Battle of Peachtree Creek
Battle of Peachtree Creek | |||||||
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Part of the American Civil War | |||||||
"Few battlefields of the war have been strewn so thickly with dead and wounded as they lay that evening around Collier's Mill." (Union Major Gen. J. D. Cox) | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United States (Union) | Confederate States | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
George H. Thomas | John B. Hood | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Army of the Cumberland |
Army of Tennessee | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
21,655 [1] | 20,250 [1] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
1,900[2] | 2,500[2] |
The Battle of Peachtree Creek was fought in
Background
Sherman had launched his grand offensive against the Army of Tennessee in early May. For more than two months, Sherman's forces, consisting of the Army of the Cumberland, the Army of the Tennessee and the Army of the Ohio, sparred with the Confederate Army of Tennessee, then under the command of General Joseph E. Johnston. Although the Southerners gained tactical successes at the Battle of New Hope Church, the Battle of Pickett's Mill, and the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, they were unable to counter Sherman's superior numbers. Gradually, the Union forces flanked the Confederates out of every defensive position they attempted to hold. On July 8, Union forces crossed the Chattahoochee River, the last major natural barrier between Sherman and Atlanta.[5]
Retreating from Sherman's advancing armies, General Johnston withdrew across
It was not until July 19 that Hood learned of Sherman's split armies advancing for a swift attack from multiple directions. Thomas's Army of the Cumberland was to advance directly towards Atlanta, while the Army of the Ohio under the command of Major General
Hood hoped to attack Thomas while his Army of the Cumberland was still in the process of crossing Peachtree Creek. Hood also sent forth the corps under Alexander P. Stewart and William J. Hardee to meet Schofield and McPherson. By so doing, the Southerners could hope to fight with rough numerical parity and catch the Northern forces by surprise. Hood thus sought to drive Thomas west, further away from Schofield and McPherson. This would have forced Sherman to divert his forces away from Atlanta.[7]
Opposing forces
Army Commanders at Peachtree Creek |
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Union
Confederate
Battle
This section needs additional citations for verification. (July 2018) |
Throughout the morning of July 20, the Army of the Cumberland crossed Peachtree Creek and began taking up defensive positions. The
The few hours between the Union crossing and their completion of defensive earthworks were a moment of opportunity for the Confederates. Hood committed two of his three corps to the attack: Hardee's corps would attack on the right, while the corps of General Stewart would attack on the left as the corps of General
Hood had wanted the attack launched at one o'clock, but confusion and miscommunication between Hardee and Hood prevented this from happening. Hood instructed Hardee to ensure that his right flank maintained contact with Cheatham's corps, but Cheatham began moving his forces slightly eastward. Hardee too began side-stepping to the east to maintain contact with Cheatham, while Stewart began sliding eastward as well in order to maintain contact with Hardee. It was not until three o'clock that this movement ceased.[9]
The Confederate attack was finally mounted at around four o’clock in the afternoon. On the Confederate right, Hardee's men ran into fierce opposition and were unable to make much headway, with the Southerners suffering heavy losses. The failure of the attack was largely due to faulty execution and a lack of pre-battle reconnaissance.
On the Confederate left, Stewart's attack was more successful. Two Union brigades were forced to retreat, and most of the 33rd New Jersey Infantry Regiment (along with its battle flag) were captured by the Rebels, as was a 4-gun Union artillery battery. Union forces counterattacked and after a bloody struggle, successfully blunted the Confederate offensive. Artillery helped stop the Confederate attack on Thomas' left flank.
A few hours into the battle, Hardee was preparing to send in his reserve, the division of General Patrick Cleburne, which he hoped would get the attack moving again and allow him to break through the Union lines. An urgent message from Hood, however, forced him to cancel the attack and dispatch Cleburne to reinforce Cheatham, who was being threatened by a Union attack and in need of reinforcements.
The Union lines had bent but not broken under the weight of the Confederate attack, and by the end of the day the Rebels had failed to break through anywhere along the line. Hood withdrew into defenses of Atlanta the following day, 21 July.[4] Estimated casualties were 4,250 in total: 1,750 on the Union side and at least 2,500 on the Confederate.[2]
Appraisal
Many historians have criticized the Confederacy's tactics and execution, especially Hood's and Hardee's.[10] Johnston, although fighting defensively, had already determined to counterattack at Peachtree Creek; in fact, the plan for striking the Army of the Cumberland as it began to cross Peachtree Creek has been attributed to him. His long rear-guard retreat from the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain is understandable, as Sherman used his numerical superiority for constant large flanking movements. Although he had lost an enormous amount of ground, Johnston had whittled Sherman's numerical superiority from 2:1 to 8:5.
Replacing him with the brash Hood, practically on the eve of battle, has generally been regarded as a mistake. Hood, as well as several other generals, sent a telegram to Davis seeking a remand of the order, advising Davis that it would be "dangerous to change the commander of this army at this particular time". Although Hood's general plan was plausible, the federal forces being divided, the failure of the units to be formed and positioned prior to the Union river crossing, Hardee's failure to commit his troops fully and Hood's decision to continue the attack, when he had discovered he had lost his advantage, resulted in a severe and predictable defeat.
