Georgia Department of Natural Resources

The Department of Natural Resources is an Equal Opportunity Employer and employs without regard to Race, Creed, Color, Sex, Age or National Origin.
50% of the funds for this publication were provided by the federal government under the Histo~ic Preservation Act of 1966 and 50% by the State of Georgia.

THE BATTLE OF PICKETT'S MILL "Foredoomed to Oblivion"
by Morton R. Mcinvale

Copyright

Georgia Department of Natural Resources Office of Planning and Research Historic Preservation Section Atlanta, Georgia

1977

Battlefield~ New Hope Church~ l864 Courtesy of National Archives, Washington~ D C )

"There is a class of events which by their very nature. and despite any intrinsic interest that they may possess. are foredoomed to oblivion. They are merged in the general story of those greater events of which they were a part. as the thunder of a billow breaking on a distant beach is unnoted in the continuous roar. To how many having knowledge of the battles of our Civil War does the name Pickett's Mill suggest acts of heroism and devotion performed in scenes of awful carnage to accomplish the impossible? Buried in the official reports of the victors there are indeed imperfect accounts of the engagement the vanquished have not thought it expedient to relate it ... Whether it was so trifling an affair as to justify this inattention let the reader judge . "
- Ambrose Bierce "The Crime at Pickett's Mill"

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author's appreciation is due a number of people who have provided him with assistance during the course of the research for this paper.
Richard M. Williams devoted considerable time and effort, assisting by taking many of the photographs which appear in this history-, as well as making available his master's thesis, which contains much valuable information on Pickett's Mill He also provided all the information concerning troop-movement sequence which appears herein. Mr Williams has spent hundreds of hours on the Pickett's Mill battlefield, locating and mapping trenches, extant gun positions, mill foundations, and other cultural features. His familiarity with the battlefield site enabled him to assist the author on a number of trips to the site, where he pointed out where the various troops were positioned, gun emplacements, trench lines, and the location of other features so important to an understanding of the battle. Mr. Williams is section chief of the Systems Planning Section of the Department of Natural Resources.
Sydney C Kerksis, retired Army officer and author of several studies on Civil War munitions, accomplished previous research on the Pickett's Mill battle which served as a foundation for the work of this report.
The author is also indebted to Bill Townsend for his interest in and assistance with this research, and his aid in editing the material. Mr. Townsend is an interpretive specialist with the Interpretive Programming Section of the Department of Natural Resources.
Jean K Buckley of the Atlanta Urban Design Commission visited the battle~ field site in 1973 and took many photographs, several of which appear in this report
Gratitude is also expressed to Tom Wilson, site superintendent of PiCkett's

Mill Battlefield Uistoric Site, and to Leonard Chester of the Site Planning Section, Department of Natural Resources, who prepared the three maps of the Pickett's Mill area for 1848, 1864, and 1868.
The cover design is by Mike Nunn, artist for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
The author also expresses gratitude to the Valentine Museum in Richmond, Virginia, and the National Archives in Washington, D.C., who so kindly furnished photographs of the Union and Confederate officers which appear on the following pages.

FOREWORD
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources owns and operates 44 state parks and historic sites. Many of these parks and historic sites have not been sufficiently documented, which is required to verify site authenticity and provide information for the interpreters and site personnel.
This report documents the history of Pickett's Mill battlefield in Paulding County, Georgia
The Battle of Pickett's Mill is significant in state history as the site of an important Civil lvar engagement fought on May 27, 1864. In one of the bloodiest battles of the Atlanta Campaign, Confederate forces repulsed a determined Union assault that cost the Federals approximately 1,500 casualties. The battle, and the stand made by the Confederates in the Paulding County wilderness during late May and early June, blunte~ Sherman's drive on Atlanta and delayed the eventual siege and fal'l of Atlanta.
Among the participants in the battle were 0.0. Howard, later the first commissioner of the Freedman's Bureau; Ambrose Bierce, noted 19th-century writer; and Patrick Cleburne, an Irish-born Confederate general.
The battlefield site is one of the last remaining, relatively intact battlefields from the Civil War. Pickett's Mill battlefield is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is the only State-owned site commemorating the Atlanta Campaign of 1864, which led to the fall of this important railroad and industrial center -- a campaign that was als~ decisive in determining the outcome of the war.
In researching the history of the battle, it was discovered that Pickett's Mill cannot be viewed in isolation but is integrally related to the whole series of skirmishes along what was known as the Dallas Line from May 23 - June 5~

1864. That history then concerns not the one engagement, but includes the Battle of New Hope Church, the Battle of Dallas and numerous, often nameless, skirmishes. It further includes a brief history of the men and women in this region of the state and how the war affected their lives.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I Introduction

A Location of the Site .

.-.. ............ . 1

B Definitions of Military Terminology

2

c Hilitary Rank Designations

3

D Military Figures Mentioned in This Report

4

A Antebellum Paulding County

15

B Paulding County, 1861-1864

23

III Sherman Invades Georgia

A. Prologue

29

B From the Blue Ridge to the Etowah

32

C Refugees

45

D Into the Wilderness

48

A May 25 1864 B. May 26, 1864

V Pickett's Mill

A Howard's Flanking Maneuver B Skirmishes Along the Main,Line
c Cleburne's Division at Pickett's Mill
D The Battle
(1) Hazen's Assault . (2) Scribner's Initial Assault (j) Second Stage of the, Battle
(4) The Final Union Assaults . (5) Sundown to 10 P M. (6) Granbury's Attack . (7) The Aftermath ' . .

VI Sherman Turns the Dallas Line ~-

A. The Battle of Dallas

. B. . c.

. . May 28-29, 1864
May 30-31, 1864

.

...

D. Sherman's New Strategy

E June 1-5, 1864

........ .

53 60 ,

69 76 79
82 90 91 93 96 99 102

112 119 124 127 128

VII. Postbellum
A. The Allatoona Campaign .......... 138 B. The Pickett's Mill Site and Subsequent Ownership . 140 C. Land Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
VIII. Appendices
A. Inventory and Appraisement of Benjamin W. Pickett's Estate, October 23, 1864 .......... 150
B. Order of Battle: Confederate Forces Engaged ... 151 C. Order of Battle: Federal Forces Engaged ..... 154 D. Biographical Sketches of Participating General Officers,
U.S.A. and C.S.A . ..................................... .- 156 E. Report of Major General Patrick R. Cleburn~ .. 162 F. The Battle of Dallas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND PHOTOGRAPHS

Following Page

Battlefield, New Hope Church, 1864 ......... title

Pickett's Mill- New Hope Church Area, 1848 ..... 18

Position of the Confederate Armies of Mississippi and Tennessee,

May 19, 1864 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......................... .

37

Dallas Line Operations, May 23- June 5, 1864 ......... 42

Operations Near New Hope Church .

52

Major General Alexander P. Stewart

55

Brigadier General John W. Geary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Pickett's Mill- New Hope Church Area, 1864 ........... 59

Battles at Dallas, May 27-31, 1864 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Major General 0.0. Howard . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Major General Patrick R. Cleburne

78

Brigadier General Daniel C. Govan

80

Historic Strue tures, Roads and Fields . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Battle Movements Sequence: 3 to 4 PM., 27 May 1864 . 82

Brigadier General William B. Hazen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Top of Hazen's Hill showing four Union gun positions ....... 84

Battle Movements Sequence: 4 to 4:30P.M., 27 May 1964 .... 84

Hazen's Hill from the south ...

84

Brigadier General Hiram B. Granbury ............. 86

Brigadier General Thomas J. Wood . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Pickett's Mill Creek, facing north, above the mill dam............ 88

Colonel Benjamin F. Scribner

90

Following Page

Vicinity of the Widow Pickett's home, west of the creek........... 90

Foundation of Pickett's Mill, facing south .

90

Battle Movements Sequence: 4:30 to 5:15P.M., 27 May 1864

90

Portion of one of the trench lines still remaining at Pickett's Mill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Union main line east of the creek was positioned in

this vicinity ....

91

Battle Movements Sequence: 5:15 to 7 P.M., 27 May 1864

92

Lowrey's position on the Confederate right following
Scribner's assult . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Position of Lowrey's right flank during the Battle of Pickett's Mill . . . .. ... . . .. .. . . . . . ... . . . .. . . 92

Brigadier General R.W. Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Foundation of Pickett's Mill, facing east ....... 95

Face of cliff near site of Pickett's Mill, facing north........... 95

Battle Movements Sequence: 7 to 8 P.M., 27 May 1864 ...... 95

Battle Movements Sequence: 8 to 10 P.M., 27 May 1864 ... 97

Battle Movements Sequence: 10 to 11:30 P.M., 27 May 1864 .... 98

Battle Movements Sequence: 11:30 to 12:00 P.M., 27 May 1864 . 101

Position of the Army of the Tennessee from May 27 to June 4, 1864 . . . . . . . . . . . ................... .-. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Position of the Army of the Tennessee, May 28, 1864 ...... 114

Major General John A. Logan

116

Major General Benjamin Cheatham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Major General William B. Bate ..................................... 117

Battle Movements Sequence: 28 to 30 Ma.y 1864 ..................... . 117

Battle Movements Sequence: 31 May 1864 ...... 117

16th Corps positions from May 24 to June 1, 1864

123

15th Corps positions from May 27 to May 31, 1864

123

Following Page

Left Wing, 16th Corps positions from May 26 to June 1, 1864 .. .

123

Position of the Army of the Tennessee after June 1, 1864 .... ...

128

Left Wing, 16th Corps positions near Owen's Mill, Georgia,

June 1-5, 1864 . . . . .

... ..... . .......

129

15th Corps position near New Hope Church, Georgia,

June 4, 1864 . . . . . . .

131

Marietta and vicinity, June, 1864 .

133

Pickett's Mill- New Hope Church Area, 1868 ..

139

Foundations of the Brand House ....

141

Foundation of Pickett's Mill, looking south toward the creek .... 143

r NOllJilUO~lNl

LOCATION OF THE SITE

Pickett's Mill Battlefield is locat~d in northeastern Paulding County,

Georgia, approximately six and one-half miles northeast of Dallas. Approxi-

mately 16 miles from Marietta and 35 miles from Atlanta, the site is reached

by taking Due West Road off U.S Highway 41 at Kennesaw. At the junction of

Due West Road and Georgia Highway 92, the visitor should turn right on Geor-

gia Highway 92 A quarter of a mile up 92, on the left, is the unmarked

entrance to the battlefield site, a dirt road leading to the curator's resi-

dence.

At present, there is no development on the site, and the curator's mobile

horne is the only structure on the 629.865 acres owned by the State of Georgia.
)
The terrain at Pickett's Mill today bears a close res'emblance to the dense

wood described by Union and Confederate soldiers in 1864. The trench lines of

the opposing armies are visible in many places The foundations of the Brand

house may still be seen, along with two unidentified house sites and a well.

I

'

Heavy second-growth timber covers the hills as it did when the battle was

fought on May 27, 1864. Although not now on State property, Pickett's Mill '

lies in ruins, with only the foundations and a portion of the mill still visi-

ble The roadbeds of 19th-century trails that crossed the battlefield site

are still to be found, and logging roads cut through during the 20th Century

traverse portions of the site

For the most part, the site is in excellent condition, retaining the fea-

tures that were here in 1864, with a minimum of visual intrusions or land-usage

alterations. There are areas where pot-hunters have d~g into the trenches for

souvenirs, and other areas where garbage and trash have been dumped. The site

is marked only by a Georgia Historical Commission plaque 0.8 miles east of 92.

- 1-

DEFINITIONS OF MILITARY TERMINOLOGY

Army -
Division Brigade Regiment Battalion Company Skirmish Line

Largest of the operational organizations of the North and South; an independent or semi-independent command possessing infantry, cavalry, and artillery service units The Federals generally named their armies for rivers; the Confederates named theirs for the state or region in which they were active.
Composed of two or more divisions, the standard organization of corps on the Union side was 45 infantry regiments and nine batteries of light artillery. The Confederates adopted the corps organization November 6, 1862.
Composed of two or more brigades, there were usually three brigades to a division.
Composed of two or more regiments, Northern brigades were officially designated by number within their div1sions; Confederate brigades were known by the names of their commanders or former commanders.
Infantry regiments were composed of 10 companies, with the exception of 12-company heavy-artillery regiments and cavalry regiments, which also were composed of 12 companies. Regimental headquarters consisted of a colonel, lieutenant colonel, major adjutant, quartermaster, surgeon, two assistant surgeons and a chaplain.
Major sub-component of some regiments; composed of a varied number of companies.
Major sub-component of a battalion or regiment. In the Union Army, an infantry company had a maximum authorized strength of 101 officers and men and a minimum strength of 83
The forward extension of an army's main line. A small light-infantry force, with light or no entrenchments, holds the skirmish line, harassing the opposing enemy's skirmish line, providing a buffer in case of enemy attack or serving as the forward advance in an assault of the enemy's position.

