Last to Leave the Field: The Life and Letters of First Sergeant Ambrose Henry Hayward, 28th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry

Chapter 11: “Carrieing the War into Africa”

Chapter 11 “Carrieing the War into Africa” THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN, MAY 3–JUNE 19, 1864 Campaigning began in earnest. On May 3 Geary’s White Star Division left Bridgeport and marched forty-four miles over the next two days. On May 8 it reached the foot of Chattoogata Mountain (also known as Rocky Face Ridge), a massive summit defended by Confederates under Major General Joseph Johnston. General Sherman hoped to dislodge Johnston’s defenders and gain access to Mill Creek Gap, an aperture cut into the mountain through which the Western and Atlantic Railroad passed. Sherman’s first attack, delivered by a portion of Thomas’s army, bogged down when it encountered a section of Mill Creek intentionally dammed and flooded by the Confederates. After Thomas’s first attack stalled, he directed Geary’s division to attempt a penetration five miles farther south at Dug Gap. Under Thomas’s instructions , Geary’s troops had to storm an 800-foot-high gap in the mountain where a small country road passed through it. If the White Star Division forced out the six Confederate regiments protecting this opening, they could threaten the Confederate rear at Dalton. Geary formed six regiments into a line of battle at the foot of the mountain, and he put two additional regiments in close support. The 28th Pennsylvania—numbering about 350 officers and men—held a position in the front line, second from the left, with its left flank resting on the Lafayette-Dalton Road. At 2:00 p.m., preceded by a line of skirmishers, the White Stars advanced, splashing across Mill Creek and then ascending the steep slope. All the while, Johnston’s soldiers—elements from two dismounted cavalry brigades—poured a destructive fire into Geary’s men. 220 The Life and Letters of First Sergeant Ambrose Henry Hayward The Confederates had the added advantage of protective rock palisades. In fact, along the entire western face of Chattoogata Ridge, Geary’s attacking line encountered nearly impassible terrain . Geary wrote that the sides of Chattoogata Mountain were “steep, covered with forest, and corrugated with ridgy spurs and formations of rock. . . . Along the top facing westward for miles on either side of the pass, rise palisades of rock impossible to scale and to be passed only through a few narrow clefts filled with loose rocks and wide enough to admit five or six men abreast.” Predictably, the attack faltered just below the summit. Colonel Candy remembered that the 28th Pennsylvania made a stubborn climb: “The regiment went at the work bravely, and ascended the mountain to within thirty yards of its summit, but on arriving at that point found it so naturally defended, in addition to obstructions placed by the enemy, as to be impossible to proceed any farther. They held their ground bravely, losing heavily in both officers and men.”1 The Battle of Dug Gap lasted until after dark, when orders from Sherman reached Geary, telling him to call off the attack. In all, the White Star Division lost 357 men. Of these, the 28th Pennsylvania lost 43, including 7 killed and mortally wounded. Hayward called it “another Taylors Ridge affair, a mountain nearly impassible.”2 However, the effort was not in vain. The men of the 28th Pennsylvania discovered later that their attack had served as The Battle of Dug Gap, May 8, 1864. Map by John Heiser. 221 “Carrieing the War into Africa” a diversion, allowing Major General James McPherson’s Army of the Tennessee to pass through Snake Creek Gap ten miles south. McPherson’s advance caused Johnston’s army to fall back precipitously , giving up its supply base at Dalton. On May 12 the 28th Pennsylvania followed McPherson’s army through Snake Creek Gap, and two days later, after a march of ten miles, the regiment arrived at Resaca, a station on the Western & Atlantic Railroad. Johnston’s army now positioned itself around Resaca with its flanks protected by two deep rivers, the Conasauga to the north and the Oostanaula to the south. Sherman commenced battering Johnston’s position on the fourteenth, but the 28th Pennsylvania did not engage in this fight. In the evening Sherman shifted the 20th Corps to the left wing to attack Johnston’s army near the banks of the Conasauga . On May 15 the 28th Pennsylvania lightly engaged Confederate forces. While other elements of the 20th Corps attacked the Confederate breastworks, the regiment held...