Georgia Natural Wonder #267 - Utoy Creek (Part 2) Siege&Surrender Atlanta 1864 ***

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Georgia Natural Wonder #267 - Utoy Creek (Part 2) Siege & Surrender Atlanta 1864

We got a message too large on our last post but we still had a few military reports on August 7th 1864. Not counting this as a new wonder, we wrap up the Battle of Utoy Creek and the Union occupation of Atlanta and Fulton County.

 
Daughter and her friend Will at the Cascade Springs this last weekend.

The Battle of Utoy Creek was fought August 4th through August 7th, 1864. The main battle was yesterday. Today, on August 7, the Union troops moved toward the Confederate main line skirmishing and extending to their right and entrenched all along present day Cascade Road, then known as Sandtown Road. Here they remained until late August. Following the Battle of Utoy Creek, Sherman abandoned further attempts to outflank the Confederates on his right. "The enemy can build parapets faster than we can march," Sherman wrote. 


I may have found an actual confederate trench. I did find a second massive tree my daughter and Will admired.

We find this from the diary of the US 4th Corp…….

August 7th - Nothing of importance occurred today in our front. No change in the enemy's position. He shows the same force and amount of artillery as yesterday. Some artillery firing and musketry along our lines. Losses through the day very small, not over 3 men wounded. At 1 p. m. received instructions from General Thomas to picket well the Roswell Road in front of the breast-works. This was done two or three days ago, and such picketing still continues to be done. 4 p. m., Schofield making an attack on the extreme right of our lines. Later; did not amount to much, only developed the enemy in strength in his front. Day very warm and clear.


Cascade Springs is a Hip Hopping part of town.

The veteran from the Kentucky Orphan Brigade summed up the next few weeks as such…..

Here the time from August 7 to 29, 1864, was spent in listening to the music of the rifle and the cannon and an occasional sweet, faint and harmonious symphony from the enemy's brass bands as they played, seemingly for our entertainment, "The Star Spangled Banner," "Hail Columbia," "Yankee Doodle" and, to taunt us, "Dixie." At night they would vary the entertainment by sending up innumerable rockets, which some of the men interpreted to mean the arrival of a new command or shift of position, but to most of us it was "Greek and Hebrew."




Atlanta before Sherman burned it.

We turn to the selected Yankee reports…………..

NEAR ATLANTA, GA., August 7, 1864-8 p.m.
Major General H. W. HALLECK, Washington, D. C.:

Have received today the dispatches of the Secretary of War and Lieutenant-General Grant, which are very satisfactory. We keep hammering away here all the time, and there is no peace inside or outside of Atlanta. Today General Schofield got round the flank of the line assaulted yesterday by General Reilly's brigade, turned it, and gained the ground where the assault was, with all our dead and wounded. We continued to press on that flank, and brought on a noisy but not a bloody battle. We drove the enemy behind his main breast-works, which cover the railroad from Atlanta to East Point. We captured a good many of the skirmishers, which are some of their best troops, for the militia hug the breast-works close. I do not find it prudent to extend more to the right, but will push forward daily by parallels, and make the inside of Atlanta too hot to be endured. I have sent to Chattanooga for two 30-pounder Parrotts, with which we can pick out almost any house in the town. I am too impatient for a siege, but I do not know but here is as good to fight it out farther inland. One thing is certain, whether we get inside of Atlanta or not, it will be a used-up community by the time we are done with it.

W. T. SHERMAN,Major-General.


 Sherman's horse soldiers let him down.

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, In the Field, near Atlanta, Ga., August 7, 1864.
Major General H. W. HALLECK, Chief of Staff, Washington, D. C.:

GENERAL: In order that you may have a proper understanding of the recent cavalry operations form this army that terminated somewhat unsuccessfully, I will explain. On the 25th of July I had driven the enemy to his inner intrenchments of Atlanta, and had by Garrad's division of cavalry broken the road leading to Augusta about the branches of the Ocumulgee, forty miles east, and had by McPherson's army taken up two sections of rails of about five miles each, near Stone Mountain and Decatur. I then proposed to throw the Army of the Tennessee rapidly moved by the right, so as to approach the only remaining railroad left to the enemy, leading due south for six miles, and then branching to Macon on the one hand and West Point, on the Chattahoochee, on the other. 

