Doctor davis drew on his experience this morning when he spoke to 450 High Schoolers ever so effectively. Hes taken it upon himself to attend virtually all of the eight lectures weve had thus far in this series. And hes been so very conscientious in communicating with us about what he wanted to say to you tonight and to our students earlier today. Im not sure i can do justice to his passion for the civil war in the Atlanta Campaign. His pieces have appeared in a number of scholarly and popular publications, including the civil war times illustrated and the georgia historical quarterly. He was the book review editor for blue and gray magazine for 11 years. His 2001 book, atlanta will fall, is highly respected. And his most recent book, what the excuse me what the yankees did to us, shermans bombardment and wrecking of atlanta, has been described as one expert as the most wellresearched and detailed account ever written about the fall of atlanta. In 2013, the Georgia Writers Association recognized dr. Davis with its author of the year award in the category of history. At round tables across the country, he is a highly soughtafter speaker. Were honored to have this lover of the civil war here with us today. Please join me in welcoming dr. Stephen davis for his talk entitled four generals and the Atlanta Campaign. Steve, welcome [applause] thank you. I want to thank the head master for that undeservedly kind and complimentary introduction. I also want to thank the lovett school. As billy mentioned, the caliber of speakers in this series preceding me has been such that im honored to have been chosen to be among them. Tonight, in keeping with the theme of the lecture series, the forging of character, but mindful as the head master reminds us that this is the very day of the federal capture and occupation of the city. We want to take a look at four generals, who on each side of the war were fighting in atlanta, and then kind of after looking at elements and evidence of their character and personality, what they did, well kind of bring the story then to a conclusion, reflecting on their individual roles in the campaign. But first, someone who was not in tra atlanta in 64, i wonder if you all will remember that back in the bicentennial year, nbc took one state of the union and spent its twohour today show broadcast, highlighting elements of that state. I happened to be teaching at dunwoody and was able to watch the show one friday, when the today show focused on virginia. And in it, george c. Scott gave a camera view, a tour of washington and lee university. Speaking from a text that he himself had written afterwards, the University Got so many requests for it that it requested from scott permission to print. And i quote from what scott told the nation over the camera. This is bicentennial america. This is the Election Year america. This is 20th century thermonuclear liberated oligarchy, in order to get mine, ive got to grind you, america. What are you and i supposed to learn from or feel about the world in the character of a man like r. E. Lee . Hes cold. Were cool. Hes passe. Were avant. Hes out of it. Were up to here in it. Well, scott continued, there are a few qualities this remarkable creature had, if we consider them. Ive just colorized some of my favorites. Patience, loyalty, love of animals, traveler, courtesy toward the conditional frailty of advanced age. And my personal favorite, ladies and gentlemen, gentleness and the aspiration to achieve gentlemanliness. Head master. Lee on leadership. But that can be said for a lot of civil war generals. When is the last time you saw a book on Leadership Qualities from george b. Mcclellan . Ha ha okay. Not every civil war general could be like lee obviously, but tonight lets look at four. Ive chosen the three army commanders, johnston, hood, sherman. And pat thomas, a fellow virginian, because i believe that as commander of the army of the cumberland, he too had a life and character from which we can learn. First, johnston. Craig simons, i think, continues to teach at the u. S. Naval academy. His biography of a decade ago is still the source. Their fathers served together in the revolution. When is the last time you thought of this . They were born just three weeks and 100 miles apart from each other in virginia. They entered the point together, formed a lasting friendship, career army officers, sharing disappointment over the slow pace of promotion in the old army. In the mexican war, they both served on general scotts staff, earning comen commendations. In the 50s, they were on the frontier and held identical posts. Continued parallels in the early days of the war. Scott tried to keep both of them in the United States army. When virginia was seceding. But both left the old army and followed their states out. Actually, at the time of the secession, johnston held a higher rank in the old army than lee. He was Quarter Master general of the army and head brigade. Lee was colonel. But the similarities in there, as you will be able to see in the briefest summaries of their biography, such as bud warrens, generals. As i say, johnston was among early confederate officers the ranking officer in the old army. And by some reading of the confederate law and regulations, he would have been entitled to seniority among the generals. But instead, davis and the War Department appointed johnston fourth in seniority, after cooper, Sidney Johnson and lee. So what did johnston do . He wrote the president a ninepage angry letter of indignation and protest, which the president just dismissed as unbecoming. Of course, he didnt alter the seniority ranking. Then johnston began to show an unhappy he retreated up the peninsula before mcclellan and he let the yankees get within five miles of the capitol. President davis and general lee were beside themselves. Finally, johnston launched an attack at fair oaks, and ladies and gentlemen, thereby rendered his most signal service to the confederacy by getting himself seriously wounded and knocked out of action. It led him to a point, as commander of the army of virginia, which lee never relinquished, as you know, for the rest of the war. In