Georgia Natural Wonder #138 - Cheatham Hill (Dead Angle). 981

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Georgia Natural Wonder #138 - Cheatham Hill (Dead Angle)

We continue our Mountain to Classic South theme still in Cobb County. There is no Mountain but there is a Hill today (Cheatham Hill).



Not a lot of Nature beyond the natural contour of the battlefield which proved significant, but there is plenty of Classic South as today's post recounts probably the 2nd biggest Confederate victory in Georgia, behind the 2nd day of Chickamauga. 


Federal, Confederate Lines, June 22, 27, 1864. Looking west on Dallas Highway (GA 120) toward Dallas.


This is west of Cheatham Hill at intersection of John Ward Road and Dallas Highway going toward Lost Mountain.

Lead up to Battle Kennesaw Mountain

The rains ended June 23. A hot sun quickly dried roads and fields, and U.S. Grant wired Sherman that he could maneuver freely now since there was no longer any danger of transfer of reinforcements from Robert E. Lee's Eastern Theater forces to Johnston. Although eager to resume the "freedom" of past flanking maneuvers, Sherman would need several days staging time in preparation for the forays toward Atlanta. 


You go east on 120 back toward Marietta and Cheatham Hill Drive goes to right once you enter National Park land. There is a historical marker and it is gated after hours.

Now you must pay a $5 fee, there is no collection box. You must pay by card only at the main Park office back up at Kennesaw Mountain or there are directions to pay with your phone. 


All off to the right are earthworks for the 3/4ths mile to Cheatham Hill. There were actually 50 miles as we have seen in earlier post on Pigeon Hill, Brushy, Little, and Main Kennesaw Mountains.

Meanwhile Sherman reasoned, why not a serious assault on the mountain fortress? Surely the Confederates must be stretched thin somewhere along these miles of defenses from the mountain south to Smyrna. By June 23 plans were in progress for a major departure from Sherman's usual flanking inclinations. The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain would be fought Monday, June 27, 1864.


Interlocking Defenses Marker is on Cheatham Hill Drive SW 0.1 miles from Whitlock Avenue NW (Georgia Route 120), on the right when traveling south.



Sherman decided to bring McPherson from the left where he was facing Brushy Mountain and the ground in his front there seemed peculiarly difficult. He notified him to move to the extreme right in the evening. Disappointed that the attack by Hood had made it necessary to call back Schofield 's advance division from a very promising flank movement on the Sandtown Road, the mind of the national Commander naturally recurred to the chances of breaking through a line which he was sure could not be so strong as his own. Abundant military experiences proved that the strength of position often begot a careless security in the defenders, and the assault of what were considered almost inaccessible cliffs has very often turned out to be the most brilliant success. Lookout Mountain had been an example of this in the very last campaign. 


GNW #90

He must therefore wait patiently for good weather and better roads, till with accumulated stores he could swing McPherson's command quite to the south of the enemy as he had done at Dalton, or he must make a bold effort to break the lines before him. Thomas suggested an approach to the enemy's works by regular sap, but Sherman replied that when that slow process had carried one line, our experience showed that two or three equally strong would be prepared behind it. If the enemy redoubled his efforts to interrupt our supplies, any success there would have been demoralizing to our troops. There was a fair chance to carry some point in the enemy's line, and if that assault succeeded it would be a decisive event. If it failed, the venture would be at least justified on sound military principles. He fixed Monday morning, June 27th, at eight o'clock, for a general advance. 


Field Fortifications Marker can be reached from Cheatam Hill Drive SW 0.7 miles south of Whitlock Avenue NW (Georgia Route 120), on the right when traveling south.



Sherman reports.....
  
BIG SHANTY, GA., June 23, 1864-9.30 p. m.
Major General H. W. HALLECK,Washington, D. C.:

We continue to press forward, operating on the principle of an advance against fortified positions. The whole country is one vast fort, and Johnston must have full fifty miles of connected trenches, with abatis and finished batteries. We gain ground daily, fighting all the time. On the 21st General Stanley gained a position near the southeast of Kennesaw, from which the enemy attempted in vain to drive him, and the same day General T. J. Wood's division took a hill, which the enemy assaulted three times at night without success, leaving more than 100 dead on the ground. Yesterday the extreme right (Hooker and Schofield) advanced on the Powder Springs road to within three miles of Marietta. The enemy made a strong effort to drive them away, but failed signally, leaving more than 200 dead on the field. Our lines are now in close contact and the fighting incessant, with a good deal of artillery. As fast as we gain one position the enemy has anther all ready, but I think he will soon have to let go Kennesaw, which is the key to whole country. The weather is now better, and the roads are drying up fast. Our losses are light, and, notwithstanding the repeated breaks of the road to our rear, supplies are ample.
 
W. T. SHERMAN,Major-General. 


Sherman's Generals. Must have been after Atlanta, because McPherson and Hooker are missing.

On June 24th Sherman published the Kennesaw attack orders. The XV Army Corps (McPherson's), which had been transferred from the Brushy Mountain sector, was now astride the Burnt Hickory road near the Kirk House, within 300 yards of its target. Kennesaw Hill (Now called Pigeon Hill) spur of Little Kennesaw was this target. A 5000 - man attack force would sweep over this hill near the junction of Walker's (Hardee's Corps) and French's divisions. Should they be successful, Marietta and the railroad lay as prizes just beyond. The entire Confederate line would have to be abandoned.


Federal entrenchments at the foot of Little Kennesaw Mountain and Pigeon Hill.


General Thomas HQ Marker is on Cheatham Hill Road SW 0.2 miles north of Cavan Drive SW, on the right when traveling south. Marker is at the southern edge of the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, at the beginning of a marked foot trail leading to Kolb's Farm.


You have to walk the Kolb Farm Loop to get to this marker.

6/25/1864



Yankee attack orders for Monday morning at Cheatham Hill.

SPECIAL HDQRS. DEPT. OF THE CUMBERLAND, FIELD ORDERS, In the Field, near Kennesaw Mountain, Ga., No.- 28
June 26, 1864.