- 2-

MILITARY RANK DESIGNATIONS

The Union and Confederate armies differed only slightly in their system of -rank designations Confederate Army commanders were designated full generals, corps commanders, lieutenant generals, division commanders, major generals, and brigade commanders, brigadier generals In the Union Army, ther~ were no full generals and only U S Grant achieved the rank of lieutenant general Major general might connote the commander of a grand army (sherman), army (Thomas), or a corps (Howard)

Confederate

Rank
General _Lieutenant General Major General Brigadier General Colonel Lieutenant Colonel Major Captain First Lieutenant Second Lieutenant

Verbal Title
General General General General Colonel Colonel Major Captain Lieutenant Lieutenant

Command
Army Corps Division Brigade Regiment Regiment or Battalion _Battalion Company Platoon Platoon

Union

Rank
General Lieutenant General Major General Brigadier General Colonel Lieutenant" Colonel Major Captain First Lieutenant Second Lieutenant

Verbal Title
General General General General Colonel Colonel Major Captain Lieutenant Lieutenant

Command
Unfilled All U.S. armies Varied Division or Brigade Regiment Regiment or Battalion Battalion Company Platoon Platoon

- 3-

MILITARY FIGURES MENTIONED IN THIS REPORT

Confederate

Frank Armstrong -

Brigadier general commanding a brigade in William H. Jackson's cavalry division of Polk's corps Armstrong's brigade initiated the Confederate attack at the Battle of Dallas on May 28

J E. Austin -

Major commanding a battalion in Bushrod Jones' regiment of Clayton's brigade Austin's battalion held a position of the Confederate skirmish line along Purnpkinvine Creek on May 25, being driven back by Hooker's forces previous to the Battle of New Hope Church

Alpheus Baker -

Brigadier general commanding a brigade in Stewart's division during the Battle of New Hope Church Baker's troops carne under fire on May 27 as Hooker demonstrated against the Confederates while Howard made his flanking march.

G F Baucum -

Colonel commanding 8th and 19th Arkansas regiments in Govan's brigade of Cleburne's division. At the Battle of Pickett's Mill, Baucum carne in on Granbury's right to check Scribner, who was turning the Confederate flank Baucum checked Scribner, his attack also striking a portion of Hazen's brigade.

John C Brown -

Brigadier general commanding Tennessee brigade in Carter L Stevenson's division During the Battle of New Hope Church, Brown's troops were held in reserve

Brigadier general commanding brigade in Walthall's division of the Army of Mississippi It was Cantey's force, arriving at Resaca, that caused HcPherson to retire to Snake Creek, destroying Sherman's chances for trapping Johnston in the Blue Ridge

Benjamin Cheatham -

Major general commanding a division of Tennesseans in Hardee's corps Cheatham's division was involved in the Battle of Dallas on May 28, 1864

~enry D. Clayto~ -

Brigadier general commanding an Alabama brigade in Stewart's division During the Battle of New Hope Church, Clayton's brigade held the center of the Confederate line

Patrick R Cleburne - Hajor general commanding a division in Hardee's corps Cleburne's troops absorbed the Union assault at

- 4-

A B Clonts R.M. Collins S G French Randall Gibson D.C Govan -
H B Granbury -
Alexander Greene John B Hagan -

5
Pickett's Mill Cleburne was later moved to the Confederate left near Dallas and was involved in the subsequent skirmishing along the Dallas Line
Private in Company F, 40th Georgia Clonts was a native of Paulding County and wrote frequent letters to his parents near Brownsville
Lieutenant, Company B, 15th Texas of Granbury's brigade Collins wrote a history of the war, Chapters from the Unwritten History _9f the War Between the States .. , in which he gave a detailed, colorful picture of his part in the Battle of Pickett's Mill
Division commander in Polk's corps (Army of Mississippi) Troops in French's command were involved in a skirmish at about 11 a m on the morning of May 28, following the Battle of Pickett's Mill. In October, 1864, French's division made the unsuccessful assault on Allatoona in which John M Corse was wounded.
Brigadier general commanding a Louisiana brigade in Stewart's division During the Battle of New Hope Church, Gibson's brigade was posted in reserve directly behind Clayton's brigade.
Brigadier general commanding an Arkansas brigade in Cleburne's division On the morning of May 27, 1864, Govan had posted skirmishers before Cleburne's lines, who alerted him as to the course of Howard's march. During the Battle of Pickett's Mill, Govan's troops held the center of Cleburne's line Govan sent Baucum's two regiments to the extreme right flank during the course of the battle to fend off Scribner
Brigadier general commanding a brigade in Cleburne's division At the Battle of Pickett's Mill, Granbury's brigade originally held the right-most infantry position on Cleburne's line Later, support came in on the right Granbury's Texans led a night assault on the Union position in the ravine at Pickett's Mill, in which over 100 Union soldiers were captured
Private, Company B, 5th Kentucky, Lewis' brigade of Bate's division Green kept a diary of his war experiences in the Orphan's Brigade In June, 1864, Green was wounded near Kennesaw Mountain and died shortly after from the effects of the wound
Lieutenant colonel commanding the 37th Alabama in Baker's brigade. Greene's troops were involved in the Battle of New Hope Church and came under severe fire from the Union artillery on May 27, 1864.
Private, 29th Georgia, Steven's brigade of Walker's

6

Henry Hampton W J Hardee -
John B Hood -
T R Hotchkiss W Y C Humes Joseph E Johnston -

division Hagan's letters provide good insight into the Atlanta Campaign
Major, Confederate staff officer Hampton was at the Rogers house on the morning of May 28, 1864 In his journal, Hampton noted that he observed 700 bodies on the field.
Senior corps commander of the Army of Tennessee In his command were the divisions of Cleburne, Bate, Cheatham, and Walker Hardee's forces were located along Elsberry Mountain and south of Dallas during the Dallas Line operations, opposing McPherson's Army of the Tennessee Hardee's corps were involved in the Battle of Dallas on May 28. Hardee had taught at West Point prior to the war and authored Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics In December, 1863, Hardee refused command of the Army of Tennessee.
Corps commander of the Army of Tennessee In his command were the divisions of Hindman, Stevenson, and Stewart. Hood's corps held the Confederate right during the Dallas Line operations and was involved in the Battle of New Hope Church and, in a supporting role, in the Battle of Pickett's Mill Hood had previously commanded a brigade and then a division in the Army of Northern Virginia He assumed command of the Army of Tennessee on July 17, 1864 Under his command, the army was forced from Atlanta after a month-long siege, and he launched the Tennessee Campaign, which virtually destroyed the army. In the winter of 1865, Johnston resumed command of the army
Major commanding an artillery battalion in Hardee's corps His array of 12 guns, four Parrotts, four Napoleons, and four howitzers was placed to the right of Polk's brigade on Cleburne's line at Pickett's Mill Hotchkiss' artillery was instrumental in decimating the Union forces and holding back Howard's attack
Brigadier general commanding cavalry division in Wheeler's corps His brigade came up to fill a gap on the Confederate right between Kelly's and Martin's divisions near Pickett's Mill His troops helped check the early tide of Scribner's assault, until infantry forces could arrive
General commanding the Army of Tennessee. Johnston was in command from December 27, 1863, until July 18, 1864, when he was relieved of duty in favor of Hood Johnston again assumed command of the army following the disastrous Tennessee Campaign, and he surrended to Sherman at Bennett's farm near Durham, N C , in April, 1865 Previously, he had been a classmate of JefferDavis at West Point, commander of the Virginia army,

Bushrod Jones John H. Kelly -
Thomas J Key -
W W. Loring M.P Lowrey T M Mackall W.W Mackall W T. Martin Leonidas Polk -

7
and commander of the department in which the Army of Tennessee operated. He died of pneumonia, contracted while standing hatless in the rain at Sherman's funeral
Colonel commanding the 32nd and 58th Alabama regiments of Clayton's brigade of Stewart's division. Stewart sent Jones forward near the Hawkins house on May 25, 1864. His force was driven in by Geary's skirmishers just prior to the Battle of New Hope Church
Brigadier general commanding a cavalry division in lfueeler's corps. On May 27, Kelly's troops were positioned on Cleburne's right flank, having thrown up entrenchments for some 800 guards. Kelly's cavalry retreated before Scribner near the mill, putting up a fight that delayed him long enough for Confederate infantry to arrive.
Captain commanding Arkansas battery of Hotchkiss' battalion. Key, originally a member of the Yell Rifles, was an Arkansas neighbor of Cleburne. At the Battle of Pickett's Hill, Key was positioned between Govan and Granbury. He and his howitzers were responsible for the massive artillery barrage that the Union forces met.
Major general commanding a division of Polk's corps. Featherston's and Scott's brigades of Loring's division made a strong demonstration against the Union lines around New Hope Church on May 31.
Brigadier general commanding a brigade in Cleburne's division. Lowrey's brigade arrived on the extreme right of Cleburne's line on May 27 to join with Baucum in driving back Scribner at Pickett's Mill. Lowrey then remained on Cleburne's right, with Quarles' brigade in support
Lieutenant, Confederate staff officer, son of W.W. Mackall. He kept a journal of the campaign, in which he mentions the Battle of Pickett's Mill.
Brigadier general, chief of staff for the Army of Tennessee under both Braxton Bragg and Johnston.
Major general commanding cavalry brigade of Georgians and Alabamians in Wheeler's corps. Martin's cavalry held the right-most point in the Confederate line on May 27 during the Battle of Pickett's Mill. His troops were located along the Burnt Hickory Road, separated from Cleburne by Humes and Kelly.
Lieutenant general commanding a corps of the Army of

8

Tennessee Polk's troops were in the center of Confederate operations along the Dallas Line, between ,Elsberry Mountain and New Hope Church Troops from Polk's corps were involved in the skirmishing on May 28-30, and in the attack near the Osborne house on May 31

L E Polk

Brigadier general commanding a brigade in Cleburne's division Polk's brigade was posted on the left of Cleburne's line at the Battle of Pickett's Mill, in which battle the brigade played a conspicuous role Polk was the nephew of Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk

William A Quarles -

Brigadier general commanding a brigade in Hindman's division. Quarles was posted in support of Cleburne at the Battle of Pickett's Mill His troops came in on the Confederate right to check Scribner's assault, in company with Baucum Later in the battle, Quarles' brigade was drawn back into a second line on the Confederate right

Bromfield T Ridley -

Staff officer on A P Stewart's staff. Revisited New Hope Church battlefield following the war and wrote an account of what he observed

G W Smith -

Major general commanding Georgia State Militia The militia was not ordered to join Johnston's army until after the battles at New Hope Church and Pickett's Mill

James A. Smith -

Brigadier general commanding Texas brigade of Cleburne's division Smith's signal guns were to announced the general Confederate assault of Dal-las on May 28, but the attack was prematurely launched, and Smith's brigade suffered heavy casualties

Carter L Stevenson -

Major general, division commander, Hood's corps. Stevenson's division stood in support of Stewart during the Battle of New Hope Church

A P. Stewart -

Major general division commander, Hood's corps. Stewart's division bore the brunt of Hooker's assault on May 25 at the Battle of New Hope Church Stewart later commanded a corps of the Army of Tennessee.

T V Stokes -

Halfbrother to Mary Gay of Decatur and a soldier in Granbury's Texas brigade Stokes' letters to Mary Gay and his own reminiscences give a very human portrayal of events near Pickett's Mill

Marcellus A Stovall -

Brigadier general commanding a Georgia brigade in Stewart's corps At the Battle of New Hope Church, Stovall's brigade held the left flank of Stewart's main line, the left portion of his brigade in position in

W H T Walker E. C Walthall Joe \fueeler -

9
New Hope Cemetery without protection of any kind. Stovall was mortally wounded in the Battle of Atlanta and died in Leroy Napier's home in Macon on July 24, 1864.
Major general commanding a division in Hardee's corps. Tromps in Walker's division participated in the Confederate assault during the Battle of Dallas. Walker, a Georgian, was killed in the Battle of Atlanta on July 22, 1864
Brigadier general commanding a Mississippi brigade in Hindman's division. Walthall was posted in support of Cleburne in the Battle of Pickett's Mill 'Late in the evening of May 27, his brigade was placed on Granbury's left
Commander of the cavalry corps of the Army of Tennessee In Wheeler's corps were the divisions of Martin, Kelly, and Humes. Only W H Jackson's division, directly attached to the Army of Mississippi, was not under Wheeler's command. His cavalry played a crucial role in delaying the brunt of Scribner's attack at Pickett's Mill

UNION

Ambrose Bierce -
Frank P Blair Daniel Butterfield John M. Corse Jacob Cox -

Native of Elkhart, Indiana, a topographic officer with Hazen's brigade Bierce mapped out a sketch of the battlefield and was peJ;haps more familiar with the terrain than any other Union soldier. An excellent writer after the war, Bierce penned the best account of the Battle of Pickett's Mill in a story entitled, "The Crime at Pickett's Mill "
Major general commanding the XVII Corps. Blair was left behind to occupy Rome, and his corps did not . participate in the Dallas Line operations.
Major general commanding the Third Division, XX Corps. At the Battle of New Hope Church, Butterfield's division follm,;red that of Williams' in attacking the Confederate lirie.
Brigadier general commanding Second Division, XVI Corps, from July 26 - September 23, 1864. Corse held Allatoona against French in October of 1864, suffering a facial wound during the battle.
Brigadier general commanding Third Division, XXIII Corps (Army of the Ohio) Cox was interim commander of the Army of the Ohio during Schofield's absence.

