Troops of General John Bell Hood’s Confederate Army of Tennessee pulled back after the heavy fighting of July 20-22, and by the morning of the 23rd they were in defensive fortifications around Atlanta, a city second only to the Confederate capital of Richmond in military importance. Hood’s attacks had failed to destroy Major-General William T. Sherman’s three Federal armies, but they succeeded in blocking Sherman’s advance on Atlanta from the north or east. Sherman therefore planned to move his armies to the west and south to capture the city.
But before the Federals could begin their movement, Sherman needed to appoint a permanent commander for the Army of the Tennessee. Major-General John A. Logan had temporarily taken command after Major-General James B. McPherson was killed on the 22nd, “by virtue of his seniority, and had done well,” Sherman recalled, “but I did not consider him equal to the command of three corps.”
Sherman considered Logan to be courageous and noble, but he was a politician “by nature and experience, and it may be for this reason” that professional soldiers such as the other two army commanders, Major-Generals John Schofield (Army of the Ohio) and George H. Thomas (Army of the Cumberland) mistrusted him. Sherman wrote:
“It was all-important that there should exist a perfect understanding among the army commanders, and at a conference with General George H. Thomas… he remonstrated warmly against my recommending that General Logan should be regularly assigned to the command of the Army of the Tennessee by reason of his accidental seniority. We discussed fully the merits and qualities of every officer of high rank in the army, and finally settled on Major-General O. O. Howard as the best officer who was present and available for the purpose; on the 24th of July I telegraphed to General (Henry W.) Halleck this preference, and it was promptly ratified by the President.”
Howard was a West Pointer currently commanding the Fourth Corps in Thomas’s army. As Sherman explained:
“I wanted to succeed in taking Atlanta, and needed commanders who were purely and technically soldiers, men who would obey orders and execute them promptly and on time; for I knew that we would have to execute some most delicate manoeuvres, requiring the utmost skill, nicety, and precision. I believed that General Howard would do all these faithfully and well… I regarded both Generals Logan and (Francis P.) Blair as ‘volunteers,’ that looked to personal fame and glory as auxiliary and secondary to their political ambition, and not as professional soldiers.”
Logan was very disappointed that he had not been chosen to command the army, especially after performing so well in battle after McPherson’s death. Federal General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant also favored Logan, but he would not override Sherman’s decision. Logan did not let his disappointment affect morale and obediently went back to commanding the Fifteenth Corps under Howard. Sherman sent Logan a consoling message:
“No one could have a higher appreciation of the responsibility that devolved on you so unexpectedly and the noble manner in which you met it. I fear you will be disappointed at not succeeding permanently to the command of the Army & Dept. I assure you in giving preference to Gen. Howard, I will not fail to give you every credit for having done so well. You have command of a good corps, a command that I would prefer to the more complicated one of a Dept., and if you will be patient it will come to you soon enough. Be assured of my entire confidence.”
The commander most outraged about Howard’s promotion was Major-General Joseph Hooker, commanding the Twentieth Corps in Thomas’s army. Hooker had formerly commanded the Army of the Potomac, and he not only outranked Howard but he blamed Howard for his disastrous defeat at Chancellorsville in May 1863. Hooker announced that Howard’s promotion was “an insult to my rank and services.”
Sherman later wrote, “As soon as it was known that General Howard had been chosen to command the Army of the Tennessee; General Hooker applied to General Thomas to be relieved of the command of the Twentieth Corps, and General Thomas forwarded his application to me approved and heartily recommended.” On the 25th, according to Sherman:
“General Hooker was offended because he was not chosen to succeed McPherson; but his chances were not even considered; indeed, I had never been satisfied with him since his affair at the Kulp House, and had been more than once disposed to relieve him of his corps, because of his repeated attempts to interfere with Generals McPherson and Schofield… (Hooker) had come to us from the East with a high reputation as a ‘fighter,’ which he had fully justified at Chattanooga and Peach-Tree Creek; at which latter battle I complimented him on the field for special gallantry, and afterward in official reports. Still, I did feel a sense of relief when he left us… and every soldier realized that we had plenty of hard fighting ahead, and that all honors had to be fairly earned.”
Major-General Alpheus Williams temporarily replaced Hooker in command of the Twentieth Corps. Ironically, Hooker’s permanent replacement was Major-General Henry W. Slocum, who had despised Hooker ever since the Chancellorsville campaign. Slocum’s command had disappeared when the Eleventh and Twelfth corps were combined into the Twentieth Corps under Hooker. Williams held the command until Slocum arrived from Vicksburg to replace the man he despised.
Command of Howard’s old Fourth Corps in Thomas’s army went to Major-General David Stanley. Howard quickly settled in as army commander; he would soon have a chance to prove himself, as Sherman was about to put his three armies in motion toward Atlanta once more.
Bibliography
- Catton, Bruce, Grant Takes Command. Open Road Media, Kindle Edition, 2015.
- Catton, Bruce and Long, E.B. (ed.), Never Call Retreat: Centennial History of the Civil War Book 3. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc. (Kindle Edition), 1965.
- Foote, Shelby, The Civil War, A Narrative: Red River to Appomattox. New York: Vintage Civil War Library, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (Kindle Edition), 2011.
- Kallmann, John D. (Patricia L. Faust ed.), Historical Times Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Civil War. New York: Harper & Row, 1986.
- Long, E.B. with Long, Barbara, The Civil War Day by Day. New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1971.
- Pritchard, Russ A. (Patricia L. Faust ed.), Historical Times Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Civil War. New York: Harper & Row, 1986.
- Sherman, William T., Memoirs of General William T. Sherman, Vol. I. New York: D. Appleton and Co. (Kindle Edition), 1889.
- Woodworth, Steven E., Nothing but Victory: The Army of the Tennessee, 1861-1865. New York: Vintage Civil War Library, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition, 2005.