In accordance with Special Field Orders, Numbers 28, from headquarters Military Division of the Mississippi, dated: "In the field, near Kennesaw Mountain, June 24, 1864," the following will be the order for the operations of the Army of the Cumberland tomorrow:

I. The corps of Major- General Howard will assault the enemy's intrenchments at some point near the left of General Stanley's and Davis' divisions, which will be selected by General Howard after a careful reconnaissance. He will support his attack by such disposition of his artillery as, in his judgment, is best calculated to insure success.

II. Major- General Palmer will, with his column on the right of General Howard's, co- operate with the latter by carrying the enemy's works immediately in his front. The batteries of Generals Baird's and Davis' divisions will remain as at present posted until the contemplated movement is made. General King's division will occupy its present position, but hold itself in readiness to follow up any advantage gained by the other troops.

III. Major- General Hooker will support General Palmer on the latter's right, with as much of his force as he can draw from his lines, selecting position for his artillery best calculated to enfilade the enemy's works to his left and on General Palmer's front. In supporting General Palmer's movement General Hooker will watch carefully his own right flank, and be prepared to meet any demonstration of the enemy upon it.

IV. The troops must get into position as early as possible and commence the movement at 8 a. m. to- morrow, precisely. All the troops will be ready to follow up with promptness any success which may be gained.

By command of Major- General Thomas: 

WM. D. WHIPPLE, Brigadier- General and Chief of Staff.


Sherman headquarters off Cheatham Hill Road going down to Kolb Farm.

Confederates get  ready for attack!!

HEADQUARTERS HOOD'S CORPS, In the Field, June 26, 1864.
TO DIVISION COMMANDERS:

The lieutenant-general commanding directs me to say that he desires you to have the abatis in front of your position made very formidable, so as to enable your troops to repulse any force of the enemy that may be brought against them. In consequence of the difficulty in moving around the left of our position, General Hood anticipates that the enemy will assault our works, and thinks it well to be prepared for such contingency.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. W. RATCHFORD, Assistant Adjutant-General.


Cheatham Hill trenches still there today.

The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain would be fought Monday, June 27, 1864. Sherman's force of about 100,000 men was composed of three subordinate armies: the Army of the Tennessee under Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson; the Army of the Cumberland under Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas; and the relatively small Army of the Ohio under Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield. Sherman's plan was first to induce Johnston to thin out and weaken his line by ordering Schofield to extend his army to the right. Then McPherson was to make a feint on his extreme left - the northern outskirts of Marietta and the northeastern end of Kennesaw Mountain - with his cavalry and a division of infantry, and to make a major assault on the southwestern end of Little Kennesaw Mountain. Meanwhile, Thomas's army was to conduct the principal attack against the Confederate fortifications in the center of their line, and Schofield was to demonstrate on the Confederate left flank and attack somewhere near the Powder Springs Road "as he can with the prospect of success."


This oversized map really illustrates all the Union attacks on June 27, 1864.

The first aggressive movement was on the extreme right of the Union lines down by Powders Springs Road and Kolb's Farm. This was Schofield's Army. At daybreak Cameron's brigade of Cox's division crossed Olley's Creek by the bridge Byrd had made the day before. They ascended the slopes at the position Byrd already occupied. At the same time Reilly's brigade resumed its efforts to cross Olley's Creek near the Sandtown Road. Both movements were covered and assisted by the fire of the division batteries. Byrd pushed a strongly supported skirmish line up the creek toward Hood's refused line of works. A portion of Reilly's brigade deployed as skirmishers kept up a lively fire at the Sandtown Road and in its vicinity, whilst the rest of the brigade moved in rear of some hills further down the creek, until a good position for a battery was found, quite on the flank of the Confederate entrenchments there. Under protection of its fire, Reilly's men wade a swamp, forded the stream, which is there shallow, and pushed up the farther bank. 


Olley Creek today.

After a sharp resistance, the enemy broke and fled. A way was open to the railroad near Smyrna, five miles south of Marietta. This would come into play after today's battles elsewhere on the Kennesaw lines. That movement, along with an advance by Maj. Gen. George Stoneman's cavalry division on Schofield's right, put Union troops within 5 miles of the Chattahoochee River, closer to the last river protecting Atlanta than any unit in Johnston's army.


“The Only Advantage of the Day” Marker
Looking north on Floyd Road -- the Old Sandtown Road -- toward Kennesaw Mountain.



Back up to the left of the Union lines at present day Cobb Parkway and down to Burnt Hickory Road, McPherson's Army was located. Divisions from John A. Logan's Fifteenth Corps would attack a spur of Little Kennesaw at Burnt Hickory Road, and simultaneously a 12,000-man strike force from the Army of the Cumberland and General Thomas would hit a point two miles south near the Dallas Road. French's division at the Kennesaw spur would absorb most of the blow near the Burnt Hickory Road, while Hardee would be called upon to turn back the larger attack at the Dallas Road. Blair and Dodge were ordered to assist Logan by active feints and demonstrations along the fronts of their respective corps at Brushy Mountain and the main Kennesaw Mountain. At 8 a.m. on June 27, Union artillery opened a furious bombardment with over 200 guns on the Confederate works and the Rebel artillery responded in kind. Lt. Col. Joseph S. Fullerton wrote, "Kennesaw smoked and blazed with fire, a volcano as grand as Etna." As the Federal infantry began moving soon afterward, the Confederates quickly determined that much of the 8 miles wide advance consisted of demonstrations rather than concerted assaults.


Marker coming east down Burnt Hickory Road toward Pigeon Hill.

If the attack were successful, capturing Pigeon Hill would isolate Loring's corps on Kennesaw Mountain. All three brigades were disadvantaged by the approach through dense thickets, steep and rocky slopes, and a lack of knowledge of the terrain. About 5,500 Union troops in two columns of regiments moved against about 5,000 Confederate soldiers, well entrenched. When the artillery fire lifted, Lieutenant Colonel Rigdon Barnhill's 40th Illinois led the charge toward the mountain spur.  We talked all about this area of the Battle with GNW #131.


 Charge of Logan's Corps.


Another image this charge.

