#530- THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN (Part the Twenty-eighth)

As you guys will recall, with the last episode, we did a bit of a post-mortem on the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.

But with this show, we, like the armies, are leaving Kennesaw behind and moving on to the next chapter in the story of the Atlanta Campaign.

The Federals' frontal assaults at Kennesaw Mountain on June 27th, 1864, in which the Yankees suffered some 3,000 casualties compared to just over 1,000 for the Confederates, were William Tecumseh Sherman's biggest blunder of the campaign.

But his characteristic optimism resurfaced when he received word on July 3rd that the rebels had abandoned their lines at Kennesaw.

As you guys know, the Confederate commander, Joe Johnston, had pulled the Army of Tennessee out of its lines at Kennesaw Mountain because of the threat posed by Sherman's flanking maneuver to the south, beyond the rebels' left flank.

After the failed frontal attacks at Kennesaw, Sherman had returned to his preferred strategy of maneuver, and on July 3rd he got the news he'd succeeded in turning the Confederates out of their position at Kennesaw Mountain.

Sherman believed that Joe Johnston would now hustle his forces south in order to get across the Chattahoochee River as quickly as possible, and this, Sherman anticipated, would present the Federals with the opportunity to strike the rebels, quote, "in the confusion of crossing the river."

And so, on Sherman's orders, George Thomas with the Army of the Cumberland swept into Marietta from the west and turned southward in pursuit of the Confederates.

XIV Corps in the center followed the tracks of the Western & Atlantic Railroad, while IV Corps advanced to its left and XX Corps on its right.

To the west, James McPherson and John Schofield, with the other elements of Sherman's army group, the Army of the Ohio and the Army of the Tennessee, continued southward along the Sandtown Road.

Sherman hoped they might strike the flank or rear of the rebels' retreating column.

Thomas' troops encountered a small enemy rear guard just south of Marietta, and although the fighting never rose above the level of sharp skirmishing, the Federals nevertheless made only slow progress against stout Confederate resistance.

By late afternoon on July 3rd, as the Yankees neared Smyrna Station, four miles down the railroad from Marietta, rebel opposition stiffened to such a degree that the Federals deployed an entire division in line of battle.

However, by that point, it was so late in the day that the Yankees would have to wait until the next day to press the issue.

Meanwhile, continuous skirmishing that day had also slowed the Federals' progress off to the west on the Sandtown Road.

And so across the board, Sherman's hopes of a lightning quick pursuit of the retreating rebels on July 3rd had been dashed by unexpectedly strong Confederate opposition.

As you guys will recall, with the last episode, we did a bit of a post-mortem on the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.

But with this show, we, like the armies, are leaving Kennesaw behind and moving on to the next chapter in the story of the Atlanta Campaign.

The Federals' frontal assaults at Kennesaw Mountain on June 27th, 1864, in which the Yankees suffered some 3,000 casualties compared to just over 1,000 for the Confederates, were William Tecumseh Sherman's biggest blunder of the campaign.

But his characteristic optimism resurfaced when he received word on July 3rd that the rebels had abandoned their lines at Kennesaw.

As you guys know, the Confederate commander, Joe Johnston, had pulled the Army of Tennessee out of its lines at Kennesaw Mountain because of the threat posed by Sherman's flanking maneuver to the south, beyond the rebels' left flank.

After the failed frontal attacks at Kennesaw, Sherman had returned to his preferred strategy of maneuver, and on July 3rd he got the news he'd succeeded in turning the Confederates out of their position at Kennesaw Mountain.

Sherman believed that Joe Johnston would now hustle his forces south in order to get across the Chattahoochee River as quickly as possible, and this, Sherman anticipated, would present the Federals with the opportunity to strike the rebels, quote, "in the confusion of crossing the river."

And so, on Sherman's orders, George Thomas with the Army of the Cumberland swept into Marietta from the west and turned southward in pursuit of the Confederates.

XIV Corps in the center followed the tracks of the Western & Atlantic Railroad, while IV Corps advanced to its left and XX Corps on its right.

To the west, James McPherson and John Schofield, with the other elements of Sherman's army group, the Army of the Ohio and the Army of the Tennessee, continued southward along the Sandtown Road.

Sherman hoped they might strike the flank or rear of the rebels' retreating column.

Thomas' troops encountered a small enemy rear guard just south of Marietta, and although the fighting never rose above the level of sharp skirmishing, the Federals nevertheless made only slow progress against stout Confederate resistance.

By late afternoon on July 3rd, as the Yankees neared Smyrna Station, four miles down the railroad from Marietta, rebel opposition stiffened to such a degree that the Federals deployed an entire division in line of battle.

However, by that point, it was so late in the day that the Yankees would have to wait until the next day to press the issue.

Meanwhile, continuous skirmishing that day had also slowed the Federals' progress off to the west on the Sandtown Road.

And so across the board, Sherman's hopes of a lightning quick pursuit of the retreating rebels on July 3rd had been dashed by unexpectedly strong Confederate opposition.