July 22, 1864

	Union	Military Division of the Mississippi	3,641
	Confederate	Army of Tennessee	8,499
	Total Losses		12,140

Battle Location:  Fulton County
Campaign:  Atlanta-Campaign-1864
Theatre:  Western
Winner:  Union
Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman		Maj. Gen. John Bell Hood
Union Commander		Confederate Commander
Union Order of Battle		Confederate Order of Battle
The Atlanta Campaign was a series of battles fought in the Western Theater of the American Civil War throughout northwest Georgia and the area around Atlanta during the summer of 1864. Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman invaded Georgia from the vicinity of Chattanooga, Tennessee, beginning in May 1864, opposed by the Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston. Johnston"s Army of Tennessee withdrew toward Atlanta in the face of successive flanking maneuvers by Sherman"s group of armies. In July, the Confederate president replaced Johnston with the more aggressive John Bell Hood, who began challenging the Union Army in a series of damaging frontal assaults. Hood"s army was eventually besieged in Atlanta and the city fell on September 2, hastening the end of the war. At the start of the campaign, Sherman"s Military Division of the Mississippi consisted of three armies: Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson"s Army of the Tennessee (Sherman"s army under Grant in 1863), including the corps of Maj. Gen. John A. Logan (XV Corps), Maj. Gen. Grenville M. Dodge (XVI Corps), and Maj. Gen. Frank P. Blair, Jr. (XVII Corps). When McPherson was killed at the Battle of Atlanta, Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard replaced him. Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield"s Army of the Ohio, consisting of Schofield"s XXIII Corps and a cavalry division commanded by Maj. Gen. George Stoneman. Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas"s Army of the Cumberland, including the corps of Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard (IV Corps), Maj. Gen. John M. Palmer (XIV Corps), Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker (XX Corps), and Brig. Gen. Washington L. Elliott (Cavalry Corps). On paper at the beginning of the campaign, Sherman outnumbered Johnston 98,500 to 50,000, but his ranks were initially depleted by many furloughed soldiers, and Johnston received 15,000 reinforcements from Alabama. However, by June, a steady stream of reinforcements brought Sherman"s strength to 112,000. Opposing Sherman, the Army of Tennessee was commanded first by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, who was relieved of his command in mid-campaign and replaced by Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood. The corps in 50,000-man army were commanded by: Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee (divisions of Maj. Gens. Benjamin F. Cheatham, Patrick R. Cleburne, William H.T. Walker, and William B. Bate). Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood (divisions of Maj. Gens. Thomas C. Hindman, Carter L. Stevenson, and Alexander P. Stewart). Lt. Gen. Leonidas Polk (also called the Army of Mississippi, with the divisions of Maj. Gen. William W. Loring and Samuel G. French and a cavalry division under Brig. Gen. William H. Jackson). Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler (Cavalry corps, with the divisions of Maj. Gen. William T. Martin and Brig. Gens. John H. Kelly and William Y.C. Humes). Johnston was a conservative general with a reputation for withdrawing his army before serious contact would result; this was certainly his pattern against George B. McClellan in the Peninsula Campaign of 1862. But in Georgia, he faced the much more aggressive Sherman. Johnston"s army repeatedly took up strongly entrenched defensive positions in the campaign. Sherman prudently avoided suicidal frontal assaults against most of these positions, instead maneuvering in flanking marches around the defenses as he advanced from Chattanooga towards Atlanta. Whenever Sherman flanked the defensive lines (almost exclusively around Johnston"s left flank), Johnston would retreat to another prepared position. Both armies took advantage of the railroads as supply lines, with Johnston shortening his supply lines as he drew closer to Atlanta, and Sherman lengthening his own. The Battle For Atlanta Consisted of 16 Battles: Battles: Sherman vs. Johnston 1) Rocky Face Ridge (May 7–13, 1864) 2) Resaca (May 13–15) 3) Adairsville (May 17) 4) New Hope Church (May 25–26) 5) Dallas (May 26 – June 1) 6) Pickett"s Mill (May 27) 7) Operations around Marietta (June 9 – July 3) 8) Kolb"s Farm (June 22) 9) Kennesaw Mountain (June 27) Battles: Sherman vs. Hood 10) Peachtree Creek (July 20) 11) Atlanta (July 22) 12) Ezra Church (July 28) 13) Utoy Creek (August 5–7) 14) Dalton (August 14–15) 15) Lovejoy"s Station (August 20) 16) Jonesborough (August 31 – September 1) Background The Atlanta Campaign followed the Union victory in the Battles for Chattanooga in November 1863; Chattanooga was known as the "Gateway to the South", and its capture opened that gateway. After Ulysses S. Grant was promoted to general-in-chief of all Union armies, he left his favorite lieutenant, Sherman, in charge of the Western armies. Grant"s strategy was to apply pressure against the Confederacy in several coordinated offensives. While he, George G. Meade, Benjamin Butler, Franz Sigel, George Crook, and William W. Averell advanced in Virginia against Robert E. Lee, and Nathaniel Banks attempted to capture Mobile, Alabama, Sherman was assigned the mission of defeating Johnston"s army, capturing Atlanta, and striking through Georgia and the Confederate heartland. Aftermath Sherman was victorious, and Hood established a reputation as the most recklessly aggressive general in the Confederate Army. Casualties for the campaign were roughly equal in absolute numbers: 31,687 Union (4,423 killed, 22,822 wounded, 4,442 missing/captured) and 34,979 Confederate (3,044 killed, 18,952 wounded, 12,983 missing/captured). But this represented a much higher Confederate proportional loss. Hood"s army left the area with approximately 30,000 men, whereas Sherman retained 81,000.[19] Sherman"s victory was qualified because it did not fulfill the original mission of the campaign—destroy the Army of Tennessee—and Sherman has been criticized for allowing his opponent to escape. However, the capture of Atlanta made an enormous contribution to Northern morale and was an important factor in the re-election of President Abraham Lincoln. The Atlanta Campaign was followed by Federal initiatives in two directions: almost immediately, to the northwest, the pursuit of Hood in the Franklin-Nashville Campaign; and after the U.S. presidential election of 1864, to the east in Sherman"s March to the Sea.
My Source:  Wikipedia