The assault near the Dallas Road under General Thomas's Army was pursued with equal vigor. About 2 miles to the south of Pigeon Hill, Thomas's troops were behind schedule, but began their main attack against Hardee's corps at 9 a.m. With 12,000 attackers, here was the heaviest fighting of the day. Two divisions of the Army of the Cumberland, about 9,000 men under Brig. Gen. John Newton (Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard's IV Corps) and Brig. Gen. Jefferson C. Davis (Maj. Gen. John M. Palmer's XIV Corps) - advanced in column formation rather than the typical broad line of battle against the Confederate divisions of Maj. Gens. Benjamin F. Cheatham and Patrick R. Cleburne, entrenched on what is now known as "Cheatham Hill." 


 Confederate cannons at this point in the Kennesaw line.



On Newton's left, his brigade under Brig. Gen. George D. Wagner attacked through dense undergrowth, but was unable to break through the abatis and fierce rifle fire. On his right, the brigade of Brig. Gen. Charles G. Harker charged the Tennessee brigade of Brig. Gen. Alfred Vaughan and was repulsed. 


 Confederate earthworks, Vaughn's Brigade, Cheatham's Division. 

Newton's columns were cheering as they went, and led with as devoted courage as soldiers ever showed. Here the formation necessarily lost its order in struggling through and over the trunks and interlaced branches of felled forest trees. General Harker, with a gallantry already famous in the army, attempting to renew the assault, was mortally wounded, and hundreds of brave men and valuable officers fell on every side. 
 

Union First Sergeant, D. H. Coffey was mortally wounded here.


Just a stroll with family today.

Farther south of the Dallas Road, Palmer's corps, Davis's division made an heroic effort with no better result. Davis's men had to pass over rocky and rough ground, part of it covered with the forest and tangled with undergrowth. In their enthusiasm they took too rapid a pace at the start, and by the time they had traversed the third of a mile between them and the enemy's works the men were so blown that they had not the strength called for in the final effort to carry the parapet before them. Colonel Daniel McCook's brigade advanced down a slope to a creek and then crossed a wheat field to ascend the slope of Cheatham Hill.


Still charging the slope today.

When they reached within a few yards of the Confederate works, the line halted, crouched, and began firing. But the Confederate counter fire was too strong and Colonel Daniel McCook and his second in command, Colonel Oscar Harmon, both fell in the assault, and both brigades had a heavy list of casualties among field and company officers as well as of private soldiers, a third of its men. 


McCook Marker at parapet.

McCook was killed on the Confederate parapet as he slashed with his sword and shouted "Surrender, you traitors!" Col. John G. Mitchell's brigade on McCook's right suffered similar losses. 



The most famous painting of fighting at the "Dead Angle" Kennesaw Mountain is behind the painter though about 5 miles.



Harmon was in charge a whole 5 minutes before getting shot himself. They reached the trench in front of their objective point, but the narrow front of the column now stood revealed to the enemy, who were able to concentrate upon them also a storm of rifle - balls and canister which made further advance impossible.


Illinois Monument from Chatham's view. 



Confederate Sam Watkins remembered how a hundred Federal guns targeted his regiment's position for more than an hour, followed by the rush of a solid line of bluecoats. 


The portrait at the Illinois Monument shows how the Yankees were squared off like a Roman Legion coming up the hill. 




Confederate trench at the "Dead Angle"



Watkins wrights, "My pen is unable to describe the scene of carnage and death that ensued in the next two hours. Column after column of Federal soldiers were crowded upon that line … but no sooner would a regiment mount our works then they were shot down on our uncovered heads, the thermometer being 100 degrees in the shade, and a solid line of blazing fire right from the muzzles of the Yankee guns being poured into our very faces. Afterward I heard a soldier express himself by saying that he thought hell had broke loose in Georgia, sure enough" Sam Watkin's Tennessee regiment held its ground that day. Down the line to the right, Cleburne's division was holding its ground also. 



Occasionally individual soldiers, always too few in number, succeeded in overrunning the defenders and were quickly killed or captured. Musician Fife Major Allison Webber (86th Illinois) borrowed a Henry repeating rifle with 120 rounds of ammunition, volunteering to join the assault. Using the rapid fire of this repeater, Webber covered the rescue of the wounded and the construction of protective earthworks nearby, earning the Medal of Honor for his conduct.


Illinois suffered terribly today in Cobb County.


The State of Illinois built this monument exactly 50 years afterward. Veterans both sides showed up for dedication.

Only 30 feet from the Confederate earthworks the hill sloped significantly so that by lying on the ground within musket range of the works, the Union men were able to cover themselves as they could, and finally, by General Thomas's consent, entrenched themselves under a terrible fire, the open ground over which they must retreat making it safer to stay than to return.


Today's Natural Wonder, the slope of Cheatham Hill.



After ferocious hand-to-hand fighting, the Union troops dug in across from the Confederates, ending the fighting around 10:45 a.m. Both sides nicknamed this place the "Dead Angle."


Where the Yankee's hunkered down looking back up at the Illinois Monument. They had dug a tunnel under the Rebel lines like at Petersburg, they were going to set off explosives.

By 11 o'clock, on Thomas's front as well as on McPherson's field of combat two miles north at the Burnt Hickory Road, the sound of gunfire gradually died away. The assault had failed - the result of a combination of tough Confederate resistance and extremely hot and humid weather. During the height of the battle, the woods in front of these fortifications caught fire endangering the helpless federal wounded nearby. 



Some Union soldiers remained in the close defilade near Confederate trenches. The cover they were able to make enabled them to hold on till night, and then their works were so reinforced and strengthened that they permanently held the ground. However, for several days and nights the troops could rest only by sleeping on their arms. 



There were no plans to renew the attack. No real advantage was gained anywhere on the 27th except Schofield's capture of a Sandtown crossroads near Olley's Creek ten miles southwest of the mountain. Sherman's claims of 2,500 casualties at the principle points of attack at Kennesaw Mountain and Cheatham's Hill (Thomas's front) were probably low by half. The Confederates, protected by earthworks, reported their own casualties in the more believable range of 500 - 800 men. The Confederate figures seem more consistent with the maxim recorded in Union division commander Jacob Cox's war diary: "one good man behind earthworks should prevail over four or five opponents advancing in the open without cover."