To accomplish this I placed General Stoneman with his own division of cavalry, 2,300 strong, and Garrad's division, about 3,500, on my left near Decatur, and on the right General McCook with a small division of about 1,300 and a part of Harrison's, just received under Rousseau, from the raid to Opelika. This force was about 1,700. Both expeditions started punctually on the 27th,and acted under my written orders, No. 42. The day before starting General Stoneman addressed me a note asking leave, after fulfilling his orders, to push on and release our prisoners confined at Macon and Andersonville. I gave my consent in a letter. 

Nothing put the natural and intense desire to accomplish an end so inviting to one's feelings would have drawn me to commit a military mistake, at such a crisis, as that of dividing and risking my cavalry, so necessary to the success of my campaign.

Stoneman ordered Garrard to move to Flat Rock, doubtless to attract the attention of the enemy, while he passed him and on the McDonough and the railroad about Lovejoy's, where he would have met McCook, but for some reason he did no to McDonough, but to Convington, and down on the east side of Ocmulgee to Clinton, when he sent detachments that burned the Oconee bridge, seventeen locomotives, over 100 cars, tore down telegraph wire, and damaged the railroad east of Macon considerably. He attempted to get into Macon; shelled the town, but fell back to Clinton. Finding the enemy gathering into too large a force, he seems to have turned back, but the roads were obstructed, and he fought till his ammunition was exhausted, and he seems to have given up. He told his brigade commanders, Adams and Capron, he would with 700 men engage the attention of the enemy, which they might escape. Adams has come in with his brigade, 900 strong; Capron is not in, and I think the bulk of his command were captured. About forty stragglers of it have got in. I have no doubt Stoneman surrendered in the manner and at the time described by the Macon paper I sent you yesterday. Garrard remained at Flat Rock until the 29th, and hearing nothing of Stoneman he came in without loss or serious opposition. 

McCook crossed the Chattahoochee at Rivertown, below Campbellton, by a pontoon bridge, which we sent back, intending to come in by a circuit east and north. At 2 p.m. of the 28th he left the banks of the Chattahoochee and struck the West Point branch at Magnolia Station, which he burned and tore up track. He then by a rapid night march pushed for Fayetteville, where he found the roads and by-ways full of army wagons belonging to the army in Atlanta, embracing the headquarters teams of all the generals. All were burned good, and about 800 mules sabered. He then pushed on for the railroad at Lovejoy's, where he destroyed full two miles of track, the depot, a lot of cotton and stores, and carried off five miles of telegraph wire. Up to that time he had not encountered any opposition, for Stoneman's and Garrard's movements out from Decatur had attracted the enemy's cavalry. Having, as he supposed, broken the road enough, and supposing his best way back was by Newman, he turned in that direction. 

He had 73 offices and 350 men prisoners, mounted on all sorts of horses and mules; still he reached Newman, where the enemy began to gather about him and oppose him. He thinks two brigades of dismounted cavalry, acting as infantry, had been stopped en route from Mississippi for Atlanta by the break he had made in the railroad and happened there. 

These, in addition to two divisions of cavalry, headed him off whichever way he turned. He fought hard for five hours, until he exhausted his artillery ammunition, when he chopped up the wheels, spiked and plugged the guns. He then kept Harrison's brigade, and directed the smaller ones, commanded by General Croxton and Colonel Torrey, to cut out. He continued to fight until near night, when he dashed through an infantry line, reached the Chattahoochee, crossed his men, and got in. Harrison is a prisoner, I think. Of Croxton I can hear nothing. But nearly all the men not killed and wounded are in. McCook let his prisoners free, and his wounded in charge of his surgeons. His management was all that could be expected throughout.

With great respect, W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General.