10

Jefferson C Davis -
G H Dodge -
Joseph Fullerton Kenner Garrard John W Geary William H Gibson Samuel F Gray Henry Halleck -
William Harrow -

He later wrote histories of both the Atlanta and Nashville campaigns, as well as reminiscences of the war
Brigadier general commanding Second Division, XIV Corps During the operations along the Dallas Line, Davis' division was detached from the corps and positioned to the left of the Army of the Tennessee near Dallas Although Davis' division was to connect with McPherson's and Thomas' armies, there nevertheless remained a gap between Davis and the Army of the Cumberland on his left The Confederate attack on Dallas on Hay 28 struck along portions of Davis' line
Major general commanding XVI Corps in the Army of the Tennessee Dodge's corps moved from Van Wert on May 26 and reached Dallas that afternoon On the following morning, the Confederates attacked a portion of his line, attempting to file through the gap between him and Davis on his left Hardee's corps made at least two determined assaults along Dodge's line in the Battle of Dallas but was repulsed both times
Lieutenant colonel, assistant adjutant general of the IV Corps Fullerton kept a very detailed journal, minutely recording events and the times of occurrence His hour-by-hour account of Pickett's Mill is the best military account of the Battle of Pickett's Mill from the Union standpoint
Brigadier general commanding Second Division of the Army of the Cumberland's cavalry corps
Brigadier general commanding Second Division, XX Corps. It was Geary's advance, on May 25, that stumbled into Confederate resistance and touched off the Battle of New Hope Church Geary's brigade made the third Federal assault on Stewart's corps at New Hope Church.
Colonel commanding First Brigade, Wood's division, IV Corps Gibson's brigade made the second assault at Pickett's Mill, suffering 681 casualties in the battle, the heaviest casualties of any brigade involved
Lieutenant colonel commanding the 49th Ohio in Hazen's brigade Participated in the assault at Pickett's Mill
Major general, chief of staff of the U.S Army An early failure as a combat leader, Halleck w~ "kicked upstairs," where Lincoln took advantage of his administrative abilities Sherman kept Halleck informed of events along the Dallas Line so that, in turn, Halleck could inform the other Union armies, who would then be abreast of the latest war manuevers
Brigadier general commanding Fourth Division, XV Corps On May 28, Harrow's division was the right-most division

11

of Sherman's army, protected on its right by Wilder's mounted infantry. His division was positioned on a high bluf along the Villa Rica Road south of Dallas. This was the weakest position on the Union right, and it was here that Armstrong's cavalry first struck in the Battle of Dallas The Confederates initially captured three guns, but support from Wilder and Osterhaus beat back the Confederates from Harrow's front.

Milo Hascall -

Brigadier general commanding Second Division, XXIII Corps (Army of the Ohio). Hascall strongly disapproved of the wanton depredation characterizing Sherman's campaign through Georgia and registered an official complaint Hascall's troops were involved in the last serious fighting on the Dallas Line on June 2, near the Foster house.

W.B Hazen -

Brigadier general commanding Second Brigade, Wood's division~ IV Corps. At Pickett's Mill, Hazen's brigade made the initial Union as'sault and was punished severely. Hazen later blamed the supporting brigades, McLean, Wood, and Howard, for his fatal assault. Most of the Union accounts of Pickett's Mill were from officers of Hazen's brigade.

Joe Hooker -

Major general, XX Corps commander, Army of the Cumberland. Hooker launched the assault on New Hope Church on May 25, in which he suffered heavy casualties.~ His corps remained entrenched in the vicinity of New Hope Church for much of the time along the Dallas Line. In 1863, he had conunanded the Army of the Potomac but was relieved after the catastrophe of Chancellorsville. Constantly at odds with Sherman, he finally resigned his command of the Army of the Cumberland in July, 1864.

Alvin P. Hovey -

Brigadier general, First Division, XXIII Corps (Army of the Ohio). On June 3, Hovey's division and Butterfield's reached the Acworth Road, effecting the turning of the Dallas Line.

Oliver 0. Howard -

Major general commanding IV Corps, Army of the Cumberland. Howard directed the flanking maneuver of May 27 that resulted in the Battle of Pickett's Mill. Howard later commanded the Army of the Tennessee.

R.W. Johnson -

Brigadier general commanding First Division, XIV Corps. Johnson's division was used in a supporting role during the Battle of Pickett's Mill, although Scribner's brigade was involved in a front-line assault. Johnson was wounded in the chest during the battle.

Judson L. Kilpatrick - Brigadier general commanding Third Division, Army of the Cumberland cavalry corps.

John H. King -

Brigadier general commanding Second Brigade, First

12

Frederick Knefler John A Logan -
N C McLean -
Edward M McCook James B. McPherson -
Rufus Mead John Newton Peter J Osterhaus John M. Palmer -
Oliver H. Payne -

Division, XIV Corps. King's brigade was held in reserve during the Battle of Pickett's Mill.
Colonel commanding Third Brigade, Third Division, IV Corps In the Battle of Pickett's Mill, Knefler made the final Union assault His losses, 301, were the lightest among Wood's three brigades.
Major general commanding XV Corps, Army of the Tennessee, Logan's corps held the Union right when the Confederates struck in the Battle of Dallas on May 28. Logan personally rallied his troops and, although wounded, led the counterattack that repulsed Hardee's Rebels
Brigadier general commanding First Brigade, Second Division, Army of the Ohio McLean's troops, on Howard's right, were to demonstrate on the Confederate front and draw attention from Howard on May 27 McLean's failure to do so was a contributing cause in the debacle
Brigadier general commanding First Division, cavalry corps of the Army of the Cumberland.
Major general commanding the Army of the Tennessee McPherson's army was on Sherman's right during the Dallas Line operations and participated in the Battle of Dallas When McPherson effected his withdrawal, Sherman was able to shift east for Acworth. McPherson was killed at the Battle of Atlanta on July 22, 1864
Soldier in the 5th Connecticut Regiment whose diary provides an insight into the lives of the soldiers who fought along the Dallas Line
Brigadier general commanding Second Division, IV Corps. Newton's troops skirmished on May 27 in order to pin down Confederate forces and enable Howard to march to his left
Brigadier general commanding First Division, XV Corps, Army of the Tennessee During the Battle of Dallas, Osterhaus led a brigade of his division from the corps' left to its right, repelling the Confederate assault at that point
Major general commanding XIV Corps, Army of the Cumberland Portions of Palmer's corps were taken to assist Howard in his flanking manuever, and Davis' division was detached to act in conjunction with the Army of the Tennessee. For much of the time on the Dallas Line, Palmer was without a command
Colonel commanding 124th Ohio, Hazen's brigade, Hood's

13

John M. Schofield Benjamin Scribner William T. Sherman -
Morgan L. Smith David S. Stanley George Stoneman Alexander M. Stout W.H.H. Taylor -

division, IV Corps. Payne commanded Hazen's rightfront battalion in the Battle of Pickett's Mill. After the war, Payne purchased Greenwood Plantation near Thomasville, Georgia.
Major general commanding the Army of the Ohio. Schofield was injured in a fall and relinquished command on May 26-27. The Army of the Ohio held the Union left during most of the Dallas Line operations and was involved in skirmishes at the Foster house on June 2.
Colonel commanding Third Brigade, First Division, XIV Corps. Scribner played a prominent role in the Battle of Pickett's Mill. His early assault on Cleburne's right forced the Confederates to draw reserves to the front line. The attack almost succeeded in turning the Confederate flank and accomplishing Howard's grand objective.
Major general commanding the Military Division of the Mississippi. Sherman's campaign objective was to defeat and destroy the opposing Southern army. He had hoped to flank Johnston by his move on Dallas, but, becoming involved in a trench operation, he lost two weeks of time and several thousand soldiers. Eventually reaching Acworth, he did turn Allatoona Pass and regain the railroad for his next move on Marietta.
Brigadier general commanding Second Division, XV Corps, Army of the Tennessee. Smith's division held the center of the XV Corps line along the Marietta road during the Battle of Dallas. The Confederate assault here hit Smith's division with severity.
Major general commanding First Division, IV Corps. Stanley's division was involved in light skirmishing on the morning of May 27 as Howard's column moved east. His, and Newton's divisions held the IV Corps line in Howard's absence.
Major general commanding the cavalry division of the Army of the Ohio. Stoneman, on May 27, alerted Howard that he had located Confederate cavalry to his (Howard's) rear during his march.
Colonel commanding 17th Kentucky, Third Brigade, Third Division, IV Corps. Stout's Kentuckians were posted on the left of Knefler's brigade line. In the final Union assault at Pickett's Mill, Stout sought to have Scribner's right-most regiments move forward in conjunction with him, but the effort failed.
Colonel and artillery officer who accompanied Sherman, McPherson and Logan in an inspection of the Confederate

14

George Thomas -
Charles Walcutt -
A S Williams William B Williams James A. Williamson T.J Wood C R Woods -

lines opposing the Army of the Tennessee on May 30. During the Confederate shelling, Taylor was wounded in the chest
Major general commanding the Army of the Cumberland Thomas' army was involved in the heaviest fighting on the Dallas Line: New Hope Church, Pickett's Mill, the Osborne house Thomas rode forward to scout the Confederate lines prior to Howard's flanking manuever on May 27
Brigadier general commanding Second Brigade, Fourth Division, XV Corps Positioned on a high bluff near the extreme right Union position, Walcutt's brigade was driven back by the first wave of Confederate attackers in the Battle of Dallas on May 28. Logan galloped to Walcutt's position and led the Union troops in driving back the Southerners.
Brigadier general commanding First Division, XX Corps. On May 25, Williams had to re-cross Pumpkinvine Creek to join Hooker's remaining divisions near New Hope Church t~illiams, in a three-line brigade front, made the initial assault in the Battle of New Hope Church.
Lieutenant colonel commanding the 89th Illinois, First Brigade, Third Division, IV Corps. Williams' regiment was in Payne's battalion and participated in the heavy fighting in and about the ravine at Pickett's Mill.
Colonel commanding Second Brigade, First Division, XV Corps, Army of the Tennessee.
Brigadier general commanding Third Division, IV Corps ~vood' s troops did most of the fighting at Pickett's Mill (on the Union side) and suffered almost 1,500 casualties
Brigadier general commanding First Brigade, First Division, XV Corps vfuen Osterhaus rushed to support Logan's right during the Battle of Dallas, Woods took command of the division.

II PAULDING COUNTY

ANTEBELLUM PAULDING COUNTY
Moravian missionaries, traders and reckless adventurers had pushed into the Cherokee lands north and west of the Chattahoochee River prior to 1800. It was the settlement of lower and middle Georgia, and particularly the discovery of gold in the North Georgia mountains, that led to the pressure to remove the Cherokees from wibbin the boundaries claimed by the State. In 1832, the State of Georgia surveyed the Cherokee lands, divided it into 40and 60-acre lots, and distributed it by the Gold Lottery of 1832. The new territory was divided into the counties of Cherokee, Cass, Cobb, Forsyth, Gilmer, Lumpkin, Murray, Paulding, Walker, and Floyd. Prominent planters from Middle Georgia and elsewhere bought gold lots, expecting to find mines of the precious mineral surpassing those around Dahlonega.
The Cherokees were unwilling to surrender their ancient 'homelands, however, without a fight. The tribe paid William Wirt to defend its case before the United States Supreme Court. Friction between the State of Georgia and Federal authorities reached the boiling point, as it seemed that Washington was reluctant to extinguish the Cherokee titles she had agreed to four decades earlier. Governor George Gilmer ordered General Charles Floyd to march his militia into the Cherokee Nation. Gilmer barely avoided open conflict between Georgia troops and those of the Federal government under General Winfield Scott, who was ordered to gather the Cherokees into forts preparatory to their removal to the Indian territory. In 1836, the exodus of the Cherokees from Georgia was begun. 1
The white settlers pouring into the Cherokee Nation found little gold. The land was so disappointing, in fact, that "many a man bought a small farm for the price of an Indian pony," according to historian George Smith. The
- 15 -

16
Cherokee lands were "stony and often sterile," the "roads were still execrable in winter time," and the "curse of the land was the cross-roads groggery "2
Paulding County preserved the dreams of gold only in the land lots known as "Burnt Hickory Gold Mine" and "Austin's Gold Mine " Created on December 3, 1832, Paulding- was, from the beginning, a comparatively poor county Sandy, grey-graveled soil characterized much of the region, although a belt of redclay land ran northeast and southwest near the center of the county The county seat was established in Van \>lert 3
In his Statistics of the State of s;eorgia in 1849, George White reported that as of 1845 there were 4.439 people in Paulding County Because of the hilly terrain and poor soil, cotton was not a profitable agricultural crop, whereas grain could be farmed with some success As of 1845, there were only 775 blacks in the county, reflecting this absence of a cotton belt Post offices were located at Van Wert, Cedar Town, Huntsville, New Babylon, Pumpkin Pile, and Yellow Stone The horrendous roads in the county no doubt magnified the poor quality of the soil, for White was moved to say that "industry and enterprise were wanted in Paulding rr4
In 1850, Paulding County had an empty jail, and it didn't have a newspaper Fifteen churches were scattered across the rolling hills and sandy stretches, housing Primitive Baptists, Missionary Baptists, and Methodists. At that time, there were 5,560 whites in the county, one free black couple, and 1,477 slaves 5 Paulding ranked 29th out of 95 counties in population and had little more than half the people in each of the neighboring counties of DeKalb (14,328), Cobb (13,843), and Cherokee (12,800) 6
Between 1850 and 1860, Paulding County experienced no population growth However, portions of Paulding (including the populous and fertile region around Cedar Town) had_been parceled out to Polk and other counties, while Paulding was ceded a portion of Cobb County east of Pumpkinvine Creek This

