Clash at Cassville, May 18-19, 1864

Withdrawing from his position near Adairsville on May 18, 1864, Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnston moved his Army of Tennessee further south to Cassville. His plan was to deceive Gen. William T. Sherman and destroy a portion of his advancing army.

Source: Civil War Maps by Hal Jesperson

There were 2 roads leading south from Adairsville, one was along the Western and Atlantic Railroad to Kingston and the other to Cassville. Johnston's strategy assumed that Sherman would divide his army in order to use both roads. This would give the Confederates an opportunity to attack one column before the other could come to its aid.

Johnston ordered William Hardee's Corps to move to Kingston as the decoy, while he with Gens. Leonidas Polk's and John B. Hood's Corps fell back toward Cassville. He hoped that Sherman would believe that the larger Confederate force was in Kingston and would, therefore, concentrate his forces there. Hardee was to hold up the Federals at Kingston while Johnston prepared the rest of his army to destroy the other column moving to Cassville.

Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne, in whose division my Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes was serving, wrote in his report that his division was the last of Hardee's to withdraw from the battle line at Adairsville in the early hours of May 18th. Leaving skirmishers behind to cover their withdrawal, and moving in a dense fog, his division followed Hardee's Corps down the road to Kingston. At this point there was nothing between Cleburne's men and the pursuing enemy.

Cleburne's Division reached Kingston later that morning, where he rested his men for several hours. As per Johnston's plan, on today's date, he then marched 3 of his brigades, including Great Grandfather's (Lowrey's Brigade), to Cassville, arriving there by mid-afternoon. He left Lucius Polk's Brigade in Kingston as a rear guard to hold the enemy in check, which would follow later.

Gen. Johnston had guessed correctly. When Sherman arrived on site at Adairsville, he wrongly interpreted the tracks he saw as those of Johnston's whole army on its way to Kingston. This confirmed to him his decision for sending Gen. James McPherson's and most of Gen. George H. Thomas's army to Kingston. He ordered only Gen. John Schofield's and a single corps of Thomas's army to Cassville.

Earlier in the morning of the 18th, McPherson and his corps, which was camped 4 miles northwest of Kingston, began the march to that town, ready for battle with the Confederates there. At the same time, Thomas's army, accompanied by Sherman, was 3.5 miles north of Kingston, and was also moving on the town. When the generals converged on Kingston they were surprised to find that the Confederate army was not there, but instead was 5.5 miles away at Cassville.

The morning of today's date brought an opportunity for a Confederate offensive. Federal Gen. Joseph Hooker's corps was marching on the road to Cassville, looking to find the railroad between Kingston and Cassville and to ultimately hook up with Thomas on his right. At the same time, Johnston, who thought that Sherman must have learned by now the location of his Confederate army, did not know that Sherman was still in the dark, and therefore concluded that Sherman was heading to Cassville.

The aggressive Gen. Hood volunteered his corps for an immediate attack on the Federal column heading in his direction. Hood marched his men along a country road a mile or so east of the Cassville road and formed them facing west to strike the enemy's left flank. At the same time, Polk's Corps would attack the head of the column. The Confederate's position for this attack was a good one. However, as Hood was moving into position, he encountered Federal soldiers to the east, which he feared would attack his corps's exposed flank and rear. So after only a brief skirmish, Hood fell back, and the Confederate advantage was lost. Johnston, understanding that it was too late to regroup and resume the offensive, ordered Hood and Polk to move to a new line east and south of Cassville, where they would be joined by Hardee's Corps, now pulling back from Kingston. Here he believed the army could make its stand.

By the afternoon, Johnston had arranged his army to deliver a fight from a wooded ridge below Cassville. It was a strong position from which to offer battle to Sherman. He placed Hood's Corps on the right. Polk's army was placed in the center across the Adairsville road. He positioned Hardee on the left to cover the route from Kingston, with Cleburne's Division across the rail line before it passes Cass Station.

In the meantime, not finding Johnston at Kingston and assuming he was retreating further south, Sherman ordered Thomas to move his column east on the Cassville road to join Hooker and Schofield. As Thomas pushed towards Cassville in the afternoon, he met advanced units from Hardee's Corps in his path. He mistakenly interpreted this Confederate force as a single division, and reported such to Sherman. Thomas was unaware that he had run into the whole Confederate army. 

At this point, the situation for Johnston looked promising. He had the defensive advantage, and his army had now been strengthened to over 70,000 troops, the largest force the Army of Tennessee would ever see again. Perhaps best of all for Johnston, Sherman had fallen for his ruse.

In the late afternoon, Sherman arrived on the scene and ordered a bombardment of the Confederate line to provide cover for the advance of his infantry, which he planned to use in an attack in the morning.

While nightfall brought an end to the cannonade, the attack demonstrated to the Confederates that the enemy could effectively enfilade their position. Alarmed by the effectiveness of the artillery against them, Hood and Polk went to inform Johnston. They insisted that their positions were too vulnerable to defend. Hardee was of a different opinion, but he could not convince his fellow generals to change their minds. So, in the end, Johnston gave in and ordered a retreat through Cartersville across the Etowah River. In his own memoirs, Johnston later wrote that he never ceased to regret the decision.*

Between midnight and 2 AM on the 20th, the disappointed Confederates pulled out of their works and marched across the Etowah River toward Allatoona, 8 miles to the rear. Cleburne's Division crossed over a bridge near the railroad crossing. On the heights about 3 miles south of the river and 2 miles east of Allatoona, his division along with the rest of Hardee's Corps, stopped to guard the army's withdrawal. They remained there for several days before marching on to Dallas.

The decision at Cassville was a frustrating disappointment to most of the rest of Johnston's officers and men who had been led to believe that they were done with retreating.

                     ______________________________________________________

The original town of Cassville founded in 1833, is no more, having been destroyed by Sherman's cavalry in November 1864. Only a simple stone cenotaph with a commemorative iron plaque marks its location. However, in 1899, the Cassville Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy honored the 300 or so unknown Confederate soldiers who died of wounds or disease in hospitals located in Cassville. The hospitals operated from late 1861 until they were evacuated with Johnston's retreating army. One of the markers from 1899 in the cemetery has this inscription:

So long as breathes a Southern woman, so long as time shall last, so long will Southern women cherish and honor the memory of the Confederate soldier and meet annually to strew their resting place with choicest garlands.

