June 4th, 1864
The Confederate forces are moving toward their prepared lines that stretch from Lost Mountain to the railroad just south of Big Shanty. Once General Sherman learns of General Johnston’s retreat from the Dallas – New Hope line, he orders General McPherson to move from New Hope Church toward Acworth. In most places along the line, the Federal troops never hear or see the Southern soldiers leave. They wake up to a deserted battlefield after the Confederates leave under the cover of darkness.
Category: General Sherman
150 Years Ago Today: Along the Dallas – New Hope – Pickett’s Mill line
June 3, 1864
General Schofield advances to the crossroads at the Allatoona Church, the current intersection of Hwy 92, Dallas – Acworth Hwy, and Cedarcrest Rd. His lead division moves slowly for fear of Confederate attack and being separated from the main body of the Federal army. They take the entire day to advance and when they reach the crossroads, they discover the Confederates are gone. General Sherman’s route to Acworth and the railroad now stands unopposed.
General Johnston issues orders to the Confederate army to fall back from the main line and move to the newly prepared lines the stretch from the railroad south of Big Shanty, west to Lost Mountain.
150 Years Ago Today: New Hope – Pickett’s Mill Line
Heavy skirmishing continues all along the line and both armies continue to extend their lines toward the east in the direction of the railroad. General Sherman has ordered General Schofield to move the line to Allatoona Creek. As the Union soldiers reach the creek they are met with stiff resistance from entrenched Confederate troops. They attempt to turn the Confederate right flank, but Butterfield, who is assigned to support Schofield, refuses to add his troops to the assault. He states that he was assigned to support the movement east, but not engage in an attack. Schofield entrenches for the night. This turns out to be a good idea, because General Johnston has moved Cleburne’s and Walkers Divisons toward the end of his lines. Schofield would have been open to a severe counter attack if he had attempted to turn the Confederate right.
Meanwhile, Union Cavalry units operating in the area south of the Etowah river, report to General Sherman that the railroad is intact and usable down to Acworth. The railroad is Sherman’s goal and he is inching closer and closer to it each day.
150 Years Ago Today: Along the Dallas – New Hope line
May 30th, 1864:
General Sherman has decided he wants to shift his armies back east toward the railroad near Acworth. His plan is to begin leap frogging his units from Dallas and move to the east toward Acworth. Sherman has ordered McPherson to begin his movement several times, but Confederate attacks on his lines have prevented his withdrawal. On the night of the 29th, what was thought to be a large scale attack, kept both sides up all night in constant heavy skirmishing. The Union troops thought the Confederates were attacking and the Confederates thought the Union troops were attacking. On the morning of the 30th, Sherman inspected the lines with McPherson, and decided the men were in no condition to move after fighting all night. He then ordered their withdrawal to take place on the night of the 31st.
There was constant skirmishing all along the lines and both armies were trying to extend their lines toward the railroad. Sherman was trying to get back to a steady supply line and General Johnston was trying to stop him.
150 Years Ago Today: The Battle of Dallas, Georgia
May 28th, 1864:
After suffering heavy losses and gaining no ground since the Battle of New Hope Church on May 25th, General Sherman decided to begin withdrawing from the Dallas-New Hope line and make his way back to the railroad where the supply trains could reach him. Sherman had ordered General McPherson to begin moving his Army of the Tennessee, who were entrenched in Dallas, back to the east and toward the railroad near Acworth.
Confederate General Johnston was unsure of Sherman’s intentions and his troop movements. He ordered General Hardee to do a reconnaissance by force to try and ascertain the strength of McPherson’s position. General Hardee selected Bate’s Division supported by Jackson’s Cavalry to carry out the mission. General Bate’s was going to have just one brigade attack and if they found the Federal lines to be weak they would signal the remainder of the units to attack. The first brigade in made fairly good headway and then was repulsed by heavy fire. They found the Federals still heavily entrenched and still in place. Even though McPherson had given orders to begin moving out, his units in this section of the line had not started their movement. The signal to attack was not given. In the turmoil and uncertainty of combat, Lewis’ Kentucky Orphan Brigade thought they had missed the signal. He sent an officer down the line to see if the other unit had already attacked, when the officer arrived he found their portion of the line empty and assumed they had moved forward to attack. They had only moved out of their works a short distance in order to be more ready for the attack when the signal came. After hearing the report from the officer, Lewis orders the his Orphan Brigade to attack. Upon seeing this the Florida Brigade began their attack on the left of the line while Lewis was on the right of the line. They were supported by an artillery battery. Both brigades fought hard and made it close to the Federal lines. They were met with heavy fire from fully entrenched Union soldiers. When Bates realized the Federal troops were still in position and still there in full force, he called off the attack. The orders to retreat were late reaching the Orphan Brigade and for a period of time they were fighting their way forward unsupported.