17
land, ceded in 1851, included the future county seat of Dallas and a settlement near New Hope Church, as well as a grist mill owned by the Pickett family 7
The Pickett family had moved into what was originally Cherokee County in the 1830's. Their landholdings fell within Militia District 851 in Cobb County. 8 Malachi, patriarch of the Pickett clan, was born in 1807 in South Carolina.9 Malachi Pickett owned 180 acres of Cobb County land in 1848: 50 acres of second-quality oak and hickory upland and 130 acres of third-quality oak and hickory upland All his holdings were east of Pumpkinvine Creek, the majority being on the upper course of a tributary of the Pumpkinvine, later known as Pickett's Mill Creek. William Prewitt's farm was located to the north and west of Pickett's, and further downstream (north of Pickett) was James Bolt's farm. To the east of Bolt was L P. Caruth, and Isaac Osborne [variously spelled Osburn, Osburne, Osborn, Osborne] owned lands still further downstream.
By 1860, Pickett had gradually purchased lands further to the west until his landholdings were concentrated on Pumpkinvine Creek, north of Dallas and one and one-half miles southeast of Huntsville. This property was evaluated as the second highest in Militia District 1003 in Paulding County in 1860, appraised at $3,500 His personal property was appraised at $1,500. Living with Malachi at this time were his wife Mary, son Malachi, 27-year-old daughter Rachel and female domestic Damorous Pace. The younger Malachi Pickett worked as a tenant on the 240-acre farm, on which the Picketts grew wheat, corn, cotton, oats, and sweet potatoes The family owned four horses, two "milch" cows, three sheep, and 50 swine 11
On the rolling hills along Pickett's Mill Creek, Malachi's son, Benjamin Pickett, owned the 300-acre farm and mill that gave the stream its name. Benjamin Pickett was 32 years old in August of 1860. His 23-year-old wife of 10 years, Fanny (Martha), had given birth only three months before to a baby girl.

18
By a previous marriage he had three children: Malachi, nine years old, William G , four years old, and a daughter, Louisa, six years old. His livestock consisted of two horses, a "milch" cow, four oxen, two cows, 15 sheep, and 25 swine The previous year he had grown 500 bushels of corn, 75 bushels of wheat, 100 pounds of sweet potatoes, and had harvested 200 tons of hay. Ben Pickett's farm was appraised at $2,000, and although he was not as well off as his father, he was one of the more prosperous farmers in the district. 12 o f t h e more prosperous f armers 1. n t h e d1' str1. ct 12
South of the mill along the road from Dallas, near where it junctioned to Acworth and Allatoona, James C. Pickett owned 160 acres of rolling farm and timberland James' wife had died earlier, and he had only recently married a 20-year-old woman named Elizabeth. The Picketts had two sons and three daughters on their farm, which was planted in corn, wheat, and cotton 13
Younger brother Francis M. Pickett operated a modest 65-acre farm on which he produced 10 bushels of wheat, 150 bushels of corn, 30 pounds of butter, two tons of hay and 10 pounds of honey His 16-year-old wife Frances assisted him with the farm and his livestock of a horse, a mule, a "milch" cow, two oxen, three cows, four sheep, and 12 swine.l4
The community around Pickett's Mill was largely self-sufficient. The farmers grew enough grain for themselves and their livestock and perhaps enough cotton to bring in a small income They had their swine and cattle, mills to grind their grain, the timber from the forests, and liquor stills enough to produce their own whiskey The poor roads to Acworth and Marietta hampered what little trading activity there might have been. The people were far from the railroad, cradled in their hills, and were, to some degree, isolated from the material comforts manifested in Atlanta or the more fertile farmlands to the south, where farmers enjoyed a better standard af living
Among the Picketts' neighbors were illiterate tenant farmer William

PICKETT S MILL-NEW HOPE CHURCH AREA, 1848
e BURNT HICKORY
GOLD MINE

HUNTSVILLE

BROWN'S MILL
1103 1104
NEW HOPE CHURCH

899 900
5
1185 I 186 1187
16. 10. 8
1191 .
17. 1190

LEGEND
l Malachi Pickett Farm a Pickett l030
2 Benjamin Morris Farm 3 Joshua Word original grantee 4 John Burgamy 5. Isaac Osburn Farm 6. L P Caruth ? Oliver Brintle Farm
a Brintle 8 Benjamin Abney Farm 9. Elenor Rogers lO. W B. Waters ll Silas Thompson Farm l2 William Compton Farm l3 Archibald Carter l4 Jacob Clontz Farm l5 Jesse Humphrey l6 John Jeffers l? Jeremiah Matthews lB William Neal l9 William Prewett Farm
a Prewett 20. John S. Prewett 2l Wi l Uam Standaker 22 James Wilkins 23 William Weddington 24 Robert Weddington 25 ~Tames. Bolt 26 Abraham Glore

19
Rogers with his eight children and 80-year-old mother-in-law; blacksmith Marion Eubanks; tenant farmers James Rogers, William Barrett, and Joseph Griffin, and a day-laborer named McScot. Among the others living in the hills along the roads between New Hope Church and the Cobb County line was Ira Camp [The spelling "Kemp" was often used interchangeably with this.], whose prolific clan was scattered everywhere between Kennesaw Mountain and Elsberry Mountain. Fifty-four-year-old Ira Camp lived near Ben Pickett. His brother, John Camp, and his son, James G. Camp, lived near Marion Eubanks' blacksmith shop. Eubanks' son, Oliver, was working as a tenant on the younger Camp's farm. 15
Along Pickett's Mill Creek, both Ransom Lolbert and William Mathews had scratched small farms out of the hills and woods. Lolbert had returned to Georgia from Alabama about 1857 with his eight children and wife Lucinda. Daylaborer Edward Sanford and tenant John Shipp lived on the roads winding through the hills, and 40-year-old widower Samuel Akins was a sawyer, working at one of the mills along Pickett's Mill Creek. 16
The Brand family seems to have been connected with the Picketts since their arrival in Cobb County, if not earlier. Malachi Brand had been born in Fairfield County, South Carolina, in 1793, and a branch of the Pickett family had also been living in Fairfield County at that time. In his younger years, Brand had moved to Tennessee, where his son Zachariah was born. When he returned to Georgia and moved into what was then Cobb County, Brand carved out a farm, and his son Zachariah did the same. In 1860, Malachi Brand was 67 years old, illiterate, and married to a woman named Ann Living in the household with Malachi and Ann were six unwed daughters: Martha, 39; Celia, 35; Elenor, 33; Nancy, 31; Charity, 30, and Sarah, 25. Zachariah Brand and his teenaged sons, William and John, were the only able-bodied men between 15 and 67 in a Brand clan that numbered 16. Zachariah Brand's farm bordered that of Ben Pickett's on the north. 17

20
To the northwest on Pumpkinvine Creek was Owen's Mill, operated by George A. Owen of Providence, Rhode Island, who had come to Paulding County in 1848. 18 Littleton L Brown operated a mill further east on Thompson (or Brown's Mill) Creek, about two and one-half miles no!theast of New Hope Church. Brown's house was a humble, one-and-a-half-story structure with a single side chimney The home was weatherboarded, and a porch ran the full distance across the front of the house 19
Between New Hope Church and Dallas ran Elsberry Mountain, named after War of 1812 veteran Lindsey Elsberry, who was one of the first settlers in the Cherokee Nation Elsberrys were scattered throughout Paulding County The Algoods, Lemuel Maulding, the Hogans, Willises, Isaac Osborne, and others had their d'\ellings located throughout the district, and they, too, had their farms planted in corn, wheat, sweet potatoes, cotton, and sweet-smelling hay, as well as keeping oxen, swine, cattle, horses, mules, and chickens When the court was in session and the crops were laid by, the farmers went to Dallas
In 1854, the county seat was removed from Van Wert to Dallas, which had been organi~ed on February 8, 1854 County officials innnediately ~ook office in a two-story brick courthouse erected the previous year 20 Dallas had 1,000 people, more or less, in 1860 A correspondent of the Augusta Constitutionalist gave an unflattering portrait of Dallas as he saw it on May 27, 1864
Our line stretched along the crest of Pleasant Hill, embracing the meeting house on New Hope The point is four miles east of Dal- . las -- a village of squalid tenements, ragged appearance, and very few citi~ens The land here is undulating, sparsely timbered and unpicturesque But it is highly military and affords us a good position . 21
Education and other cultural amenities lagged in Paulding County also, but
on December 17, 1860, the Dallas Male and Female Academy was chartered 22 The
homes were not pretentious, and only Jacob Owen was rich enough to indulge in

21
luxury if he so chose. There was a representative legal fraternity in Dallas headed by North Carolina-born lawyer J.H. Weaver. Other lawyers included C.D. Forsyth and T C. Moore There were no more than six recognized medical doctors in Paulding County, and most of these resided in or around Dallas. Doctors Augustus 0 Smith and G.S. Parker had their offices in Dallas, and they were not w.1thout compet1. ti on. 23
When the farmers from the outlying countryside came to town in their wagons or carriages, on horse or mule, they were confronted by a collection of brick or wood buildings, unpaved and unlighted streets, and livestock occasionally sauntering across the square. At the courthouse, Clerk L.L. Strickland, with his artistic calligraphy, signed the deeds and mortgages into the court record. James Busby was a skilled mechanic who could work with their mill equipment, steam engines, and the like. Carpenters Samuel Hart and John M. Farmer in Dallas were involved in whatever buildings were going up in town, designed furniture for a variety of customers, and took orders from home-builders wealthy enough to afford a carpenter. J.J. Gregory's store near the courthouse offered a variety of merchandise: hardware, leather goods, tools, crockery, china, glassware, clothing, seed, and so on. Farmers could purchase their groceries at James Read's establishment. Bars were as plentiful as groeery stores in Dallas: William L. Prewett [This spelling also alternately used as Prewitt, Pruett, and Pruitt.] and his 19-year-old son Luke ran a bar, as did J.P. Compton. For shoe repair, shoemaker Thomas Wynn was on hand, and seamstress Elizabeth Beall supported herself with her needle. School teachers were surprisingly abundant in Dallas, being employed either at the Dallas Male and Female Academy, at a private institution, or as tutor to the children of one or another of the Paulding County families. 24
To the west of Dallas was Villa Rica; to the north, Cartersville; to the east, Acworth, and to the east and south were Marietta and Atlanta. As a

22
trading market, a major communications crossroad, a railhead, Dallas was hardly significant enough to find its way onto a state map The rails ran through Acworth down to Marietta and Atlanta, not through Dallas Isolated, thinly populated and not a flourishing agricultural region, the Dallas-New Hope Church-Pickett's Mill area seemed an improbable location for armies to visit who were struggling for control of Georgia.

PAULDING COUNTY, 1861-1864
In the Presidential election of 1860, Paulding County voters gave a healthy majority for extreme Southern Rights Democrat John C. Breckenridge.25 Paulding County consistently went Democratic in the state and national elections The bitter political rivalry characterizing many Georgia counties was absent here, there were few slaves in the county, making this issue and the economic factors related to it of less concern than they were elsewhere. The voters of Paulding County elected Henry Lester and John Y. Algood as delegates to the convention in Milledgeville in January of 1861. Both Algood and Lester
voted 1. n f avor of t he reso1ut1.on whereby Georg1. a seceded f rom t he un1. on. 26
Algood was one of the four original justices of the peace for the 839th District, commissioned on June 12, 1833, and was later a justice of the Inferior Court of Paulding County.27 Henry Lester was a farmer with a small house north of Poplar Springs Church in the southern part of the county. He was 49 years old in 1860, and the value of Lester's farm and personal estate compared closely with that of Malachi Pickett. His wife Emily, 45 years old, and 60year-old Nancy Stamps and Sarah Mathews, 55 years old, lived in Lester's home.28
In the early months of the war, Paulding County volunteers for the army were in abundance As the war drew on, however, the exuberance died, the volunteers vanished, and recruitment officers flourished In the gubernatorial election of 1863, the county gave incumbent Governor Joseph E. Brown a resounding 281-170 defeat. The recipient of the 281 votes was Joshua Hill, Unionist and opponent of the war.29
Benjamin Pickett, an officer in the district militia, joined up for $50 bounty on March 12, 1862, and was elected second lieutenant of Company D of the 1st Georgia Cavalry on August 5 The 1st Georgia was part of Crews' brigade of
- 23 -

2~

Allen's division of Joe Wheeler's cavalry corps of the Army of .Tennessee.30

[It should be noted that the Union Army of the Tennessee was named after the

\

.

