Civil War 125th Anniv. "Atlanta: Part 1" - 1989 Re-enacting Retro

[Music] you Atlanta gateway to the South in 1860 the city was home to 20,000 people and to the young Confederacy was second in importance only to Richmond in 30 short years the town had grown from a single log cabin to a major Center for commerce principally due to the railroads that connected all parts of the south to this thriving growing city whose name had changed from terminus to Marthasville before becoming Atlanta in 1845 for major rail routes converged at Atlanta the Georgia Railroad connected with Savannah the Western and Atlantic with Chattanooga the Macon and Western with mobile and the Atlanta and West Point with the Mississippi by 1860 the city was appropriately nicknamed the Gate City goods and produce from all over the south flowed through its facilities and on to the coasts for shipping the city was also a major military target its manufacturing facilities turned out large quantities of cannon pistols cartridges and armor plate for gunboats as well as canteens buckles tents Spurs railway freight cars and artillery shells in addition a major portion of the food consumed by the Confederate armies was transported through the Atlanta rail centers putting this vital Center out of commission was high on the priority list of the federal command but taking Atlanta would not be easy the city had been heavily fortified by Lemuel grant a former engineer for the Georgia Railroad the Gate City was ringed with trenches artillery readouts and numerous obstacles direct assaults by any army no matter how strong would be very costly the Yankees would find the gate closed and heavily defended [Music] [Applause] [Music] William Tecumseh Sherman was no stranger to Atlanta he had visited there in 1844 as a 23 year old army officer now at 43 the war had taken its toll tall lean with a perpetually rumpled thatch of red hair and a rusty close-cropped beard he was a nervous energetic man who seemed to be in constant motion grant had great confidence in him and his aggressive nature Sherman spent the winter months preparing the grueling campaign he knew would come in the spring commandeering every railroad car and locomotive from miles around he stockpiles six months of supplies to keep his army in the field under Sherman's direct command were three armies totaling over a hundred and ten thousand men the army of the Cumberland under Major General George Thomas was the largest with just under 73,000 the army of the Tennessee conviction counted just under 25,000 finally the army of the Ohio led by Major General John Schofield added another 13 thousand men to Sherman's force included in this host who were 250 for guns and well over 12,000 cavalryman's Sherman planned to advance south along the Western and Atlantic Railroad a natural supply line on May 5th 1864 the same day that grant and the Army of the Potomac set out in search of Lee Sherman's blue columns swung into line of march headed south the Yankee armies east and west were moving in concert at last and the South braced to meet them poised to meet Sherman's advance was an old antagonist Confederate General Joseph egg Liston Johnston Sherman had faced Johnston's men at the First Battle of Bull Run three years earlier with Johnston coming out the winner the fateful wounding of Johnston near Richmond the following year had given robert e lee his chance for command now he led the major western army of the Confederacy the army of Tennessee Johnston's army was in poor condition to face Sherman's well supplied and well-equipped legions mustering perhaps as many as 60,000 men the morale of the Confederate Army was at an all-time low a string of defeats under Braxton Bragg had sapped much of their spirit and Johnston labored long and hard to infuse the army with new energy a measure of how bad the situation was was a remarkable suggestion by one of Johnston's best division commanders Patrick Cleburne Clayburn recommended the recruitment of slaves to army service with the promise of freedom in return for faithful service despite signatures from most of his brigade commanders clay burns proposal was not well received and the report was suppressed for many years after the war Johnston reorganized the army into three Corps the two infantry corps were led by experienced officers William J hardy a West pointer and author of the widely used book on tactics headed up one Corps known as old reliable Hardy had led the surprise attacks at both Shiloh and Stones River and had clay Vern Benjamin Cheatham and William V bait and W J Walker as division commanders his men were tough fighters and could be counted on leading the other corps was a veteran of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia newly promoted John Bell hood well-known as a scrappy fighter would bore the scars of combat he had lost a leg at Chickamauga and his left arm had been shattered at the Battle of Gettysburg he had lost none of his combativeness however and counted among his division commanders Thomas C Hindman Carter Stevenson and ap Stuart Johnston's cavalry arm was headed up by Joseph wheeler at 27 wheeler was a West Point graduate and was much admired by of the men in the ranks his daring tactics emulated those of Jeb Stewart Lee's flamboyant Cavalier but his command was badly used up by recent raids and fresh mounts were increasingly harder to find Johnston facing daunting odds appealed to Richmond for reinforcements Davis agreed to send him the core of the Episcopalian Bishop turned soldier Leonidas Polk Polk 16,000 men would not arrive until the campaign was