Steve a couple of years ago. He lives in the shadow of atlantas great battlefield. Oure got talking, mutual publishers said when you sit down with steve, he will make eye contact with you and it is like his eyes will bore right through your head. I found that to be true, but what he didnt tell me and i discovered on my own is not only is steve intense, but he is also an intense pleasure. Talk about a man who is so deeply devoted to history. He is quick to jump up and remind everybody there was fighting too. We will shift from the campaign to look at the corresponding actions in georgia that led to atlanta. With the city on the brink of peril and the armies struggling and clashing. Steve davis put together the text and information for the Civil War Trust electronic version of the battle of atlanta. You can take a look at his handiwork there. He is a former book review editor. He is the current book review editor for civil war news. He has several books on the emerging Civil War Campaign series. Im delighted to introduce you my friend from the great state of georgia, stephen davis. [applause] thank the want to doctor for that very kind introduction. I want to thank you all for having endured through an overlyhot in our sixth hour of lectures. As chris implies, jim ogden, lee and i are the three antidotes to what i call eastern theatricality. We are the guys from the western theater reminding you it was fox there by thend won yankees and lost by my guys. Im drawing from my paperback that will come out in about a month or so. Paperbacks cover a narrative of the atlantic ca campaign. I want to thank chris and dan for allowing me to write for them. Ods great about ho attacking battle of july 22 which is now called the battle of atlanta. A misnomer as i will argue. First of all, after the battle, it was simply called here you have general sherman and his report simply called it the battle of july 22. General dodge and other yankees after the war started to call it the battle of atlanta and the name stuck. Look at this map. You will see the battle of peachtree creek, ezra church and you will see the battle of atlanta. When it was put together in the 1880s, they called it the painting of the battle of atlanta. Whoas Albert Castille said lets call it something different. Maybe the battle of bald hill. I still prefer calling it the battle of july 22. First of all, there was a lot of action on july 22 not just around the bald hill. The hill has been bulldozed through. Even the marker that once rested atop the hill at moreland avenue and i20 has been moved south of the interstate. Finally, i object to any piece of georgia real estate being named after a yankee general. General claiborne held that day for a day. Lets call it claiborne hill, everybody, for gods sake. [laughter] there were three battles of atlanta, not just one. Im surprised my good friend who wrote this book called it the battle and burning of atlanta. There were three battles. The battle of peachtree creek, north of the city. And, west of the city at ezra church. Why should we commemorate it . It has been on the civil war bubblegum card. I was in the seventh grade when these things came out. There is the house on the five cent packet of gum from 1961. That was a great bubblegum card. The main reason i am boring in i want to thank the sponsors of the symposia again for going into the battle of july 20 2 it allows us to compare what happened when they launched two flanking attacks. One was successful in chancellorsville. Lets talk about the failure. First of all, a step back. From the first week of may to the second week of july gave up nine successive positions from dalton all the way to the chattahoochee. Sherman outnumbered him at the start of the campaign 2 1 but he did not use his superior numbers to bludgeon his way through the rebel ranks. Using them instead to fix johnstons position with shelling, skirmishing, while he would send a flanking column flank the rebel left and forcing johnston to retreat successively. Finally, when johnston got across ththe lake, davis had to fire him. The president and his cabinet spent a full week gathering all the information that they could, especially from general bragg. He even held a Cabinet Meeting which took place on the morning of july 14. Didalked with bob lee, lee not like the idea of relieving army of tennessee commanders but the president did it anyway, firing joe johnston on the 17th. Ay, the Lieutenant General was not the Corps Commander and was placed in command. Lee had turned down the army of tennessee command in december after the disaster at missionary ridge. The local Guardian Angel of history where i come from is wilbur g. Crist. Here is his oil painting. Up