The Day Dixie Died: The Battle of Atlanta

by Gary Ecelbarger

  14 Eugene W. Jones, Enlisted for the War (Hightstown, N.J.: Longstreet House, 1997), p. 180.

  15 OR 38 (3), p. 500; Fuller, “A Terrible Day,” NT, April 16, 1885.

  16 OR 38 (3), p. 500.

  17 OR 38 (3), p. 492.

  18 OR 38 (3), pp. 477–78; Fuller, “A Terrible Day,” NT, April 16, 1885.

  19 Churchill diary, July 22, 1864, in Lewis, ed.; “Battle of Atlanta,” Zanesville Sunday Times-Signal, December 5, 1926.

  20 OR 38 (3), p. 496.

  21 OR 38 (3), 475–76, 500, 504.

  22 OR 38 (3), 475–76, 496; Fuller, “A Terrible Day,” NT, April 16, 1885; Churchill diary, July 22, 1864, in Lewis, ed.; “Battle of Atlanta,” Zanesville Sunday Times-Signal, December 5, 1926.

  23 “The Late Battle,” Georgia Weekly Telegraph, July 29, 1864; Jack D. Welsh, Medical Histories of Confederate Generals (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1994), p. 81.

  24 “General W. H. T. Walker and His Division,” Georgia Weekly Telegraph, September 6, 1867; E[ugene] P. S[pear], “General W. H. T. Walker,” Newman (Ga.) Herald, May 29, 1883; Dodge, The Battle of Atlanta, p. 56; OR 38 (3), pp. 476–77, 496; Fuller, “A Terrible Day,” NT, April 16, 1885.

  25 Fuller, “A Terrible Day,” NT, April 16, 1885; OR 38 (3), pp. 373, 476–77. The 64th Illinois casualties represented on these tables will be incurred later in the afternoon.

  26 Warner, Generals in Gray, pp. 216–17; Welsh, Medical Histories of Confederate Generals, p. 157.

  27 Hamilton Branch to his mother, July 23, 1862, Charlotte’s Boys, p. 271. Disagreement exists on who initially commanded Mercer’s Brigade after General Mercer ascended to command William Walker’s division. Charles H. Olmstead of the 1st Georgia Infantry claims in his memoirs that he himself commanded the unit until wounded and replaced by Colonel Barkuloo. See Scott Walker, Hell’s Broke Loose in Georgia: Survival in a Civil War Regiment (Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press: 2005), pp. 161, 164, 271 (n. 20). Olmstead’s memoir is challenged by the official report of Colonel Barkuloo, written two months after the battle (see OR 38 [3], p. 758–59). Based on the timeline and evidence, Olmstead appears to have been wounded just before General Walker’s death, making him a regimental commander at the time, and Barkuloo by attrition ascended to most senior available colonel to move up to brigade command after General Mercer replaced William Walker.

  28 OR 38 (3), pp. 758–59; Hamilton Branch to his mother, July 23, 1862, Charlotte’s Boys, p. 271. Barkuloo incorrectly states that he took over the brigade in the morning, a time he refutes by reporting that the two brigades from the division had already been repulsed when he entered the fight. The confusion on time can only be explained by the fact that Barkuloo wrote the report exactly two months after the battle and since this action swirled close to the noon hour, he was confused about an early afternoon action that he incorrectly believed happened in the late morning, a difference as small as 70–80 minutes.

  29 Robert G. Mitchell to his wife, July 23, 1864, Robert G. Mitchell Papers, Special Collections, University of Georgia.

  30 OR 38 (3), pp. 506, 952; David Evans, “The Fight for the Wagons,” Civil War Times Illustrated Vol. 26, no. 10 (February, 1988), pp. 16–18.

  31 OR 38 (3), pp. 511, 516, 521, 537.

  32 OR 38 (3), pp. 508, 521; Philip Roesch Journal, 1862–1865, USAMHI, pp. 17–18.

  33 OR 38 (3), p. 952; Yeary, Reminiscences of the Boys in Gray, pp. 223–24. Neither the fate of the mangled man nor his identity has ever been discovered.