Photos by Mark Dolan, June 2010

* Even Johnston's opponents recognized this fact. Union general, Maj. Gen. Jacob B. Cox, wrote in his memoirs, "The order to fight had been published, and even a defeat might be less mischievous than the sudden retreat in the night without joining the battle which had been so formally announced. Either the order had been an error or the retreat was one. Every soldier in the army knew this, and the morale of the whole was necessarily affected by it."

Sources: Pat Cleburne: Confederate General, Howell & Elizabeth Purdue; The Army of Tennessee, Stanley F. Horn; Decision in the West: The Atlanta Campaign of 1864, Albert Castel; Military Reminiscences of the Civil War, Jacob Dolson Cox; Narrative of Military Operations During the Civil War, Joseph E. Johnston; Official Records, Vol. 38, Pts. 3 & 4

The Battle of Adairsville, 1864

Following the Battle of Resaca, May 13-15, 1864, Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston hoped to fight Gen. William T. Sherman's pursuing army near Adairsville in the valley of the Oothcalooga Creek.

Shortly after midnight on today's date in 1864, Gen. Patrick Cleburne, in whose division was serving Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes in Lowrey's Brigade, withdrew his troops along with other divisions from Gen. William J. Hardee's Corps, from Calhoun, south to a new position north of Adairsville, arriving there about daylight. Hardee's men, together with Gen. Joseph Wheeler's cavalry, held the Federals in check all along the way.

Throughout the day and into the evening of the 17th, the opposing forces skirmished with each other. About 2 miles north of Adairsville Gen. Oliver O. Howard’s Corps ran into Hardee’s entrenched divisions. Gen. Benjamin Cheatham's Division was first to meet the attack near the Saxon House, which came at 3 PM. Cleburne's Division was entrenched behind rifle pits about 800 yards in Cheatham's rear. Polk's and Granbury's Brigades formed his first line, and Govan's and Lowrey's were in the second. Cheatham's men received the brunt of the attack, which resulted in heavy losses for the Federals. Cleburne's Division was spared any serious action in this conflict.

Photo by Mark Dolan, June 2010    

The Robert Saxon ("Octagon") House was one of the landmarks in Hardee's
sector. Pvt. Sam Watkins recalled it in his famous book where his regiment
held off a Federal attack here, receiving 30 casualties, before abandoning it
to the enemy. The Federals burned the house the next day.

The Oothcalooga Valley, which Johnston chose for the engagement, proved too wide to adequately defend. Therefore, he decided at midnight to pull his army further back towards Cassville. The fighting at Adairsville by Hardee's Corp and Wheeler's cavalry provided the delaying action Johnston needed to pull his army further back. Johnston had a new strategy for Cassville, one he hoped would lead to the destruction of a part of Sherman's forces.

Sherman by now had concentrated his men in the Adairsville area to attack Johnston on the 18th, but Johnston had already withdrawn.

_________________________________________________________

At Adairsville on the 18th, Gen. Johnston found some time to be the object of a simple religious ceremony. In deference to a request by his wife, the general asked to be baptized. In a small ceremony in Johnston's tent, Gen. Leonidas Polk, who was also an Episcopal Bishop, baptized the general in the presence of Gens. Hood (whom he had baptized at Dalton a week before), Hardee, and the senior staff. The great Christian revival, which swelled at Dalton, has now reached to the supreme Confederate commander in the West.

Sources: Pat Cleburne: Confederate General, Howell & Elizabeth Purdue; Decision in the West: The Atlanta Campaign of 1864, Albert Castel; Company Aytch, Sam R. Watkins; Leonidas Polk: Bishop and General, W.M. Polk; Official Records, Vol. 38, Pt. 3

Skirmishing at Calhoun

Having been forced to withdraw from Resaca, Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnston positioned his Army of Tennessee at Calhoun on this date in 1864.

Late the night of the 15th, Gen. Patrick Cleburne had withdrawn his division from Resaca. With Cleburne's Division, Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes crossed the Oostenaula River, halting with the army north of Calhoun. On the morning of today's date, Cleburne formed his men in a defensive line of battle along the road to the town before being ordered to face a Federal force seeking a way through or around it. Joining Walker's and Bate's Divisions, his Confederates formed the rear guard and skirmished with the enemy while the main of the army rested for a few hours. Great Grandfather's 32nd Regiment was posted on a hill, supporting the artillery.

Source: Historic Markers Across Georgia

Since Calhoun did not offer an acceptable defensive position, Johnston planned instead to make a stand 8 miles south, just north of Adairsville, in the valley formed by the Oothcalooga River. He moved the army in the early hours of the 17th, while his cavalry under the command of Gen. Joseph Wheeler, fought a skillful rearguard action south of town.

Sources: Pat Cleburne: Confederate General, Howell & Elizabeth Purdue; Autumn of Glory, Thomas Lawrence Connelly; Military History of Mississippi, 1803-1898, Dunbar Rowland; Official Records, Vol. 38, Pt. 3

Cleburne's Division at the Battle of Resaca, 1864

When Gen. William T. Sherman's 100,000-man Union force flanked him at Rocky Face Ridge, Confederate, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston was forced to withdraw his Army of Tennessee to the hills around Resaca, Georgia. Here he will make a stand in the Battle of Recaca, fought on May 13-15, 1864.

Photo by Mark Dolan, June 2010

WPA map of the Battle of Resaca, May 13-15, 1864*

Gen. Patrick Cleburne marched his division (in which Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes was serving in the 32nd Mississippi) with William J. Hardee's Corps to the ridge above Camp Creek Valley where his men built rifle pits to defend against the advancing enemy. Har-dee's Corps was in the center of the line, Polk's Corps was on the left, and Hood's Corps was placed on on the right, extending across the rail line to the Conasauga River. Johnston intended to defend Resaca in the hopes that Sherman will make a costly frontal assault or leave himself open to a counterstrike.

For his part, Sherman is under the impression that Johnston is merely stalling to gain time to retreat further south across the Ostanaula River. With that in mind, Sherman ordered a pontoon bridge to be assembled across the river at Lay's Ferry, which he planed to use in order to cut of Johnston's retreat. In the meantime, he will try to keep Johnston's army in place.