The outcome of this battle is sort of the opposite of what happened at Pickett’s Mill. The Confederate losses were around 1600 and the Federal losses were around 400. Lewis’ Orphan Brigade suffered over 50 losses.
150 Years Ago Today: The Battle of Pickett’s Mill
May 27th, 1864,
After suffering heavy losses at New Hope Church and failing to break the Confederate line, General Sherman again tries to out flank General Johnston’s Confederate Army. Sherman orders General Howard to send Wood’s 3rd Division of the IV Corps, Johnson’s 1st Division of the XIV Corps, and McLean’s 3rd Brigade of Schofield’s XXIII Corps, on a flanking march in an easterly direction, to find the right end of the Confederate line. They hope to find the exposed right end of the line and attack.
General Johnston figured out what the Federals were attempting, and began shifting troops from his left to the right. He moved Hindman’s Division from the far left of Hood’s position and placed them on the far right. This began the extension of the Confederate line to the right. Johnston then moved General Cleburne’s Division of Hardee’s Corps to the right of Hindman. This extended the Confederate line even further to the right. Cleburne began to dig in on a ridge line running east toward Pickett’s Mill. This was the end of the line with the exception of Kelly’s Cavalry being used as a screen put in place beyond the end of the line.
Generals Howard and Wood began their march east to find the Confederate right as they were assigned. The terrain was difficult at best. It was described as jungle by some. It is hilly with deep ravines and lots of underbrush. After traveling some distance the made their first attempt to find the Confederate right, but as they approached the lines the realized they were approaching the rear of the Union lines. They needed to push further east before turning again. After moving about a mile east of this point they turned again and found what the thought was the Confederate right. They reached the area of Pickett’s Mill around mid afternoon. Howard began to form Wood’s and Johnson’s Divisions for attack.
Meanwhile, Cleburne’s scouts reported the movement of the Federals toward the end of the Confederate line. He began deploying further to his right and also deployed several artillery batteries. He place Lucius Polk’s Brigade on his left, Govan’s Brigade in the center and Granbury’s Brigade on his right and the Cavalry screen beyond Granbury.
Wood deployed with Hazen’s 2nd Brigade in the front with Gibson’s 1st Brigade following them and Knefler’s 3rd Brigade behind them. Johnson deployed with Scribner’s 3rd Brigade in front and aligned with Gibson’s Brigade. He then placed King’s 2nd Brigade following Scribner and Carlin’s 1st Brigade behind King. The formation they were using is called a “Column of Brigades” and each Brigade should follow the other closely as to over whelm the enemy with their numbers. The order to attack was given around 4:30pm. Hazen moved forward, but the dense undergrowth along, with the terrain, caused the lines to come apart and become spread out. Gibson’s Brigade did not immediately follow Hazen. Hazen’s men drove in the Confederate pickets and started moving up the steep sided ravine. They were attacking the left and center of Granbury’s Brigade. They thought they were attacking the end of the Confederate line, but Cleburne had been fast enough to extend it to his right. Hazen came under heavy fire and point blank artillery fire from Key’s Battery. Hazen began moving left toward an old cornfield. This movement had been anticipated by Cleburne, who had sent several regiments of Govan’s Brigade further to the right and just past Granbury, to block the Federals. After losing over 450 men, Hazen was withdrawn and only then was Gibson put in. He suffered a similar fate and suffered heavier losses, over 650. Kneffler’s Brigade was finally sent in, but with the purpose to only cover Gibson’s as he withdrew and recovered the wounded. Scribner was delayed in his attack by the cavalry pickets, who held high ground across the creek. He sent a couple of regiments to push them back and finally made it to the cornfield where he was hit by a counter attack from a reserve force that had been sent to reinforce Clerburne. Sribner held his own for a short time before falling back as well.
The battle began to subside around 7:00pm, but skirmishing continued into the night. Cleburne directed Granbury to make a night time assault to probe the location of the Federals and clear his front. They captured over 200 Union troops and drove back many more to their original positions. Total Union casualties are reported as being 1732 while the Confederate casualties were reported at 448. It was a rather lopsided victory for the Confederates.
This is my favorite battle of the campaign, I’m not sure why, but maybe because the battlefield is so well preserved and you can walk through it and really see where events took place. I recommend going to visit the battlefield if you get a chance. Here is a link to their website: Pickett’s Mill State Historic Site. They are having a special event this weekend with reenactments. It should be a really great event. Also, if your interested in learning of the details of the battle, check out this book: The Battle of Pickett’s Mill, Along the Dead Line, by Brad Butkovich.