The Union general was not initially deterred by these losses and he twice asked Thomas to renew the assault. "Our loss is small, compared to some of those battles in the East." The Rock of Chickamauga replied, however, "One or two more such assaults would use up this army." A few days later Sherman mournfully wrote to his wife, "I begin to regard the death and mangling of couple thousand men as a small affair, a kind of morning dash."



Kennesaw Mountain was not Sherman's first large-scale frontal assault of the war, but it was his last. He interrupted his string of successful flanking maneuvers in the Atlanta campaign for the logistical reasons mentioned earlier, but also so that he could keep Johnston guessing about the tactics he would employ in the future. In his report of the battle, Sherman wrote, "I perceived that the enemy and our officers had settled down into a conviction that I would not assault fortified lines. All looked to me to outflank. An army to be efficient, must not settle down to a single mode of offence, but must be prepared to execute any plan which promises success. I wanted, therefore, for the moral effect, to make a successful assault against the enemy behind his breastworks, and resolved to attempt it at that point where success would give the largest fruits of victory."



NEAR KENESAW, GA., June 27, 1864- 8 p. m.,Major General H. W. HALLECK,Washington, D. C.:

Pursuant to my orders of the 24th, a diversion was made on each flank of the enemy, especially on the Sandtown road, and at 8 a. m. General McPherson attacked at the southwest end of Kenesaw, and General Thomas at a point about a mile farther south. At the same time the skirmishers and artillery along the whole line kept up a sharp fire. Neither attack succeeded, though both columns reached the enemy's works, which are very strong. General McPherson reports his loss about 500, and General Thomas about 2,000; the loss particularly heavy in general and field officers. General Harker is reported mortally wounded, also Colonel Dan. McCook, commanding a brigade; Colonel Rice, Fifty- seventh Ohio, very seriously. Colonel Barnhill, Fortieth Illinois, and Captain Augustin, Fifty- fifth Illinois, are killed. The facility with which defensive works of timber and earth are constructed gives the party on the defensive great advantage. I cannot well turn the position of the enemy without abandoning my railroad, and we are already so far from our sullies that it is as much as the road can do to feed and supply the army. There are no supplies of any kind here . I can press Johnston and keep him from re- enforcing. Lee, but to assault him in position will cost us more lives than we can spare. McPherson took to- day 100 prisoners, and Thomas about as many, but I do not suppose we inflicted heavy loss on the enemy, as he kept close behind his parapets.

W. T. SHERMAN, Major- General.


More signage on walk along trenches, camouflaged cannons.



HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND, June 27, 1864- 10.45 a. m.
Major- General SHERMAN:

Yours received. General Harker's brigade advanced to within twenty paces of the enemy's breast- works and was repulsed with canister at that range, General Hooker losing an arm. General Wagner's brigade, of Newton's division, supporting General Harker, was so severely handled that it is compelled to reorganize. Colonel Mitchell's brigade, of Davis' division, captured one line of rebel breast- works, which they still hold. McCook's brigade was also very severely handled, nearly every colonel being killed or wounded. Colonel McCook wounded. It is compelled to fall back and reorganize. The troops are all too much exhausted to advance, but we hold all we have gained.

GEO. H. THOMAS,Major- General.


Camouflaged cannons marker is right by parking lot. .
 
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND, 

June 27, 1864- 1.40 p. m.
Major- General SHERMAN:

Davis' two brigades are now within sixty yards of the enemy's intrenchments. Davis reports that he does not think he can carry the works by assault on account of the steepness of the hill, but he can hold his position, put in one or two batteries to- night, and probably drive them out to- morrow morning. General Howard reports the same. Their works are from six to seven feet high and nine feet thick. In front of Howard they have a very strong abatis. Davis' loss in officers has been very heavy. Nearly all the field officers in McCook's brigade, with McCook, have been killed or wounded. From what the officers tell me I do not think we can carry the works by assault at this point today, but they can be approached by saps and the enemy driven out.

Your dispatch of 2.25 received. We still hold all the ground we have gained and the division commanders report their ability to hold it. They also report the enemy's woks exceeding strong; in fact, so strong that they cannot be carried by assault except by immense sacrifice, even if they can be carried at all. I think, therefore, the best chance is to approach them by regular saps, and if we can find a favorable position to batter them down. We have already lost heavily to- day without gaining any material advantage; one or two more such assaults would use up this army.

Very respectfully,

GEO. H. THOMAS,Major- General, Commanding


There are several markers where the Union Troops camped and mustered for the attack along Cheatham Hill.


These are in the parking lot on Cheatham Hill Road, not Drive.

Confederate reports

HEADQUARTERS, Near Marietta, June 27, 1864.
General BRAXTON BRAGG, Richmond:
 
The enemy advanced upon our whole line to-day. They assaulted French, Cheatham, Cleburne, Stevenson, Quarles, by whom they were repulsed. On the rest of the line the skirmishing was severe. Their loss is supposed to be great; ours known to be small.
 
J. E. JOHNSTON.



JUNE 27, 1864.
Major-General WHEELER: 

GENERAL: The enemy assaulted Stevenson, Cheatham, and Cleburne this morning and was repulsed in each case, in that of General Stevenson by the skirmishers, I believe. It would have a good effect to let this be known among your troops. If any additional strength can be given to your works, please let it be done tonight. 

Respectfully, J. E. JOHNSTON.



June 28th 1864

We continue today with some finishing points of yesterday's battles. We found this last marker noting the far left of the Union line and the far right of the Confederate line where only demonstrations were made by the Yankees. Most folks visit Kennesaw Mountain thinking the main battle was there. We chatters know better. 

Fighting yesterday at the Dead Angle. 

After each Union assault on June 27, hundreds of casualties were left between the lines. By afternoon, wounded Union soldiers lying helpless near here faced a new danger; flames, started by the battle's gunfire, crept steadily toward them. Lt. Col. William P. Martin, commanding the 1st & 15th Consolidated Arkansas Regiment, jumped onto the earthworks and ordered his Confederates to cease fire. Waving a white flag of truce, Martin shouted to the Federals, "Come and remove your wounded. They are burning to death." For a brief time, Northerners and Southerners alike rescued the wounded and put out the fires. Later, Union officers presented Colonel Martin with a pair of Colt revolvers in appreciation of his humanitarian act.


