Atlanta Campaign: The Bloody Struggle for Georgia During the US Civil War
The Atlanta Campaign (7 May to 2 September 1864) was a major military campaign in the western theater of the American Civil War (1861-1865). It saw a large Union force under Major General William Tecumseh Sherman invade Georgia, constantly outmaneuvering the Confederate Army of Tennessee, until he came to the strategically significant city of Atlanta. After several bloody battles, Sherman captured Atlanta on 2 September, delivering one of the final death blows to the Confederate States.
Background
In the spring of 1864, as the American Civil War entered its fourth and final year, both the Union and Confederate sides braced themselves for what promised to be yet another grueling and blood-soaked campaign season. Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of the Union armies, hoped to break the fighting strength of the Southern Confederacy with a series of coordinated offensives across multiple fronts – while he remained in Virginia to square off against Confederate General Robert E. Lee, Grant entrusted command of the western theater of operations to his favorite subordinate, Major General William Tecumseh Sherman. Grant instructed Sherman to invade Georgia and capture the city of Atlanta, a major supply and railroad center, the fall of which would seriously cripple the Confederate war effort. Sherman was also ordered to destroy the Confederate Army of Tennessee, led by General Joseph E. Johnston, and to "get into the interior of the enemy's country as far as you can, inflicting all the damage you can against their resources" (quoted in Foote, 318).
Sherman was all too ready to comply. A tall, lanky man with a close-cropped, rust-red beard and a personal intensity that tended to exhaust those in his presence, he quickly set about preparing the campaign. His invasion force consisted of 98,000 men, spread out across three separate armies: the 60,000-man Army of the Cumberland, under Major General George H. Thomas, a burly Virginian who had stayed loyal to the Union and was known for his steadfastness under fire; the 25,000-man Army of the Tennessee under Major General James B. McPherson, a young West Point graduate and protégé of Sherman's; and the 13,000-man Army of the Ohio under Major General John M. Schofield. To keep such a large army supplied and fed, Sherman hoped to utilize the railroads from his base at Chattanooga but knew that he could live off the land if need be, writing Grant that "Georgia has a million inhabitants. If they can live, we should not starve" (ibid).
The opposing army – the Confederate Army of Tennessee – was meanwhile entrenched atop Rocky Face Ridge, a 20-mile (36-km) long bastion that defended the rebel supply chain to Atlanta. Its commander, General Johnston, knew that he could not hope to match Sherman in strength of numbers. Indeed, by the end of May, Johnston had only 65,000 men spread out across three infantry and one cavalry corps. Instead, he would use the topography of northern Georgia to his advantage. Consisting of steep mountains and swift rivers, the terrain greatly favored defense, leading Johnston to rely on seeking out defensive ground and goading Sherman into attacking him. While this may have been prudent, it did nothing to dispel Johnston's reputation as an overly cautious commander. One story highlighting his timidity circulated through the army camps – sometime before the war, he had been invited on a duck hunting trip, but despite his reputation as an expert marksman, he never fired his gun during the entire hunt. "The bird flew too high or too low – the dogs were too far or too near – things never did suit exactly. He was…afraid to miss and risk his fine reputation" (quoted in McPherson, 744).
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⇒ Atlanta Campaign: The Bloody Struggle for Georgia During the US Civil War