Soon on the 13th, Federal soldiers began skirmishing with the Confederates, probing the army's strength. Full-scale fighting commenced early the following morning. Sherman ordered the attacked  to begin on what he assumed to be the Confederate right. Due to the difficult terrain Sherman's assault accomplished little, and by mid-afternoon it ground to a halt with significant losses. Changing strategies, he he ordered an artillery bombardment of the Confederate position.

Cleburne reported that during the afternoon, "the enemy made several attempts to charge, but uniformly they were unhappy failures." In this afternoon struggle, Cleburne's sharpshooters had the major role. They repeatedly silenced the Union batteries firing from 800 yards away, and also destroyed a line of Federal skirmishers. On Hood's front, his men made a successful charge before darkness brought it to a halt. Union troops were generally repulsed along the line.

On the 15th, the battle continued with no advantage to either side. Sherman was learning that direct assaults were too costly, so he attempted a tactic that worked for him at Rocky Face Ridge, and one he will employ throughout the Atlanta Campaign: He ordered a flanking movement. Having numerical superiority of nearly 2 to 1, he was able to leave a large force at Resaca to threaten Johnston's front while using his right wing to turn the Confederate left. He also sent a force over the Oostanula River behind Johnston and towards his railroad lifeline to Atlanta.

Photo by Mark Dolan, June 2010

Cemetery at Resaca, final resting place for some 400 Confederate fallen,
many of whom are unknown

Unable to halt this Union turning movement, Johnston employed one of his own tactics that he will use often in the campaign: Defend a position until the advantage is lost, then withdraw to fight again. Because Johnston did not have sufficient forces both to hold the Resaca position and men enough to detach for the threat to his rear, he was forced to retire. For the second time Johnston has escaped disaster, but also has abandoned another strategically strong defensive position, thus permitting Sherman to push further towards Atlanta.

The battle's outcome was indecisive. For its part, the 32nd Mississippi Regiment suffered 5 killed and 7 wounded. As a whole the army received 2,800 casualties to a Union loss of over 4,000.

Photo by Mark Dolan, June 2010

Late in the evening of the 15th, Cleburne withdrew his division with the rest of the corps under the protection of skirmishers left behind for cover. They crossed the Ostenaula River over a trestle bridge, and marched to within a few miles of Calhoun. The battle for Cleburne's men at Recaca had been relatively light. That will change almost immediately, and in the weeks ahead, his men will be called upon to defend the army in near ceaseless fighting.

Johnston will rest his army at Calhoun before marching them on the 17th to a new defensive position at Adairsville.

* An excellent map of the battle is available at the Civil War Trust website.

Sources: Pat Cleburne: Confederate General, Howell & Elizabeth Purdue; Stonewall of the West, Craig L. Symonds; The Army of Tennessee, Stanley F. Horn; Decision in the West: The Atlanta Campaign of 1864, Albert Castel; A Different Valor: Joseph E. Johnston, Gilbert Govan & James Livingwood; Military History of Mississippi, 1803-1898, Dunbar Rowland; Official Records, Vol. 38, Pt. 3

Prepositioning for the Battle of Resaca

Having his plans for the defense of Dalton spoiled by Gen. William T. Sherman's attacks over the previous days along Rocky Face Ridge, and the enemy's movement around him, Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnston was forced to give up his strong position and begin falling back to Resaca. On the morning of May 11, 1864, Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne, in whose division Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes was serving, marched his men from Dug Gap on the Sugar Valley road to a new position 10 miles south, near Resaca. There Cleburne ordered his men, now the rear guard of the army, to build breastworks to defend against the enemy advancing in his direction.

Early morning on today's date in 1864, Cleburne's pickets were driven in by advancing Federal soldiers. His men reported a strong enemy division nearby. Cleburne prepared his man for the anticipated attack. However, the cavalry force opposing him chose to avoid a confrontation.

By now, Sherman had fortified Villanow and was massing his Federal troops in Snake Creek Gap. By noon, Sherman and most of his army had passed through the gap and were skirmishing with the Confederate rear guard along the small Camp Creek. In the meantime, Cleburne collected reconnaissance about the enemy and passed on the information.

Cleburne's men were able to hold up Sherman's advance until the remainder of Johnston's troops arrived at Resaca from Dalton.

Having planned to make a stand at Resaca, Johnston formed his army along a ridge west of town facing Gen. William T. Sherman's approaching army.

Sources: Pat Cleburne: Confederate General, Howell & Elizabeth Purdue; Stonewall of the West, Craig L. Symonds; Official Records, Vol. 38, Pt. 3

Cleburne's Division at the Battle of Rocky Face Ridge, 1864

William T. Sherman's Atlanta Campaign of 1864 kicks off with an attack on
Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee at Rocky Face Ridge/Dalton, GA.
SSource: Civil War Maps by Hal Jesperson

By May 5, 1864,¹ Confed-erate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston was alerted to a Federal force moving on his Army of Tennessee en-trenched around Dalton, Georgia. He, therefore, ar-ranged his army to meet the enemy, now under the com-mand of Gen. William T. Sherman.

Johnston formed his main infantry line across Mill Creek Gap, known locally as Buzzard Roost Pass, and from there north for about a mile on the crest of Rocky Face Ridge. His line then continued across Crow Valley. He placed Patrick R. Cleburne's Division north, in front of Dalton, behind Mill Creek Gap. Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes was serving in the 32nd Mississippi Regiment, which was commanded by Col. William H.H. Tison, in Mark P. Lowrey's Brigade of Cleburne's Division.

On today's date, a Saturday in 1864, forces under Gen. George H. Thomas took Tunnel Hill, opening the Battle of Rocky Face Ridge, May 7-13. The next day, his troops attacked Johnston's main line where they encountered well entrenched Confederate forces. Although outnumbering the Rebels here 10 to 1, they were turned back. Surprised by the defeat of his larger force Thomas decided to probe the line further north, near Buzzard Roost, defended in part by Cleburne's Division, while Gen. James McPherson moved his army south in the direction of Resaca in an attempt to outflank the Confederate's position. Thomas ordered 5 five full-scale attacks against the defenders at Mill Creek Gap, but ultimately met with defeat.

