Atlanta

On July 22, 1864, fighting erupted just southeast of Atlanta, Georgia, in what became known as the Battle of Atlanta, a clash that unfolded as part of the broader Atlanta campaign of the Civil War. Sherman's Union army, pressing forward with its effort to capture Atlanta's vital rail lines and supply network, crushed the Confederate defenders under Hood in this engagement. Among the casualties was Major General James B. McPherson, whose death made him the second-highest-ranking Union officer to die in combat throughout the war.

Although the battle's name might suggest it settled the campaign, the city itself held out for weeks afterward, only surrendering on September 2, 1864, following a prolonged siege and repeated Union efforts to cut the railroads and supply routes feeding Atlanta. Once the city fell, Sherman turned his forces south-southeast, marching toward Milledgeville, Georgia's capital, before continuing on to Savannah in the campaign remembered as the March to the Sea.

Beyond its military significance, Atlanta's capture carried substantial weight in the political arena. That year's presidential race pitted Lincoln against Democrat George B. McClellan, a former Union general who broke with his own party by rejecting its call for a truce with the Confederacy. As Hood withdrew, he set fire to military stores, and Northern papers gave heavy coverage to both this destruction and the city's fall, events that lifted spirits considerably and helped secure Lincoln's re-election by a wide margin.

Background

By early 1864 people across the North had grown tired of the war, and this weariness was eroding President Abraham Lincoln's chances of winning another term. Against this backdrop, on March 9, Lincoln named Ulysses S. Grant lieutenant general, a rank no other Union officer held and the top grade then existing in the United States Army. The following day, Grant received authority over every army in the nation, and on March 12 his elevation to general-in-chief became public knowledge. Command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, an umbrella covering the Department of the Ohio, the Department of the Cumberland, the Department of the Tennessee, and the Department of Arkansas, went to Major General William T. Sherman, who assumed that post on March 18 and thereby became the leading Union commander in the western theater.

To secure victory, Grant planned a coordinated set of offensives designed to strike several Confederate forces simultaneously, denying them the chance to reinforce one another and grinding down the Confederacy's overall fighting strength. Sherman would direct one of the two most important thrusts. His mission called for breaking apart General Joseph E. Johnston's Army of

Battle

Hood's plan called for three coordinated movements: Lieutenant General William J. Hardee would swing his corps around the Union left, Major General Joseph Wheeler's horsemen would ride toward Sherman's supply line, and Major General Benjamin Cheatham's corps would strike the Union center directly. Getting Hardee's men into place proved slower than anticipated. As Confederate Major General William H. T. Walker rode ahead to scout the ground before the assault, a Union sharpshooter's bullet knocked him from his horse and killed him.

While Hardee's troops were still maneuvering into attack formation, McPherson sensed danger building against his left and dispatched his reserve, the XVI Corps, to bolster that part of the line. It was this force that collided with Hardee's advancing column, touching off the fighting. Shortly afterward McPherson, accompanied by two aides, rode forward to assess the developing action and shift several regiments as the sound of combat intensified south of his position. During that ride, Confederate infantry appeared suddenly and opened fire, killing him. He had spun his horse to flee only after refusing an order to give himself up.

The first Confederate push was thrown back, yet mounting pressure soon forced the Union left flank into retreat. Hardee's column had advanced up the Flat Shoals Road in the direction McPherson's men occupied. Brigadier General Mortimer D. Leggett, leading the 3rd Division of the XVII Corps, pulled his troops back from that road and reoriented them along an east to west axis, closing the space between the commands of Blair and Dodge and holding Bald Hill in the process. The resulting battle lines resembled a giant "L," with Hardee's assault forming its base and Cheatham's strike against the Union front making up the upright section. Hood's design was to hit the Federal position simultaneously from the east and the west. Bald Hill, a rise just east of the city, became the focal point of the struggle. Two days before, Union forces had arrived there and begun shelling the city itself, killing a number of civilians. Around the hill a brutal contest unfolded, at times reduced to hand to hand fighting, and it did not subside until shortly after nightfall. When the smo

Political ramifications

Northern papers gave extensive coverage to Atlanta's capture and the broader triumph of the Atlanta campaign, lifting spirits across the region and strengthening Lincoln's political footing. George B. McClellan, running as the Democratic challenger, opposed Lincoln in the 1864 election. His campaign suffered from an inherent contradiction: though McClellan himself supported the Union cause and wanted the war pursued until the Confederacy fell, his party's platform pushed for truce negotiations with the Confederacy. When Atlanta fell and Hood torched military facilities during his withdrawal, it became clear that victory was within reach, which undercut enthusiasm for any negotiated settlement. Lincoln went on to win reelection decisively, capturing 212 of the 233 electoral votes available.

Aftermath

After the battle, Sherman laid siege to Atlanta, bombarding the city while dispatching cavalry raids to the west and south in an effort to sever the rail connections to Macon, Georgia. General Wheeler's Confederate horsemen turned back both Union cavalry expeditions, the one led by McCook and the other by Stoneman. These raids managed to tear up some track and destroy a number of supply wagons, yet the damage was quickly mended, and provisions kept flowing into the city.

Having failed to loosen the Confederate grip on Atlanta through these efforts, Sherman shifted tactics entirely, moving his whole force in a wide sweep around the western side of the city. On August 31, near Jonesborough, his troops finally severed the Macon rail line and drove the Confederate defenders back toward Lovejoy's Station. With his lines of supply now completely cut, Hood evacuated his army from Atlanta the following day, September 1, burning the depots behind him so Union forces could not use them. Among the destruction, eighty-one loaded ammunition cars were set ablaze, producing a fire that drew crowds of onlookers.

The next day, Mayor James Calhoun and a delegation of citizens sympathetic to the Union cause, among them William Markham, Jonathan Norcross, and Edward Rawson, approached a staff officer serving under Major General Henry W. Slocum to hand over the city, requesting safety for civilians and their belongings. Sherman, still at Jonesboro when the surrender took place, wired Washington on September 3 with the message that Atlanta had been won and was now in Union hands.

Within days, Sherman ordered every civilian to leave the city. He is said to have drawn on his experience with Memphis and Vicksburg, places that had become burdensome once captured, and so instructed residents plainly to head either north or south. A loose truce took shape at nearby Rough And Ready, where arrangements were made with Hood's forces for a limited prisoner exchange and for assisting those civilians who chose to move southward.

Sherman made Atlanta his headquarters starting September 7 and remained there until November 15. At that point his forces moved out toward Savannah, beginning what became known as the March to the Sea. The expedition included the Army of the Tennessee, by then under Major General Oliver O. Howard with two corps, along with the newly