Tennessee River, the Confederate Army of Tennessee was named after the state

of Tennessee ]

Benjamin Pickett's 25-year-old brother, Malachi T., was appointed second

lieutenant in the Cotton Guards on July 11, 1861 The Guards (Company H of

the 19th Georgia Infantry) served in the Confederate army in Virginia. On

December 3, 1862, Malachi resigned, producing a surgeon's certificate of disa'
bility. In a letter to Secretary of lVar Thomas Jefferson Randolph, Malachi

complained that he had been suffering with "Rheumatism, hernia and Piles."

There were six Picketts in Cotllpany Hof the 19th Georgia alone, and like Ben,

there were Picketts in other regiments as we11.31

James C Pickett had evidently lost his enthusiasm for the war by the

_spring of 1863. He had joined Company C, 25th Georgia Battalion Infantry, and

on April 14, 1863, a notice appeared in the Atlant~ Southern ~onfederacy listing James Pickett ~s a deserter 32

Conditions in Paulding County were- decidedly altered when Beri Pickett

returned home on sick furlough early in ' 1863 There was a new Baptist church

in the community now. Northeast of Pickett's Mill on the road to Acworth,

stood Cross Roads Baptist Church, organized on September 14; 1861 Malachi

Pickett was a deacon in the congregation, and on the third Saturday of each

month, he would carry his family to Cross Roads for the monthly two-day church

meeting 33 There were more substantial :changes, also. His brother 'James was

home, a deserter for whom the war had already ended. Many more were home on

furlough or discharge or through desertion. The land had not changed, but its

owners had. For $3,500, Malachi Pickett had sold J.C. Harris 300 acres,

including the land east of Ben's home all the way to the Cobb County line, and

half-intergst in the grist mlll on Pickett's Mill Creek. Downstreatli, in a

25
bend of the creek, J C Leverett was erecting a woolen mill or factory on the land that Ben Pickett had sold to him in 1862. Slowly, the Picketts were losing all the land their family had once owned on Pickett's Mill Creek.34
Joseph C. Harris, known as Christopher, was born in 1829 and was a farmer from Milton County (later Fulton) near Alpharetta Harris' wife, Ann, was 34 years old in 1860, and they had a daughter, who was one year old.35 Chris Harris moved his family into a well-built house on the south side of the road from New Hope Church to Acworth, near its junction with the road from Huntsville Situated on a prominent ridge, the Harris house was a two-story weatherboarded structure with side chimneys and a porch that ran three-quarters of the distance across the front facade 36 The Harris house is mentioned in several accounts of the Battle of Pickett's Mill, having served as a Confederate hospital. As Harris owned the land for two years prior to the battle, it is possible that he actually built the house, although the Picketts may have built it earlier during their ownership of the land, with Harris merely moving in and occupying it.
When Ben Pickett returned to the Army of Tennessee, he left his family behind him for the last time: Martha, 26, his wife; his sons Malachi, 12, and Billy, seven, daughters Louisa, nine, and Mary, three; and a slave named Martin. When he was killed at the Battle of Chickamauga on September 19, 1863, the army sent back his cavalry saddle, his double-barreled shotgun and his Colt pistols. On November 2, Martha Pickett sold all his perishable property for $2,483.25 The administrators set apart "for the Widow and orphans" 1,200 pounds of pork, 40 bushels of wheat, 200 bushels of corn, 2,500 bundles of fodder, $150 for salt, and six shoats. Widow Pickett retained the homeplace. Zach Brand bought most of Ben's effects: horses, jackass, hogs, shoats, yoke of oxen, and wagon, plow, plow stock, beehives, saddles, Colt pistols and Pickett's $50 watch.37

26
If Ben Pickett had lived to see the apple trees blossom, he would have found his way home with the retreating Army of Tennessee. His regiment in Joe Wheeler's cavalry would fight on the doorsteps of his house, while other Confederate troopers formed lines on the creek bank, by the mill, in the timber, among the grain fields and by the vacant houses. When May 27, 1864, came, Paulding County boys who had grown up on the banks of the creek and lived within shouting distance of the mill would be fighting across the same fields their own families and neighbors had plowed, planted and harvested.

FOOTNOTES Chapter II

1 George G Smith, The Story ~ Georgia and the Georgia People, 1732-1860 (Macon, Ga George G. Smith, Publisher, 1900), pp. 413-22.
2 Ibid , pp 424-25, 428-29

3 Lucien E Roberts, A History of Paulding County (Dallas, Ga.: 1933), pp.

7, 8, 26.

/

4 George White, Statistics of the State _of Georgia (Savannah: W. Thorne Williams, 1849), pp 465-67

5 United States Census of 1850, "Social Statistics, Georgia."
6 Georgia Official and Statistical Register, 1973-74 (Atlanta: Ben W Fortson, Secretary of State, 1974)

7 Roberts, .QE_ cit ,, p 45

8 Cobb County Tax Digest, 1848
9 US Bureau of the Census, Census of 1840 (Cobb County, Georgia).
1 Cobb County Tax Digest, 1848

ll United States Census, 1860, "Agricultural Productions, Georgia "

12 Ibid , "Confederate Pension Applications, Paulding County."

13 Ibid., "Agricultural Productions, Georgia" 14 Ibid

l5 U.S Bureau of the Census, Census of 1860 (Paulding County, Georgia).

16 Ibid 17 Ibid.

18 Roberts, op cit , p 40 19 Wilbur G. Kurtz, Sr Collection, Atlanta Historical Society, Box 32, 8.

20 Roberts, op cit , pp 7, 8, 26, 49

21 Ibid., p 45.

22 Ibid , p 59

- 27 -

28

23 U S Bureau of the Census, ~ensus of 1860 (Paulding County, Georgia) 24 Ibid.

25 U B. Phillips, Georgia and State Rights (Washington, D C ing Office, 1902), map following p. 204
26 Roberts, ~ cit , p 41 27 Ibid., pp 99, 107

Government Print-

28 U S. Bureau of the Census, Census ot 1860 (Paulding County) 29 Roberts, ~ cit , pp 42, 43

30 Compiled Service Records, Paulding County, "Confederate Pension Applications, Paulding County "
31 Ibid.
32 Ibid.

33 Roberts, op cit. , p 159

34 Paulding County Superior Court, Deeds and Mortgages, Book!, pp. 344-45, 351, 549

35 US. Bureau of the Census, Census of 1860 (Milton County, Georgia).

36 Wilbur G Kurtz, Sr. Collection, loc cit

37 Paulding County Superior Court, Wills and Estate Records, Book ~. pp 446-48.

III. SHERMAN INVADES GEORGIA

PROLOGUE
Following the Confederate debacle at Missionary Ridge in November of 1863, the beaten Army of Tennessee fell back to Dalton, Georgia To restore the morale of the shattered army and throw up a barrier between Georgia and the Union armies around Chattanooga, Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed Gen-
1 eral Joseph E Johnston, on December 16, 1863, to command the army. Davis had undergone much tribulation before he was convinced to settle on Johnston. The President had attempted to persuade Robert E. Lee to take command, and it was only with difficulty that Lee had convinced him that he (Lee) should remain in Virginia. In his place, Lee suggested fellm_. Virginian Johnston. 2
Friction between Johnston and Davis had been building throughout the war The allies of Johnston in the Confederate Congress were among Davis' worst critics, and Johnston had done nothing to cool their criticism. He was a small, cocky man with grey hair, a well-trimmed Van Dyke beard, and a warm smile in his eyes. But this same man, who could inspire troops as few generals in either army, was a contradiction, who, beneath the outward appearance, "seemed sarcastic, eschewed self-pity, and possessed a fierce sense of pride " 3
Johnston had done nothing to justify the confidence that his many advisors placed in him, his only victory in three years of war having come in July of 1861 at the Battle of Manassas While Washington stood open to a Confederate invasion, Johnston spent his time constructing fortifications Davis had urged him to move on Washington, but Johnston delayed Johnston's defenses fell in the spring of 1862, and Richmond itself was under siege when he was wounded in the Battle of Seven Pines. Lee succeeded him, and Confederate fortune took a dramatic turn for the better. Sent to relieve the besieged defenders of Vicksburg, Johnston had moved lethargically to his objective, avoided battle, and
- 29 -

30
Vicksburg had fallen The Davis-Johnston feud flamed anew during the winter months of 1864.
Davis suggested that Johnston join forces with James Longstreet's army in Knoxville and push north to the Ohio River as Braxton Bragg had done in the summer of 1862 Johnston told Davis that he lacked the men, mules, wagons, guns, and subsistence for such an undertaking He informed the President that he would continue to recruit and train his army in preparation for the Union invasion. Worse, Johnston was secretive and showed distinct signs of withholding military information from his commander-in-chief When spring came to the Blue Ridge, the President and the general would still be arguing.4
North of the Blue Ridge with the Union armies was Major General William Tecumseh Sherman, commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi, a lanky man with an unkempt red beard and a fondness for cigars. Disarrayed and slovenly in appearance, Sherman wore a single spur on one of his boots, which were caked in red clay He seethed with nervous energy, talked incessantly, and his wild unnatural, awkward gestures did much to verify earlier suspicion that he was a madman.5
He had failed as a lawyer, as a banker and as a painter. The war was his salvation. At First Manassas (Bull Run), Sherman had been one of a handful of Northern officers to distinguish himself, and later, he had been transferred to Kentucky Here, he made the unorthodox prophecy that to subdue the rebellious states from the Ohio to the Gulf, Washington would need 200,000 men. It was obvious that he was a defeatist and a madman. Under suspicions of lunacy, Sherman saw his military career on the verge of extinction. For a time, he contemplated suicide. Finally, U.S. Grant would rescue him from himself and oblivion. 6
Sherman had not fared well at Shiloh, where his troops received the first

31
blow in a shock wave that almost forced the army into the Tennessee River. In the Vicksburg Campaign, Sherman had given no hint that he possessed out-of-theordinary talents. But turned loose to ravage from the Mississippi to Demopolis, Alabama, he displayed a peculiar trait that was to set him apart: devastation. "Cump" Sherman was a thorough man, and in nothing was he more thorough than in destruction The clouds of smoke on the Mississippi horizon, the rails twisted around sweetguro and sycamore, willow and pine trees, the towns that no longer existed, the blackened fields and homeless women attested to it. At that time, no one took special note of the fact. Again, at Missionary Ridge, where he had been baffled and frustrated by Patrick Cleburne's division, Sherman had not appeared in the best light As he faced the Army of Tennessee on the opposite face of the Blue Ridge, Sherman remained something of an enigma.
Before the war, Sherman had spent time in Georgia on military duty; enough time to build up a moderate collection of friends and (according to legend) a list of ex-sweethearts When war broke out, Sherman was professor at a mili-tary college in Alexandria, Louisiana, whtch was to become Louisiana State University. Unlike other Northern-born officers who cast their fate with the South, Sherman went North, much to the surprise of many. Sherman later said that he "left the South, I think .with the respect and affection of ali with whom I had been associated." 7

FROM THE BLUE RIDGE TO THE ETOWAH
Sherman's command was composed of three armies. George H. Thomas, a stocky Virginia Unionist, commanded the Army of the Cumberland; James B McPherson, a handsome bachelor and Sherman's favorite, commanded the Army of the Tennessee; and commanding the Army of the Ohio was John McAllister Schofield, a plump, blond ex-professor with a long, flowing beard and the look of a scholar, with only his red underwear and his taste for chewing-tobacco making him "one of the boys." Sherman listed the "effective strength" of his army on May 1, 1864, as 98,797 men and 254 guns. The largest of his three armies, by far, was the Army of the Cumberland, with 60,773 men and 130 guns. McPherson's Army of the Tennessee numbered 24,465 men with 96 guns, while the miniscule Army of the Ohio boasted only 13,559 men and 28 guns.
Joe Johnston was less specific as to his troop strength. On April 30, 1864, he had reported 63,777 men aggregate present and a total of 144 guns; but the percentage of "effectual" to "aggregate" was roughly 80 percent, leaving Johnston outnumbered more than two-to-one in men and slightly less than that in guns. 9 On May 7, he had 41,300 effective infantry and 2,392 cavalrymen to oppose Sherman. The Army of Tennessee consisted of two corps commanded by William J. Hardee and John Bell Hood Hardee had turned down command of the army in December of the previous year. A well-respected tactician and sound officer, Hardee had formerly been commander of cadets at West Point. Shorthaired and with a heavy, drooping salt-and-pepper moustache, and impressively imperial, Hardee was a native Georgian. Hood was an intensely ambitious, large Kentuckian with deep-set, sad eyes and a luxuriant beard. He had lost an arm at Gettysburg and a leg at Chickamauga. Hood had risen rapidly from a lieutenant to a lieutenant general in three years -- on his abilities as a fighter,
- 32 -