------------------------

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, In the Field, near Atlanta, August 7, 1864.
Major-General SCHOFIELD:

I don't apprehend the enemy's cavalry will get in behind you north of Utoy Creek, but it is well to be prudent. You can use all the cavalry belonging to your army, and may send to Marietta and secure the horses of Colonel Adam's brigade and mount other men. I think some of Colonel Capron's men are in too. If Colonel Garrard watches the passes of Utoy and blocks all roads not guarded that flank is a strong one. A very few infantry well posted would make it more secure. Continue to work on the enemy's left night and day and give him no rest. I will see to all other points.

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General, Commanding.


Utoy Creek and Cascade Springs a lot more fun today.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE OHIO, Near Atlanta, Ga., August 7, 1864-8.30 p.m.
Major-General SHERMAN:

Our line is swung forward until it faces nearly due east from Morgan's center to Cox's center, from which last point it is somewhat refused. This must, I think, bring Cox's center within a mile of the railroad. We cross both the Sandtown and Campbellton roads near their intersection, which seems to be between our line and that of the enemy. I have not yet learned the final result of the operations of Johnson's left. Will inform you when I hear from him. We have now good positions for artillery, and are putting in batteries all along the line tonight. 

I have seen Colonel Garrard and given him orders about picketing our right, but apprehend that his force (400 men) is entirely inadequate.

J. M. SCHOFIELD, Major-General.


Atlanta Lard Oil Factory?

We find these reports from the Confederate side.

HEADQUARTERS LEE'S CORPS, Phillips' House, August 7, 1864.
Major General W. B. BATE, Commanding Division:

GENERAL: General Lee directs me to say that he wishes you to strain every effort to strengthen your line tonight, as General Armstrong reports that a large force of the enemy, over a corps, came into the Sandtown road at Doctor Gilbert's this evening, from the direction of Bankston's, and were at last accounts moving in this direction. The general thinks there is no doubt that these troops are intended for your front, and wishes you to provide accordingly.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, J.W. RATCHFORD, Assistant Adjutant-General.



"Rural Home," as Philip Fitzgerald's house was known to his descendants, evolved from a simple, two-story, four-room house that was built in the early 1830s and acquired by Fitzgerald in 1836. Growing up in Atlanta in the early twentieth century, Margaret Mitchell and her brother, Stephens, often enjoyed visits with their great-aunts who had inherited and continued to operate the place when Fitzgerald died in 1880. Mitchell's memories of the place and the stories that she heard from her great-aunts who had lived through the Civil War and Reconstruction, were a significant part of the lore that she mined in creating her Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel, Gone With the Wind.

---------------------------

GENERAL ORDERS, HEADQUARTERS LEE'S CORPS, Numbers 62. In the Field, August 7, 1864.

The lieutenant-general commanding takes pleasure in announcing to the officer and men of this corps the splendid conduct of a portion of Bate's division, particularly Tyler's brigade, in sustaining and repulsing on yesterday three assaults of the enemy, in which his loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners was from 800 to 1,000 men, 2 colors, and 300 or 400 stand small-arms, and all of his intrenching tools. Our loss was from 15 to 20 killed and wounded. Soldiers who fight with the coolness and determination that these men did will always be victorious over any reasonable number.

By command of Lieutenant-General Lee:
J. W. RATCHFORD, Assistant Adjutant-General.

What did the Rebel Yell sound like? Confederates at a reunion 1910.

Historic Utoy Primitive Baptist Church and Cemetery (1911 Venetian Drive, SW) is the site of the oldest Baptist Church in Fulton County. During the 1864 Battle of Utoy Creek, Utoy Church served as a military field hospital for captured Union and wounded Confederate soldiers. There are at least twenty-three unknown Confederate soldiers, from Gen. S.D. Lee's Corps of Bate's Division, buried at the Utoy Cemetery. These were among the 35 Confederate casualties of the Battle of Utoy Creek, who died from wounds treated at the Utoy Church field hospital. One additional known casualty of this conflict and eleven known other Confederate veterans are also buried at the Utoy Cemetery. Additionally, a portion of the Rebel defensive line still exists, only a few feet north of the Confederate graves.
 
Historic Utoy Church 

Marker is at the intersection of Cahaba Drive and Bayberry Drive, on the left when traveling north on Cahaba Drive. The Marker is inside the Cemetery but can be seen from the road.



