In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

THE DEATH OF MAJOR GENERAL W. H. T. WALKER, JULY 22, 1864 Wilbur G. Kurtz ctvtl war annals are replete with circumstantial accounts of casualties among the high-ranking leadership of the Blue and the Gray. Whether in major or minor conflicts, the records thereof present a notable list of general officers who, for various reasons, did not escape lethal bullets on the battlefield. With one exception, the records reveal the attendant circumstances. We are reasonably certain of how Generals Albert Sidney Johnston, Leónidas Polk, A. P. Hill, and Patrick R. Cleburne came by their deaths, but curiously enough, after nearly a century, a contemporary and circumstantial account of an official nature regarding the death of Major General W. H. T. Walker has never appeared. This is all the more singular in that General Walker was surrounded by members of his staff and others who not only saw the general topple from his saddle, but who bore his body to the Widow Terry house some distance to the rear of the Atlanta defenses. Confederaterecords aresilent about everything but the fact that General Walker was killed. Federal General John W. Fuller, commanding a division of Dodge's Sixteenth Corps, reported he saw a general officer, supposed to be General Walker, dash out of the woods, swinging his hat and urging his troops forward—then disappear in the smoke of battle—his riderless steed making for the rear amid cries of "bring off the general." Walker was not on that part of the field where Fuller's troops were posted; if he had been, Colonel James Cooper Nesbit would have mentioned it, for he, as temporary commander of Stems' brigade of Walker's division, was captured by the 39th Ohio, one of Fuller's regiments. He could have seen or heard of the hat-swinging general and hisriderless horse, had they beenin Fuller's front. If Major Joseph B. Cumming, Walker's Chief of Staff and present with the general almost up to the last moment of his death, knew just Longrecognizedas the leading authority on the Athnta Campaign, Mr. Kurtz served as technical adviser for both Gone with the Wind and The Great Locomotive Chase. He is the son-in-hw of Captain William A. Fuller of Andrews' Raidfame. 174 how and where Walker was killed, he failed to cite the circumstances in his address at the unveiling of the Walker monument on the battlefield, July 22, 1902. However, the Major's remarks correct much that happened during the brief period prior to the general's death, including the acrimonious exchange of words with General William J. Hardee. When General Sherman sent McPherson's Army of the Tennessee to the east side of Atlanta, he had only one purpose: to cut the Georgia Railroad at points east and west of Decatur. That he might have to fight a battle to gain this end was a calculated risk. GeneralJohn B. Hood, whohad succeeded General Joseph E. Johnston on July 18, did so on conditions, laid down in Richmond, that he would avoid everything but battles with Sherman's forces, then in motion toward Atlanta from the north and east. The first engagement resulted in failure to dislodge the Twentieth and part of the Fourth Corps of GeorgeThomas'Army ofthe Cumberland just south of Peachtree Creek on July 20. Hood launched this attack with Hardee's and Stewart's Corps. These troops advanced from the outer defense line some distance north of the inner and encircling line of Atlanta's fortifications. Cleburne's division of Hardee's Corps, held in reserve, was withdrawn after a mere token participation in the batttle and sent to relieve Wheeler's Cavalry, hotly engaged in withstanding attacks by McPherson's forces moving westward from Decatur, at Bald Hill—later known as Leggett's Hill—in East Atlanta. When Hood learned of this pressure from the east, he withdrew his forces from the outer lines north and east to the inner, or encircling line of city fortifications on the night ofJuly 21. This withdrawal was part of his plan to send Hardee's Corps and Wheeler's Cavalry on a night march southward from the city to...

pdf

Share