33
not as a tactician. The ensuing campaign would follow the Western and Atlantic Railroad,
pointing south into the belly of Georgia. Resolved not to take the offensive, Johnston would be restricted to the defensive, reducing his options by half. He would be operating on interior lines, however, theoretically making it easier for him to move material than for Sherman to do so. The numerical odds would remain roughly the same throughout the campaign. To defeat Sherman, Johnston would have to do one of two things: destroy the railroad, which was Sherman's line of supply, and thereby force him to retreat; or sufficiently punish Sherman's advance so he would be forced to retreat and then might be destroyed.
Similarly, Sherman in his offensive had to do two things: protect the Western and Atlantic, and crush Johnston. So long as the railroad remained intact, Sherman would have a distinct advantage over Johnston, for the Confederacy found it hard to replace a single regiment, while Sherman's reinforcements were comparatively limitless. If Johnston could not make Sherman's advance much more costly than his own defense, there seemed little doubt as to the campaign's result.
On the morning of May 6, 1864, Sherman had his armies grouped as follows: the Army of the Cumberland was at or near Ringgold, the Army of the Tennessee was on Chickamauga Creek at Gordon's Mills, and the Army of the Ohio was near Red Clay.lO On the following day, Sherman moved upon Rocky Face Ridge.
From his horse, Johnston could look down and see a mile-wide column of blue infantry with colors waving, drums pounding, and bugles blaring. He was confident in his position, however, though it is doubtful that even then he expected to hold fast there. Already, troops were on their way from the west, where Bishop/General Leonidas Polk's three-division Army of Mississippi was marching to join Johnston. 11

34
While 'the mountains formed a defensive barrier, they also screened any movement on Johnston's western flank Hood and Hardee guarded Rocky Face Ridge, while other detachments defended Buzzarq's Roost. But General Thomas had apparently located the weak link in the defensive chain: as Thomas moved on the center of the Confederate line, McPherson would turn Johnston's left flank through Snake Creek Gap. On May 7, Thomas moved from Ringgold and occupied Tunnell Hill, his army assaulting the strong Confederate defenses on the ridge, drawing off suspicions of a flanking maneuver. By May 8, McPherson had reached Snake Creek Gap, 12 and on the following afternoon, he had cleared the pass and was within a mile and one-half of the railroad at Resaca in Johnston's rear.
As he neared Resaca, McPherson found Confederate earthworks lined with cannon covering the wes~ side of town. Hesitant to attack, he notified Sherman that Resaca was too strongly fortified to be assaulted The first grand opportunity to sack Johnston's army had passed. Only James Cantey's brigade of the Army of Mississippi defended Resaca.
McPherson fell back to Snake Creek Gap to await further orders. Yet Joe Johnston kept the bulk of his army at Dalton until May 13 -- ignoring the reports from Snake Creek Gap, unaware of Sherman's designs, and apathetic to the reports of his cavalry under Joseph Wheeler.l3
At Resaca, the Confederates had their backs to the Connesauga and Oostenaula rivers Again, the Confederate command experienced apparent confusion. With his army hastily withdrawn from the near-trap at Dalton, Johnston skirmished with Sherman on the 13th and 14th of May. On the 15th of May, he received word that Yankee detachments had crossed the Oostenaula River near Calhoun and were threatening to turn his left flank. Late that evening, while Union guns shelled Resaca, the Army of Tennessee fell back across the river on pontoon bridges, the railroad bridge and the pike bridge.

35
Still confused, the Confederates passed up an opportunity to attack the Union armies, which were divided as they attempted to cross the river. Up to this point, Johnston's leadership had proven extremely disappointing. Although Sherman would later praise his Rebel adversary for checking his, every offensive move, in actuality, Johnston had blundered. While Sherman's armies had been divided, Johnston refused to assault~ From the beginning, he was to allow himself to be controlled by Sherman. As historian Thomas L. Connelly explained it, "He [Johnston] admitted that by the time he reached Calhoun, he already had committed himself to a policy of general retreat."14
Johns ton's campaign looked still worse in comparison with Robert E. Lee-'s defense of northern Virginia. In conjunction with N.P. Banks' Red River expedition and Sherman's drive into Georgia, Grant had struck south for Richmond. The grand design was simple: exert pressure upon the main Confederate armies simultaneously so that they would not be able to shuttle their forces on interior lines to counterbalance the numerical superiority of the North -- as had been done the previous September when the Southerners overwhelmed Rosecrans at Chickamauga.
Grant had engaged Lee May 4-6 in the Battle of the Wilderness, and the Union Army had suffered over 17,000 casualties. May 6-8, the armies battled around Spotsylvania, and Union losses totaled over 18,000. 15 A month after he had crossed the Rapidan, Grant had been dealt over 50,000 casualties.
Indeed, in comparison, Joe Johnston had .surrendered a healthy chunk of Georgia with comparatively few casualties From the 5th to the 16th, Johnston's losses were aporoximately 5,000. The most rankling part of it was that Sherman had suffered few, if any more, casualties. 16
A.B. Clonts of Company F, 40th Georgia, was disgruntled by the retreat. A native of Paulding County, Clonts penned a letter to his father and mother in
Brownsville from Resaca on Mayl4: "I think it will be a close race betweene

36
ours and the yanks to atlanter I think shorely this fight wil be the last hard fight we wil have I be leave that our folks wil have to give sum proposials of peace be fore long ef we dont whip this fight [sic]."1 7
Sherman made his own progress all the handier with his railway repair team and topographical engineers. Civil engineer Colonel Wright was in charge of the 2,000-man railway corps -- whatever the Confederate cavalry destroyed, he could repair in a twinkling of the eye. The difficult Georgia terrain made topographers essential, and Sherman's topographers made an itinerary of every march, sketching the roads, charting the streams, noting the slope of the land, collecting the information from local natives, and going out with reconnaissance parties. The topographers made sketch maps, and "by a simple photographic process they were multiplied and distributed to the proper officers of the command " In many ways, the invading Northern army knew more of the local terrain and
18 roads than those who were defending it.
Early on the morning of May 17, the Army of Tennessee retreated from Calhoun seven miles south to Adairsville. T~eeler's cavalry, protecting the withdrawal, was formed around Ben Cheatham's division in front of Adairsville. W.T. Martin's division and Williams' brigade of horsemen were dismounted and placed between Cheatham's infantry and J.H. Kelly's cavalry on a line with the infantry Skirmishing continued after sundown, Wheeler withdrawing the main portion of his command to near Adairsville to feed and rest the horses. 19
The Confederate command held a council of war that evening in which Hardee advocated that the Confederates should now take the offensive. Several factors favored the move. McPherson's army had veered off toward Rome, away from the main line of Confederate retreat. In the meantime, General Leonidas Polk's cavalry had joined Johnston at Adairsville, and other elements of the Army of Mississippi were approaching to link with Johnston. Surprisingly, the aggressive Hood favored retreating across the Etowah. But Joe Johnston, for once, thought

37
he saw an opportunity to attack Sherman at an advantage . If Sherman moved south on the Adairsville-Kingston Road (with little access to the first road), his columns would be seven or eight miles apart. To encourage Sherman to divide his armies in this manner, Johnston directed Hardee to fall back on the Kingston Road From here, he would march to join Polk and Hood at Cassville, these two corps having retreated across the Cassville Mountain range from Adairsville 20
The Union skirmish line approached Adairsville slowly on Hay 18. Jackson's cavalry was posted on the left of Johnston's army, a division and a brigade of cavalry were posted on the Cassville and Adairsville road. Dibrell's brigade held the Copper Mine Road, while Williams' brigade patrolled the Tennessee Road At 3 p.m., vlheeler' s cavalry and the Yankee skirmish line clashed Near dark, about 7:30 that evening, Wheeler withdrew his entire line to go into camp, feed, and rest. A line of skirmishers was left to hold the front. 21
The Confederate troops cheered Joe Johnston as he rode along the front lines that night. Tired of retreating, the soldiers were eagerly anticipating taking the offensive against the invader. If the soldiers had been a party to the council of war held that night, their hopes might have ridden a smaller horse Leonidas Polk and John Hood were strangely quiet on the evening Johnston decided to take the offensive. There was a strange reluctance, a silent sullenness as the campfires reflected the line of bayonets in the darkness, and the disquieting appearance of the frowning bishop and deep-eyed Hood Johnston had ordered Hood to begin the attack on the following day.
The next morning, Johnston waited with impatience to hear the guns announcing Hood's attack. After the scheduled time of assault had elapsed over an hour, Johnston sent an aide to Hood, demanding to know why he was delaying. The aide found Hood preparing to retreat. The somber Kentuckian insisted that the

38
enemy was in heavy force near him on the Canton Road, but Johnston looked at his map and declared it impossible that a Union force could be there Due to the delay and the indecisive attitude of Hood, Johnston cancelled his battle plan at noon Again, the Army of Tennessee fell back. 23
With his army on a high ridge south of Cassville, Johnston again determined to attack Sherman. On that night, May 19, occurred perhaps the most controversial council of war during the campaign. Polk and Hood apparently decided upon a plan whereby they could convince Johnston that the Cassville line was untenable. When the council convened, the two corps commanders presented their arguments. Although Johnston insisted that now was the best time for his army to turn on Sherman, he allowed himself to be talked into retreat. This retreat was to have widespread repercussions. Both Hood and Johnston sought to cast the blame from themselves, but Bishop Polk had no need to -- he would die within a month 24
The lapping waters of the Etowah River lay to Johnston's back. John W Hagan of the 29th Georgia wrote:
l"e have retreated 60 miles & is within 40 miles of Atlanta we are now at this Edowan Iron works awaiting orders. Some think we will move towards the Yank & some think we will go to Atlanta. I do not know when we will go our troops have done some fighting
& have been very successful & I beleave if we ever make a stand
we will give the yanks abad whiping [sic].25
Rufus Mead of the 5th Connecticut felt otherwise: "Our campaign," he declared, "so far has been successful as could be, but we have had no fighting like the Potomac army. It is certain the rebs here will not fight if they can run. ;,Z6
On May 20 at 1 p m., Johnston gave his orders of withdrawal Polk was to pull back his artillery at dusk and his infantry at 10 p m ; Hardee and Hood were to withdraw their artillery at dark and their infantry at 11 p.m ; the

39

rear guard would remain north of the Etowah until 1 a m. and would be followed by the skirmish line when they withdrew. A despondent, but dapper, Johnston moved with the center column 27 Johnston's aide-de-camp General W.W. Mackall predicted "This retreat will damage the General in public estimation."28
Johnston himself realized the storm his retreat had stirred up In a letter to Richmond, he attempted to defend his strategy in Georgia. Johnston explained to President Davis:

I know that my dispatch (20th) must of necessity create the feeling you express I have earnestly sought an opportunity to strike the enemy The direction of the railroad to this point has enabled him to press me back by steadily moving to the left and by fortifying the moment he halted. He has made an assault upon his superior forces too hazardous . 29

Lieutenant T.B Mackall found the operations of May 20 marked with "con-

fusion, hurrying wagons and artillery across Etowah bridge

Dust and heat,

country rough and hilly." The machinery, teams, wagons, and slaves at the Eto-

wah Iron Works were removed by General Gustavus W. Smith's Georgia Militia

Mackall noted his observations: "Troops jaded, artillery and cavalry horses

particularly; Georgia troops dropped off, all in pretty good spirits up to falling back from Cassville. n 30

In Richmond, the pressures on Davis to dismiss Johnston increased Geor-

gians were bewildered In the wake of the retreating Confederates, hundreds

of refugees fled their homes, lining the muddy, red roads with their mules and

wagons, and scrawny children. Rent by dissension among the corps commanders

and stunned by constant retreat, the soldiers of the Army of Tennessee tramped

across the Etowah on the railroad bridge to take up a new position at Alla-

toona Pass. Johnston now switched his base of operations to Marietta In high spirits, W.T. Sherman proclaimed the Etowah the "Rubicon of Georgia " 31