Medals of Honor
Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Hapeman was awarded the Medal of Honor for "extraordinary heroism on 20 July 1864, while serving with 104th Illinois Infantry, in action at Peach Tree Creek, Georgia. With conspicuous coolness and bravery Lieutenant Colonel Hapeman rallied his men under a severe attack, re-formed the broken ranks, and repulsed the attack."[11]
First Lieutenant Frank D. Baldwin, Company D, 19th Michigan Infantry, was awarded the Medal of Honor for gallantry at the Battle of Peachtree Creek, Georgia, July 20, 1864.[12] Under a galling fire moved ahead of his own men, and singly entered the enemy's line, capturing and bringing back two commissioned officers, fully armed, besides a guidon of a Georgia regiment.[13]
Private Denis Buckley was awarded the Medal of Honor for "extraordinary heroism on 20 July 1864, while serving with Company G, 136th New York Infantry, in action at Peach Tree Creek, Georgia, for capture of flag of 31st Mississippi (Confederate States of America)."[14]
Legacy
The battlefield is now largely lost to
In popular culture
- The plot of the alternate history novel Shattered Nation: An Alternate History Novel of the American Civil War, by Jeffrey Evan Brooks, centers around the Battle of Peachtree Creek. In the novel, the Army of Tennessee fights the battle with Johnston, rather than Hood, in command.
- It was discovered, on Who Do You Think You Are?, that Matthew Broderick's great, great-grandfather, Robert Martindale was killed in this battle.
See also
- Troop engagements of the American Civil War, 1864
- Battle of Atlanta
- List of costliest American Civil War land battles
Notes
- ^ a b Livermore, p. 122, 142, cites the number of Union present for duty as 21,655 and effective as 20,139; the number of Confederates present for duty as 20,250 and effective as 18,832. Bodart (1908) (p. 538) gives the size of the Union force as 72,000 and the Confederate force as 48,000.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-59416-100-1.
- ^ "Battle Summary". National Park Service. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
- ^ ISBN 0-486-24913-1.
- ^ The war of the rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies, Series I, Volume XXXVIII; Part 2 – Reports; Brig. Gen. Jacob D. Cox, U. S. Army, commanding Third Division O.R. 351 page 753
- ^ The war of the rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies, Series I, Volume XXXVIII; Part 5 – Union and Confederate Correspondence, etc. Special Orders No. 168 page 891
- ^ ISBN 0-8420-2787-4.
- ^ Richard M. McMurry, Atlanta 1864: Last Chance for the Confederacy (2000) p. 149
- ^ Albert Castel, Decision in the West: The Atlanta Campaign of 1864 (1992) p. 371–373, 149
- ^ Taylor, Peachtree Creek; Bluegrass.net; John Bell Hood website.
- ^ "Douglas Hapeman". Congressional Medal of Honor Society. 2017. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
- ^ U.S. Congress, "General Staff Corps and Medals of Honor," 1st session of the 66th Congress, Senate Documents, vol. 14, (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1919), 384.
- ^ "Frank D. Baldwin". Congressional Medal of Honor Society. 2015. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
- ^ "Denis Buckley". Congressional Medal of Honor Society. 2017. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
- ^ Tanyard Creek is a tributary of Peachtree Creek. Today, Tanyard Creek Park is located on Collier Road, site of the old Collier's Mill, between Peachtree Street and Northside Drive, less than a mile from the point where Tanyard Creek flows into Peachtree Creek.
- ^ Georgia Public Broadcasting. "Peachtree Battle". GPB Media. Georgia Public Radio. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
References
- Bonds, Russell S. War Like The Thunderbolt: The Battle and Burning of Atlanta, Westholme Publishing, 2009, ISBN 1-59416-100-3.
- Bodart, Gaston (1908). Militär-historisches kreigs-lexikon (1618–1905) [Military Historical War Encyclopedia] (in German). Stern. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
- Castel, Albert, Decision in the West: The Atlanta Campaign of 1864, University Press of Kansas, 1992, ISBN 0-7006-0562-2.
- Jenkins, Robert D. 2014. The Battle of Peach Tree Creek: Hood's First Sortie, 20 July 1864, Mercer University Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0881463965.
- Jenkins, Robert D. 2015. To the Gates of Atlanta: From Kennesaw Mountain to Peach Tree Creek, 1–19 July 1864. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press.
- Livermore, Thomas Leonard (1900). Numbers and Losses in the Civil War in America, 1861–1865. Houghton, Mifflin. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
- National Park Service battle description
- Taylor, Samuel. "The Battle of Peachtree Creek." About North Georgia
- John Bell Hood website
- Peachtree Battle
Memoirs and primary sources
- Sherman, William T., Memoirs of General W.T. Sherman, 2nd ed., D. Appleton & Co., 1913 (1889). Reprinted by the ISBN 978-0-940450-65-3.
- U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Recordsof the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901.