  34 Evans, “The Fight for the Wagons,” pp. 19–22; Benjamin F. McGee, History of the 72d Indiana Infantry of the Mounted Lightning Brigade (LaFayette, Ind.: S. Vater & Co., 1882), p. 352; OR 38 (3), pp. 507, 953; Quartus, “From General Sherman’s Army,” Daily Toledo Blade, August 3, 1864.

  35 OR 38 (3), p. 953.

  36 OR 38 (3), p. 373. The Union casualties for the three brigades and two batteries of the XVI Corps units facing Bate and Walker total about 580 for the entire day. At least two-thirds of them occurred in that sector of the field in the first seventy minutes of the battle.

  CHAPTER 6—SACRIFICE

  1 Fuller, “A Terrible Day,” NT, April 16, 1885; Strong, “The Death of General James B. McPherson,” p. 324.

  2 OR 38 (3), p. 608.

  3 A. A. Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments (Des Moines, Iowa: Mills & Company, 1865), pp. 237–41.

  4 OR 38 (3), pp. 594, 608.

  5 OR 38 (3), pp. 738, 741; Munford H. Dixon diary, July 22, 1864, Munford H. Dixon Papers, Special Collections Library, Duke University.

  6 OR 38 (3), p. 753; William R. Scaife, The Campaign for Atlanta. Fourth Ed. (Cartersville, Ga.: Civil War Publications, 1993), p. 184; Key diary, July 22, 1864, in Cate, ed., Two Soldiers, p. 94; T. B. Roy, “General Hardee and the Military Operations Around Atlanta,” SHSP VIII (August & September, 1880), p. 367.

  7 Strong, “Death of General James B. McPherson,” pp. 324–25.

  8 OR 38 (3), pp. 588, 608–11, 738; “The 16th Iowa at Atlanta,” NT, August 26, 1886; F. McO. to the editor, July 26, 1864, Cedar Valley Times, August 11, 1864; Amos Sniff, “The Capture of the 16th Iowa,” NT, March 27, 1884.

  9 OR 38 (3), pp. 608–9.

  10 William E. Bevins, Reminiscences of a Private (privately published, 1913), pp. 57–58.

  11 Roy, “General Hardee,” p. 364.

  12 “John Edward Murray,” in Bruce S. Allardice, More Generals in Gray (Baton Rouge, La.: Louisiana State University Press, 1995), pp. 173–74; OR 38 (3), p. 741.

  13 OR 38 (3), pp. 538–39, 738; Key diary, July 22, 1864 in Cate, ed., Two Soldiers, p. 95. See Davis Official Military Atlas, Plate CXXXI, for map showing opposing forces and wagon roads on that region of the battlefield.

  14 OR 38 (3), pp. 588, 606; X to the editor, July 24, 1864, New Albany (Ind.) Daily Ledger, August 5, 1864.

  15 OR 38 (3), pp. 588, 602, 604.

  16 “The Civil War Diaries of Mifflin Jennings, 11th Iowa Infantry,” http://iagenweb.org/civilwar/books/mifflinj.htm.

  17 Amos Sniff, “The Capture of the 16th Iowa,” NT, March 27, 1884; OR 38 (3), 576, 609–11, 738.

  18 OR 38 (3), pp. 739–41. Govan’s total losses for the day were 499, including casualties incurred from another charge later in the day.

  19 OR 38 (3), pp. 609, 662, 747, 749, 751.

  20 OR, 38 (3), pp. 82, 394–95; Strong, “Death of General James B. McPherson,” pp. 325–26, 330, 335.

  21 OR, 38 (3), pp. 82, 395; Strong, “Death of General James B. McPherson,” pp. 327, 329–31, 334, 337.

  22 Strong, “Death of General James B. McPherson,” p. 337.

  23 Ibid., pp. 331–32, 337–38. Most secondary accounts time McPherson’s mortal wounding at 2:02 P.M., citing the stopped watch of Lieutenant Sherfy (see Strong, “Death of General James B. McPherson,” p. 331) as the chief source of the moment when the general was shot. That cited time is at least fifteen minutes too late and perhaps half an hour based on the time that the northern sector of the Union defense learned of it. For example, a very precise campaign diary kept by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph S. Fullerton, Assistant Adjutant General of the IV Corps, Army of the Cumberland, reveals that the corps headquarters learned of McPherson’s death from one of Sherman’s staff officers at 2:10 P.M. (See OR 38 [1], p. 908.) This third-hand notification three miles from where McPherson was unhorsed would be impossible to convey in under fifteen minutes. Therefore, McPherson must have been mortally wounded at or before 1:45 P.M. and Lieutenant Sherfy’s watch was damaged at this exact time but did not stop completely until the time showed 2:02 P.M. Ironically, McPherson may have lingered for 10–15 minutes before he expired, although his injured, riderless horse announced his demise almost immediately after he was shot.