mississippi, spring of 63, johnston was something of a theater commander. And when pemberton found himself locked in, president davis sent johnston to command troops being assembled near jackson as a army of relief. Eventually, 25 or 30,000 confederates gathered in the rear, but johnston never attacked. As a result, pemberton surrendered. Despite this predilction, at least twotime record of failure, president davis appointed general johnston to succeed bragg, who had been humiliated in the route. He asked johnston, please, launch an offensive against sherman before he launches an offensive against you and begins to invade georgia. Instead here hes right. He said, mr. President , i cannot. The yankees have us boxed in, and tennessee is a poor country into which to advance. So he never advanced against sherman. And sherman, of course, held the initiative throughout the campaign. As sherman prepared to advance, johnston wanted to stay on the defensive. Anyone who has read about the Atlanta Campaign knows this mantra. Johnston would hold up in the high ground and ridges and defensive positions, hope to be assaulted, likely had been at fredericksburg. If hes flanked, move back to the next good position, all the while asking that the administration send Forrest Morgan and calvary raids against shermans ever lengthening single track western and atlantic supply line. The campaign took on a familiar pattern. Johnston would take position. Sherman would approach, would skirmish with the rebels. Meanwhile, he would probe around with the army of tennessee, around usually by the federal right against the rebel left. Johnston found that he would be flanked, threatened with his railroad being cut, and hed have to retreat. Here you see a timeline map. Sweeneys division with is going all the way down stream, to flank downstream. With this repetitive pattern of flanking against which johnston could figure out no antidote or counter, sherman pushed johnston back from nine successive positions. And look at my handdrawn map, yall. If you cant find a map that illustrates what you want, you draw it yourself. Ha ha you know, my favorite here is allen tates biography of stonewell jackson. Have you seen his maps . Theyre far more artless than my own. So you see here, from midmay all the way into midjuly, sherman has pushed johnston back to essentially 80 or 90 miles of north georgia. Johnston today is known as having been a master of fabian tactics named for fabus, the roman general. They are marching down the peninsula toward rome. Fabius keeps retreating back, building and strengthening his army, declining to give battle, until finally he can beat hannibal at the gates of rome. These tactics have led him to be then called a nickname, the delayer. In my first work, whose cover you see, i call joe johnston this name. Federals crossed the river, as i said, july 8, 9. And johnston had to retreat across the river on the night of the 9th, 10th. After that, president davis spent a full week agonizing over whether to fire joe johnston, who had given up, as i say, 80 to 90 miles of georgia terrain. July 10, senator ben hill, confederate senator from georgia, arrives in richmond and gives president davis and the secretary a firstperson account of his interview, which had been held ten days before. And ben hill told the president and secretary three times, i asked johnston, can you hold sherman north of the river . No, i cannot. Youve got to send calvary. And by that time, when hill is before the administration, july 10, davis holds up a telegram, look, your man has already crossed the chattahoochee. On the 11th, catch this. In terms of Building Confidence with your boss, you send a telegram asking, hey, maybe we ought to remove the federal prisoners from andersonville. On july 12, davis asks lee his opinion. Should we fire johnston, and who would you name . You know, general lee, who was lees most trusted adviser, did not serve the president as well as davis had hoped. He, first of all, advised against firing johnston. And he had very tepid comments about general hood. Industrious on the battlefield, careless off, if you remember that. Then davis called his cabinet together. The meeting goes undated in the records. But by postwar letters and kind of putting the whole sequence together, ladies and gentlemen, i think the Cabinet Meeting occurred on july 14. And in the postbellum reminisces, they were especially vehement in remembering that they argued that johnston had to go. Johnston gave was given one last chance to save his job. When davis, on july 16 sent him a wire, i wish to hear from you as to your plan of operations so i can anticipate events. Well, what did johnston wire back . I call it the death wish reply. You wanna get fired . You dont tell the boss what he wants to hear. Catch this. My plan of operations must therefore depend upon that of the enemy. And im going to let the militia hold the city that the movements of the army may be freer and wider. Whoa what does that mean . It sounded to me that johnston was going to give up atlanta. Thats the of course the intent, i think, of the death wish. I dont believe that johnston wanted to hold on. And as a result, johnston was relieved. General hood, who was lieutenant general, was given temporary rank of full general. Congress was not in session. The president had powers to do that in time of military emergency. Johnston left for macon on the night of july 19. Mory, confederate general, writes, after the war, in his memoir, recollections of virginia. He tells how after the war he, johnston, and mrs. Johnston, were dining on a porch outside when someone heard a little girl screeching and screaming. The familys pet turkey was attacking the little girl. Johnston got annoyed and said, why dont you run away . Why dont you run away . Mory of johnston, after the commented, well, thats fine advice for a general to give. Johnston grew angry. Well, if she will not fight, sir, its not is it not the best thing for her to do, to run away . To break the tension, mrs. Johnston started laughing. Joe, thats kind of what you have been doing all the way, all the time, i know so when johnstons belief is if