underway however and Johnston would face Sherman where the severe men power disadvantage this coupled with Johnston's predisposition for defensive tactics did not bode well for the Confederates success against an aggressive enemy like Sherman to aggravate an already difficult situation relations between Johnston and Jefferson Davis had deteriorated badly rejecting Richmond's call for aggressive action on the basis of facing a superior enemy Johnston refused to offer an alternative strategy other than to suggest a wait and see what the enemy did approach this angered Davis and his confidence in his western general eroded further Sherman's first blow would be aimed at the strong Confederate positions near Dalton Georgia about 25 miles south of Chattanooga the rebel lines on rocky faced Ridge were formidable and Sherman had no intention of wasting his men in pointless frontal assaults he elected instead to distract Johnston with a series of probing attacks while sending McPherson and his army in a sweeping flank march designed to cut Johnston's supply line at Resaca some 15 miles further south Macpherson successfully completed the flank March without alerting Johnston but was prevented from capturing Resaca by a convincing show of force by the decidedly inferior confederate garrison there Macpherson withdrew a few miles to await the arrival of reinforcements Sherman chided his colleague for his caution by saying well Mack you've missed the opportunity of your life the decision meant that Sherman would have to fight for Resaca on May 14th reinforced now by Pope's Corps from the army of Mississippi Johnston dug in his heels at Resaca Sherman's troops attacked all day long without success and Sherman soon decided that another flank march was in order once again McPherson was sent south to cut off the rebels line of retreat while Sherman pounded Johnston's lines one of Macpherson's divisions under thomas sweeney forced a crossing of the Euston Ola River near Lay's Ferry with the Yankees threatening his rear once again Johnston surrendered the positions around Resaca and fell back again by May 16th Sherman's efforts against Johnston were by far the most impressive gains made by the Union forces thus far in 1864 grants bloody contact with robert e lee and his army of northern virginia now almost continuous for two weeks had cost the Army of the Potomac nearly 2,500 casualties a day five times the losses Sherman had sustained while not gaining any more ground than Sherman as Johnston fell back ever closer to Atlanta he cast about for the right place to stand and fight rejecting proposed defensive positions at both Calhoun in Adairsville he hit upon a plan to draw a Sherman into a trap at Adairsville the road South split into two routes one leading to Kingston and the other to Cassville by splitting his army into unequal parts with the larger portion heading for Cassville he hoped to convince Sherman to split his army as well the plan then called for the smaller Corps under Hardy to quickly move to Cassville where the reunited Confederate Army now with a numerical advantage would fall on a small portion of Sherman's army with a real chance of crushing it as Sherman's columns arrived at Adairsville he read the signs exactly the way johnston had intended he surmised that the confederates had retreated to kingston and ordered the biggest portion of the army under thomas to follow McPherson took a route even further west with orders to join up with Thomas at Kingston Schofield small army reinforced with hookers Corps numbering perhaps 35,000 men were sent down the road to Cassville Thomas and McPherson would be separated from Schofield by several hours March waiting for Schofield were 70,000 rebels anxious to turn the tide on the advancing Federals Johnston's plan was working beautifully [Music] hood was to strike the blue column from the east in the flank while Pope held them in front and Hardy kept the other federal armies at bay it looked foolproof the federal troops were unsuspecting and the Confederates except for Hood were all in place Johnston published an address to his men praising their courage and declaring I lead you to battle then as often happens in war chance played a crucial role as hoods men advanced to their starting positions a federal column of unknown size was discovered on hoods right front if the Confederates wheeled left have faced the men of Scofield column this unexpected force would be squarely on their flank hood was furious that the cavalry had not warned him of their presence altered his men throughout skirmishers and ultimately retreated to rejoin pope johnston was bitterly disappointed as were his men a great opportunity had been lost and the debate about who was responsible has raged for over 100 years it is generally believed that the Yankees were of hookers commando who had taken a wrong turn and wandered into the situation accidentally whoever they were they changed history of Castro they convinced the Confederates to abandon the best chance they had since the campaign began of slowing Sherman's advance with the opportunity to destroy a portion of Sherman's army lost Johnston found his corps commanders divided on whether to fight from the resulting positions hood and Pope were skeptical although hood later maintained that he advocated attack when well-placed federal artillery began raking the center Johnston concluded that the attitude of his officers would translate into defeat and elected to withdraw once again this time across the 8oa River many of his officers were extremely displeased with this decision and only grudgingly