Mill Creek Gap/Buzzard Roost Pass, Georgia, 1864
From the Matthew Brady Collection

Elsewhere on the line, Union Gen. John Schofield was moving his army south from Red Clay, when he was attacked by Confederate Gen. Joseph Wheeler's cavalry. While Thomas was moving his attack further north to Buzzard Roost, Schofield skirmished with Wheeler's men. On the 9th, Wheeler attacked a portion of Shoffield's cavalry force at Prater's Mill and delivered Sherman his first defeat of the campaign.

In the late afternoon of the 8th, an urgent situation for the Confederates developed at Dug Gap—it was under attack. Dug Gap was a vital pass through the Rocky Face Ridge, 5 miles southwest of Dalton. Its defense was critical. Part of Cleburne's Division was ordered from Mill Creek Gap to reinforce Dug Gap, defended by only 2 small regiments of dismounted cavalry. Cleburne led Lowrey's and Hiram Granbury's Brigades in a rapid march in extreme heat up the steep ridge, arriving at the gap around sundown. While the attack was continuing, Cleburne arranged his brigades to relieve the defenders, which were struggling to hold their position. For a while, the Federals shelled the ridge, but as night fell, the enemy withdrew, leaving behind many of its dead and wounded along with many small arms. Historian Albert Castel notes about the action of Cleburne's men at Dug Gap: "The fight—the first real one of the campaign—is over, and what could have been, against less resolute resistance, a calamitous Union breakthrough has turned out to be a one-sided Confederate victory."

Fighting at Dug Gap, sketched by A.R. Waud
Source: The Civil War Trust

Federal success was to come elsewhere on the battle line. Earlier, on the morning of the 8th, Gen. James B. McPherson's army had crossed Taylor's Ridge at Ship's and Gordon's Springs Gaps, then marched through Villanow and took the important Snake Creek Gap—a narrow 4-mile gorge through the ridge—with little opposition.² On the 9th, his army passed through the gap to within a mile of Resaca, threatening the railroad there. If he could take control of the town and the railroad, Sherman would have the Confederates trapped between enemy forces in the north and south.

To counter McPherson's surprise move, in the early hours of the 10th, Cleburne with Lowrey's and Granbury's Regiments, along with and 2 other divisions, were ordered toward Resaca. But, while waiting near the town, Cleburne received orders to return to Dug Gap due to a change in the enemy's movements. Fearful of being cut off from the rest of the Federal army, the nervous McPherson turned back. While he had managed to secure Snake Creek Gap, which provided the opening through the ridge Sherman needed, his undue caution ultimately allowed Johnston to escape down the rail line, thus ensuring another confrontation on May 13-15.

Despite McPherson's decision to pull back, together with the Federal repulse at Dug Gap and other points along the Confederate line, Sherman's attacks had managed to upset the Confederate plan to defend Dalton. Johnston was compelled to withdraw.

Leaving Thomas to attack the the main Confederate line on the 10th, Sherman moved the rest of his army south. Thomas's demonstrations were weak against the Confederates that had resisted several earlier frontal assaults over the previous 2 days. But they did give the rest of Sherman's force time to advance along the west side of Taylor Ridge undetected by Johnston's army.

On the11th, Gen. Leonidas Polk arrived at Dalton from Rome, Georgia, with a force of 15,000, bringing up the strength of the Army of Tennessee to nearly 65,000 men. However, with a superior enemy force now in his rear, Johnston withdrew on the 12th, and fell back to Resaca.

Thus began Sherman's Atlanta Campaign of 1864.

¹ On the same date, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant launched his simultaneous Overland Campaign against Gen. Robert E. Lee's army in the Battle of the Wilderness. While both armies suffered heavy casualties, on May 7, it was Grant who disengaged and moved southeast for another battle at Spotsylvania on May 8.
² Gen. Wheeler was assigned to defend Snake Creek Gap with his cavalry. However, on May 7, he removed his pickets for fighting to the north. Failing to maintain reconnaissance in this area of Taylor's Ridge left the Confederates unprepared for the Federal advance. Of course, Johnston should have understood the importance of defending the gap with a sufficient force to hold it.

Sources: Pat Cleburne: Confederate General, Howell & Elizabeth Purdue; The Army of Tennessee, Stanley F. Horn; Autumn of Glory, Thomas Lawrence Connelly; Decision in the West: The Atlanta Campaign of 1864, Albert Castel; Military Reminiscences of the Civil War, Jacob Dolson Cox; Official Records, Vol. 38, Pt. 3

Preparing for the Spring campaign, 1864

For just about the whole month of April in 1864, Union Gen. William T. Sherman readied his army for its move against Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnston's Army of Tennessee, now entrenched in the hills around Dalton in north Georgia. All month, ammunition, provisions, and military stores of all kinds were rushed to Chattanooga. Everything was being readied for the inevitable forward advance against the Confederates, which will begin early next month.

By the time his Atlanta Campaign will open on May 5th, Sherman's army will number over 100,000 men. Johnston will begin with a little more than half that number, but his force will be increased in early May to over 65,000. From now on, Johnston will have the weaker army against his opponent's larger and more aggressive force. Consequently, he will be compelled from the start to act on the defensive, keeping his army intact and waiting for an opportunity to take advantage of any mistake that Sherman might make.

Gen. Joseph Eggleston Johnston, CSA

Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, USA

As the underdog, it also will be necessary for Johnston to rely heavily upon a series of fortifications, which he has carefully constructed. His hope is that Sherman will be lured into attacking his strong position on the precipitous cliffs at Rocky Face above Mill Creek, and suffer severe loss.

Johnston has carefully prepared for the contingency of being driven out of one defensive line by having another behind to which he may fall back if forced to withdraw. However, Sherman has prepared for this as well. His tactics will call for moving his army as near the Confederate works as possible to make demonstrations in front that will distract the Confederates, while he sends a flanking force around and behind. Indeed, he will conduct the coming campaign in this fashion all the way to Atlanta.

But before Sherman can deal a decisive blow, there will be many difficult marches, severe fighting, and massive destruction before the Confederates make a stand at Atlanta. Both armies will be forced to march over land that was, according to Sherman, "as difficult country as was ever fought over by civilized armies."

