Pickett's Mill

On May 27, 1864, Union troops commanded by Major General William Tecumseh Sherman clashed with Confederate forces under General Joseph E. Johnston at Pickett's Mill, a site in Paulding County, Georgia, during the Atlanta campaign of the Civil War. Hoping to sweep around Johnston's right, Sherman committed Brigadier General Thomas J. Wood's division, reinforced by additional units, in an effort to turn that flank. Stubborn resistance from Confederate defenders drove the attacking Federals back with severe losses. Ambrose Bierce, a writer who witnessed the fighting firsthand, later described the engagement in a piece called The Crime at Pickett's Mill.

Earlier that month, Sherman's advance had forced the Confederate Army of Tennessee back into fortified ground at Allatoona Pass. Rather than strike these defenses head on, Sherman sought to swing his army wide around Johnston's western side. Johnston countered by moving his own forces southwest to meet the threat, and when Sherman probed the resulting Confederate line, his men were turned away at New Hope Church. Both armies then dug in. The day following the setback at Pickett's Mill, Confederate troops struck the Union right but were driven off at Dallas. For a time afterward, the opposing lines near New Hope Church and Dallas remained locked in place, until Sherman shifted his left toward the rail line, a move that pushed Johnston into withdrawing to new positions on June 4.

Aftermath

Casualty figures for the engagement varied depending on the source. Cleburne's division listed 448 men killed, wounded, or missing, with the heaviest toll falling on Granbury's brigade. Union forces lost 1,600 in the same categories. The American Battlefield Trust offered slightly different numbers, placing Confederate losses at 500 and Union losses at 1,600. Civil War engagements typically produced one death for every five wounded, yet Wood's division saw an unusually high death toll, likely because so many fallen soldiers had been struck multiple times; the Confederates discovered one body riddled with 47 bullet wounds. Within the Union ranks, Hazen's brigade counted 467 casualties, Gibson's brigade 681, and Knefler's brigade 250, the latter consisting largely of men taken prisoner. Scribner's brigade lost 125 soldiers, with 102 of those coming from the 37th Indiana and 78th Pennsylvania regiments. The Confederates also captured roughly 70 wounded Union men along with 140 more who were unhurt. According to Georgia State Parks, 14,000 Union troops faced 10,000 Confederates in the fight.

Cox recognized that Wood's men had been struck from multiple directions at once, taking fire from Cleburne's division ahead of them, Hindman's division to their right, and cavalry along their left flank. Nevertheless, Cox argued that success might have been possible had Johnson directed Scribner to press forward directly while using a separate brigade to hold off the Confederate horsemen. He also conceded that some unspecified error kept McLean's brigade from contributing to the fight. Historian Castel observed that a strong Confederate brigade positioned advantageously, backed by two additional brigades, dismounted cavalry, and artillery support, would naturally be able to turn back two Union brigades attacking without coordination.

On Schofield's left, Hascall's division had initially been positioned at an angle, pulled back from the main line. As Wood advanced, Hascall pivoted his division rightward, and McLean's brigade moved in to close the space separating Wood's right from Hascall's left. Around this same period, Sherman fully committed to shifting his forces leftward, toward the northeast, aiming for the rail line. This decision gained urgency when it became clear his troops lacked sufficient rations. Although the supply train held food for 20 days, poor roads and the 20 mile gap to the Union supply base at Kingston made efficient distribution nearly impossible.

Through the night of May 27 into the 28th, Hood's corps marched toward what they believed was Sherman's newly exposed left flank. However, at six in the morning on the 28th, cavalry scouts under Wheeler discovered Union troops entrenched and waiting, prompting Johnston to cancel the planned assault. Later that day, Johnston had Hardee instruct Bate to send his left flank division to test McPherson's position and confirm whether Federal troops remained there. At quarter to four in the afternoon, Bate's division, joined by Armstrong's dismounted cavalry brigade, struck the line held by Logan's XV Corps. The resulting action, part of the Battle of Dallas, went poorly for the Confederates, who suffered over 1,000 casualties, while Logan reported only 379 losses on his side. In an ironic twist, Sherman had already ordered McPherson to move leftward that same night, May 28 into the 29th.

Following several delays, Sherman's leftward movement finally got underway, and by June 1 Stoneman's cavalry had taken control of Allatoona, clearing the way for railroad repair crews to resume their work. On June 2, Schofield's XXIII Corps advanced along the far left of the line until running into Confederate defensive works near Allatoona Creek. The following day, cavalry under McCook and Stoneman captured Acworth along the rail line, while Hooker's XX Corps extended the Union left even farther beyond Schofield's position. During the night of June 4 into June 5, Johnston pulled back from his fortified position around New Hope Church, establishing a new defensive line stretching northeast through Lost Mountain, Pine Mountain, and Brushy Mountain. The armies would clash again on June 15 at Gilgal Church.

Across the span from May 23 to June 6, a period covering the fights at New Hope Church, Pickett's Mill, and Dallas, Sherman's armies absorb