Hard to read .... Inscription. Utoy Primitive Baptist Church, the oldest Baptist Church in present Fulton County, was constituted August 15, 1824, in a log house just west of here. The church was moved to its present location in the summer of 1828. In 1864 the church was used as a Confederate hospital. July 22, Col. James S. Boynton, 30th Georgia, was wounded and brought to Utoy Church for medical care. Boynton later became President of the Georgia Senate and on March 5, 1883, the day after the death of Governor Alexander H. Stephens, he became of Governor of Georgia, to serve until a special election could be held. In the cemetery at Utoy Church lies buried Dr. Joshua Gilbert, Atlanta's first doctor. Born in 1815 in South Carolina, Dr. Gilbert was graduated from old Augusta Medical College in 1845 and came to Atlanta. At that time Atlanta was called Marthasville and was located in DeKalb County. Here he practiced medicine until his death in 1889.

Dr. Gilbert.

The primary surgeon during the battle, and at the Utoy Church field hospital, was Dr. Joshua Gilbert, who was assisted by Miss Sarah Hendon as a nurse, and other volunteers from the area. Both Dr. Gilbert and Miss Hendon are buried in the Utoy Cemetery with DAR and UDC memorial recognition. Dr. Gilbert was Atlanta's first doctor. He was born in 1815 in South Carolina and was graduated from the old Augusta Medical College in 1845 and then came to Atlanta.  Dr. Joshua Gilbert was born 17 September 1815, in Clemson County, SC. He "read" medicine under the supervision of his older brother, William, before attending the Medical College at Augusta, Georgia. After his graduation in 1845, Joshua departed immediately for Atlanta where he built a house at the intersection of Marietta Street an Forsyth Street. He opened his medical office nearby. Known as the "Father of Atlanta Medicine", Joshua Gilbert earned much praise in his day. From all accounts, he was a highly respected citizen of great kindness and compassion. Dr. Gilbert never presented a bill for his services while working long and often arduous hours. His reputation is suggested by the following quotes from Wilbur Kurtz and Dr. George G. Smith, a contemporary of Dr. Gilbert: "He was a man of abounding good nature, and possessed a fund of mirth-provoking quips, and his excellent spirits were as infectious as some of the diseases he was called upon to combat. The leading doctor in Atlanta - certainly the most popular - was the genial warm hearted Josh Gilbert. He rode horseback and carried a whistle with him, with which he made his presence known as he galloped his steed through the streets. He kept no books, collected no accounts." Joshua Gilbert married another of the daughters of Charner Humphries shortly after settling in Atlanta. He and Elizabeth Humphries raised two children, Camilla and Ansell. Elizabeth died on 7 August 1847. Joshua later married Martha Butler. He continued his practice in downtown Atlanta until after the Civil War when he moved out to the country. Joshua remained there, and practiced medicine into his old age until he died 18 April 1889. He is buried in the cemetery of the Utoy Primitive Baptist Church, which is located on the corner of Venetian Drive and Cahaba Drive. Source: Frank Boland. "Atlanta's First Physician", "Atlanta Historical Bulletin", June 1933, No. 7, p. 15.



At that time, Atlanta was called Marthasville. Here Dr. Gilbert practiced medicine until his death in 1889. Dr. Gilbert and Miss Hendon treated both Confederate and captured Union soldiers. 
The William W. White plot in the foreground (with its rusted antique fence); in the distance can be seen several of the graves of unknown Confederate casualties of the Battle of Utoy Creek, who died from wounds treated at the church (which was used as a field hospital). The doctor and nurse who treated the soldiers also lie buried here. The doctor was Dr. Joshua Gilbert (Atlanta's first physician) and the nurse was a Miss Sally Hendon.



Colonel James S. Boynton, commanding the 30th Georgia Infantry of Brigadier General H. R. Jackson's Georgia Brigade, was treated here after being wounded at the Battle of Utoy Creek.  Jacksons Brigade was posted 3/4 of a mile West of the Utoy Primative Baptist Church during the Battle of Utoy Creek on 5-6 August 1864. The Date on the Battle of Utoy Creek marker (July 22) is in error.



