The Battle of Atlanta

In keeping with his strategy at Peachtree Creek, General John Bell Hood, commanding the Confederate Army of Tennessee, sought to isolate and destroy one of Major-General William T. Sherman’s three Federal armies approaching the vital industrial and transportation center of Atlanta. Hood’s target was Major-General James B. McPherson’s Army of the Tennessee, which held a north-south line less than three miles east of the city. According to Hood’s plan:

• Lieutenant-General William Hardee’s corps would conduct a 15-mile night march around McPherson’s left (southern) flank and attack from the south and east.
• Major-General Joseph Wheeler’s cavalry would ride past Hardee’s corps to the Federal supply depot at Decatur in McPherson’s rear.
• Major-General Benjamin F. Cheatham’s corps would attack McPherson’s right and center from the west.
• Lieutenant-General Alexander P. Stewart’s corps would prevent Sherman’s other two armies under Major-Generals George H. Thomas and John Schofield from aiding McPherson.

Hood expected Hardee’s Confederates to attack at dawn, but they were exhausted from the night march and could not be brought up into attack formation until afternoon. During the delay, McPherson sensed that the Confederates might threaten his left and persuaded Sherman to allow him to bring up Major-General Grenville M. Dodge’s Sixteenth Corps from Decatur to reinforce his flank.

Dodge positioned his troops facing south, refusing the rest of McPherson’s line facing west. The Confederates attacked south of the Georgia Railroad, between Decatur and Atlanta, where Dodge’s Federals were waiting. The Confederates seemed surprised to see the enemy facing them, and they were repulsed. William Strong of McPherson’s staff recalled, “They showed great steadiness, closed up the gaps, and preserved their alignments; but the iron and leaden hail that was fairly poured upon them was too much for flesh and blood to stand, and before reaching the centre of the open fields, the columns were broken up and thrown into great confusion.”

The Federals counterattacked and drove the Confederates back. However, McPherson soon discovered a gap between Dodge’s corps and Major-General Francis P. Blair, Jr.’s Seventeenth Corps to Dodge’s right (facing west). Confederates under Major-General Patrick R. Cleburne surged forward to exploit the gap as McPherson called for troops to close it.

McPherson inadvertently rode up to Confederate skirmishers, and a captain demanded his surrender. The captain later wrote, “He checked his horse slightly, raised his hat as politely as if he was saluting a lady, wheeled his horse’s head directly to the right and dashed off to the rear in a full gallop.” The skirmishers killed him with a bullet near his heart. Federals repulsed the skirmishers and recovered McPherson’s body, which they loaded into an ambulance and sent to Sherman’s headquarters. The Army of the Tennessee’s command temporarily passed to Major-General John A. “Blackjack” Logan.

Federals rushed forward to plug the gap between the Seventeenth and Sixteenth corps, holding firm against Cleburne’s assaults. To the west, Cheatham’s Confederates attacked the Federals at Bald Hill and other points around 3 p.m. The Confederates penetrated the line of the Fifteenth corps near the Georgia Railroad, but Logan rallied the troops by yelling, “McPherson and revenge, boys! McPherson and revenge! Boys, avenge your fallen chief!” A soldier noted, “This seemed to inspire the army with renewed energy and courage.” The Federals eventually drove the Confederates back.

Farther east, Federals were driven out of Decatur by Wheeler’s troopers, but the Federals saved all the army’s ordnance before withdrawing. Wheeler’s position became untenable when he learned that Hardee had not broken the Federal left, and he ordered a withdrawal. With no breakthroughs anywhere along the battle lines, Hood finally ordered his men to fall back.

Sherman later wrote:

“The enemy had retired during the night inside of Atlanta, and we remained masters of the situation outside. I purposely allowed the Army of the Tennessee to fight this battle almost unaided, save by demonstrations on the part of General Schofield and Thomas against the fortified lines to their immediate fronts, and by detaching, as described, one of Schofield’s brigades to Decatur, because I knew that the attacking force could only be a part of Hood’s army, and that, if any assistance were rendered by either of the other armies, the Army of the Tennessee would be jealous. Nobly did they do their work that day, and terrible was the slaughter done to our enemy, though at sad cost to ourselves.”

This was the largest battle of the two-month campaign so far. The Federals suffered 3,722 casualties (430 killed, 1,559 wounded, and 1,733 missing) out of over 30,000 effectives. Sherman wept over the loss of McPherson, whom he believed was his most talented subordinate. Federal General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant also mourned the loss of McPherson, as Grant considered McPherson’s “energy, skill, and the harmonious putting forth of that energy and skill,” along with Sherman’s, to be instrumental in his ascension to overall army commander. Sherman had McPherson’s body wrapped in a U.S. flag and conveyed to Marietta for interment.

The Confederates lost about 8,000 out of roughly 40,000 men. Cleburne’s division lost 40 percent of its strength, including 30 of its 60 highest-ranking officers. In five days as army commander, Hood had launched two attacks that not only failed to dislodge Sherman, but they cost more lives than former commander Joseph E. Johnston had lost in over two months. Hood again blamed Hardee for the defeat, even though Hood was not present during the fighting, just as he was not present during the Battle of Peachtree Creek two days before.

Despite such devastating losses, the Confederates still held Atlanta. They fell back into defenses around the city. Sherman might have been able to destroy Hood’s army if he sent the armies of Thomas and Schofield forward, but he instead began planning to put Atlanta under siege.

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