Tribute To Martin

It was not at the Dead Angle but nearer where GA 120 goes thru the Park. Col Martin saw 'Yankee troops (wounded) in a patch of woods which were on fire. A Masonic distress signal from one of the 'Yankees caught Col. Martin's attention. Fastening his white handkerchief onto a ramrod borrowed from one of his Soldiers, he stopped the fighting, and called out to the 'Yankees: "Your wounded are being burnt… Some of which are members of the Masonic Order.. Come and get 'em…We'll not fire a shot until they are removed.."


Symbol of distress even today. Samuel Elbert saved by Masonic sign of distress at Battle of Briar Creek. GNW #106 (Part 4)

As the 'Yankees advanced on their rescue mission, the Confederates joined in. Thereby saving many lives, our Brothers among them. As a postscript, later in the day a truce was requested by the 'Yankees. When the truce accepted by Col. Martin, a courier was dispatched by the 'Yankees bearing a brace of Colt navy pistols for Col. Martin. With the note: "Accept them as a token of my appreciation for this noble deed.. Should you fight and win a thousand other battles, you will never win another so noble as this." The Masonic emblem was attached to the note….


Union men hunkered down here at the Dead Angle.

Sherman wasted no time in unavailing regrets over the failure of the effort to break Johnston's lines, but frankly said that among the chances for and against successes, the unfavorable ones had prevailed. The enemy had been found vigilant and prepared to hold the works at all the points assailed. Even the demonstrations produced no results except on the Sandtown Road where Schofield's position got beyond Olley's Creek. He regarded it as really important, and described it as "the only advantage of the day." Probably this advantage would not have been attained but for the hot work along the line, which so thoroughly occupied Johnston that no detachments could be spared to help Jackson, whose cavalry was waging an unequal contest on the extreme flank. Not only was Schofield's infantry engaging them in front, but Stoneman's Cavalry was demonstrating in Powder Springs Village. 

Union and Confederate reports……………………

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 

In the Field, near Kenesaw, June 28, 1864.
General WEBSTER, Nashville:

In our assaults made yesterday, General Harker, a very gallant young brigadier, was mortally wounded, and died last night. Tell Mrs. Brown. Colonel Dan. McCook is dangerously wounded. We have constant fighting along lines for ten miles, and either party that attacks gets the worst of it. I will persevere, and think I can find a soft place. At all events, we can stand it as long as they. Johnston will not come out of is parapets, and it is difficult to turn his position without abandoning our railroad.

W. T. SHERMAN, 

Major- General, Commanding.

Brief tangent Harker….

Charles Garrison Harker was born on December 2, 1835, in Swedesboro, New Jersey. As a youth, he worked as a clerk in a retail store owned by U.S. Congressman Nathan T. Stratton. Through the influences of Stratton, Harker received an appointment to the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. Harker graduated in 1858 with the brevet rank of second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Infantry and was assigned to garrison duty at the United States Army post on Governor's Island in New York Harbor. Subsequently, Harker served at outposts in the Oregon and Washington territories.



With the outbreak of the Civil War, Harker was assigned to duty in Ohio to help train newly recruited volunteer soldiers. He was promoted to first lieutenant of the 15th U.S. Infantry on May 14, 1861, and then to captain on October 24, 1861. He was subsequently appointed as colonel of the 65th Ohio Infantry, a regiment in the forces of Brig. Gen. Don Carlos Buell. He became the regiment's colonel on November 11, 1861.



Harker and the 65th OVI participated in the April 1862 Battle of Shiloh, as well as the subsequent Siege of Corinth, Mississippi. In late June, he took over command of the 20th Brigade, 6th Division, Army of the Ohio, replacing James A. Garfield. Later that year, he was involved in the Battle of Perryville in Kentucky. Harker received praise for his significant contributions during the Battle of Stones River at the end of the year while leading the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, Left Wing of XIV Corps of the Army of the Cumberland.



In 1863, he was in command of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, IV Corps, Army of the Cumberland, Military Division of the Mississippi. He again drew the attention of his senior commanders with a determined stand against Confederate attackers during the Battle of Chickamauga in northern Georgia. In recognition of his performance and service, he was promoted to fill an opening as a brigadier general, dating from September 20, 1863. After participating in the fighting around Chattanooga and the assault on Missionary Ridge, he and his men helped relieve Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside during the Siege of Knoxville.



In mid-1864, as the Atlanta Campaign began, Harker commanded a brigade under Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard. On May 7, he successfully held the peak of Rocky Face Ridge despite determined Confederate efforts to dislodge his men. In June William T. Sherman's Union army attempted to displace Confederate troops from their fortifications on Kennesaw Mountain. There he led his men while riding a white horse in the center attack on Confederate positions that became known as Cheatham Hill.



The assault faltered due to very rough, mountainous terrain, and because of well-positioned Confederates who were behind strong fortifications. While rallying his men he was shot off his horse, and, after being brought behind Union lines, died later in the day. His body was shipped back to his native Swedesboro, New Jersey, where it was buried in Trinity Episcopal Church Cemetery.


After the war the veterans of his brigade erected a monument to him over his grave site.

Tangent Daniel McCook….

Civil War Union Brigadier General. A member of a prominent Ohio family, "The Fighting McCooks", he was an 1858 alumni of the University of Alabama, Florence, Alabama. Forward from this graduation, he returned to his native Ohio and began the study of law. With his passing of the Bar exam, he made a career move to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and began a law practice with two colleagues (and future union Generals), Thomas Ewing and William Tecumseh Sherman. At the outset of Civil War in 1861, President Abraham Lincoln issued a May, 1861 call for volunteers who would serve three years.   


                                   
Upon learning of the President's petition, he put his law career on hold and elected to enlist in the 1st Kansas Volunteer Regiment forming at Camp Lincoln, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Accepting a commission of Captain, he and the regiment was inducted into United States service on June 3, 1861. His first baptism of hostile fire was at the battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri in August, 1861 where he earned the reputation of a fighter and gallant battle commander. It was recorded afterwards that his "boys [were] doing the best fighting" and that his regiment had sustained a 51% casualty loss at the conclusion of it. 