Sources: Civil War Times, Daniel Wait Howe; Memoirs of Gen. William T. Sherman

The legendary snowball fight of 1864

Late March of 1864 brought an unseasonably large snowfall to the Army of Tennessee encamped around Dalton, Georgia. The storm provided a pleasant diversion for Cleburne's Division at Tunnel Hill. According to historians Howell and Elizabeth Purdue and various other accounts, the men took up a large scale snowball fight which soon swept up participants from several of the regiments including the 32nd. Gen. Cleburne was also caught up in the mock battle. At one point he was "captured" by opposing forces, but soon violated his "parole" and reentered the fight, only to be captured again. The climax came when the general was threatened with "court-marshall" for violating his parole, and a dunking in the creek was being considered as his punishment. However, the victors relented and the fight ended without serious casualties.

More snow fell the next day provoking another snowball fight. Rain and snow continued through the rest of the month. By month's end, apparently Hardee's entire corps was caught up in yet another sham fight.

There were numerous such snow fighting escapades throughout the Southern armies during the war. But the Dalton snowball fight of 1864 is the most famous.

Sketch of the snowball fight in camp at Dalton, Georgia, Winter 1864
Source: Library of Congress

Sources: Pat Cleburne: Confederate General, Howell & Elizabeth Purdue; Fighting Men of the Civil War, William C. Davis & Russ A. Pritchard; Co. Aytch, Sam R. Watkins

Sherman is promoted

On today's date in 1864, Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman was made the new commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi following Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's promotion to commander of all the Union armies. Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson ascended to Sherman's old position as head of the Army of the Tennessee.

Soon after his promotion, Grant met with Sherman to work out a master plan for winning the war. Their decision called for Grant to direct the Army of the Potomac and destroy Robert E. Lee's army while trying to take Richmond. For Sherman's part, he will try to do the same to Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee, now at Dalton, Georgia, and ultimately take Atlanta. This will be the first time that the Union's Eastern and Western armies will advance simultaneously in a coordinated effort to defeat the South.

In May, Sherman will begin his Atlanta Campaign at Dalton, and he will try to destroy Johnston's army along the way. Sherman will end the year with his infamous "March to the Sea." Also in May, Grant will confront Robert E. Lee in a series of bloody battles, beginning the Wilderness Campaign and ending with Lee trapped at Petersburg, Virginia. Grant finally will force Lee's surrender at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, and Sherman will receive Johnston's surrender at Durham, North Carolina, a few days later on April 26th.

William Tecumseh Sherman was one of several Union generals who hailed from Ohio. Appointed to U.S. Military Academy at West Point at 16 years of age, Sherman graduated sixth in his class in 1840. His early military career was unremarkable, and by 1853, he resigned his commission in the army. He tried his hand at banking and law before becoming the superintendent of the Louisiana Military Academy in 1859. When war broke out between the states, Sherman resigned from the academy and returned north to become a colonel of the 13th United States Infantry.

Sherman in Atlanta, 1864

Sherman saw his first war action at First Manassas as a brigade commander. Impressing his superiors by his leadership there, President Lincoln appointed him brig-adier general in August 1861. He was sent to the border state of Kentucky to keep it from seceding. However, the assignment brought him to  the verge of a breakdown, compelling him to request to be relieved of command. After a brief period of recuperation, he was transferred to serve under Maj Gen. Henry W. Halleck and supported his army in the successful battle for Fort Henry.

By now, Sherman was enjoying the support of personal friendship with Grant and had earned his commander's confidence.* From this point on, Grant will increasingly grow to depend on Sherman's military decisiveness.

In the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, against Albert Sydney Johnston's army, Sherman commanded a division under Grant. Despite being overrun during the battle, Sherman was promoted to major general the next month.

Sherman next led troops in the Battles of Chickasaw Bluffs in late December 1862, and Arkansas Post in January 1863, and he commanded a corps during the Vicksburg Campaign. In the Battle of Chattanooga in November 1863, Sherman's attack against Patrick Cleburne's Division (which included my Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes) at Missionary Ridge was decidedly repelled, although the Union army under Grant did succeed in driving the Confederate army off the ridge and out of Tennessee.

Sherman's Atlanta Campaign and March to the Sea, 1864
Source: Georgia Stories

Now in March 1864, as commander of all troops in the Western Theatre, Sherman will soon prepare his 100,000-man army to wage warfare that will bring him both fame and notoriety. Believing that to defeat the South he must both destroy its military force and the source for its material support, Sherman will apply a strategy of total warfare. Adapting to Johnston's defensive approach, Sherman will use a series of flanking maneuvers to cut him off on the race to Atlanta, destroying most everything in his path. In July, he will have his prize in hand and then promptly destroy the city. He will do the same with the homes, farms, countryside—everything in his 60-mile wide path on his "March to the Sea" by year's end. Next, he will lead his army on a destructive route through the Carolina Campaign, hastening the war's end by April 1865.


* Sherman also was able to restore, and even increase, his reputation among those who would serve under him.  No less a leader than division commander Maj. Gen. Jacob B. Cox, who served under Sherman from the Atlanta Campaign through the Carolinas, wrote about his admiration for the general: "I soon acquired an undoubting conviction that of all the men I had met, [Sherman] was the one to whose leadership in war I would commit my own life and the lives of my men with most complete confidence. In him the combination of intellectual insight with fertility of invention and with force of will in execution was of the highest order. I felt that if the end we aimed at was a noble and worthy one, the price he asked us to pay was reasonable, and the object was worth the sacrifices he called for: we were therefore enthusiastic in our obedience."

Sources: Decision in the West: The Atlanta Campaign of 1864, Albert Castel; Military Reminiscences of the Civil War, Jacob Dolson Cox; Civil War Trust

U.S. Grant to head the U.S. army

On Leap Year Day, 1864, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and his congress officially promoted Ulysses S. Grant to the position of Lieutenant General in order to appoint him to head the entire Union army. For the first time, the North's military will be directed by a single man, and he will use his position to bring far reaching changes to the army and directly influence the outcome of the war.

