#josephe.johnston

Atlanta Campaign: The Bloody Struggle for Georgia During the US Civil War

The Atlanta Campaign (7 May to 2 September 1864) was a major military campaign in the western theater of the American Civil War (1861-1865). It saw a large Union force under Major General William Tecumseh Sherman invade Georgia, constantly outmaneuvering the Confederate Army of Tennessee, until he came to the strategically significant city of Atlanta. After several bloody battles, Sherman captured Atlanta on 2 September, delivering one of the final death blows to the Confederate States.

Background

In the spring of 1864, as the American Civil War entered its fourth and final year, both the Union and Confederate sides braced themselves for what promised to be yet another grueling and blood-soaked campaign season. Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of the Union armies, hoped to break the fighting strength of the Southern Confederacy with a series of coordinated offensives across multiple fronts – while he remained in Virginia to square off against Confederate General Robert E. Lee, Grant entrusted command of the western theater of operations to his favorite subordinate, Major General William Tecumseh Sherman. Grant instructed Sherman to invade Georgia and capture the city of Atlanta, a major supply and railroad center, the fall of which would seriously cripple the Confederate war effort. Sherman was also ordered to destroy the Confederate Army of Tennessee, led by General Joseph E. Johnston, and to "get into the interior of the enemy's country as far as you can, inflicting all the damage you can against their resources" (quoted in Foote, 318).

Sherman was all too ready to comply. A tall, lanky man with a close-cropped, rust-red beard and a personal intensity that tended to exhaust those in his presence, he quickly set about preparing the campaign. His invasion force consisted of 98,000 men, spread out across three separate armies: the 60,000-man Army of the Cumberland, under Major General George H. Thomas, a burly Virginian who had stayed loyal to the Union and was known for his steadfastness under fire; the 25,000-man Army of the Tennessee under Major General James B. McPherson, a young West Point graduate and protégé of Sherman's; and the 13,000-man Army of the Ohio under Major General John M. Schofield. To keep such a large army supplied and fed, Sherman hoped to utilize the railroads from his base at Chattanooga but knew that he could live off the land if need be, writing Grant that "Georgia has a million inhabitants. If they can live, we should not starve" (ibid).

The opposing army – the Confederate Army of Tennessee – was meanwhile entrenched atop Rocky Face Ridge, a 20-mile (36-km) long bastion that defended the rebel supply chain to Atlanta. Its commander, General Johnston, knew that he could not hope to match Sherman in strength of numbers. Indeed, by the end of May, Johnston had only 65,000 men spread out across three infantry and one cavalry corps. Instead, he would use the topography of northern Georgia to his advantage. Consisting of steep mountains and swift rivers, the terrain greatly favored defense, leading Johnston to rely on seeking out defensive ground and goading Sherman into attacking him. While this may have been prudent, it did nothing to dispel Johnston's reputation as an overly cautious commander. One story highlighting his timidity circulated through the army camps – sometime before the war, he had been invited on a duck hunting trip, but despite his reputation as an expert marksman, he never fired his gun during the entire hunt. "The bird flew too high or too low – the dogs were too far or too near – things never did suit exactly. He was…afraid to miss and risk his fine reputation" (quoted in McPherson, 744).

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Battle of Bentonville: The Fight for North Carolina at the end of the US Civil War

The Battle of Bentonville (19-21 March 1865) was among the last major battles of the American Civil War (1861-1865). Having cut swathes of destruction first through Georgia, then through South Carolina, Union Major General William Tecumseh Sherman next invaded North Carolina, with the goal of pushing up into Virginia to join forces with Ulysses S. Grant's army outside Richmond. The Confederates hastily stitched together an army to oppose him, which was placed under the command of General Joseph E. Johnston. This campaign culminated at Bentonville, where the rebel army was defeated and forced to retreat. A little over a month later, Johnston would surrender to Sherman at Bennett Place.

