily.

He supported the Crittenden Compromise and proposed (February 20, 1861) a division of the Senate and of the electoral college into four sections, each with a veto. He strongly opposed every military bill, leading his opponents to allege that he wanted the Confederacy to win the war. He was the acknowledged leader of the Copperheads and in May 1862 coined their slogan, "To maintain the Constitution as it is, and to restore the Union as it was."