you cant fight, run away, well, you know, and hes telling little girls that, mmm. You know, when is the last time you read a book on leadership lessons from joe johnston . Okay. How do we assess johnstons character . This is my personal opinion, because i was a teenager in the centennial. And in the centennial, joe johnston was a god. Its only in the last 50 years that hood has been looked at anew by scholars. Ive tried to do my part. But this is my opinion. Johnston was genuinely a good army administer. The men loved him. But as i say with president davis, he could be petty and quarrelsome. He was excessively concerned with his reputation. He was unaware of the psychological effect of his retreat on the people and the press. Heres the essential difference between him and lets say robert e. Lee. He was deathly afraid to send his men into death and battle. As president davis once said, president johnstons focus on protecting his army and not using his army to protect the country. Lets turn to another virginian, george henry thomas, born not far from the rebellion site, 1816. His family had to hide in the woods during the rebellion. He went to west point. He fought in the mexican war and was in the second calvary with lee, johnston and hardee. I like francis mckinneys biography, which you see there. As i think i have mentioned, thomas was determined to fight for the union. He declined the governors request that he resign from the army to become the chief of ordinance. After the state left the union, he decided that he would uphold his pledge to the United States and fight for the union army. His wife, frances, was a new yorker, but she claimed she never tried to influence his decision on this. But when he decided not to fight for the confederacy, his sisters began to hate him. Thomas enjoyed a steady if not rapid rise to prominence, as you see here. Brigadier general, august of 1861, defeated the rebels in one of the early western victories for the north, january of 62, promoted to Major General in april of 62, fought at shiloh, corinth. Thomass greatest moment, if you will remember, on the morning of the second day, the union center was attacked, just as the time that woodss division was removed, off to the left, creating a mistaken division length gap in the union line at the center, at the very point where longstreet is leading five infantry divisions across the field. Bang the rebels break the union line. And they start heading north. Where, on the north end of the field, thomas holds the left of the line, and holds it long enough against rebel attacks so that rosekrans and the rest of the army can flee back to chattanooga. He earned his nickname. I think its a wonderful one. After that, when rosekrans was fired, thomas was promoted to command the army of the cumberland and it was his troops that carried Missionary Ridge in that surprise and unordered assault up the municipality. And it was in the Atlanta Campaign that thomas commanded shermans largest in the three of his army group. More on that later. What did thomas do . Generally speaking, because he was the rock, and because he commanded shermans largest army, thomas and scofield usually engaged the johnstons line while mcpherson, mcpherson flanked off by the right. This is resaca. I like this about pat thomas. After Kennesaw Mountain and his troops did most of the attacking on june 27, thomas sent sherman a message that afternoon, saying weve already lost heavily today without gaining any material advantage. One or two more such assaults would use up this army. I like a guy who can tell off his superior officer. At Peachtree Creek, if you remember, on july 20, it was thomass troops who were attacked by hood. And thomas was personally engaged in the battle, not only directing the fire of his artillery, but at one point, old flow trot was thumping the rears of his artillery sources with the back of his sword to get him to move faster. Old slow trot. Lets jump ahead. After atlanta, remember that after the fall of the city, general hood marched the army of tennessee into alabama and tennessee, attacking at franklin, and then holding defensive lines at nashville. Grant grew impatient and ordered thomas to attack hood earlier. But old slow trot said no, im not going to attack until i have everything ready. And grant was on the verge of firing thomas, when finally on the morning of december 16, thomas launched the attack that routed hoods army back into mississippi. My personal assessment of george thomas, dedicated to principle and willing to stand up to his sisters and family, in honor of it. On the battlefield, dependable and reliable. The rock. You know what, yall . I would rather be known as dependable and reliable than brilliant. I think we can characterize thomas as that way. As i say, he was unafraid to speak out to superiors like sherman and old slow trot would not attack until everything was ready, a good tactical general. One measure of his character is the fact that in the last decade, there are three biographies, including bryan wills. Thats saying something. And there you have kind of a historiography of thomass life studies. Now to hood. Hood was the youngster, born in 1831 in kentucky. He had local schooling. His uncle helped get him into west point. He graduated in the class of 1853. Heres his first biography, by oconnor in 1949. Like many lieutenants he went out west. He got assigned to the second calvary and therefore learned about general lee, Lieutenant Colonel lee. In september of 60, the army is actually wanting to bring hood east and have him teach calvary at west point. Hood did not like the idea of that. And he declined it. And then when the war started, he offered himself to Confederate Service and steadily rose through the ranks. Remember, he was with the second u. S. Calvary, so his first posting is in the calvary. Major in may of 6 1. Shifting over to the infantry. When he signed up for confederate commission, kentucky had not yet seceded. So he put down as his native state texas. Thats why sometimes hood is called the texan in lets say mcmurrays biography. During 1862, he was given the texas brigade. Here is the cache of rece