Fall of Atlanta

July 22 – September 2, 1864 · Western Theater

Phases

1. 1Jul 20 — Peachtree CreekJuly 20, 1864
2. 2Jul 22 — The Battle of AtlantaJuly 22, 1864
3. 3Jul 28–Aug — Ezra Church & the SiegeJuly 28 – August 30, 1864
4. 4Aug 31–Sep 2 — JonesboroAugust 31 – September 2, 1864

July 20, 1864

Jefferson Davis, out of patience with Joe Johnston’s ten-week fighting retreat from Chattanooga, hands the army to John Bell Hood — a fighter with a crippled arm, a missing leg, and no caution in him. Within forty-eight hours Hood attacks, catching Thomas’s Army of the Cumberland astride Peachtree Creek. The veterans in blue refuse the surprise, and the sortie breaks apart with 2,500 casualties.

• ➤Hardee & Stewart — Hood’s first sortie — strikes Thomas crossing the creek
• ●The Army of the Cumberland astride Peachtree Creek
• ●Atlanta — the rail hub of the Confederacy, to be held at any cost