Atlanta 1864: Last Chance for the Confederacy

CHAPTER NINE Across the Chattahoochee

  Across the Chattahoochee When word reached Sherman’s headquarters that the Southerners had abandoned the third Kennesaw line, the Yankee commander’s characteristic optimism surfaced again. Convinced yet one more time that Johnston was hastening to get his army south of the Chattahoochee as quickly as possible, Sherman ordered his forces forward to strike the Confederates “in the confusion of crossing the . . . [river].” Thomas with the Army of the Cumberland swept into Marietta from the west and turned southward. The XIV Corps in the center moved along the railroad, the IV Corps to its left, the XX Corps on its right. McPherson and Schofield with the other elements of Sherman’s army group continued southward along the Sandtown Road. The Federal commander hoped they might strike the flank or rear of Johnston’s retreating column. Thomas’s men encountered a small Rebel rear guard just south of Marietta, and skirmishing erupted at once. The Northerners made slow progress against stout Confederate opposition. By late afternoon on July , as the Yankees neared Smyrna four miles from Marietta, Southern resistance so stiffened that the Unionists deployed a division for battle. It was, however, too late in the day for further combat. Secessionist skirmishers also slowed the Federals’ progress off to the west on the Sandtown Road. Unknown to Sherman, Johnston had prepared two major lines of fortifications between Marietta and the Chattahoochee. The Rebels had constructed their northern line along an east-west ridge that crossed the railroad at Smyrna. Its right flank was protected by Rottenwood Creek, its left by Nickajack Creek. The second line had been built in a semicircle  Across the Chattahoochee with its ends resting on the river some distance above and below the railroad bridge. The main body of Johnston’s troops reached the Smyrna line early on July . Loring’s Corps held the right, guarding the main road to Atlanta. Hardee’s men occupied the center. Hood’s troops stood on Hardee’s left, with the Georgia militia on their left. As usual, Wheeler’s cavalry covered the right of the Confederate force, Jackson’s horsemen the left. At : .. on the third Sherman wrote to Thomas, “The more I reflect the more I know Johnston’s halt is to save time to cross his material and men. No general, such as he, would invite battle with the Chattahoochee behind him.” (Somehow Sherman managed to forget that the Rebel commander had fought with his back to the Oostanaula and Connasauga and had tried to make another stand with the Etowah but a short distance in rear of his army.) Again believing that Johnston was attempting to escape across the Chattahoochee, Sherman asserted that the Northerners had “the best chance ever offered” to catch the Rebels at the riverbank or in the confusion of crossing the stream and inflict heavy casualties upon them. A day’s skirmishing along the line on July  produced relatively few casualties but an important result. McPherson’s Yankees on the western end of Sherman’s front pushed across Nickajack Creek and gained a position from which they threatened to cut the Georgia militia off from the main body of the Rebel army. Faced with this danger on his left, Johnston abandoned the Smyrna line during the night and marched away to the south. By the next morning the Rebels were safely in the heavy works of the Chattahoochee line. On July  Federals, pushing southward in pursuit, came up to the new Confederate position. The wings of Sherman’s army group—Howard’s IV Corps on the left, McPherson’s army on the right—reached the river above and below Johnston’s fortified line. Once again the Secessionist commander had chosen to make a stand with a river behind him. Skirmishing that afternoon soon demonstrated that the Chattahoochee line was far too strong to be carried by assault. With their own flanks securely on the river, the Yankees, too, were safe from attack. The Chattahoochee was still high from the massive June rains, but it was falling rapidly. While he studied the situation and waited for the river to drop, Sherman pulled Schofield’s army out of the line and sent it back to Smyrna. There it could both act as a reserve and be positioned to march quickly to Across the Chattahoochee  some point on the river to effect a crossing. The Yankee commander also...