Colonel Boynton later became President of the Georgia Senate and, on March 5, 1883, the day after the death of Governor Alexander H. Stephens, he became of Governor of Georgia, to serve until a special election could be held. A week after Colonel Boynton's wound and treatment, his division commander, Major General William B. Bate, was treated here (10 August 1864) from wounds received at the Battle of Utoy Creek, and was evacuated to Barnesville, Georgia to recuperate. Union casualties were interred here until 1866, when they were moved by the US Quartermaster's Office at Atlanta, to the National Cemetery in Marietta, Georgia.  


Graves in the Utoy Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery.


Historic Utoy Church in 1949, Before Remodelling

This is how the historic antebellum church appeared throughout the 19th Century--with bare, unpainted clapboards. During the years 1958-59, it was unfortunately extensively remodelled, with the addition of a brick veneer exterior, a front porch, a new roof, new windows and front door, and a rear baptistry. Amazingly, however, the original unpainted clapboards are still there, underneath the brick.


Historic Utoy Church as it appears today

This will show how extensively the historic church was forever altered in 1958-59 (by comparison with the photo from 1949). Structurally, the building is essentially still the same as the one that witnessed so much history.


Confederate Graves in the Utoy Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery.

Confederate Entrenchments 

1864 Marker can be reached from Adams Park Golf Course 1.2 miles from Campbellton Road. Located on the prominent hill upon the Adams Park Golf Course. 



Looking North West from the former lines of Bates Division CSA immediately after the Main Assault on their advanced position along the Sandtown (Campbellton) Road, at Cascade Springs Nature Preserve. Major General William B. Bate was wounded near this site while inspecting his lines.



The Marker in placed on a prominent hill, where the Entrenchments of Bates Confederate Division occupied immediately, after withdrawing from their advanced position in the vicinity of the Cascade Nature Preserve. Major General William B. Bate was wounded here on 10 August 1864 while observing significant skirmish and attempt to secure the position by Cox and Hascalls division's of the 23rd Army Corps and portions of the 14th AC to the North.





Sherman settled into a siege of Atlanta, shelling the city and sending raids west and south of the city to cut off the supply lines from Macon, Georgia. Both of Sherman's cavalry raids including McCook's raid and Stoneman's Raid were defeated by Confederate cavalry collectively under General Wheeler. Although the raids partially achieved their objective of cutting railroad tracks and destroying supply wagons, they were soon after repaired and supplies continued to move to the city of Atlanta. Following the failure to break the Confederates' hold on the city, Sherman began to employ a new strategy. He swung his entire army in a broad flanking maneuver to the west. Finally, on August 31, at Jonesborough, Georgia, Sherman's army captured the railroad track from Macon, pushing the Confederates to Lovejoy's Station. With his supply lines fully severed, Hood pulled his troops out of Atlanta the next day, September 1, destroying supply depots as he left to prevent them from falling into Union hands. He also set fire to eighty-one loaded ammunition cars, which led to a conflagration watched by hundreds.

On September 2, Mayor James Calhoun, along with a committee of Union-leaning citizens including William Markham, Jonathan Norcross, and Edward Rawson, met a captain on the staff of Major General Henry W. Slocum, and surrendered the city, asking for "protection to non-combatants and private property". Sherman, who was in Jonesboro at the time of surrender, sent a telegram to Washington on September 3, reading, "Atlanta is ours, and fairly won".

Within a week of the fall of Atlanta, Sherman had ordered all non-military personnel out of Atlanta. Reportedly he remembered the cities of Memphis and Vicksburg which became a burden immediately after victory, so he told the civilians specifically to go north or go south. A truce of sorts was quickly established at a town nearby called Rough And Ready with General Hood, where Union and Confederate prisoners were in small numbers exchanged and civilians wishing to go south could get help to that end.[36][page needed] After the battle, Sherman established his headquarters in Atlanta on September 7. He stayed until November 15 when the Army of the Tennessee, then commanded by Major General Oliver O. Howard and consisting of two corps and the newly formed Army of Georgia, commanded by Major General Henry W. Slocum, also with two corps, departed for Savannah on the campaign known as "Sherman's March to the Sea".

