Reference Entry
BATTLE OF PEACHTREE CREEK
As Union forces closed in on Atlanta during the summer of the Civil War, Confederate leadership underwent a dramatic change. General John Bell Hood replaced Joseph E. Johnston and immediately sought to seize the initiative with aggressive attacks. On July 20th, 1864, Hood hurled his troops against the Army of the Cumberland as it crossed Peachtree Creek north of the city, hoping to catch Union units strung out and vulnerable.
Dated Historical Context
A RECORDED MOMENT IN HISTORY
Battle of Peachtree Creek
As Union forces closed in on Atlanta during the summer of the Civil War, Confederate leadership underwent a dramatic change. General John Bell Hood replaced Joseph E. Johnston and immediately sought to seize the initiative with aggressive attacks. On July 20th, 1864, Hood hurled his troops against the Army of the Cumberland as it crossed Peachtree Creek north of the city, hoping to catch Union units strung out and vulnerable. Instead, Union soldiers quickly formed defensive lines, repelled repeated assaults, and inflicted heavy casualties on the attacking Confederates. The failure at Peachtree Creek weakened Hood’s army just as it needed to conserve strength for the battles still to come around Atlanta. The engagement became one of several costly Confederate gambles that ultimately could not prevent the city’s fall, a blow with major political and military consequences for the wider war.
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