  24 Fuller, “A Terrible Day,” NT, April 16, 1885.

  25 Ibid.; OR 38 (3), p. 477–78, 500.

  26 Hickenlooper to William E. Strong, August 7, 1876, Strong Papers, ALPL; Fuller, “A Terrible Day,” NT, April 16, 1885
; OR 38 (3), p. 477, 538.

  CHAPTER SEVEN—TWO-SIDED FIGHT

  1 Atlanta Historical Bulletin Vol. 15 (1970), p. 94. Gartrell would reenter the war as a brigadier general. See Warner, Generals in Gray, p. 101.

  2 Casualty figures obtained from official tabulations and commander reports. See OR 38 (3), pp. 550, 596. The sequence of action described in this chapter has been a subject of various interpretations in other works regarding the Atlanta Campaign. I have relied on the report of Giles Smith (OR 38 [3], pp. 581–84) and his numbered diagram sequencing the order of attacks (Davis, Official Military Atlas, Plate XC, #5). The times when those attacks occurred are estimations based on actions described in the previous two chapters and from a composite of source material described in this chapter.

  3 OR 38 (3), pp. 679, 680.

  4 Castel, Decision in the West, pp. 376–77, 381.

  5 Warner, Generals in Gray, p. 295.

  6 OR 38 (3), p. 582; Davis, Official Military Atlas, Plate XC, #5 (3rd and 4th Position).

  7 OR 38 (3), pp. 582, 589, 602–603, 606; W. L. Curry, War History of Union County (Marysville, Ohio: 1883), p. 46.

  8 Sumner A. Cunningham, Reminiscences of the 41st Tennessee: The Civil War in the West (John A. Simpson, ed.) (Shippensburg, Pa.: White Mane Books, 2001), p. 82; OR 38 (3); p. 588, Castel, Decision in the West, p. 402.

  9 Alfred Fielder diary, July 22, 1864, in Franklin, comp., The Civil War Diaries of Capt. Alfred Tyler Fielder, p. 189; OR 38 (3), p. 602.

  10 Peter Marchant to his wife, August 4, 1864, “Letters of Captain Peter Marchant, 47th Tennessee Infantry,” http://www.geocities.com/bsdunagan/letters.htm; OR 38 (3), p. 603.

  11 OR 38 (3), pp. 609, 680. The latter page shows the present-for-duty strength of Cleburne’s division on July 31 of 4,300 officers and men (numbers that don’t include the casualties of July 22). Straggling in Cleburne’s division should not have been as severe as it was in Bate’s and Walker’s, given the much lighter march they had to engage in. Govan claims a strength of 1,000 “effectives” in his brigade at the battle, a number not including officers. Regardless, it can be assumed the average of the remaining two brigades must have been larger, perhaps as many as 1,500 in each, but not less than 1,200 per brigade, an assessment confirmed by Cleburne’s assistant adjutant general, who claimed a total of “about” 3,500 carried into action. (See Roy, “General Hardee,” p. 367.)

  12 OR 38 (3), p. 747; E. E. Nutt, “Fight at Atlanta,” NT, January 3, 1884.

  13 OR 38 (3), p. 280.

  14 OR 38 (3), pp. 319, 747; Foster reminiscences, in Brown, ed., One of Cleburne’s Command, pp. 112–13.

  15 Foster reminiscences, in Brown, ed., One of Cleburne’s Command, p. 113; OR 38 (3), pp. 280, 319, 361, 363–64, 367–68; SOR (7), p. 49.

