When most of Major-General George Stoneman’s Federal cavalry command was captured during operations outside Atlanta in late July, two brigades under Colonels Horace Capron and Silas Adams had escaped. These brigades were initially separated, but they reunited near Rutledge Station on August 1 and began moving to seize the river town of Athens. Meanwhile, a Confederate cavalry detachment under Colonel William C.P. Breckinridge pursued them.
Adams’s Federals demonstrated at Athens while Capron tried to cross the Oconee River farther above the town. When a guide misled him, Capron instead headed northeast to rejoin Major-General William T. Sherman’s main Federal force. Capron gave his men and horses two hours of rest on the night of the 2nd, after riding 56 miles in one day.
Breckinridge’s Confederates attacked Capron’s camp just before dawn, scattering the Federals and the fugitive slaves they had collected during their expedition. Capron reported that the Confederates were “driving and scattering everything before them. Every effort was made by the officers to rally the men and check the enemy’s charge, but… a stampede now took place.”
Some Federals escaped using a bridge over Mulberry Creek, but the bridge collapsed and many men and horses drowned. The Confederates captured about 250 troopers, but Capron was among those who escaped. Sherman learned of these cavalry disasters from a Richmond newspaper. When survivors confirmed the story, Sherman offered this understatement to his superiors: “On the whole, the cavalry raid is not deemed a success.”
Sherman turned back to his infantry and artillery to capture Atlanta. Federal gunners began bombarding the city while Major-General John Schofield’s Army of the Ohio, reinforced by Major-General John M. Palmer’s Fourteenth Corps, began moving from northeast of Atlanta toward Utoy Creek to the southwest, around Major-General Oliver O. Howard’s Army of the Tennessee. This was another one of Sherman’s efforts to cut the railroad connecting Atlanta to East Point.
The Federals crossed Utoy Creek on the 4th but could not dislodge Lieutenant-General Stephen D. Lee’s Confederates from their fortifications. The next day, Schofield intended to try again but was delayed due to a command dispute with Palmer; Palmer believed that he outranked Schofield. As Sherman later wrote:
“General Palmer claimed to rank General Schofield in the date of his commission as major-general, and denied the latter’s right to exercise command over him. General Palmer was a man of ability, but was not enterprising… I ordered General Schofield to make a bold attack… and ordered General Palmer to report to him for duty. He at once denied General Schofield’s right to command him; but, after examining the dates of their respective commissions, and hearing their arguments, I wrote to General Palmer.
“‘August 4th.–10.45 p.m. From the statements made by yourself and General Schofield to-day, my decision is, that he ranks you as a major-general, being of the same date of present commission, by reason of his previous superior rank as brigadier-general. The movements of to-morrow are so important that the orders of the superior on that flank must be regarded as military orders, and not in the nature of cooperation. I did hope that there would be no necessity for my making this decision; but it is better for all parties interested that no question of rank should occur in actual battle. The Sandtown road, and the railroad, if possible, must be gained to-morrow, if it costs half your command. I regard the loss of time this afternoon as equal to the loss of two thousand men.’”
Sherman notified Palmer’s superior, Major-General George H. Thomas, commanding the Army of the Cumberland, of his decision and Palmer’s reaction. Thomas wrote, “I regret to hear that Palmer has taken the course he has, and I know that he intends to offer his resignation as soon as he can properly do so. I recommend that his application be granted.”
Palmer resigned on the 6th, marking the first and only instance in American history of a general resigning in the middle of an active operation. He was later replaced as head of the Fourteenth Corps by Major-General Jefferson C. Davis.
The delay cost the Federals another day and allowed Major-General William B. Bate’s Confederate division to strengthen its defenses and extend them southward to prevent a flanking maneuver. The Federals attacked on the 6th, but the delay proved fatal as they were unable to break the enemy line and reach the railroad. Schofield lost 306 men killed or wounded before disengaging in heavy rain. The Confederates lost less than 100.
Schofield extended his right flank along the Sandtown Road on the 7th, but the Confederates fell back to new defenses on a ridge near the railroad to meet them. Sherman wrote Chief of Staff Henry W. Halleck:
“We keep hammering away all the time, and there is no peace, inside or outside of Atlanta… (Schofield) drove the enemy behind his main breastworks, which cover the railroad from Atlanta to East Point, and captured a good many of the skirmishers, who are of his best troops–for the militia hug the breastworks close. I do not deem it prudent to extend any more to the right, but will push forward daily by parallels, and make the inside of Atlanta too hot to be endured.”
General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant offered encouragement and advice to Sherman on the 7th:
“Your progress instead of appearing slow has received the universal commendation of all loyal citizens as well as of the President… I would suggest the employment of as many negroes as you can as teamsters, Company Cooks, Pioneers, etc. to keep the enlisted men in the ranks, and the shipment to Nashville of every unemployed negro, big and little. By sending some of your disabled officers you might rake a considerable force from Northern Hospitals.”
Schofield’s Federals remained entrenched southwest of Atlanta while the Federal guns bombarded the Confederate troops and civilians in the city.
Bibliography
- Bailey, Ronald H., The Battles for Atlanta: Sherman Moves East. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1983.
- Foote, Shelby, The Civil War, A Narrative: Red River to Appomattox. New York: Vintage Civil War Library, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (Kindle Edition), 2011.
- Linedecker, Clifford L. (ed.), Civil War A to Z. New York: Ballantine Books, 2002.
- Long, E.B. with Long, Barbara, The Civil War Day by Day. New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1971.
- Longacre, Edward G. (Patricia L. Faust ed.), Historical Times Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Civil War. New York: Harper & Row, 1986.
- McFeely, William S., Grant. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1981.
- Sherman, William T., Memoirs of General William T. Sherman, Vol. I. New York: D. Appleton and Co. (Kindle Edition), 1889.