close tohe holed atlanta, did not look to use his superior numbers, especially against the rebel fortifications. Which i show here in a diagram that was drawn april of 1864 were formidable. Inn, it ringed the city circumference. Plan to capture atlanta by capturing the rebel railroads. This is a testament to the weak cartography. I had to draw my own map. The Georgia Railroad is going to augustine. The macon and western down to macon and eventually savannah. Railroads, that is what he wanted to do. The plan was succeeding. Shermanshe book on calvary. It reminds us that ithe line was cut from a gum rate in mid july,y in cutting 26 miles or so. It was out of operation for at least a month. Mcpherson wered going east of atlanta, that is ey dissented on stone mountain. East. On the 1 hood, on his first full day of command, faced this situation sth at least four or Thomas Division and corps south of the peachtree creek. Most of thomass army was north of peachtree creek. Corps coming in from decatur. Hood saw an opportunity to attack peachtree on july 20. As castille said, they actually had favorable odds with the attack again around 4 p. M. , but they werrepulsed by the end of the day. Mcpherson was approaching from the east. We talked about the perils of colorization. Here he is colorized in great photograph. In fort wheeler, they were joined by cleburne. Cleburne was thrown in on a night march to help buttress. Wheelers troopers were trying to defend leggitt hill. On the 20th, the yankee artillery got east of atlanta and started lobbing shells downtown. Shermans biggest blunder of the campaign. He had a fixation about wrecking the rebel railroads. Calvaryugh garrards had wrecked the Georgia Railroad between decatur and points west, he ordered the division to leave the left flank and go to covington to burn more bridges and tara more tracks tear up more tracks. This left the left flank in the air. E and notifiedalon shortly after garrard headed out. He notified commander sherman who did not care. Meanwhile however, mac is worried and starts ordering dodges 16th corps to help guard the flank. Helpfantry brigade to guard the bacwagontry. Left andcorps held the warns that in the afternoon and evening of the 21st, watch out for attack. Aermans blunder gave hood great tactical gift. Wheeler, within one hour of garrard heading to the east, he reports the yankee flank is in the air. This gives hood the immediate opportunity to decide to launch his flanking attack in the rear and flank. On the afternoon of the 21st, licketysplit, he develops his plan. Here is the perimeter. During the night of the 21st20 2nd, they will go into the main confederate works. These corps would keep marching through the city out by the road,lnough eventually go northeast and into position to attack the yankee army of the tennessee. Hood just asked for too much. After an allnight march, the infantry corps will launch a morning attack . Confederates were supermen, but they could not do it all. Moreover, he asked wheeler to accompany for part of the march and keep going to attack mcphersons wagon train at decatur. Here is my map color ris froized from my first book. They recognized the jacksonian nature of his plan. Flank and rear. Emulating stonewall jackson, mcdonough and jones, chancellorsville. It promises to be a great victory. Bonds. Rust everyone recognizes hoods plan. He looks to emulate jacksons great roll up. On the afternoon and evening of the 21st, he calls a highlevel command meeting downtown on peachtree. All three infantry Corps Commanders, plus wheeler and the militia leader attend. Hood goes through each of their roles. The movement is to begin after sunset to make certain the yankees do not spot the rebels drawing from their outer lines. Had already been marching and fighting the night and now he, 21st will march again on the night of the 21st and 22nd, that is asking a lot. Maneys division is with cleburne as well and does not get through the city until the middle of the night, 3 00 a. M. Hardy with his late start, knowing the debilitated state of his troops, stops in along the way circa 10 00 or 11 00 and asks hood, hey, i cannot get into the yankee rear by morning. Can we modify the attack . Hood declined. Asked too much. Underestimating the distance hardys troops would have to march. In theot in his car 1930s and traveled from the confederate outer line through town and by the route down the hardysh wrotroad that troops would have had to march. By the time he left the outer line and got to where cleburne first attacked the yankees, it was 13. 