Gen. Ulysses S.Grant
Source: National Archives

Born Hiram Ulysses Grant on April 27, 1822, and raised in Ohio, Grant went on to attend West Point. Apparently through a clerical error at the academy, his name was misprinted "Ulysses S. Grant." He liked the change well enough that he adopted it. Soon, his classmates nicknamed him "Uncle Sam," and then just "Sam," the name by which he was known to his army colleagues in the years ahead.

By his own confession Grant was not an exceptional student. Nor was he particularly drawn to military life. But he did graduate in 1843, ranking 21st in a class of 39. He then was assigned a position as a regimental quartermaster. Personally opposing the war with Mexico, nevertheless Grant made his way to the front lines and fought in the battle of Resaca de la Palma. Soon, serving under Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott, Grant distinguished himself in the decisive battles outside of Mexico City that resulted in Mexico's surrender.

Over the next several years, Grant served at various posts throughout the states and American territories out west. During this period, he married and started a family. With his military salary inadequate to support his family, Grant attempted, but failed at, several business ventures. He grew unhappy at his financial troubles and the separation from his family, and eventually rumors began to circulate that he had become a heavy drinker.

In 1853, he was finally promoted to captain, serving at a post on the northwest California coast. However, in a few months he resigned from the army, likely forced to do so because of his drinking. Now 32 and with no means of supporting his family, Grant tried his hand again for several years at business and even farming. In 1860, he took on a family tannery business in Illinois, "Grant & Perkins," and was able to reunite his family that year.

When the Civil War came in 1861, Grant helped to recruit a company of volunteers and accompanied it to the state's capital at Springfield. He accepted an appointment to recruit and train volunteer units while he waited for a command opportunity with the regular army. Later that year, he was transferred to northern Missouri and promoted by Lincoln to brigadier general. By August 1861, he was assigned duty in southern Illinois.

His first war action was a successful attack in November 1861 against Fort Belmont in Missouri. Next, he captured Fort Henry on February 6, then Fort Donelson on February 16, 1862. His military successes earned him celebrity in the North, and the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant.

President Ulysses S. Grant,
18th President of the United States

It was at this point in his career that he began to directly impact the Army of Mississippi (later named the Army of Tennessee), which by now included my Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes in the 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment, headquartered in Corinth, Mississippi. The Battle of Shiloh came next, when the Confederates under Albert Sydney Johnston attacked on April 6, 1862. The next day, Grant and William T. Sherman rallied their troops and counterattacked the Confederates. Together with Union reinforcements that had just arrived, they sent the Rebels back to Corinth.

Grant continued to experience success on other fields of battle, in particular at Vicksburg and Chattanooga. Following the earlier Confederate victory at Chickamauga in October 1863, he was put in charge of the newly formed Division of the Mississippi, giving him command of almost the entire western theater.

After driving the Confederates from Missionary Ridge in November 1863, Grant's fame increased. On today's date in 1864, when he was promoted to Lieutenant General, he took on a position that had only been held by George Washington and Winfield Scott before him. Now, as the commander of all Union armies, Lincoln finally found a general who will win the war for him, although it will be drawn out for more than another year.

Sources:  Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant; Biography.com

The First Battle of Dalton, 1864

Following the Battle of Missionary Ridge in November of 1863, Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, the overall commander of Union troops in the West, drove the Confederates out of Tennessee. The Army of Tennessee, then under the command of Gen. Braxton Bragg, fell back to the mountains of northern Georgia.

With his defeated army headquartered at Dalton and posted in the nearby ridges and gaps, Bragg resigned and was replaced by Joseph E. Johnston. Mindful of his army's defense Johnston arranged his force along the imposing Rocky Face Ridge in the vicinity of Dalton. Over the next 4 months, he reorganized and refit his army for the inevitable campaigning to come. For the most part, except for a Federal attack on this date in 1864, these months were militarily uneventful.

On February 3rd, Grant sent Gen. William T. Sherman and 25,000 troops from Vicksburg on a campaign east toward the Confederate supply center at Meridian, Mississippi. Along the way Sherman tore up the railroad and created other havoc on the route to Meridian. There he planed to link up with a Federal cavalry force.¹ This troop movement prompted President Davis on February 17th, to order Johnston to send Gen. William Hardee with Cleburne's, Cheatham's, and Walker's Divisions, to reinforce Gen. Leonidas Polk in charge of defending Mississippi with only 10,000 troops in his command.

Each night from February 19-23, units from Cleburne's Division, having cooked 2-days' rations, began marching from their winter quarters at Tunnel Hill, 12 miles to Dalton. There they loaded onto boxcars for transport to Demopolis, Alabama, about 300 miles southwest on the line toward Meridian, another 60 miles beyond. 

Photo by Mark Dolan, June 2010

Anticipating Johnston's transfer of part of his army to meet Sherman, Grant saw an opportunity to exploit the Confederates' weakened position at Dalton. He sent Gen. George Thomas to probe Johnston's defenses. On today's date in 1864, just as the last of Cleburne's regiments —Great Grandfather Oakes's 32nd Mississippi—was boarding at Dalton, Thomas moved against Johnston's army.²  Just before boarding the train at Dalton the 32nd Mississippi was ordered to march to Mill Creek Gap to reinforce Gen. A.P. Stewart's Division there, although it did not engage the enemy during the fighting.

The action on February 24th, revealed to Thomas that the Confederates's positions at Mill Creek Gap and Rocky Face Ridge were well defended. So on the 25th, his force attacked Dug Gap, just a few miles south of Mill Creek Gap and at Crow Valley.

Meanwhile in Mississippi, Polk was forced to abandon Meridian, leaving it for Sherman to burn on the 22nd. By the time of Thomas's attack on Dalton, Polk was returning Hardee's unneeded reinforcements, many of which were still in transit to him from Dalton. Portions of Cleburne's Division began returning to Dalton from the 25th through 27th. His first brigade to arrive, Hiram Granbury's, was sent immediately to retake Dug Gap, which it did on the morning of the 26th.

By the 27th, Thomas realized that Johnston, now reinforced with his returning divisions, was ready and able to counter any assault on the Dalton stronghold, so he withdrew his army.

In the battle, Thomas suffered fewer than 300 casualties, while Johnston lost around 140 men. The Union command did learn from this action, however. Next time, with Sherman in command, the army will bypass a direct assault against Rocky Face Ridge and instead attack through an undefended gap well to the south.