Despite the damage caused by the war, Atlanta recovered from its downfall relatively quickly; as one observer noted as early as November 1865, "A new city is springing up with marvelous rapidity".

Political ramifications

The fall of Atlanta and the success of the overall Atlanta Campaign were extensively covered by Northern newspapers, and were a boon to Northern morale and to President Lincoln's political standing. In the 1864 election, Democratic challenger George B. McClellan ran against Lincoln. McClellan ran a conflicted campaign: McClellan was a Unionist who advocated continuing the war until the defeat of the Confederacy, but the Democratic platform included calls for negotiations with the Confederacy on the subject of a potential truce. The capture of Atlanta and Hood's burning of military facilities as he evacuated showed that a successful conclusion of the war was in sight, weakening support for a truce. As a result, Lincoln was re-elected by a wide margin, with 212 out of 233 electoral votes.

Legacy

In 1880, Atlanta ranked among the fifty largest cities in the United States. The battlefield is now urban, residential, and commercial land, with many markers memorializing notable events of the battle,[43] including McPherson's place of death. The marker was erected in 1956 by the Georgia Historical Commission.[44] To commemorate the 140th anniversary of the battle, in 2004, two new markers were erected in the Inman Park neighborhood. The Atlanta Cyclorama building, built in 1921 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is located in Grant Park and formerly contained a panoramic painting of the battle.[41][45] In 2014, the City of Atlanta sold the Battle of Atlanta Cyclorama to Atlanta History Center.[46] Atlanta History Center constructed new, purpose-built building at their Buckhead Campus to house the art piece. The painting itself underwent an extensive restoration to reverse changes made to the original painting in the 1890s. The Cyclorama and accompanying exhibition (Cyclorama: The Big Picture) opened at Atlanta History Center on February 22, 2019.

Dalton (August 14–15)

Further information: Second Battle of Dalton

Wheeler and his cavalry raided into North Georgia to destroy railroad tracks and supplies. They approached Dalton in the late afternoon of August 14 and demanded the surrender of the garrison. The Union commander refused to surrender and fighting ensued. Greatly outnumbered, the Union garrison retired to fortifications on a hill outside the town where they successfully held out, although the attack continued until after midnight. Around 5 a.m. on August 15, Wheeler retired and became engaged with relieving infantry and cavalry under Maj. Gen. James B. Steedman's command. Eventually, Wheeler withdrew.

Lovejoy's Station (August 20)
Further information: Battle of Lovejoy's Station

While Wheeler was absent raiding Union supply lines from North Georgia to East Tennessee, Sherman sent cavalry Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick to raid Confederate supply lines. Leaving on August 18, Kilpatrick hit the Atlanta & West Point Railroad that evening, tearing up a small area of tracks. Next, he headed for Lovejoy's Station on the Macon & Western Railroad. In transit, on August 19, Kilpatrick's men hit the Jonesborough supply depot on the Macon & Western Railroad, burning great amounts of supplies. On August 20, they reached Lovejoy's Station and began their destruction. Confederate infantry (Patrick Cleburne's Division) appeared and the raiders were forced to fight into the night, finally fleeing to prevent encirclement. Although Kilpatrick had destroyed supplies and track at Lovejoy's Station, the railroad line was back in operation in two days.

Jonesborough (August 31 – September 1)
Further information: Battle of Jonesborough

Ruins of Rolling Mill and railroad cars destroyed by rebels on evacuation of Atlanta, Ga.

In late August, Sherman determined that if he could cut Hood's railroad supply lines, the Confederates would have to evacuate Atlanta. Sherman had successfully cut Hood's supply lines in the past by sending out detachments of cavalry, but the Confederates quickly repaired the damage. He therefore decided to move six of his seven infantry corps against the supply lines. The army began pulling out of its positions on August 25 to hit the Macon & Western Railroad between Rough and Ready and Jonesborough. To counter the move, Hood sent Hardee with two corps to halt and possibly rout the Union troops, not realizing Sherman's army was there in force. On August 31, Hardee attacked two Union corps west of Jonesborough but was easily repulsed. Fearing an attack on Atlanta, Hood withdrew one corps from Hardee's force that night. The next day, a Union corps broke through Hardee's line, and his troops retreated to Lovejoy's Station. Sherman had cut Hood's supply line but he had failed to destroy Hardee's command.
Fall of Atlanta (September 2)

On the night of September 1, Hood evacuated Atlanta and ordered that the 81 rail cars filled with ammunition and other military supplies be destroyed. The resulting fire and explosions were heard for miles. Union troops under the command of Gen. Henry W. Slocum occupied Atlanta on September 2.