obeyed the Confederates took up formidable new positions at Allatoona pass Sherman had no intention of challenging this defensive position and resorted to the now-familiar tactic of slipping around Johnston's left his intention was to cut loose from his railroad supply line and head for the area of Dallas and New Hope Church but Johnston was now alert to these tactics and sidestepped his army to block Sherman when the vanguard of the Yankees under hooker arrived they found hoods entire core dug in to meet them hooker deployed in a formation used successfully at Spotsylvania narrow and deep and attacked the choice was a 4-1 in the deep woods and hooker was cut to pieces [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Sherman now began probing for Johnston's other flank with Oliver Howard's fourth core Howard stumbled around in the heavily wooded terrain until he felt he had arrived at the right place deploying his troops he sent a message to Sherman that said I am now turning the enemy's right flank I think but the noisy Yankees had alerted the Confederates to their purpose and Howard missed their flank by a wide margin the rebels shifted additional troops to meet the threat and Howard's attack quickly ran into trouble [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] concentrated fire an impossible terrain doomed the piecemeal assaults and the Yankees gained nothing as the morning of May 28th dawned the Confederates struck back baits divisions swung around to the federal right flank and struck hard driving the Yankees back [Music] as their lines wavered and confusion General John Logan known to his men as blackjack arrived on the scene [Music] waving is half Logan rally is disorganized troops and they surged forward retaking their line of entrenchments [Applause] On June 1st Sherman gave up on his flanking March and returned to the railroad life line the Confederates harassed his men all the way back and by June 3rd both armies were once again astride the Western and Atlantic Sherman was now only about 30 miles from Atlanta standing between him and his goal were several mountains all heavily fortified and Sherman would now be measuring his advance in terms of yards rather than miles On June 14th Confederate General Leonidas Polk was killed by an artillery shell as he and johnston surveyed the situation from Pine Mountain although never hailed as a military hero Polk was a competent officer and well liked by the troops and his death was mourned by many by the end of June the Confederates had consolidated their position on Kennesaw Mountain a formidable precipice that loomed 700 feet over the surrounding plain the rebels were well dug in and the Yankee troops held out little hope for a successful assault one illinois regiment took bets that they would never get past the rebel skirmish line but Sherman was tired of the slow progress he had been making and anxious for a breakthrough On June 27th he sent 13,000 men forward in an effort to penetrate the southern line [Applause] the steep ridges and rough terrain made it nearly impossible for the Federals to achieve any momentum in reaching the Confederate trenches intense rifle fire from the defenders cut the front ranks to pieces and the rear regiments had difficulty getting into the fight the Bluecoats soon went to ground in the front of the Confederate works [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] on the southern flank of the line the grass caught fire threatening to burn the wounded an officer stepped forward under a flag of truce and a halt to the fighting was called while men of both sides rescued their comrades from the flames moments later the killing began again repeated attempts by the Yankees to break out of their situation were unsuccessful time and again the federal columns went forward into what one soldier described as a vault Pina [Music] when the fighting finally ended Sherman had lost 3,000 men nearly 25% of the attacking force while the Confederates counted less than a thousand casualties General Thomas commented to Sherman that one or two more such assaults would use up this army Sherman agreed while Johnston's men were doing their deadly work on the heights Scofield's Yankees had slipped around hoods left flank and Sherman elected to follow him with the rest of the army on July 2nd the Yankee slid Southwest once again and Johnston's weary divisions abandoned the Kennesaw Works trying to stay ahead of Sherman only one river still lay between the opposing armies in Atlanta the Chattahoochee Johnston positioned himself north of the river to block Sherman but the wily Yankee outflanked him upriver and the Confederates were forced once again to abandon their works and fall back [Music] thanks for watching if you'd like to help us produce more compelling historical content like this please like comment below and share this video with fellow history buffs and of course be sure to subscribe to help keep history happening

Channel: LionHeart FilmWorks

Views: 12,765

Keywords: the battle of atlanta, atlanta campaign, sherman, hood, Civil War, American Civil War, war between the states, southerners, rebels, confederates, csa, yankees, north and south, blue & grey, battle, battlefield, combat, War, destruction, conflict, American history, Americans, soldiers, u.s. army, union army, federal army, military history, rebel flag, Americana, historical, reenactors, re-enacting, living history, re-enactors, reenacting, Johnny Reb, 125th, 1989, classic images

Id: 64GI7B3H1W4

Length: 28min 41sec (1721 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 27 2020