  16 OR 38 (3), pp. 342, 353, 730, 747–48, 753–54; “The 15th Mich. at Atlanta,” NT, February 17, 1887; Timothy W. Doyle, “Gen. McPherson’s Death,” NT, October 6, 1892.

  17 William V. Powell to the Governor of Texas, “An Indianan Wishes to Return a Texas Battleflag,” Houston Daily Post, May 13, 1900; D. R. Lucas, New History of the 99th Indiana Infantry (Rockford, Ill.: Horner Printing Co., 1900), pp. 104–107; OR 38 (3), p. 342. For an alternative story on the claim of the capture of the flag of the 17th/18th Texas, see “Return of a Confederate Flag,” Confederate Veteran Vol. 22, no. 7 (July 1914), p. 302.

  18 Woodworth, Nothing but Victory, p. 553.

  19 Key diary, July 22, 1864, in Cate, ed., Two Soldiers, pp. 95–96; Scaife, The Campaign for Atlanta, p. 184.

  20 Warner, Generals in Gray, p. 195; OR 38 (3), pp. 732, 735–36.

  21 OR 38 (3), pp. 731–32. Lowrey provides an alternate version to his official report in his postwar autobiography, claiming that General Cleburne, not Hardee, had ordered him to enter the battle directly behind Govan’s brigade, but Lowrey took it upon himself to penetrate the gap on the right of Govan when the aide delivering Cleburne’s orders recognized the existence of the gap and encouraged Lowrey to take advantage of it. See Craig L. Symonds, Stonewall of the West: Patrick Cleburne and the Civil War (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1998), p. 228. This is a conundrum of two opposing claims made by the same eyewitness. Lowrey’s official report is accepted here over his later writings for two reasons: First, Lowrey’s claim of taking the initiative and thus more credit for his performance is typical of embellished postwar claims that cannot be refuted by a since-dead witness (in this case, Cleburne); and second, Lowrey filed the report one week after the battle expecting it to be studied by Generals Cleburne and Hardee, his superiors. For Lowrey to officially report that General Hardee—his corps commander—ordered him in behind Govan, if this was not true (as his autobiography suggests), knowing that Hardee was likely to read that false claim, is akin to military suicide and thus defies logic.

  22 Foster reminiscences, in Brown, ed., One of Cleburne’s Command, pp. 111, 113.

  23 OR 38 (3), pp. 606, 732, 748, 750. The assault strength is estimated. Lowrey’s report suggests that his brigade was only about 1,200 strong by claiming losses of 578 soldiers—“about one-half the men that were in the charge.” Given the half-mile width of this attack line and the ferocity of the attack based on Union accounts, as well as the apparent participation of two regiments of James A. Smith’s brigade and Carter’s brigade from Maney’s division it is implausible to accept fewer than 2,000 Confederates attacking at this stage of the battle. Also noteworthy is the summation of estimates within each of the three brigades places the strength of Cleburne’s entire attacking division at 3,000, while Cleburne’s AAG claims it was 3,500. The latter is accepted over the former based on the tradition of both North and South to falsely underestimate assault sizes by the participants as a means to enhance their accomplishments and provide an easy explanation for their lack of success.

  24 OR 38 (3), pp. 165, 546. Blair complained that Wangelin had only “about 600 or 700 men” in the brigade. Two days earlier, a submitted morning report tallied 978 officers and men present for duty. (See RG 393/2, #5917 “1st Division Consolidated Morning Reports” [XV Army Corps], NA.) Wangelin’s regiments each had between 132 and 207 soldiers. Blair’s assertion would hold only if one or two regiments remained in their original position—a possibility but without supporting evidence.

  25 E. E. Nutt, “Fight at Atlanta,” NT, January 3, 1884.

  26 Rood, Story of the Service of Company E, p. 317. The exact same quote is also attributed to the colonel of the 68th Ohio. See Myron Loop, “Sounding the Alarm: The 68th Ohio’s Trying Time at the Battle of Atlanta,” NT, December 1, 1898. The latter account was published five years after the former and the 68th Ohio was not on the hill at the start of the two-directional defense; therefore, it is discounted.