5 miles or more. If you follow the pattern, the divisions had to march even further. Kurtzs odometer is 15 miles in an all night march. Wheelers calvary were not particularly effective. Awayof the troopers peeled and took advantage of the abandoned houses and stores and looted them. One discussed the confederate saw the calvary men and said the horses were basically covered up. You could not see them with all the plunder atop the saddles. During the march, wheelers troops got into the way of the slogging infantryman and bullocks up the march group. His troopsrdee, or marching and fighting. The men were virtually sleeping en route. They were piled into each other like boxcars on a colliding train. The great book on the battle. And hundreds, if not thousands of confederates fell asleep along the line of march. He believes maybe a quarter of hardees was lost by the time of contact the next day. Yet, by 5 00 a. M. , Bates Division marched a dozen miles. At this point, hardee who was behind bate and walker calls a halt and seeks help. He has to find his own guys. Cobb offers to volunteer but warns of bad terrain ahead. Cobb warned it is a tangle of wilderness. That there is swampy ground, sugarcreek. Cleburneeered to lead and he offered one of his mill hands to help lead walker and bate into battle. Orriesile, mac has his w about a rebel attack which he had begun to fear on the afternoon of july 21 confirmed when a single station, lieutenant samuel edge sees dust columns and they can only be rebel troops. A. M. , he sends0 the intel into hq allowing mcpherson to respond. Mcpherson orders an infantry division, the 16th corps. Brigade. Eb by noon, the yankees are in position. They are perpendicular to the end of blairs line facing south, the very direction from which the rebels will attack. Yankee,ied to a yall. [laughter] there are times like this where she says, steve, i will give ransomy of a princes if you would devote to me just a portion of the passing you give to these long dead rebels. [laughter] i cannot, sweetheart. You are a yankee. Denow, im walking into the of the lion. Welcome to the south, brothers and sisters. The confederates the employment was anything but easy given the terrain and the fact that they were all tired and foot sore. Throughn slogged underbrush, muck, kneedeep water. He got so angry that he wanted to shoot case turner until major cumming cools him down. Just a half hour before noon, hardee knows he is behind, knows he has not gained the yankee rear so he orders cleburne to attacking flank. He could not see where the yankees wilere. I dont need to tell you how surprised bate and walker were that instead of rolling up the sweeneysy Found Division ready for them. Marker along moreland avenue. General bate i was ignorant of what i would see but i didnt expect to see yankees with batteries ahead of me. With men tired and demora lized, the contact fell apart. General walker shot from his force and walkers division is even repelled. This cannon was set in concrete at the presumed place of waters lkers death. It is now wilkinson avenue and memorial, i think. Wheleler also got a surprise whn he rode towards decatur. He found a brigade guarding the wagon train. Whoa, i thought i was going to capture them en masse. The infantry holds them off long enough for the wagons to gallop away. By the time hes about the change down the yankee wagon, hardee calls him back to assist in the attack that afternoon. At the start of the firing, mcpherson rode to the sound of the guns. He runs into skirmishes. Called upon some tennesseans to surrender. Turns, and shop in the back. He falls mortally wounded and dead within minutes. During the occupation of the marked. E site was officerss, u. S. Army raise this monument at the very site and you see it today. Monument and mcpherson avenue. Cleburnes attack, unlike bates and walkers, enjoyed some initial success. Capturing prisoners and a couple of batteries, but they run into stiffening resistance as they get close to the bald hill. Out of hood had ridden the city and in an area today that is an open cemetery, hood in the second floor of a house then, watched the fate of cleburnes attack. Some infantry to march east of the city and pursue the attack in the echelon way we have talked about today. Cheathams center most division actually cracks the yankee line. Working civil the war series may see this photograph in one of the paperbacks of general jacksons attack. The folks at spotsylvania park label this as jacksons flank attack. Ho, it is south t carolinians overruninnig theng e attack. Ourot feesteal illustration. [laughter] the 15th Corps Commander rallies his troops. You can see blackjack. He pushes them back. Brown and claytons divisions have to withdraw. Here is the famous scene. On bales. Behind cottan ba they capture plenty of aggressive he takes the