Confederate breastworks at Dug Gap, Dug Gap Battle Park
Source: Dalton CVB

After the battle, Cleburne gathered his scattered division and encamped at Dug Gap for a few days. On March 1, he moved his division 3 miles east of Dalton, to the banks of Mill Creek in the Gap of the same name (also known as Buzzard Roost), on the extreme right of the army. As they had done at Tunnel Hill, the men dug entrenchments and prepared huts for their new winter quarters.

¹ Sherman's plan was to link up at Meridian with Brig. Gen. William Soy Smith's cavalry force of 7,000 men. However, Smith met Confederate resistance before he could reach Sherman. Maj. Gen. Nathan B. Forrest's cavalry brigade confronted Smith at West Point, Mississippi. From there, Forrest forced Smith to retreat, catching up with him in Okolona, Mississippi. There Forrest defeated Smith in a battle on February 22nd. Meanwhile, Sherman's army reached Meridian on February 14, unaware of Smith's retreat. He waited in Meridian until February 20, when he gave up on Smith and returned to Vicksburg. Little did he know at the time that Smith's defeat at Okolona resulted in the elimination of Sherman's entire left flank of his campaign.

² The action that developed on this date is called "The First Battle of Dalton." The Second Battle of Dalton was a Confederate cavalry action led by Joseph Wheeler against the Federal garrison at Dalton on August 14 & 15, 1864, ending in Wheeler's defeat. In a Third Battle of Dalton, the Federal garrison here will be attacked again and taken by Hood's army in October 13th.

Sources: The Army of Tennessee, Stanley F. Horn; Pat Cleburne: Confederate General, Howell & Elizabeth Purue; This Day in History

The Astonishing Dalton Revival, 1864

During its 5 months in winter quarters at Dalton, Georgia, the Army of Tennessee began to experience a remarkable outpouring of spiritual revival. Soldiers and officers alike made professions in Jesus Christ as Savior as Christian revival spread through every regiment.

The signs of spiritual renewal began the previous winter as the army took up its quarters in Tullahoma following the Battle of Murfreesboro (see "Ministering to soldiers' spiritual needs"). Through the early months  of encampment in 1863, army chaplains, local pastors, and even soldiers and officers regularly preached to the troops. Bibles and Christian publications were freely distributed among the men. So well received was this Christian literature that calls went out to the public pleading for more. In William J. Hardee's Corps, for example, his Presbyterian chaplain, J.H. Bryson, wrote a joint letter of appeal with another Episcopal chaplain, C.T. Quintard,

We feel that we need only mention the fact that our brave soldiers are asking for the Word of Life in order to secure from a generous public the most liberal contributions. Who can withhold, when the sick and wounded who fill our hospitals ask for the word of God to cheer and sustain them during their days of affliction, their nights of weariness and suffering? We feel confident that there are many who will give neither grudgingly nor of necessity, but with cheerful hearts and liberal hands. The religious interests of our soldiers demand and must receive prompt attention from every lover of good order, civil liberty, and piety towards God.

Dalton, Georgia, 1880
Source: Georgia Archives

Thousands of appeals like this were made, and there was a tremendous response by Southern churches and individuals. Thus the seeds of the great revival to come in the west were sown in camp during the early months of the war.

Chaplains and ministers recorded many accounts of great revival throughout the armies in the east and west.¹ J. William Jones's Christ in the Camp and W.W. Bennett's, The Great Revival in the Southern Armies are two comprehensive and compelling collections of these accounts, and I'm pleased to have both in my library. Many eyewitness descriptions were made by soldiers in letters home or in published accounts provided after the war. My own great grandfather, Nathan Oakes, a private in Hardee's Corps, was a witness to these amazing events. In fact, the Confederate Veteran published a couple of his letters to the editor, one in which he wrote of a close comrade who made a profession of faith during this period at Dalton.

Sadly, overlooked by most Civil War historians is this compelling phenomenon of religious revival in the Southern armies. The Army of Tennessee at Dalton, now under the command of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, was ground zero for the spiritual rebirth of thousands. Rev. W.W. Bennett noted, "The work at Dalton while the army lay there was almost without parallel. In the coldest and darkest nights of winter the rude chapels were crowded, and at the call for penitents hundreds would bow down in sorrow and tears."

That the seeds had been sown for missionary work is evident in the words of Rev. S.M. Cheery, chaplain in Bate's Brigade: "Often I am approached by the soldiers, who inquire, "Parson, is there no chance to get a Bible. I am very anxious to procure a copy, and am willing to pay any price for a pocket-Bible." We are unable to supply one-fourth of the demand for the Scriptures..."

Rev. A.D. McVoy of the 38th Alabama in Stewart's Corps, wrote on February 3rd about the spread of spiritual revival in his brigade and throughout the division.

We have a large Brigade church built, in which we have been holding services for two weeks. About ten days ago we commenced a series of nightly meetings; at first more on the order of prayer-meetings, but the interest began to increase so rapidly that in three nights we found a revival springing up in our midst. Great crowds gather nightly. We find our church too small. Large numbers are seeking the Lord—forty to fifty every night. The word of God and religious services seem to be better appreciated than ever before in this brigade. Men's minds appear to dwell more on religion and the soldiers more concerned about their soul's eternal welfare... The prospect before us is very encouraging. Wickedness and vice seem restrained. Members of the Churches are becoming revived. The Spirit of the Holy One is present and felt. Good resolutions are being formed in every regiment. A number are endeavoring to fulfill their promises made to God upon the eve of and during the late battles. We are expecting and praying for great things.

And the spiritual fervor was not only evident among the soldiers. Gens. John B. Hood, Otto Strahl, and even Joseph E. Johnston himself were baptized. Gens. William Hardee and Daniel Govan were confirmed in the Episcopal Church. In fact, many other officers in Johnston's army were influential in fanning the flames of the Dalton revival. Rev. J.J. Hutchinson reported of what he witnessed:

Ten days ago Gen. Pendleton, a hero of Manassas memory, preached to the soldiers at Dalton. General Johnston and very many other officers were present. On the same day Major-General Stewart, who is an Elder in the Presbyterian Church, assisted in this brigade in the administration of the sacrament of the Lord's supper. On the same day I preached to Gen. Finley's brigade, where the General and his staff were present, and where he united audibly with our prayers.