150 Years Ago Today: The Union Army Crosses the Etowah River
May 23, 1864: General Sherman had devised a plan to move away from his railroad supply lines and angle southwest in an effort to out flank General Johnston’s Confederate Army, who are held up in the fortified positions of Allatoona Pass. Since they were leaving their main supply line, Sherman striped down his army to the just the essential equipment and rations to last a few days. Extra supplies would have to be brought by wagon train from the railroad and would take a great deal of time. On the 23rd of May the Federal troops begin crossing the Etowah River in multiple locations. They used existing bridges that were not burned by retreating Confederates, shallow fords, and the pontoon bridges that their engineers constructed. After crossing the river, the Union troops began concentrating in the area of Euharlee and Stilesboro. From here they moved away as three separate columns. McPherson was ordered to be the right wing of the advance and was sent to take Dallas. He went in a sweeping arch movement far out to the west through Taylorsville, Aragon, and Van Wert (now Rockmart). Sherman’s left wing was made up General Thomas’s and General Schofield’s Armies. From Stilesboro they moved south from that point, but stayed fairly close to each other, in case one of them needed support upon making contact with the Confederates. They stopped in the area of Burnt Hickory for a day to allow McPherson to complete his movement toward Dallas.
Meanwhile, General Wheeler’s Confederate Cavalry were observing what movements the Union Army was making and sent word back to General Johnston. He immediately issued orders to begin moving elements of his army into blocking positions to prevent or delay the Federal Advance. General Hardee was sent to Dallas to stop McPherson and become the left of the Confederate line. Hood stayed at Allatoona Pass for another day and then moved to New Hope to block the advancing Federals. Polk was sent to Lost Mountain where he could move easily in any direction to offer support if it were needed.
150 Years Ago Today: Confederate Crossing of the Etowah River
May 20th, 1864: General Johnston and the Confederate Army withdrew from Cassville and on the evening and night of the 20th they crossed the Etowah River and began heading in the direction of Allatoona Pass. General Sherman decided to rest his army and they stayed on the north side of the river for the next three days, where they were resting and restocking supplies.
Having traveled through this area as a young officer, General Sherman knew the dangers of approaching the Confederate Army, at the heavily fortified Allatoona Pass. He formulated a plan to leave his railroad supply line and move southwest toward Dallas and try to out flank Johnston and take Marietta before the Confederate Army could get there.
150 Years Ago Today: Confrontation at Cassville
May 19th, 1864. General Johnston knew that Sherman had taken the bait and that General Schofield’s Corps was moving toward Cassville. Johnston deployed Polk’s Corps across the road that Schofield was traveling and deployed Hood along what would be Schofield’s left flank. At some point in the morning, Union Cavalry, that was attempting to damage the railroad, came across the end of Hood’s Line and attacked. The numbers of soldiers involved were small, but it was enough of a surprise for Hood that he reformed his lines to meet what he thought was a threat and all but abandoned the attack on Schofield. Johnston eventually ordered Polk and Hood to fall back and reform on a ridge about a mile away. The Union Army formed a line in the area that the Confederates had just moved from. They now stood facing each other with the village of Cassville between them approximately at the center of the lines. During the evening, Hood and Polk called for a meeting with Johnston to discuss what they thought would be their inability to hold their lines, due to the position of the Federal Artillery. It would induce and enfilading fire on their lines and there was not a sufficient amount of cover. Johnston relented to their argument, even though he did not agree. He order a retreat and the next day they were across the Etowah River.
150 Years Ago Today: The Cassville Affair, Day 1
May 18th, 1864. General Johnston decided it was time to make another stand and decided to set a trap for General Sherman at Cassville. General Johnston sent Hardee’s Corps from Adairsville south toward Kingston along the main road. He sent all the supply wagon and ambulances down the main road to Kingston as well. This was the bait for the trap. They left an obvious sign that a large number men and material had traveled in the direction of Kingston. Johnston then sent Polk’s and Hood’s Corps on a less traveled road toward Cassville.
When Sherman arrived in Adairsville, he fell for the bait and believed that the majority of the Confederate Army had moved toward Kingston. Sherman then ordered Thomas’s Army of the Cumberland to follow the main road to Kingston and sent McPherson’s Army of the Tennessee on another flanking movement that would take him past Barnsley Gardens. Schofield’s Corps was sent toward Cassville with Hooker’s Corps following along Schofield’s right and slightly behind.
Johnston learned of Sherman splitting his forces and prepared to spring the trap on the next morning at Cassville.
War Was Here 