He transferred to the staff of General George Thomas to serve that officer as Assistant Adjutant General (AAG) and was at that post during the 1862 battle of Shiloh. His promotion to Colonel occurred in the summer of 1862 with the forming of the 52nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry at Camp Dennison, Ohio. An ensuing assignment to serve as a brigade commander in General W.T. Sherman's division followed thereafter. Engaged with the Confederates during the 1862 autumn battle at Perryville, Kentucky, his command's subsequent action was a supporting role during the 1863 battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. During that battle (AKA Stone's River), he was charged with the responsibility to be a protector of the trains. Assigned to a Reserve Corps, his soldiers further saw limited action in September, 1863 at the battle of Chickamauga.



His brigade actively participated in the relief of General Burnside's stressed forces at Knoxville, Tennessee in December, 1863. He was stricken with sickness thought to be from a protracted case of pneumonia in late 1863, and would return in time to join his command during the campaign for Atlanta, Georgia. General W.T. Sherman, an old law colleague from Fort Leavenworth and now his commanding officer, conferred McCook's brigade the honor to lead the attack on the Confederates positioned on Kennesaw Mountain. 



On June 27, 1864, McCook formed his brigade opposite the southern slope of Kennesaw Mountain. Before his order to go forward, he encouraged his men with the mystical words of the Roman warrior, Horatius Cocles. McCook led the ensuing attack across open ground and upon reaching the entrenched Confederates, was mortally wounded. The dying officer was transferred to Steubenville, Ohio where he succumbed to his wounds on July 17, 1864. He had been promoted to Brigadier General of Volunteers the day before, July 16, 1864.

Tangent Oscar Fitzallen Harmon

I first should say that Harman is the great great grandfather of my good friend Pete. You have seen images of Pete in many of these post as he has been my hiking buddy over the years. Oscar Fitzallen Harmon moved to Danville, Illinois in 1853 and began practicing law with Oliver L. Davis, with whom he worked for many years. The Harmon and Davis families were close with another attorney who frequented Danville on the circuit: Abraham Lincoln. In 1857 he was elected to the state legislature.



The Harmons also visited with the Lincolns in Springfield, when O.F. Harmon was serving as a state legislator. After Lincoln’s death, Mrs. Harmon was sent a lock of the president’s hair as a keepsake.



When Lincoln called for troops to assist in the Union effort, Harmon and another attorney friend, James Langley, answered by recruiting and formed the 125th regiment of the Illinois Volunteer Infantry; Harmon was elected colonel and Langley, lieutenant colonel. Although many thought Harmon was better suited for politics and urged him instead to run for Congress, Harmon felt his place was on the battlefield. His first battle was at Perrysville, Kentucky in 1862. Two years later, Colonel Harmon was killed at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, where many of Vermilion County's sons would also perish including his daughter Ellen's fiancee, Capt, William Fellows. They made folks from one town split up in future wars so the whole town didn't get wiped out if at a particularly bad spot.


His first gravestone has been swallowed up by a tree.



A new monument has been erected in 2001.



Excerpt last letter of Oscar Harmon…..

Monday morning before sunrise June 27th, last night orders came to move at sun rise this morning and movements indicate that we are going to push the enemy. I shall have to cut this note short, therefore my dearest and if nothing happens, will write you again in a day or two.

Well dearest I must close in conclusion I must say, I still love you and think I am the most fortunate man in the world in having as good a wife. You have been very kind to me, and more so if possible since I have been in the army. The rememberance of these things my dear one, as I pass along, affords me much kind happiness and my pleasure and when I look forward with a great deal of pleasure when kind providence I hope will permit us to see each other face to face. I feel if I escape this campaign that I am pretty safe.

I have so far, for your sake been prudent and do not expect to be rash. It does not know that a man is any braver than others who keep their places. If I fall, expect to fall in my proper place. Then no blame can attach to me. Let us hope for the best, Kiss my darlings for me. Give my compliments to his friends. I am better along very well now. Had a potato this morning, It was glorious, and a pickle too.

God keep you
Your affectionate husband.
O.F. Harmon


Grave of an uknown Union soldier near the Dead Angle, believed to be 21 year old Mark Carr, 34th Illinois.


Captain S.M. Neighbor fell here.

June 29th, 1864

There was a truce today at the dead angle. Still today some Union soldiers remained in the close defilade near Confederate trenches only 30 feet from the Confederate earthworks at the "Dead Angle".  However, for several days and nights the troops could rest only by sleeping on their arms. Although some of the wounded were removed, today a giant mass of dead union soldiers remained putrefying in the southern sun between the two short lines.



After two days, the stench of the rotting bodies of the dead became overwhelming to the Confederates as the wind was blowing east. A truce was called so each side could recover their dead Yankees for burial. The Rebels marched a line out to face the Yankees. The Yankees marched a line out to face the Rebels. Men poured in between the lines and began digging shallow graves beside each body. For over eight hours, men of both sides intermingled playing cards, swapping tobacco (Southerners) for newspapers (Northerners). General Cheatham stood atop the Rebel parapet in plain clothes trying to look discreet, but many men recognized him. The Rebels couldn't help but brag, there stands our general Cheatham. Some even secured his autograph. 


 
The bodies of McCook's division laid in a row where they fell in front of the Confederate trench. They were later dug up and re-interred in section I of the Marietta National Cemetery. There they lay today still in the same row. They were buried with their artifacts, a watch, a compass, a knife, and even wedding rings. There was no pilfering. The ranger told us that all the battlefield dead of the Union men are all buried together at that cemetery, depending what battlefield they came from. The men of Peachtree Creek, Gilgal Church, the Hell Hole, Pickett's Mill, Pigeon Hill, Nodine's Hill, battle of Atlanta, etc. 



We have this famous painting of the truce with Cheatham standing there. This painting is also carved on the side of Governor Joe Brown's Statute on the grounds of the Georgia State Capital.



There is the scene at Dug Gap on one side and this one at the Dead Angle on the other side.