Hutchinson's account continues with a mention of Maj. Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne, who, according to author John Wesley Brinsfield, had constructed in the center of his division a platform specifically for religious services. Hutchinson also was quite impressed with Brig. Gen. Mark P. Lowrey, a Baptist minister before the war, now commanding a brigade including my great grandfather's 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment. 

Gen. Cleburne, the hero of many battle-fields, treated me with much attention and kindness—had a place prepared for preaching in the center of his division, where himself and most of his officers were present, and where I was assisted by Brigadier-General Lowry [sic], who sat in the pulpit with me and closed the services of the hour with prayer. I partook of the hospitality of Gen. L. at dinner, and spent several delightful hours in profitable religious conversation. The General is a Baptist preacher, and like the commander of the division, is a hero of many well-fought battle-fields. He takes great interest in the soldiers' religious welfare, often preaches to them, and feels that the ministry is still his high and holy calling. I wish I had the space to give you more of his interesting life's history, and to speak of this noble and pious officer as he deserves.

On another occasion, Rev. A.A. Worrell along with other ministers, including Gen. Lowrey, held a series of meetings for soldiers gathered in the camp. Lowrey preached on the text from Revelation 3:20, "Behold! I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open unto me, I will come in, and sup with him, and he with me." Worrell recalled, "The sermon was clear, pointed, strong, and persuasive; and, at its close, many came forward for prayer and instruction. How many were converted that night I do not know; but I believe there were many."

Rev. Brig. Gen. Mark Lowrey

Of this period of Christian revival in Dalton, reaching its climax in camp in April-May, but continuing throughout the entire Atlanta Campaign, Gen. Lowrey makes humble mention of his role in his autobiography:

I often preached in camp. While in camp at Dalton, Ga., in the Spring of 1864, there was a general revival of religion in the army, and I participated in it, preaching very often to my command. Within two weeks, I baptized over 50 of my own men in camp, on the march, and in the field.²

As Lowrey's words indicate, the revival didn't stop when in May the Confederates broke camp at Dalton. Bennett writes, "The constant movements of the armies in all sections of the South at this period of the war greatly interfered with the work of the revival; but the fire still burned and often on the outer lines the most delightful meetings were held in which many gave their hearts to God." 

Indeed, wrote Rev. McVoy about the battles the army fought in its retreat toward Atlanta, "The work of God is going on amid the cannon's roar, the fatiguing monotony of the trenches, and the heroic movements of the picket line. Religion is infusing a spirit of fortitude, endurance, and determination into the hearts of the soldiers that no hardship, no suffering, can undermine or break down."

No doubt in the months of conflict after Atlanta, when disappointments and the deprivations of war where at their most extreme, the comfort and hope received at Dalton helped sustain the army. The revival, which reached its apex at Dalton, made Christian believers out of at least a third of the army. The eastern army experienced a similar result. "The discipline of war was terrible to the people of the south," writes Rev. Bennett, "but in the end it was beneficial. In the midst of desolation and blood they turned their thoughts to Him who holds in his hands the destinies of nations, and out of great sufferings the patience and faith of the gospel shone forth in brightness and power." He concludes his book, published a decade after the war, by observing the spiritual and cultural effects of the Great Revival in the Confederate Armies on the Southern people:

Strange as it may seem to many readers, the call to preach the gospel of Christ came to the hearts of the men of war on the tented field; and no sooner were their carnal weapons laid aside than they buckled on the Divine armor, and, seizing the sword of the Spirit, entered the battle against the powers of darkness. In this we find one of the strongest proofs of the genuineness of the Army Revival. Truly, its fruits are still enduring. Thousands who were participants in that glorious and, to some, strange work, have passed the flood of death and are seen no more among men, but the seed they sowed in trench and camp and hospital, in the bivouac, and on the weary march, was watered from above and has borne a rich harvest. And may we not hope that the full fruition of this work is to be realized in that era of peace and good will which is even now descending upon our common country?

In so many ways, the War Between the States has no parallel in history. But particularly in its astonishing Christian revivalism and reformation is it distinguished from all other wars, at least since Cromwell's New Model Army. "Whatever may be the judgment of the world as to the principles on which the Southern people entered into the strife," writes Bennett, "it must be admitted that they brought with them a strong religious element. Their convictions of right in what they did were second only to their convictions of the truth of the Christian religion."

¹ Indeed, the wave of Christian conversion and renewal wasn't contained only within the Army of Tennessee. Lee's army in Virginia experienced a similar revival that swept through his entire army.

² Lt. Thomas J. Stokes of Cleburne's Division at Dalton, wrote home in April 1864 to his sister, Mary Gay, "General Lowry [sic] baptized about thirteen of them who were from his brigade. He is a Christian, a soldier and a zealous preacher, and his influence is great. It was truly a beautiful sight to see a general baptizing his men. He preaches for our brigade next Sabbath." The revival continued right up to the Federal attack on the Confederate stronghold at Dalton in early May. Stokes writes again on May 5, 

The great revival is going on with widening and deepening interest. Last Sabbath I saw eighty-three immersed at the creek below our brigade. Four were sprinkled at the stand before going down to the creek, and two down there, making an aggregate within this vicinity of eighty-nine, while the same proportion, I suppose, are turning to God in other parts of the army, making the grand aggregate of many hundreds. Yesterday I saw sixty-five more baptized, forty more who were to have been there failing to come because of an order to be ready to move at any moment. They belong to a more distant brigade... If we do not move before Monday, Sabbath will be a day long to be remembered—‘the water will,’ indeed, ‘be troubled.’ Should we remain three weeks longer, the glad tidings may go forth that the Army of Tennessee is the army of the Lord. But He knoweth best what is for our good, and if He sees proper can so order His providence as to keep us here. His will be done.

Sources: The Great Revival in the Southern Armies, W.W. Bennett; Christ in the Camp, J. William Jones; The Spirit Divided: Memoirs of Civil War Chaplains: The Confederacy, John Wesley Brinsfield; Confederate Veteran, Vol. 7, 1899; Mark P. Lowrey Autobiography; Life in Dixie During the War 1861-1862-1863-1864-1865, Mary A.H. Gay