Atlanta Campaign
May 7 - Sept 2, 1864
Union Commander: MG William T. Sherman
MG James B. McPherson's Army of the Tennessee
(Sherman's army under Grant in 1863),
When McPherson was killed, Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard replaced him.
MG John A. Logan (XV Corps),
MG Grenville M. Dodge (XVI Corps),
MG Frank P. Blair, Jr. (XVII Corps).
MG John M. Schofield's Army of Ohio,
Schofield's XXIII Corps
Cavalry Division Maj. Gen. George Stoneman.
MG George H. Thomas's Army of the Cumberland
MG Oliver O. Howard (IV Corps)
After Howard took army command, David S. Stanley took over IV Corps.
MG John M. Palmer (XIV Corps)
MG Joseph Hooker (XX Corps)
BG Washington L. Elliott (Cavalry Corps).
Confederate Commander: Gen Joseph E. Johnston
Replaced by LTG John B. Hood on July 18, 1864
LTG William J. Hardee
Divisions
MG Benjamin F. Cheatham
MG Patrick R. Cleburne
MG William H. T. Walker
MG William B. Bate
LTG John Bell Hood
Divisions
MG Thomas C. Hindman,
MG Carter L. Stevenson
MG Alexander P. Stewart
LTG Leonidas Polk (also called the Army of Mississippi)
When Polk was killed on June 14, Loring then replaced by Alexander P. Stewart on June 23.
Divisions
MG William W. Loring,
MG Samuel G. French, and
MG Edward C. Walthall, and a
BG William Hicks Jackson (Cav)
MG Joseph Wheeler (Cavalry corps)
Divisions
MG William T. Martin
BG John H. Kelly
BG William Y. C. Humes
Campaign
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 Tecumseh 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, Jefferson Davis, replaced Johnston with the more aggressive General John Bell Hood, who began challenging the Union Army in a series of costly frontal assaults. Hood's army was eventually besieged in Atlanta and the city fell on September 2, setting the stage for Sherman's March to the Sea and hastening the end of the war.
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.
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 Union 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 presidential election of 1864, to the east in Sherman's March to the Sea.