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  • Fighting for Atlanta: Tactics, Terrain, and Trenches in the Civil War by Earl J. Hess
  • William Lee White (bio)
Fighting for Atlanta: Tactics, Terrain, and Trenches in the Civil War. By Earl J. Hess. (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2018. Pp. 408. $45.00 cloth; $19.99 ebook)

On September 2, 1864, William T. Sherman telegraphed an anxious President Abraham Lincoln, "Atlanta is ours, and fairly won." This victory was ensured by a campaign of entrenching, understanding terrain, and maneuver, which Earl Hess brings to the forefront in the third and final book in his series on field fortifications in the Civil War and next addition to his recent works on the battles for Atlanta. [End Page 358]

With this book, Hess carries his study into the war's Western Theater, showcasing the progress and events along the eighteen major lines of defense that made up the story of the Atlanta Campaign and its immediate aftermath. Mirroring events that played out in the Overland Campaign, digging in and fortifications became the hallmark of the campaign for Atlanta. Hess, however, also shows that it differed from the East in several ways.

Like his previous works, Hess brings to the forefront the unsung heroes of this new mode of warfare, the Engineer officers and men on both sides. Men like Captain Orlando Poe, William Merrill, Herman Klosterman, and Chauncey Reese were due for a fair portion of the credit for Sherman's success while their Confederate opponents, Captains George H. Hazelhurst, Thaddeus Coleman, and Lemuel P. Grant enabled the Confederates to hold on to Atlanta as long as they did. Not to be forgotten in this process are the men who built the works, the specialist Pioneer Battalions, enslaved bondsmen, and the enlisted men of both armies who became skilled practitioners of the art of fortifying and adapting both in construction and overcoming the opposing fortified lines.

Contending with fortified positions resulted in new modes of warfare outside the manual and led to a style of fighting that many soldiers would not have recognized a year before. The skirmish line became a nearly constant presence as the campaign ground on day after day without let up, with mounting casualties, some units later observed they lost more men in this way than in the more noted battles of the campaign. With each fight, the men and commanders of both sides adapted their work. Nevertheless, at the army level, Sherman became the master of this new style of war, using the terrain to his advantage and being sure to not become bogged down in siege warfare. Sherman made what was considered to be a defensive mode of war, an offensive tool as he learned to hold his main lines with less men, then breaking free a large force to flank the Confederate positions, quickly ending most stalemates. While his opponent, Joseph Johnston did not adapt well to this new style of fighting, being [End Page 359] predictable and seeming to always set things up hoping for Sherman to assault his lines head on, which rarely happened. Despite officers within the army and outside trying to convince Johnston to change his obviously losing strategy, he refused to deviate from his course even as he came to the very gates of Atlanta. This path led to his relief by General Hood and a change to more offensive-minded tactics in a struggle for Atlanta's survival that soon racked up a long list of casualties against the entrenched Union veterans. Under such circumstances, Sherman within a short time had Atlanta's supply lines cut and the city was doomed. Movement and entrenching defeated simply defending fortifications and waiting for an attack.

Hess's book is another great addition to the recent historiography of the Atlanta Campaign, not only as an overview and a study of the fortifications, but also of the changing mode and culture of warfare. Better maps would have been of great benefit, as well as some diagrams about the various fortifications, along with a glossary about the various French fortification terms. With that said, the book is highly recommended.

William Lee White

WILLIAM LEE WHITE is a National...

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