The Atlanta Campaign, Volume 3:

From the Chattahoochee to Peach Tree Creek, June 28 to July 20, 1864

David A. Powell

• Publisher: Savas Beatie
• Year: 2026
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781611218022
• Subtopic: 19th Century History
• Index: History

The scope, drama, and importance of the 1864 Atlanta Campaign were on par with Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign in Virginia. Despite its significance and wealth of primary source material, the operations in North Georgia have long lingered in the shadows. Award-winning author David A. Powell’s first and second volumes of his planned five-volume series covered the campaign’s opening phases: the maneuvers around Dalton and Resaca in May, and the trench warfare and fierce fighting near Marietta in June. This third installment, The Atlanta Campaign: From the Chattahoochee to Peach Tree Creek, June 28–July 20, 1864, examines the next stage of the operation.

The heavyweight match between Grant and Robert E. Lee—from the Wilderness to the trenches of Cold Harbor—intensified the pressure on William T. Sherman to prevent Confederate commander Joseph E. Johnston from sending reinforcements to Virginia. By the third week of May, Sherman had closed half the distance to Johnston’s base at Atlanta, but the Army of Tennessee had grown in strength, and the odds had evened. June became a slogging match. Steady rain and extensive defensive works slowed both sides, leading Sherman to order a bloody and fruitless series of frontal assaults against the strong Confederate line at Kennesaw Mountain.

Frustrated at Kennesaw, Sherman returned to flanking maneuvers. On July 2, General Johnston abandoned the Kennesaw Line and fell back to the Chattahoochee River—the last major water obstacle between Sherman’s forces and Atlanta. Two months of combat had taken a heavy toll on both armies, especially Johnston’s Army of Tennessee. When Johnston retreated across the Chattahoochee on July 9, his army numbered about 60,000 men, while Sherman’s strength was roughly 100,000. Confederate President Jefferson Davis, meanwhile, watched Johnston’s withdrawals with growing frustration. The abandonment of the Chattahoochee River Line convinced Davis to replace the defensive minded and close-mouthed Johnston with corps commander John Bell Hood, who promised a far more aggressive strategy.

This multivolume study draws heavily on hundreds of primary accounts (many previously unused), 22 original maps, a detailed understanding of the terrain, and a keen grasp of military strategy and tactics. Powell’s The Atlanta Campaign stands as this generation’s definitive treatment of one of the Civil War’s most important and compelling confrontations—and it will stand the test of time.

Table of contents

• Cover
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• LIST OF MAPS
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 - June 28 to July 2: “Hell with the lid off”
• Chapter 2 - June 1 to 24: Defending the Lifeline
• Chapter 3 - June 24: Shootout at Lafayette
• Chapter 4 - June 24: LaFayette: The Federals Strike Back
• Chapter 5 - July 1 to 3: Strategical Movements
• Chapter 6 - July 3: “We have no time to rest day or night”
• Chapter 7 - July 4: The Battle of Smyrna
• Chapter 8 - July 4: Ruff’s Mill
• Chapter 9 - July 5 to 9: On the River Line
• Chapter 10 - July 6 to 15: “A nice game of war”
• Chapter 11 - July 5 to 9: Roswell—“The poor women will make a howl”
• Chapter 12 - July 10 to 22: Rousseau’s Raid
• Chapter 13 - July 8 to 17: Abandoning the River Line
• Chapter 14 - July 9 to 17: “Madness rules the hour”
• Chapter 15 - July 18: “Dey dun tole us you all had horns!”
• Chapter 16 - July 18: “Everyone in the army was astonished”
• Chapter 17 - July 19: McPherson and Schofield Converge on Decatur
• Chapter 18 - July 19: Moore’s Mill
• Chapter 19 - July 19: “No more hard fighting at present”
• Chapter 20 - July 20: Arrayed for Battle
• Chapter 21 - July 20: Hooker Stumbles
• Chapter 22 - July 20: Hardee Strikes Newton
• Chapter 23 - July 20: Featherston Attacks
• Chapter 24 - July 20: Featherston and Scott Are Repulsed
• Chapter 25 - July 20: O’Neal Confronts Williams
• Chapter 26 - July 20: Reynolds Attacks
• Chapter 27 - July 20: Final Shots and Close of Battle
• Chapter 28 - Could Johnston Have Held Atlanta?
• Appendix 1 - Confederate Order of Battle: July 10
• Appendix 2 - Federal Order of Battle: July 10
• Appendix 3 - Hood’s Army Strength
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author