BATTLE OF ATLANTA

Battle of Atlanta

Three years later and hundreds of miles to the west, another July battle marked a turning point in the struggle to save the Union. Outside Atlanta, Confederate General John Bell Hood launched a bold, flanking assault against Major General William T. Sherman’s forces, hoping to catch Union troops off balance and drive them away from the city. The attack slammed into parts of the Army of the Tennessee, and in the confusion Union commander James McPherson was killed while riding forward to check his lines. Even so, Union infantry and artillery held their ground in savage fighting that raged through woods, fields, and the outskirts of Atlanta itself. By day’s end, Hood’s army had suffered heavy losses it could not replace, while the Union grip around the city tightened. The battle helped set conditions for the eventual fall of Atlanta, a victory that boosted Northern morale and fed directly into Abraham Lincoln’s reelection and the Union’s determination to fight the war through to victory.