On September 4, General Sherman issued Special Field Order #64. General Sherman announced to his troops that "The army having accomplished its undertaking in the complete reduction and occupation of Atlanta will occupy the place and the country near it until a new campaign is planned in concert with the other grand armies of the United States."

Aftermath

Roundhouse in Atlanta, following extensive damage from the Atlanta Campaign. Digitally restored albumen print, 1866.

Sherman was victorious, and Hood established a reputation as the most recklessly aggressive general in the Confederate Army. Casualties for the campaign were roughly equal in absolute numbers: 31,687 Union (4,423 killed, 22,822 wounded, 4,442 missing/captured) and 34,979 Confederate (3,044 killed, 18,952 wounded, 12,983 missing/captured). But this represented a much higher Confederate proportional loss. Hood's army left the area with approximately 30,000 men, whereas Sherman retained 81,000. Sherman's victory was qualified because it did not fulfill the original mission of the campaign—destroy the Army of Tennessee—and Sherman has been criticized for allowing his opponent to escape. However, the capture of Atlanta made an enormous contribution to Union morale and was an important factor in the re-election of President Abraham Lincoln.

Sherman realized that garrisoning Atlanta long-term would be a waste of troops, and that eventually the city would need to be abandoned. But first the army needed to be replenished, and so Sherman occupied Atlanta for the time being. Though the city was already mostly empty, about 1,600 civilians remained (compared to about 10,000 before the war) and Sherman felt their presence would be an obstacle. So, on September 14 Sherman issued Special Field Orders No. 67, which demanded the evacuation of the civilian population.

Hood, though he had been unable to hold Atlanta, now planned a counter-action. But the details were divulged in a speech given by Confederate President Davis, which provided Sherman a clear view of Hood's strategy. Sherman left Atlanta garrisoned with only a single Corps, and took the rest of the army to chase down Hood in the Franklin–Nashville campaign. Despite the divulging of Hood's plans, Hood was able to seize the initiative, briefly drawing Sherman north from Atlanta. The chase lasted through November, before Sherman returned the army to Atlanta to prepare for the March to the Sea. Despite Hood and Sherman's armies being the main forces in the western theater, they would not meet again, and Hood's army would be effectively destroyed by George Henry Thomas instead. Sherman's Army returned to Atlanta on November 12, spending just a few days to destroy anything of military value, including the railroads. Sherman's move was to be an evolution in warfare: without railroads for supply, the Army would have to live off the land. The Army withdrew from Atlanta on November 15, and so began Sherman's March to the Sea.

The Confederates quickly constructed a fortified railway defense line to East Point (six miles southwest of downtown Atlanta) that blocked the further advance of Union troops. Sherman, however, was determined to pound Hood out of the city. On July 20 he ordered that any artillery positioned within range begin a cannonading, not just of the Confederate lines but also of the city itself, which still held about 3,000 civilians (down from 20,000 earlier in the spring). The artillery barrage reached its height on August 9, when Union guns fired approximately 5,000 shells into town. Civilian casualties during the five-week bombardment were remarkably low; the townspeople who decided to remain in the city found shelter in basements or “bombproof” dugouts. During Sherman’s barrage and semisiege of Atlanta (so called because at no point could the Union army completely invest the city’s eleven-mile perimeter of works), about twenty civilians were killed. The number of wounded and maimed must be judged much higher, although Southern medical records offer no precise data.

