On May 5, 1864 — months of preparation behind him — Federal Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman moved his three armies and 100,000 men into Georgia. Exactly 150 years ago Monday, the Northern invasion of Georgia and the Civil War campaign to capture Atlanta got underway.
Sherman embarked on the assignment given to him by his superior, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. While Grant’s forces in the East marched against Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, Sherman’s Military Division of the Mississippi — consisting of three Federal armies, the Ohio, Cumberland and Tennessee — was ordered to advance against the Confederate force in Georgia.
At stake was nothing less than the fate of the United States. Without a dramatic Union victory in the summer of 1864, war-weary Northerners that fall might well reject Abraham Lincoln’s bid for re-election and elect a Democratic peace candidate president. Lincoln himself expected as much, and feared the war would end on Southern terms.
Grant's charge to Sherman: "To move against Johnston's army, to break it up and to get into the interior of the enemy's country as far as you can, inflicting all the damage you can against their war resources." The Johnston mentioned in Sherman's orders was Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, commander of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, a force of between 50,000 and 60,000 soldiers positioned in Dalton.
In coming months, on the first Saturday's Opinion page in this newspaper — and with weekly updates and a calendar of Civil War commemorative events online at http://www.ajc.com/s/opinion/ — we'll follow the Federal thrust into Georgia and the Confederate effort to prevent it from reaching Atlanta. The Atlanta campaign begins in the mountains of North Georgia and ends after a siege and a series of bloody battles in and around the city. Before year's end, Sherman will set out on a bold, audacious march across open country toward Savannah — the March to the Sea. But that's getting ahead of our story.
Tunnel Hill saw action on May 6-7, as the combatants clashed over control of the vital Western & Atlantic Railroad passage though the rocky mountainside; Federal troops took control of the tunnel. With a route for his supply line secured, Sherman called for Maj. Gens. George Thomas and John Schofield to advance, while Maj. Gen. James McPherson swung to the right.
If things progressed according to plan, McPherson would steal a march through Snake Creek Gap, sever the Western & Atlantic and leave Johnston little choice other than withdrawal eastward to try to save his army. McPherson almost completed his mission, but the general overestimated the enemy forces in his front, hesitated and pulled back. Sherman would later label this failure the biggest missed opportunity of the entire campaign.
As the fighting continued at Rocky Face Ridge, Sherman began sending troops in the direction of Resaca, hoping again to get behind Johnston’s army. Reconnaissance provided Johnston with information of the Federal movement, and he deployed his army southward. As the guns fell silent at Rocky Face, they blazed at Resaca. Johnston won the race to the area and began fortifying his line. The Southern troops held off repeated attacks, and both sides incurred heavy casualties, approximately 2,800 men each.
Maneuvering through northwest Georgia became the standard of the Atlanta Campaign. Sherman continually sidled to his right in an attempt to flank the Army of Tennessee. Johnston countered, and a series of actions ensued as each army moved, entrenched and occasionally engaged.
Adairsville served as host for the next encounter, and after reconnoitering the terrain, Johnston realized the ground did not prove of his choosing. He ordered his army to redeploy to Cassville. There, he found good ground and planned to make a stand. However, during a late-night council of war, Lt. Gens. John Bell Hood and Leonidas Polk did not endorse fighting at Cassville. So the Confederates fell back, crossing the Etowah River and forming at Allatoona Pass.
Troops on the move need resupply of food and matériel; beginning May 20, both armies took a brief respite to gather supplies and rest the soldiers. The calm before the storm in Paulding County lasted until May 23, when Sherman — seeking to avoid the strong enemy position at Allatoona — took a much wider than usual swing to his right, leaving the railroad. Johnston acted quickly and began shifting his army westward.
On May 25, the Battle of New Hope Church took place, just west of the Paulding-Cobb county line between Acworth and Dallas. The rough, wooded terrain made navigation for the Federal troops difficult, and after a battle, which ended in a horrendous thunderstorm, the Confederate line held. Sherman would try his hand the following day, as he believed he could move troops around Johnston’s right flank. But Confederate Maj. General Patrick Cleburne quickly redeployed his men to block the Federal flanking maneuver. He led his men brilliantly, and the Southerners collected a victory at Pickett’s Mill.
Sherman had had enough of the Paulding “Hell Hole” and started withdrawing his forces to reestablish contact with his supply line on the railroad. As the Federals moved out of the trenches, the Confederates made one last attack at Dallas, and met a repulse. Rainfall ended the month, with both armies tending to the wounded. The rain would continue into June, making maneuvers slow, troublesome and tiring for armies on the move.