guns. One last confederate attack trying to take bald hill fails. In the end, the confederates are pulled back. 3700, 5500 confederate. Sherman watched from the house that is today in the Northeast Corner of the perimeter. President carter had me talk about this with his family. Despites hoods inability to k attack, flan the battle of july 22 was as close as he got to a battlefield tactical victory during his generalship. It inflicted more casualties on any me forces than any other battle, it killed off general mcpherson, the only union army creek. Er at wilson the confederates drove the enemy from division works. And they captured a dozen pieces of artillery. Haul,nfederate artillery the seventhlargest in the field of battle during the war by my count. As i say, it was as close as victory as hood got. The press association blared it. By the next day in richmond, this headline was appearing glorious success by our arms. Wrote general davis that was it true that general hood won a glorious victory at atlanta . We know it didnt really turn out that way. If it was close, trumpet it. [laughter] he certainly lost the campaign, however. Shermanlater, it was who got his infantry on the railroad and cut the last Confederate Railroad leading south towards macon. Commissioned i had for my first book and i colorized it. Here on the macon and western, 3 00 p. M. , hood ordered his infantry to attack down here. It was not the battle of jonesboro that sealed atlantas fate. It was the fact that the infantry got a hold of the railroad by the time he was launching his attack. The interdiction of the railroad forced hood to evacuate atlanta. Here is the famous scene from the movie. Mayor calhoun surrendered the city. Aerman here photograph in federal fort southwest of the city. Lets get back to the comparison we have im doing right and fine, aint i . Steve, we said, ok, are going to have a lot of eastern theatricality. Let me import some near victory from the western theater, but i will throw and compare the battle with jackson. Is tactical differences between the two fights to account for victory of our arms in the one, and the failure of our arms in the second one. Leesxperience experience, he had already made his bones planning great flanking attacks like it second and assess. Just like at second manassas. John hennessy said in his book, that was the largest attacking battle that lee delivered during the war, 25,000 troops. So lead new how to do it. Click had never done anything like that. Hood have never done anything like that. This was only his second battle as commander. Of and enthusiasm for the plan. , whydrawing on chris book lee and jackson were so giddy about the possibility of rolling up the 11th core, they were excited about their prospects. On the other hand, party was andied hardy was worried riding through town he asked hood to alter his attack. He was going into battle certainly not enthusiastic. Thed difference, relationship between the Army Commander and flanking column later. Marvels, itson were was a marvelous example of a great congruence of talent. Hood andher hand, hardy were not especially best buds. As we know later on in the hardee isparty writing his wife complaining that jackson is giving so much attention to hood. And armyd for sake service and his junior is promoted over him. Finally, and what i have not mentioned to you, after the failure of his attack at peachtree creek, he started to criticize for launching his attack so he knows he is already being stung at plates headquarters. That is not a good working relationship. Talent andtical experience of the attack column commanders, jackson was brilliant where essentially did, gohas come and ahead and do it. Parties hardee was reliable. Condition of the men, jack allowed his men to sleep tonight just sleep all night. Troops were working all through the night. Jackson knew his route was 12 miles and hardee had no idea. He thought it is the probably distance for my outer works indicator. He was completely in the dark about this march and thanks to kurtz and others, it has been estimated at more than a dozen miles, maybe 13. Time allowed for the march and lee and hoods expectations for the attack time, lee just said get into position. He did not order a dawn or morning attack evening attack. To keepllenged hardee marching launches attack in the morning. That is unrealistic. Hotchkiss talks about the first days being pleasant in his diary. Welcome to atlanta, georgia, in the third week in july. Pleasant and even at night temperatures are still searing toward 90 degrees. Road conditions, we have talked about the brigade, gregs brigade, and caldwell talks about how the roads in the wilderness were still moist and