Though his own headquarters came under shellfire, Hood refused to budge. Supplies continued to arrive into the city from Macon, even after the third railroad (to Montgomery) had been cut in mid-July by a Union cavalry raid in Alabama. Sherman tried twice to cut the last railroad, the Macon and Western, with cavalry raids in late July and mid-August. After these attempts failed (with a few miles of torn track quickly repaired), Sherman concluded that only a massive infantry sweep would cut the Macon Road. On August 25, with his forces withdrawn to guard the Chattahoochee bridgehead northwest of Atlanta and his siege lines abandoned, Sherman marched most of his army (six of seven corps) south and then southeast toward Jonesboro, fifteen miles from Atlanta.


Hood found that he could not stretch his outnumbered army far enough. With a third of his infantry and state militia forced to man the city defenses, he tried to send his troops down the railroad to meet the new threat. When Howard’s army approached cannon range of Jonesboro and the railroad, Hood had no choice but to order an attack, which the entrenched Union troops handily repulsed on August 31. To the north on that same day, other Union troops actually reached the railroad and began wrecking the rails. Hood’s attempt to send the army’s reserve ordnance train southward failed as the engine, faced by enemy interdiction, had to chug back into the city. Hood was left with no option but to order the evacuation of Atlanta on September 1. Continued fighting at Jonesboro that day proved inconsequential—the fate of Atlanta was sealed when Sherman’s troops cut the Macon and Western line. Union soldiers entered the city on September 2, thus concluding the Atlanta campaign.

Telegraphing Washington, D.C., General Sherman observed, “Atlanta is ours and fairly won.” Battle casualties for the four-month campaign totaled 37,000 Union and about 32,000 Confederate soldiers killed, wounded, and missing. In both armies roughly seven out of ten soldiers fell sick at some time; their incapacitation for duty probably affected both sides in equal proportion.

Sherman’s troops held Atlanta for two and a half months. Northern generals moved into the finer houses (Sherman occupied the John Neal home), while soldiers pitched camp in vacant lots or parks, such as those around City Hall, sometimes stripping buildings of wood to build shanties. In early November, with his plan set for a march to the sea, Sherman ordered his engineers to begin “the destruction in Atlanta of all depots, car-houses, shops, factories, foundries,” and the like. Some structures had already been destroyed; in addition, retreating Confederates had detonated an ammunition train, which had leveled the big rolling mill. Sherman directed that the structures be knocked down by his engineers first “and that fire only be used toward the last moment.”

The work began November 12, after Union troops had sent north their last train loaded with materials that the army would not use in its upcoming march. Captain Orlando Poe, Sherman’s chief engineer, instructed his men to rip apart Atlanta’s railroads, heating and bending each rail over the burning wooden ties. Not until November 15 did engineers begin torching designated sites, some with explosive shells placed inside. A hand-drawn map (now at the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts) indicates the buildings that were destroyed, including a storehouse at Whitehall and Forsyth streets, a bank at the railroad and Peachtree Street, the Trout and Washington hotels, and various other structures.

Four days earlier, on the night of November 11, Union soldiers milling about town began to torch private buildings, especially residences. The young Carrie Berry, still living with her family in the city, recorded the event. (Her diary survived and is held at the Atlanta History Center.) Union officer David Conyngham related that about twenty houses were destroyed that night, ruefully and rather lamely attributed by Captain Poe later to “lawless persons, who, by sneaking around in blind alleys, succeeded in firing many houses which it was not intended to touch.” Fires were set each night from November 11 to 15, although army officials tried to prevent them by guarding certain properties and catching or punishing the perpetrators. Churches were particularly kept under guard, resulting in five of them being spared from the flames that eventually consumed much of downtown.


On the final night of the Union occupation, November 15-16, Union troops, encouraged by the arson carried out by the engineers, committed unlicensed burnings that set much of downtown afire. Viewing from headquarters the fiery glow over much of the city that night, Major Henry Hitchcock of Sherman’s staff predicted, “Gen. S. will hereafter be charged with indiscriminate burning.” The Union army left Atlanta the next morning.

News of Sherman’s capture of Atlanta provoked electric and tumultuous reactions in both the North and the South. The first significant Northern victory in 1864, the fall of Atlanta assured President Lincoln’s reelection in November, as well as a pledged U.S. prosecution of the war to victory. With the loss of Atlanta, Confederate defeat was only a matter of time.