Calling on the brave soldiers of the Army of Tennessee “to wrest your country from the grasp of the invader,” Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood started preparations for the defense of Atlanta. It was the third week of July, 1864, and Hood had just taken command from Gen. Joseph E. Johnston.
Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s three Federal armies approached the city via different avenues. Maj. Gens. John Schofield and James McPherson swung to the east of Atlanta, while Maj. Gen. George Thomas advanced more directly, south through what is now Buckhead to the vicinity of Peachtree Creek.
Executing a sound battle plan – one Johnston had initially conceived – Hood on July 20, 1864, ordered Lt. Gens. William Hardee and A.P. Stewart to attack the Army of the Cumberland before it could establish a position after crossing the creek.
Near misses proved the order of the day, as the attacking Confederates almost achieved breakthroughs at various spots along the Federal line. But in the end, a lack of coordinated advances, coupled with the need to redeploy Maj. Gen. Pat Cleburne’s force to reinforce troops under attack from McPherson, enabled Thomas to hold.
In his first battle as commander of the Army of Tennessee, Hood suffered 4,796 casualties.
Failing to achieve victory at Peachtree Creek, Hood later placed the blame on Hardee. “I sought to divine the cause of misfortune – especially of failure on the part of Hardee’s Corps to attack according to explicit instructions,” Hood said.
Perhaps Hood wanted to give Hardee an opportunity to redeem himself, as his plan for the next attack on Federal forces relied heavily on Hardee’s ability to execute a long march south from Atlanta, then east and north, to get into the rear of McPherson’s Army of the Tennessee outside Decatur.
The nighttime journey had fatigued soldiers slogging over dusty roads, and Hardee’s progress was slow. Seeing he could not reach his designated point of attack within the allocated time, Hardee requested, and received permission from Hood, to hit the Federal flank instead of attacking from the rear. Maj. Gen. Ben Cheatham, commanding Hood’s old corps, would attack Schofield’s men along a front, where the Georgia Railroad penetrated the position.
The Confederate launched their attacks on July 22. During the ensuing Battle of Atlanta – in the area of Memorial Drive and Moreland Avenue in what is now east Atlanta, and recounted in the Atlanta Cyclorama painting-in-the-round in Grant Park – the rail line would almost carry the Confederates to victory, as elements of Cheatham’s force broke through along the railroad. But once again, failure to coordinate assaults diminished the chance of Southern conquest.
Hood lost another 8,499 soldiers during the fight, also known as the Battle of Bald Hill, including Maj. Gen. W.H.T. Walker. Sherman counted fewer casualties – 3,641 – but among the dead was McPherson, a favorite of both Sherman and Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.
The third and final July battle outside Atlanta took place July 28 near Ezra Church. Hood sent Lt. Gen. S.D. Lee to intercept Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard’s troops. Howard’s men were marching around the west side of Atlanta, intent on severing a railroad running into the city from the south and supplying the Confederate defenders.
Confederate Lt. Gen. A.P. Stewart was ordered to follow Lee along the Lick Skillet Road and use his force with Lee’s to repel Howard. Lee, recently arrived from Mississippi to take permanent command of Hood’s former corps, became impatient and ordered the lead elements of his force to attack without Stewart.
As had played out at Peachtree and Bald Hill, assaults in piecemeal fashion at Ezra Church resulted in a Confederate defeat and the loss of another 3,000 soldiers. The Southerners did, however, save the railroad.
Meanwhile, even as the bells of death pealed at Ezra Church, Sherman launched a great cavalry raid. Cavalry of Brig. Gen. Edward McCook and Maj. Gen. George Stoneman would ride south and rendezvous near Lovejoy’s Station, where they would destroy the railroad there before advancing on Macon.
Stoneman, however, deviated from the plan. Instead of linking up with McCook, he headed straight for Macon, intent on liberating the prisoners at Andersonville. Confederate Brig. Gen. Alfred Iverson had other ideas. He and his horse soldiers attacked Stoneman’s men on July 31 near Sunshine Church, taking many prisoners including Stoneman.
McCook fared no better, as his men had to fight their way out of a jam after encountering Confederate cavalry near Lovejoy’s Station.
Held at bay outside Atlanta, the Federals settled in for a siege.
Hood had done as his superiors in Richmond demanded: He had acted aggressively and taken the war to the Northern invaders, and he continued to hold Atlanta. But the soil of the City Burial Place covered many of his soldiers.
Michael K. Shaffer is a Civil War historian, author and lecturer. He can be contacted at: www.civilwarhistorian.net
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