  27 Tuthill, “An Artilleryman’s Recollection,” p. 305.

  28 OR 38 (3), pp. 564–65, 607; OR 38 (5), p. 318. Leggett’s July returns place his force at 3,226 officers and men. The 15th Iowa replaced the 68th Ohio, which was not in line at the start of this assault. Leggett’s loses from July 21 have been factored in to reduce this number to close to 3,000. It may have been 10 percent less than this if the monthly returns included the 32nd Ohio, which transferred out of Leggett’s division on July 10.

  29 OR 38 (3), pp. 732–33; W. S. Ayres, “The 78th Ohio at Bald Hill,” NT, January 17, 1884; Yeary, ed., Reminiscences of the Boys in Gray, p. 22.

  30 OR 38 (3), p. 606; Samuel H. M. Byers, Iowa in War Times (Des Moines, Iowa: W. D. Condit & Co., 1888), p. 318; F. McC. To the editor, July 26, 1864, Cedar Valley Times, August 11, 1864; F. Y. Hedley, Marching Through Georgia: Pen-Pictures of Every-Day Life (Chicago: Donohue, Henneberry; 1890), pp. 157–58; Frank P. Delany, “Leggett’s Hill,” NT, November 9, 2008; William W. Belknap, History of the Fifteenth Regiment Iowa Veteran Volunteer Infantry (Keokuk: R. B. Ogden & Son, 1887), pp. 350, 371–72.

  31 Frank P. Delany, “Leggett’s Hill” NT, November 9, 2008; the casualty figures for the 38th Tennessee are unrecord
ed. The 45th Alabama tallied 132 casualties (all named in “List of Casualties in 45th Ala. Reg.,” Columbus [Ga.] Daily Sun, July 30, 1864). This was estimated as half of the attacking strength. See http://www.tarleton.edu/~kjones/alinf.html#45th-Inf.

  32 James H. Wilson, ed., Life and Services of Brevet Brigadier-General Andrew Jonathan Alexander, United States Army (New York: 1887), p. 129; Samuel K. Adams to Peter Force & J. Kebler, July 23, 1864, Force papers, LOC.

  33 Chapman Brothers, Portrait and Biographical Album of Oakland County, Michigan, pp. 819–20; Tuthill, “The Battle of Atlanta,” pp. 293, 302, 304–5.

  34 Grenville Dodge to William E. Strong, October 10, 1885, Strong Papers; OR (38) 3, pp. 560–61; Chester G. Higbee, “Personal Recollections of a Line Officer,” MOLLUS-Minnesota, pp. 315–16; Henry Wilson to Lincoln, September 5, 1864, Abraham Lincoln Papers, LOC.

  35 W. S. Ayres, “The 78th Ohio at Bald Hill,” NT, January 17, 1884; OR 38 (3), p. 732; “Cousin Tom” to the editor, August 4, 1864, in Styple, ed., Writing and Fighting the Civil War, p. 279; Tuthill, “The Battle of Atlanta,” p. 304.

  36 E. E. Nutt, “Fight at Atlanta,” NT, January 3, 1884; Yeary, ed., Reminiscences of the Boys in Gray, p. 6; OR 38 (3), pp. 556, 732.

  37 Henry McDonald story told by his brother. See G. B. McDonald, “History of the 30th Illinois Veteran Volunteer Regiment of Infantry,” http://home.comcast.net/~30il/mcdonald.html, p. 29. (Reproduced from a 1916 memoir published in the Sparta News.)

  38 J. L. Brown, “The 78th Ohio in Close Quarters,” NT, February 21, 1884; Tuthill, “The Battle of Atlanta,” p. 305.

  39 OR 38 (3), pp. 732–33.

  40 Key diary, July 22, 1864, in Cate, ed., Two Soldiers, p. 96.

  41 Yeary, ed., Reminiscences of the Boys in Gray, p. 19.

  42 OR 38 (3), pp. 969–70.

  CHAPTER 8—BLOODY DIVERSION

  1 Sherman, Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman, p. 551.

  2 Hood, Advance and Retreat, pp. 179–81.

  3 OR 38 (3), p. 631.

  4 Henry O. Dwight, “How We Fight at Atlanta,” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine Vol. 29 (October, 1864), p. 665. For the twenty-minute lull, see Leggett’s report in OR 38 (3), p. 565.