The men of both the Union and the Confederates were real friendly there for a while, a common purpose shared. It was as though they were just tailgating at a football game I guess, like at LSU, or Ohio State. They then crawled back into their respective trenches and fighting then resumed. The Union men laying so their guns could barely get over the hill rise they laid on, and using mirrors, they aimed for the spot between the ground hill and the head log being used by the Confederates. When the Confederate trench was finally abandoned on the 2nd of July, the Union Men noticed how the top head log was almost all shot out all along the Confederate line. 

We find this excellent account of the truce from an Ohio regiment. 

Wednesday morning a truce lasting from 9 a. m. to 4 p. m. was arranged to bury the dead. Unarmed guards, detailed from each side, were stationed in two lines, facing outward, to prevent the passing of other than the burial party, which worked between. A general exchange of news papers, coffee and tobacco while a jolly good feeling abounded everywhere. Our dead had lain upon the ground forty hours and the smell was terrible. Thirty-seven of our brigade were buried in the four hours in which we worked. It was my good fortune to be on the detail and to be able to identify all who belonged to the 52nd Ohio. We dug the graves, right where they lay, covering them over and marking the spot with the name and regiment. Our men sat upon the head logs and crowds of armed men from the commands nearby thronged our works. The rebel line was crowned with sightseers of high and low rank. Generals from both sides circulated freely between the lines, although this was in direct violation of the terms of the truce. Hindman, Cheatham and Maney were prominent. I was particularly interested in Pat Cleburne, who afterwards lost his life at Franklin. He was tall, with a genial face and a good fighter, as we had a chance to know. We sat down and chatted with the detail and enjoyed ourselves like friends. A challenge came from a rebel who wanted to wrestle with any yank in the crowd. It was accepted by one of our boys, a recruit. He threw the Johnny, amid the shouts of our boys. The signal gun was fired and we were pecking away at each other in five minutes.


 
June 30th, 1864

Still at the Dead Angle hunkered down with Sergeant Watkins of Tennessee…………

For several nights they made attacks upon our lines, but in every attempt, they were driven back with great slaughter. They would ignite the tape of bomb shells, and throw them over in our lines, but, if the shell did not immediately explode, they were thrown back. They had a little shell called a hand grenade, but they would either stop short of us, or go over our heads, and were harmless. General Joseph E. Johnston sent us a couple of chevaux-de-frise. When they came, a detail of three men had to roll them over the works. Those three men were heroes. Their names were Edmund Brandon, T. C. Dornin, and Arnold Zellner. Although it was a solemn occasion, every one of us was convulsed with laughter at the ridiculous appearance and actions of the detail. Every one of them made their wills and said their prayers truthfully and honestly, before they undertook the task. I laugh now every time I think of the ridiculous appearance of the detail, but to them it was no laughing matter. I will say that they were men who feared not, nor faltered in their duty. They were men, and today deserve the thanks of the people of the South. 

Previous to the day of the main attack, the soldiers had cut down all the trees in our immediate front, throwing the tops down hill and sharpening the limbs of the same, thus making, as we thought, an impenetrable abattis of vines and limbs locked together. But nothing stopped or could stop the advance of the Yankee line, nothing but the hot shot and cold steel that we poured into their faces from under our head-logs. 

One of the most shameful and cowardly acts of Yankee treachery was committed there that I ever remember to have seen. A wounded Yankee was lying right outside of our works, and begging most piteously for water, when a member of the railroad company (his name was Hog Johnson, and the very man who stood videt with Theodore Sloan and I at the battle of Missionary Ridge, and who killed the three Yankees, one night, from Fort Horsley), got a canteen of water, and gave the dying Yankee a drink, and as he started back, he was killed dead in his tracks by a treacherous Yankee hid behind a tree. It matters not, for somewhere in God's Holy Word, which cannot lie, He says that "He that giveth a cup of cold water in my name, shall not lose his reward." And I have no doubt, reader, in my own mind, that the poor fellow is reaping his reward in Emanuel's land with the good and just. 
 
In every instance where we tried to assist their wounded, our men were killed or wounded. A poor wounded and dying boy, not more than sixteen years of age, asked permission to crawl over our works, and when he had crawled to the top, and just as Blair Webster and I reached up to help the poor fellow, he, the Yankee, was killed by his own men. In fact, I have ever thought that is why the slaughter was so great in our front, that nearly, if not as many, Yankees were killed by their own men as by us. The brave ones, who tried to storm and carry our works, were simply between two fires. It is a singular fanaticism, and curious fact, that enters the mind of a soldier, that it is a grand and glorious death to die on a victorious battlefield. 
 
When old Joe sent us the two chevaux-de-frise, and kept on sending us water, and rations, and whisky, and tobacco, and word to hold our line, we would invariably send word back to rest easy, and that all is well at Dead Angle. 

I have ever thought that is one reason why General Johnston fell back from this Kennesaw line, and I will say today, in 1882, that while we appreciated his sympathies and kindness toward us, yet we did not think hard of old Joe for having so little confidence in us at that time. A perfect hail of Minnie balls was being continually poured into our head-logs the whole time we remained here. 

The Yankees would hold up small looking-glasses, so that our strength and breastworks could be seen in the reflection in the glass; and they also had small mirrors on the butts of their guns, so arranged that they could sight up the barrels of their guns by looking through these glasses, while they themselves would not be exposed to our fire, and they kept up this continual firing day and night, whether they could see us or not. Sometimes a glancing shot from our head-logs would wound someone. 
 
Reader mine, I fear that I have wearied you with too long a description of the battle of "Dead Angle," if so, please pardon me, as this is but a sample of the others which will now follow each other in rapid succession. And, furthermore, in stating the above acts, the half has not been told, but it will give you a faint idea of the hard battles and privations and hardships of the soldiers in that stormy epoch--who died, grandly, gloriously, nobly; dyeing the soil of old mother earth, and enriching the same with their crimson life's blood, while doing what? Only trying to protect their homes and families, their property, their constitution and their laws, that had been guaranteed to them as a heritage forever by their forefathers. They died for the faith that each state was a separate sovereign government, as laid down by the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of our fathers.


 General Benjamin Franklin Cheatham.
 
We also found this moving account from an Ohio Soldier who fought with the Illinois troops at the Dead Angle, worth a read.


McCook's Brigade Marker is back up with the others off Cheatham Hill Road.


This is where he gave his speech.