Background: 'To Fight Longer Is Madness'

On the night of 15 November 1864, the city of Atlanta, Georgia, went up in flames. By morning, a full third of the city lay in smoldering ruins as 62,000 Union soldiers marched out of Atlanta and into the heart of Georgia, to begin what would become known as Sherman's March to the Sea. Led by Major General William Tecumseh Sherman, the Union army advanced in two columns, pillaging the Georgian countryside while simultaneously destroying factories, ripping up railroads, and liberating thousands of slaves. Since the main Confederate army in the region, the Army of Tennessee, was off conducting a desperate invasion of its namesake state – which would culminate in the army's destruction at the Battle of Nashville – the Confederates could offer little resistance as Sherman's troops tore through Georgia, leaving a path of destruction in their wake. On 21 December, the coastal city of Savannah fell to the Union troops, and Sherman sent off a triumphant telegram to US President Abraham Lincoln: "I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition" (quoted in Foote, 712).

But although he had accomplished his objective, Sherman was not yet finished. Indeed, his gaze turned northward to the troublesome state of South Carolina. The first state to have seceded from the Union in December 1860, South Carolina was blamed by Sherman and his men for having started the war, a debt they were eager to pay with interest. "The truth is," Sherman reported to his superiors in Washington, "the whole army is burning with an insatiable desire to wreak vengeance upon South Carolina. I almost tremble at her fate" (quoted in McPherson, 826). So, on 1 February 1865, Sherman marched out of Savannah with 60,000 men up into the vulnerable underbelly of the Palmetto State. Like they had done in Georgia, his men conducted a campaign of scorched earth, but this time, they were much more thorough in their destruction. "In Georgia, few houses were burned," wrote one Union officer. "Here, few escaped". Indeed, this campaign of fire and fury climaxed on 17 February, when the state capital of Columbia was captured and subsequently burned. While Sherman did not intentionally burn Columbia, his officers did not do much to restrain their men from pillaging and burning. By the next morning, two-thirds of Columbia had been destroyed.

Sherman's rapid march through first Georgia and now South Carolina both terrorized and disheartened the Confederate population. "All is gloom, despondency, and inactivity," wrote one South Carolinian after the fall of the state capital. "Our army is demoralized, and the people panic stricken…to fight longer seems to be madness" (quoted in McPherson, 827). Continuing to fight against such overwhelming odds may well have been madness, but Confederate President Jefferson Davis was determined to fight, nonetheless. As the iron vices of Union Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant clamped down on the Confederate capital of Richmond, Davis tasked General Joseph E. Johnston with scraping together an army with which to defend the Carolinas. Throughout the course of the war, Davis and Johnston had rarely seen eye to eye – indeed, the president had fired Johnston from an important command as recently as July – but every other Confederate general with the needed level of experience and esteem was either preoccupied, incapacitated, or dead. So, on 22 February 1865, Johnston officially took command of all Confederate forces in the Carolinas. Most of these soldiers were the survivors of the disastrous incursion into Tennessee, while others were garrison troops pulled from Charleston. In all, Johnston had around 20,000 men to oppose Sherman's 60,000.

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Bataille de Bentonville: La lutte pour la Caroline du Nord à la fin de la guerre de Sécession aux États-Unis

La bataille de Bentonville (19-21 mars 1865) fut l’une des dernières batailles majeures de la guerre civile américaine (1861-1865). Après avoir semé la désolation d'abord en Géorgie, puis en Caroline du Sud, le major général de l'armée de l'Union William Tecumseh Sherman envahit ensuite la Caroline du Nord, dans le but de se diriger jusqu’en Virginie afin d’allier ses forces à celles de l’armée d’Ulysses S. Grant, stationnée en dehors de Richmond. Les Confédérés constituèrent précipitamment une armée pour s’opposer à lui, qui fut placée sous le commandement du général Joseph E. Johnston. Cette campagne atteignit son apogée à Bentonville, où l’armée rebelle fut mise en échec et contrainte de battre en retraite. Un peu plus d’un mois après, le général Johnston se rendrait au major général Sherman, à Bennett Place.