The Atlanta Campaign

The Atlanta Campaign. . , Sherman marched south to fight the Confederate army and seize its supply center., In May 1864, Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman led his 100,000-man army from Chattanooga, Tennessee, into Georgia. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's 65,000 troops dug in to oppose the Union invasion. As Sherman advanced, the two armies clashed at Rocky Face Ridge, then at Resaca, Cassville, New Hope Church, Pickett's Mill, and Dallas. Although Union attacks failed to dislodge the Confederates, Sherman's swift flanking movements threatened the Southerners' railroad line and forced the Confederates to retreat time and again. ,
By June 3, the Union army reached Acworth, a railroad town eight miles north of here. But three weeks of hard rains mired Union troops and wagons in the Georgia mud. Without the ability to move his army quickly, Sherman temporarily abandoned his flanking maneuvers and drove straight ahead., Captions: , “The Campaign in Georgia – A Baggage Train Crossing the Mountains in a Storm,” from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Magazine, For two weeks Sherman’s thrusts pressured Johnston’s thin, ten-mile line of defense until the Confederates fell back to Kennesaw Mountain on June 19. From this natural stronghold, Johnston’s army dug in to protect the railroads and roads to Atlanta.