The Battle of Kolb's Farm (June 22, 1864) saw a Confederate corps under Lieutenant General John B. Hood attack parts of two Union corps under Major Generals Joseph Hooker and John Schofield. This action was part of the Atlanta campaign of the American Civil War fought between the Confederate Army of Tennessee led by General Joseph E. Johnston and Union forces commanded by Major General William Tecumseh Sherman. Hood believed that he had an opportunity to inflict a defeat on the Union forces in front of his corps and ordered an assault. However, Hooker's and Schofield's troops were deployed in good positions and they repulsed Hood's soldiers with serious losses.
After Hooker made his battle report, a dispute arose between him and Sherman. This was caused by an exaggerated claim made by Hooker and a probable misunderstanding on Sherman's part. Already there was mistrust between the two generals and the dispute only made relations worse. Though the Union won a tactical victory at Kolb's Farm, Sherman's maneuver to turn the Confederate left flank appeared to be blocked. Frustrated in his attempts to outflank Johnston's army, Sherman ordered a frontal assault five days later.
General-in-chief of the Union Army Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant ordered Sherman, "to move against Johnston's army, to break it up, and to get into the interior of the enemy's country as far as you can, inflicting all the damage you can against their war resources".
Sherman commanded elements of three armies. The Army of the Cumberland under Major General George H. Thomas was made up of the IV Corps led by Major General Oliver Otis Howard, the XIV Corps under Major General John M. Palmer, the XX Corps commanded by Major General Joseph Hooker, and three cavalry divisions led by Brigadier Generals Edward M. McCook, Kenner Garrard, and Hugh Judson Kilpatrick. The Army of the Tennessee led by Major General James B. McPherson included the XV Corps under Major General John A. Logan, the Left Wing of the XVI Corps under Major General Grenville M. Dodge, and the XVII Corps under Major General Francis Preston Blair Jr. The Army of the Ohio commanded by Major General John Schofield consisted of the XXIII Corps under Schofield and a cavalry division commanded by Major General George Stoneman.
Sherman began his campaign with almost 100,000 men, including Thomas' 60,000 and 130 guns, McPherson's 25,000 and 96 guns, and Schofield's 14,000 men and 28 guns. Through the fighting near Dallas, Sherman lost 12,000 casualties, but was reinforced by the fresh XVII Corps at that time.
Johnston's Army of Tennessee began the campaign with two infantry corps led by Lieutenant Generals William J. Hardee and John Bell Hood, and a cavalry corps under Major General Joseph Wheeler. The army was soon reinforced from the Army of Mississippi by the corps of Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk and the cavalry division of Brigadier General William Hicks Jackson.
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest conflict in American history, killing an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven seceding Southern states, faced the Union in four years of warfare across 23 states and territories. Major engagements included First and Second Bull Run, Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American history, September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), Vicksburg (surrendered July 4, 1863), and Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864–1865). President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, transforming the war's stated purpose to include the abolition of slavery and enabling the enlistment of approximately 180,000 Black men in the United States Colored Troops. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war resolved the question of secession and ended American slavery, though Reconstruction would face sustained resistance in its attempt to secure civil rights for formerly enslaved people.
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