Thus far, it had been a war of maneuver Repeatedly, Sherman had feinted

40
on the Confederate center, while flanking the Confederate left -- first at Snake Creek Gap and then along the Oostenaula River below Resaca Maneuver and feint, coupled with Johnston's propensity for retreat, now sent the Southerners scurrying south of the Etowah Even Sherman could not have expected greater success.
On May 20, as the Army of Tennessee fell back across the river, Wheeler burning the bridges behind them, Sherman wrote to General-in-Chief Henry Halleck:
We have secured two good bridges and an excellent ford across the Etowah Our cars are now arriving with stores I give two days' rest to replenish and fit up. On the 23d I will cross the Etowah and move on Dallas This will turn the Allatoona Pass If Johnston remains at Allatoona I shall move on Marietta; but, if he falls behind the Chattahoochee, I will make for Sandtown and Campbellton, but feign at the railroad crossing 32
Returned veterans and regiments had more than replaced all of Sherman's campaign losses He was now ready to turn Allatoona Pass. McPherson was to cross the Etowah at the mouth of Connasene Creek by bridge and move for Dallas via Van Wert Thomas' army was to cross by bridge four miles southeast of Kingston and head for Dallas by way of Euharlee and Huntsville Schofield was directed to cross near Etowah Cliffs on pontoons, taking position on Thomas' left.33
Confederate reconnaissance was not slow in detecting Sherman's movement around Allatoona Pass. As a young officer stationed in Georgia, Sherman had had occasion to study the pass, and he had no intention of shattering his army there Although the direct route to Atlanta led through Allatoona, Sherman veered southwest on a march that would separate him temporarily from his supply line along the Western and Atlantic -- a march designed to turn Johnston's flank and put his army between Joe Johnston and the Chattahoochee River. But on May 23, W.H. Jackson's Confederate cavalry discerned Union forces moving

down the Etowah and heading south 34
Already, the pillage that was to tarnish Sherman's reputation had begun.
An indignant protest at the conduct of the army was issued by Brigadier Gen-
eral Milo S Hascall, commander of the Second Division, XXIII Corps He
appealed to the assistant adjutant general of the Army of the Ohio:
I consider it my duty to call the attention of the major-general commanding the corps to the terrible state of things that exists in different parts of the grand army under Major-General Sherman, so far as the wanton destruction of private property and works of art is concerned. It has not been my fortune to march a single day durthe last week without being compelled to witness sights which are enough to disgrace and render worthy of defeat any army in the universe. I have seen at some time as many as half a dozen houses and barns on fire at a time, and in too many cases the wanton destruction of fine paintings and other works of art and culture has been reported to me, and also come under my own observation. While I am pained to admit that the conduct of our own corps in this respect might be materially improved, yet I think it is respectable when compared with some other portions of the army with which we have come in contact So far as I know in the Twenty-Thirds Corps nearly all the officers are trying their best to prevent these barbaric practices
~ile I am willing that everything shall be taken that will be of service to our army or beneficial to the enemy, if done in an orderly manner, I have no desire to serve with an army where the fundamental principles of civilized warfare are so shockingly violated at every step in our progress. Should any untoward event happen to us, compelling us to retreat (which may God forbid), I fear that those of our men that might fall into the enemy's hands would neither receive nor deserve any other than barbarous treatment in their hands 35
/ Sherman paid Hascall no attention He was burning to go, and he sent a
letter in cipher from Kingston saying, "We are now all in motion like a vast
hive of bees, and expect to swarm along the Chattahoochee in five days " 36
The rumbling Union wagons heading southwest bore 20 days of rations for
Sherman's infantry marching on Dallas, 20 miles west of Marietta The Army of
the Cumberland took the central route from Kingston through Euharlee and
Stilesboro Schofield was on the left flank, marching for Dallas by way of
Burnt Hickory The right wing under McPherson swung so as to approach Dallas
from the west through Van Wert George Stoneman's cavalry operated in conjunc-

42
tion with the Army of the Cumberland, Kenner Garrard covered the Union right, and Judson L. Kilpatrick's cavalry defended Sherman's left with Edwin McCook's troopers operating in front of Thomas.37
The deserted North Georgia countryside depressed the Union invaders. A correspondent for the Chicago Tribune who was traveling with Sherman's army wrote, "There is no adult male population in Northern Georgia, except for a few old men. Nor are there any available negroes." New York Herald correspondent David P. Conyngham was shocked by the poverty he saw:

The more I see of the social scale here, the more am I convinced that this is a war of democracy against aristocracy -- that it is a war for the emancipation of 'the poor white trash' of the South as much as the swarthy nigger.38

Joe Johnston, at 3:30 p.m. on May 22, notified his corps commanders and

chief of artillery to have everything in readiness to move at a moment's notice

The Confederates were to carry three days' rations in their haversacks. While

the army rounded up guides for the country south of the Etowah and west of the

railroad, two bridges were constructed over Pumpkinvine Creek and a road cut

through the woods. Lieutenant Mackall noted: "Country hilly and rocky oppressive and road dusty. Many disloyal people in this section."39

Heat

On Monday, May 23, the Army of Tennessee headquarters were located near

the Moores' house, one and one-half miles from Allatoona. After breakfast, the

headquarters wagons were packed and the horses saddled, ready to move. Dis-

patches were coming in from Wheeler and his scouts at Cartersville, Cassville,

Cass Station and elsewhere. Wheeler reported a body of Union infantry at Car-

tersville, and said that Hooker's headquarters and corps were at Cassville.

The Confederate cavalry, on the evening of May 22, had watched the burning of

the Etowah Iron Works and Cartersville. There were confusing reports coming in,

including rumors that Sherman was falling back to Knoxville But the cavalry

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43
could not miss the heavy columns of dust as the Yankee infantry and wagons moved along the north hank of the Etowah toward the Confederate left.40
During the afternoon of May 23, Johnston set his army in motion for Dallas to cut off Sherman. Hardee's corps marched about 10 miles southwest, Polk took up a position near Lost Mountain northeast of Dallas, and Hood remained in the vicinity of Allatoona. Patrick Cleburne's division of Hardee's corps moved from Willford's Mill on Pumpkinvine Creek by Dyer's Tan-Yard and Tanner's to the Dallas-Atlanta road Again, there was confusion At 10 p.m. that night, Hardee sent word back to headquarters that unless he received further orders, he would cross the Chattahoochee at Nelson's Ferry. Johnston hastily sent out a courier telling Hardee to take position near the intersection of the road he was then on and the Dallas-Atlanta road. Polk would support him. 41
On May 24, Hood moved his troops nearer Dallas from Etowah Bridge, his headquarters at Dalton Smith's, where Hardee had camped the night before. Hardee's corps moved via New Hope Church to Powder Springs, and Polk camped on the Marietta-Dallas road between Hood and Hardee. 42
North of the Etowah River, Joe Wheeler's cavalry made a reconnaissance of the Union Army. The cavalry had come upon a wagon train near Cass Station. Wheeler attacked with Kelly's division, Humes' division being in line of battle in the rear of Cassville. ~fueeler reported, "The attack by charging was a complete success, driving the enemy from his wagons and capturing about 80 [?] wagons .. " While returning with these wagons, vfueeler was struck by the enemy. The troopers began burning the wagons as tiheeler brought up reinforcements for Allen's brigade. The Federals were now burning a train and commissary stores to keep them from the Rebel raiders. When the Union advance was spotted, Wheeler ordered the 8th Texas and 2nd Tennessee to charge. The cavalry charge shattered the Union move and Wheeler scooped up over 100 prisoners -- bringing back to Joe Johnston 70 wagons, 182 prisoners, 300 horses and mules, and a

44 large amount of stores. 43 Back along the Confedel;"ate lines, observers on: Elsberry Mountain watched the trailing columns of dust as Sherman moved through the wilderness for Dallas.44

REFUGEES
Preceding the vanguard of the Confederates retreating south of the Etowah
was a small army of refugees. Driven from their homes by Sherman's approach-
ing hordes, they packed up their children and belongings, piled them high on
farm wagons and fled south toward Atlanta with the fear of God in their hearts.
The plight of the refugees was a tragic one. Often, they left their
farms and homes to be pillaged by the Northern invaders or Joe Wheeler's hun-
gry cavalry. Major Charles H. Smith of Rome, Georgia, renowned as the country
sage of the Confederate press, "Bill Arp," joined the growing swarm of refu-
gees that May. In one of his columns appearing in state newspapers, "Bill Arp"
captured the pathos of the refugee:
If Mr. Shakspeare were correct when he wrote that 'sweet are the juices of adversity,' then it is reasonable to suppose that me and my folks and many others, must have some sweetening to spare. When a man is aroused in the dead of night, and smells the approach of the foul invader; when he feels constrained to change his base and become a runagee from his home, leaving behind him all those usuary things which hold body and soul together; when he looks, perhaps the last time, upon his lovely home where he has been for many delightful years raising children and chickens, strawberries and peas, lye soap and onions, and all such luxuries of this sublunary life; when he imagines every unusual sound to be the crack of his earthly doom; when from such influences he begins a dignified retreat, but soon is constrained to leave the dignity behind, and get away without regard to the order of his going -- if there is any sweet juice in the like of that, I haven't been able to see it such scenes never happened in Bill Shakspeare's day, or he wouldn't have written that line [sic].45
From Marietta, Mary E. Robards witnessed the panic once the Army of Tennes-
see fell back across the Etowah. She wrote:
The army is now on this side of the Etowah River. The families from above are fleeing before the enemy -- the streets filled with all sorts of vehicles, people moving their property of all kinds: cattle, sheep, Negroes. And the stampede has commenced in Marietta: streets filled with movables, neighbors packing and going off. Mr.
- 45 -

Rogers came down with his laborers and wagons from the ironworks, took up some of Mr. Ardis' valuables and one trunk for us ...
You will ask what we are going to do My dear cousin, we were constantly assured the Yankees would never get here We tried our best to move to Perry, but could not get transportation . We shall have to stay to take care of our property It is the pnly home we have, and we are told if we remain it will be protected But oh, those horrid Yankees! How can I see them enter this place and live? I am so afraid of them46
"Bill Arp" wrote this account of a refugee:
With our families and a little clothing, we crossed the Etowah bridge about the break of day the 17th of May.... By and by the bright rays of the morning sun dispersed the heavy fog, which like a pall of death had overspreaq all nature Then were exhibited to our afflicted gaze a highway crowded with wagons and teams, cattle and hogs, niggers a_nd dogs, women and children, all moving in dishevelled haste to parts unknown Mules were braying, cattle were lowing, hogs were squealing, sheep were bleating, children were crying, wagoners were cursing, whips were popping, and horses stalling, but still the grand caravan moved on 47
The frightened migration of the refugees was all the .greater because of
the suddenness of the calamity. They had been told that Johnston had checked
Sherman Because of poor communications and newspapers that were a week old
when they arrived, many of the people still imagined that the Union invaders
were somewhere about Resaca. The first hint they had of invasion was the cloud
of smoke as the Rebels set fire to the Etowah bridges and the cloud of dust
marking the approa_ch of Joe Johnston 1 s weary army Fear controlled the imaginr
ation. By the dozens, and in a steady stream, refugees flocked along the high-
ways heading south As they progressed, they alarmed still others who aban-
doned their homes and joined the flight.
To those in Paulding County who beheld the spectacle, the shock was even
greater. Far from the railroad and far from the main route to Atlanta, Pauld-
ing County found itself in the_main theater of the war. Many would not believe
the rumors. Still others would not receive warning in time to flee. Before

47
the end of May, many in Paulding County would heartily echo "Bill Arp's" pro-
nouncement:
Job was a good man and suffered much -- very much. He stood the test of all the severe afflictions his Maker visited upon him, but from a careful examination of his sacred record, I do not find that he was ever a refugee. Should this test have been applied, I am not prepared to say that he would have stood up to his integrity.48

INTO THE WILDERNESS
At daylight on the morning of May 23, 1864, A.S Williams' division of Hooker's XX Corps had struck camp; crossing the Etowah on pontoon bridges near Milam. That night, Williams camped on Euharlee Creek, connecting wi_th the IV Corps on his right and John W. Geary's division of Hooker's corps on his left. The following morn;ing, Williams marched on by-paths and "mountain roads," pushing through Stilesboro and reaching Burnt Hickory at 5:30 p.m.49
Strung out in the tangled wilderness behind Hooker were the remaining corps of the Army of the Cumberland. Schofield crossed the Etowah on the morning of the 24th and took a position on Thomas' left near Hooker's corps Also on the 24th, McPherson reached Van Wert and was turning east toward Dallas A heavy thunderstorm drenched Thomas' men that evening in their camps from Burnt Hickory to Stilesboro. 50
The armies had entered the wilderness of rolling hills, with small, isolated farms, heavy timber and poor roads. Few of them knew precisely where the country roads led, and so most were unaware that they were heading in the direction of a log church, where the roads to Dallas, Atlanta, Marietta and Acworth crossed. This strategic crossroads at New Hope Church would assume added significance as Sherman edged his way toward Dallas, looking for a road to take him around Johnston's left so that he would be between Johnston and the Chattahoochee.
On May 24, the soldiers were unaware that they were soon to clash in one of the bloodiest battles in the Atlanta Campaign. Union staff officer Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Fullerton noted down in his campaign itinerary that the day was "very pleasant .. for marching .. Hard to find safe roads through the
country, full of heavy woods, cross-roads, & c. [etc.] and could procure no
- 48 -

49
suitable guides. All intelligent persons had left the country, or had been driven out by the enemy.n5l

FOOTNOTES Chapter III

1 Thomas Lawrence Connelly, Autumn of Glory (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1971), p. 283.
2 Ibid., p. 282.

3 Ibid., pp. 285-87

4 Ibid., pp. 286-325.

5 Samuel Carter, III, The Siege of Atlanta, 1864 (New York: St. Martin's Press,

1973), pp. 96, 97. ---

--

6 Ibid.

7 Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, Series II, Vol. III (Washington, D.C : Government Printing Offic~l880-1901), p. 562.
8 Ibid., Vol. XXXVIII, Part 1, pp. 62, 63.
9 Ibid., Part 3, pp. 675, 676. 10 Ibid., Part 1, pp. 1, 63.
11 Joseph H. Parks, 9eneral Leonida~ Polk, C.S.A.: The Fighting Bishop (Baton Rouge Louisiana State University Press, 1962), p. 374.
12 Official Records ... ,~ cit., Vol. XXXVIII, Part 1, p. 63.
13 Connelly,~ cit., pp. 336-42.
14 Ibid., p. 344.
15 J.G. Randall and David Donald, The Civil War and Reconstruction (Lexington, Mass.: D.C. Heath and Company, 1969), p. 419.---
16 Francis T. Miller, Photographic History of the Civil War, Vol. III (New York: Review of Reviews, 1911), p. 318.
17 Clonts Family Papers (Atlanta: Georgia Department of Archives and History), May 14, 1864.
18 Jacob D. Cox, The Atlanta Campaign (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1882), p. 62.
19 Connelly,~ cit., pp 344, 345.
20 Joseph E. Johnston, Narrative of Military Operations (New York: 1874), pp. 320, 321.