That beautiful morning was half gone when we were told that all things were ready. The hostile army grimly waited for our coming, as slowly we marched into the jaws of death. Just as the batteries ceased firing, we dressed our lines into column, and Col. Dan. McCook, standing in front of the brigade, repeated from McCauley's poem in Horatius the words:

"Then out spoke bold Horatius, the captain of the gate,
To all men of the earth death cometh soon or late.
But how can man die nobler, when facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers, and the temple of his Gods."

It was fifty paces from McCook's to Morgan's line. We moved promptly on signal, going at quick time, then double-quick, on coming to the creek, which was marshy and sluggish, our lines was somewhat broken.

Firing began immediately. From the crest both musketry and artillery, but we pushed on capturing the line of rifle pits, taking the men prisoners. The batteries opened right and left, as we pushed on up the hill. It is dreadful to think about. Grape and canister, shot and shell sowed the ground with rugged iron and garnished it with the dead. The first to fall was Sergeant John T. Fowler, of Co. B. As he fell, his tongue protruded from his mouth, caused by a contraction of the muscles of the throat. I longed to take him in my arms and minister to his sufferings, but we were to push the battle. The race of flags grew every moment more terrible. Four color-bearers were either killed or wounded. Linley H. Street, a brave boy, beloved by his comrades, fell, pierced to death. Sergeant Wm. J. Bradfield snatches the flag and is wounded in the strong right arm as he leads the charging column. Poor boy, he goes back to Nashville to die with the dread gangrene. David U. McCullough of Co. E, seizes the old banner and is wounded in the shoulder. Thus three of our color-bearers are shot down. The line wavers like a great billow and up comes the banner again. Now it is in the hands of James Lynne of Co. C. He loses an arm and on we go. Sheets of flame baptize us. Plunging shot tear away comrades on left and right. It is no longer shoulder to shoulder, it is God for us all. We are facing the steady fire of two thousand infantry, pouring down upon our heads as if it were the old historic curse from heaven. We wrestled with the mountain, but our brave men are climbing steadily on - upward still. Things are growing desperate. The enemy began to throw stones upon our heads. They light the fuse and throw hand grenades in our faces. One of these struck James Sheets, of Co. E, tearing away all the flesh from his cheek.

They shout down upon us "Chickamauga." Our brave Dan McCook was in the lead, when our front line had reached the fortifications, only to find a barrier which was calculated to make a weak man falter and a brave man think. The works were fringed with pikes, sharpened pins driven into logs, standing like a hay rack, pointing toward your face. Four lines of these stood one behind the other, so arranged that they overlapped each other. In a moment the front line grasped the barrier of pikes, and carried them endways, thus opening the way to the line of earth works.

Our brave Colonel urging his men on, was struck as he said, "Come on boys, the day is won," as he reached the earth work. He was shot about four inches below the collar bone, in the right breast, falling outside of the fortifications.

After the fall of Col. McCook, the voice of Captain Charles Fellows of McCook's staff was heard, but his half-finished, "come on boys - we'll take" - was cut short, and brave Charley fell dead only a few feet from the ditch.

Regiment after regiment breasted the storm as we came upon the mountain, until all four of the regiments in front of our line had tried and failed, and when we reached the works, we were in the front line. Several colors were planted in the loose earth at the foot of the ditch. We learned from a member of the ist Tennessee Infantry, that Capt. Beasley of that regiment lost his life while attempting to grasp the colors of the 52nd Ohio. Our regiment preserved a fair alignment to the last, and was undoubtedly assisted in the final stand by many members of other regiments. No braver and better behaved men ever attempted to storm an impregnable fortress than the Illinois and Indiana boys who were slaughtered in that terrible assault.
 
Col. Harmon, of the 125th, took command. He gave the command "Forward" and fell into the arms of his men, pierced through the neck. Deadly volleys mowed us down. The ground was strewn with the dead and dying. The living crouched behind the dead comrades. Col. Dilworth of the 85th Iil., was now the ranking officer, and no sooner in command than he was wounded, and the command was assumed by Lieut. Col. J. W. Langhley, of 125th Ilinois

The order had been given to fall back twenty paces and thus straighten our lines which had swung to the right and rear, owing to the galling fire from the lower depression of the enemy's line in that direction. When the order was given to re-form our lines we had lain down right under the enemy's works, and every one of us would have been killed or captured, had it not been that the line formed twenty-five yards below us with the advantage of the depression of the slope. They, by firing over our heads, soon had control of the line in our immediate front. Probably one half of our regiment that were unharmed, lay within twelve feet of the earth works and not in a position to load and fire. One by one our men crawled back to the new line below while many of us, with the dead and seriously wounded, lay near the works. Three of my comrades were struck just as our men lay down. Joseph Hanlon lay dead on my right. Isaac Winters, who was shot in the temple, but living, lay within my reach on the left. 

While lying here with a dead soldier across my feet, who could describe the sensations of the forty minutes that passed. To run the gauntlet might be death, to lie there, a movement of the body would draw the fire of the enemy on the "Dead Angle" to our right. The comrade shot in the temple sat up and began to talk in delirium, which attracted the enemy. He pleaded for water. I pushed my canteen toward him and he reached out but failed to get it.

Night came, we were glad of it. Our canteens were empty, so were our cartridge boxes. The enemy fired a volley of musketry, which no doubt was to prevent our working on the fortifications. An hour after dark they rolled cotton balls in turpentine and threw them over, setting the dry twigs and leaves on fire, burning and charring our dead. The cries of some, who were wounded and not dead, was horrifying to us.


A few years back Pete and I attended the sesquicentennial of the battle and a ranger took us on the grand tour.


I feel like a horses ass because the rest of my images were all blurry.

July 1st, 1864

On July 1, 1864, forces are still squared off at the Dead Angle only feet apart. Meanwhile the 23rd Army Corp seized a position at the Moss House (Floyd Station). This placed the 23rd AC closer to the Chattahoochee River than the Confederates at Kennesaw.  The confederates withdrew over night and Marietta was captured the next day, as detailed in GNW #133 (Part 3)

Getting a message too large so I wrap up today's post with part two of our Cob County GNW Gals.


One uncircumcised (not shucked) Cob.