- 50 -

51
21 Connelly,~ ci~. pp. 344, 345.
22 Ibid., pp. 346, 347. 23 Ib~d., p. 347.
24 Ibid., pp 348-52
25 Bell Irvin Wiley (ed.), Confederate Letters of John W. Hagal! (Athens, Ga University of Georgia Press, 1954), p. 37
26 James A. Padgett (ed.), "With Sherman Through Georgia and the Carolinas: Letters of a Federal Soldier," Part 1, Geor&ia Historical Quarterly, Vol. XXXII (Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1948), issue of December, 1948, pp 290, 291
27 Official ~~cords ... ,~cit., Vol. XXXVIII, Part 4, p. 730.
28 Carter, ~ -~.!!., p. 130. 29 Official Records .... ,~ cit., Vol. XXXVIII, Part 4, p. 736. 30 Ibid., p. 984.
Jl Ibid., p. 299. 32 Ibid , p. 260.
33 Ibid_., pp. 260, 274.
34 Ib!_<! , Part 3, P 986. 35 Ibid., Part 4, pp. 297, 298. 36 Ibid., p. 299 37 Cox,~ cit., pp. 65, 66.
Shelby Foote, The Civil War A Narrative, Vol. II (New York: Random House, 1974), pp. 346~47. 38 J. Cutler Andrews, The North Reports the Civil War (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1955), p. 559. 39 Official _Records ... , . cit., Vol. XXXVIII, Part 4, pp. 985, 986. 40 Ibid. 41 Ibid., Part 3, pp. 724- 26 ' 986 .
42 Ibi~ , p. 987.
43 Ibid., p. 947. 44 Richard M. McMurry, "Hell-Hole," Civil War Times Illustrated, Vol. XI, No.

r 52
10 (Gettysburg, Pa Historical Times, Inc., 1973), issue of February, 197J, pp. 32-43.
45 Charles H Smith, Bill Arp, So Called. !. Side Show of the Southern Side of
the War (New York: 1866), pp. 84, 85. 46 Robert ' Manson Myers (ed ), The Children of Pride (New Haven, Conn. and Lon-
don: Yale University Press,1972), p. 1172.-........---
47 Smith, E_ cit., pp. 87, 88. 48 Ibid., p 112. 49 Official Records .. , E_ cit., Vol. XXXVIII, Part 2, p. 29. 50 -~bid., Part 3, p 143
McMurry, ~ ci~ , p. 34.
51 Official Records . , cit., Vol. XXXVIII, Part 3, p. 863.

IV. NEW HOPE CHURCH

OperatiOD& aear New Hope Church.
11 0perations Near New Hope Church 11 , from Jacob Cox, The Atlanta Campaign

MAY 25, 1864
On May 25, 1864, General Joseph E. Johnston moved Hood's corps to the crossroads at New Hope Church. Polk and Hardee were ordered to close up on Hood At 10 a m , the head of Hood's column reached the log meetinghouse, where scouts captured a Union officer who revealed that Hooker's corps was nearby. Hood now deployed his men in a line facing northwest: Hindman's division on the left, A P. Stewart in the center at the church, and Carter L. Stevenson on the right. 1
With Hooker's corps in the advance, the Army of the Cumberland took up the march for Dallas that morning. John W. Geary's division moved in the center, with Daniel Butterfield on the left and A.S. Williams on the right. McCook's cavalry moved out on the road leading to Golgotha, preceding Butterfield's division. Howard's IV Corps followed Hooker, with Palmer's corps to the rear of Howard. Joe Hooker rode out with Geary's division. 2
Like John Bell Hood, Hooker was passionately ambitious, but more so than Hood, he nourished deep grievances. Hhile in comriland of the Army of the. Potomac, Hooker had almost succeeded in ending the war -- by losing his entire army to Robert E. Lee in the tangled thickets at Chancellorsville. Relegated to the conunand of a corps under George Thomas and Sherman, he felt humiliated and accused Sherman of prejudice. He may have been correct. Hooker was an extremely aggressive, determined fighter and probably too arrogant for the unforgiving Sherman to tolerate.
At his side rode six-and-a-half-foot-tall John W. Geary. Veteran of the Mexican War, postmaster to San Francisco, and one-time territorial governor qf Kansas, the 45-year-old division commander personified the fighting spirit of Hooker's corps. Hooker and Geary, with their staffs and escorts, preceded the
- 53 -

54
troops to the bridge spanning Pumpkinvine Creek at Owen's Mill Re,treating Confederates had fired the bridge, and as the cavalry and escort extinguished the flames and repaired it, they were fired upon by the Rebels on the opposite hill A portion of Hooker's cavalry escort forded the creek, deployed and advanced through the woods, driving back a Confederate outpost of 25 cavalry-:o men Geary's infantry soon came up, and the pioneer corps [which served as somewhat of an engineering corps] finished repairs to the bridge The 7th Ohio went forward as skirmishers when the division crossed, advancihg in the direction of New Hope Church, Candy's brigade in the lead.
Near the Hawkins house, a mile and one-half from the bridge, Geary's skirmishers ran into Bushrod Jones' regiment and the cavalry sent forward by A P Stewart The Confederates made a furious charge at Geary's lines Major J E Austin's battalion joined Jones' men Briefly, the Yankee's drove back the Confederate skirmishers and occupied the crest of the hill before Austin renewed his assault and recaptured sever~l hundred yards of Union lines Hood repeatedly sent word to press forward As Geary reinforced his skirmish line and extended it a mile in length by the addition of the 28th Pennsylvania, the Confederates were slowly forced back. Jones retreateJin haste to save his regiment Major Austin relayed word to Hood's headquarters that captured pris-
4 oners reported Hooker's corps was to his front
Earlier that morning, A P Stewart's division had marched from the hills south of the Etowah in the direction of Dallas, bringing up the rear of the Army of Tennessee When within a short distance of New Hope Church, the troops heard "the dropping fire so peculiar to [a] cavalry skirmish " No one paid much attention to it Stewart's Confederate column halted at the church, and the horses were ,taken from the artillery and watered and fed. 5
It was now after noon Hood was preparing his position at New Hope Church Stewart's four brigades held the crucial part of Hood's line, with a brigade of

55
Carter L Stevenson's division in reserve. Marcellus A. Stovall's Georgia brigade held the left of Stewart's main line, Henry D. Clayton's Alabama brigade was in the center, and Alpheus Baker's brigade of Alabamians was on the right In reserve, directly behind Clayton, Stewart had posted Randall Gibson's Louisiana brigade and John C Brown's Tennesseans from Stevenson's division Baker and Clayton's brigades piled up old logs to form a line of crude breatworks Stovall's brigade had its left flank in the cemetery and was without protection Stewart massed 16 pieces of artillery along his line. 6
From captured prisoners, the Union command learned that Hood's corps was to its front. Alarmed, the Union generals assumed that a small portion of their army had run into a large body of Confederates The continued resistance of Hood's skirmishers caused Hooker to exercise caution He ordered Geary to halt and form on a ridge in the woods. Geary hastily threw up log barricades, extended his skirmish line, and kept up an aggressive fire Corps commander Hooker now sent orders for the divisions of Williams and Butterfield to move and support Geary. 7
"Pop" Williams received Hooker's orders after noon He habitually bit on a cigar from sunrise to twilight, and the cigar reflected his mood. If it was lit and smoking, no action was expected If unlit and being chewed upon, something was in the works. "But when shifted from side to side and kept rolling
over and over between the lips, there would surely be a fight nB The cigar was
rolling like a millwheel when Williams stuffed the message inside his cap Within a mile and one-half of Dallas, he turned to his left and recrossed the Pumpkinvine Marching on the left bank of the creek, he crossed Geary's route and, after a rapid five-mile march, came up qn Geary's line With Butterfield also up on Geary's position, Hooker's corps was ready for battle. 9
Sherman had visited Hooker's position earlier. He believed that he was on Johnston's left flank, and he was impatient at Thomas and Hooker for not

Major General Alexander P Stewa~t (Courtesy
of the Cook Collection, Valentine ~seum, Richmond, Virginia)

B~igadie~ Gene~al John W Gea~y (U S Signal
Corps photo~ No lll-BA-l598~ B~ady Collection~ courtesy of the National A~chives)

56
pressing their advantage. Sherman wanted to push forward and occupy the crossroads at New Hope Church before the Rebels could intrench there. Disgruntled, he agreed to wait until all of Hooker's divisions had come up, but he complained to a staff officer, "Let Williams go in anywhere as soon as he gets up, I don't see what they are waiting for in front now. There haven't been twenty rebels there today nlO
It was not until 4 p m that Hooker had his divisions organized for battle Each division formed for attack in columns by brigade, with Williams in front, Butterfield behind him, and Geary in reserve. Williams deployed his division in a three-line brigade front, sending the 61st Ohio and 13th New Jersey forward as skirmishers 11 Hooker's deployment in columns of brigade narrowed the division front to the width of a brigade. This meant that Stewart, although heavily outnumbered, could concentrate his fire on a narrow Union front It virtually negated Hooker's numerical superiority.
As the sound of gunfire rose in the direction of New Hope Church, Stewart formed his troops in line He ordered Major J. Wesley Eldridge's artillery into battery on the main line. The troops along the r.onfederate line could see the skirmishers falling back from tree to tree as the gunfire grew heavier with the rapid Union advance. Low tree growth, blackjack bushes and scrub made it difficult for the Confederates to see the enemy plainly, but there appeared to be several lines of Federals The Confederate artillery now opened on the advancing Union troops, using shells and cannister. An artilleryman with Stewart wrote, "The roar of artillery and small arms at this time was deafening " Williams' advance was halted at 40 to 50 yards from the Rebel line 12
The main Confederate line ran along the base of a long hill. The line of the gun limbers [the forepart of a traveling gun carriage to which the horses are attached] and the reserves were in back, higher on the hill, suffering from the Union musketry and cannonade The artillery horses had all been killed or

57
wounded. Captain Charles E. Fenner's Louisiana Battery alone had lost 20. The Eufala (Alabama) Artillery Battery and the Warren (Mississippi) Light Artillery suffered comparable losses. It was impossible to change the limhers, and what ammunition the Confederates could get had to be brought up by hand Ammunition had run short, and the artillerymen were cutting fuses only one-half second long and using round shot. The Federal musket fire was "terrific," a Louisiana gunner declared, but the devastating fire of the Confederate cannons had, compelled Hooker's men to, "iay flat on their faces," and they were overshooting the Southern line. "The leaves of branches of the trees overhead [were] falling constantly.. nl3
Successive attacks by Butterfield's and Geary's divisions were halted 60 yards short of Stewart's line. Williams ,had now run out of ammunition. The assault was a decided failure Stewart repeatedly turned down Hood's offers of ass1. stance,' 1. ns1. st1.ng h1. s troops could hold t he1. r own. 14
The Louisiana artilleryman wrote that the Battle of New Hope Church was "one of the most fiercely contested of the war." "It was," he said, "a fair stand-up fight, without works or defenses on either s::i.de. nlS A heavy thunderstorm with rain and lightning came on before sunset. The battle had +asted approximately two hours. Eight hundred Union soldiers fell before Stewart's line, and_casualties in the XX Corps totaled 1,665. Stewart's losses were less than half that. Eldridge's artillery battalion suffered severely, losing 43 men and 44 horses. 16
Bromfield T. Ridley, one-of Stewart's staff officers, recalled the horror of New Hope Church in later years:
On returning home after the surrender I came through New Hope-.. and when I saw the trees literally imbedded with shot and shell I wondered how it was possible for any human being to get out of that battle alive. Between the dead lines I recalled the seething mass of quivering flesh, the daad piled upon each other and the groans of the dying.l7

58
The screams of the wounded rent the darkness. General 0 0. Howard, IV Corps conunander, was appalled. He wrote:
On that terrible night the nearest house to the field was filled with the wounded Torchlights and candles lighted up dimly the incoming stretchers and the surgeons' tables and instruments. The very woods seemed to moan and groan with the voices of sufferers not brought in 18
The mistake of attacking in columns of brigades would be repeated two days later -- as would that of attempting to turn the Confederate flank when the Rebels were in well-intrenched positions Although Sherman did not learn from his first mistake, he could afford the luxury of a second try
After dark, the Federal troops began constructing breastworks in the rainsoaked, gloomy woods around New Hope Church. In camp, Sherman was charging that the attack had failed because of the afternoon delay, allowing Johnston to
'
bring up reinforcements According to rumor, an insubordinate Joe Hooker retorted to Sherman that about 50 Confederates might have joined Hood during the attack Campfires lit up the black sky, and the screams of wounded men on operating tables, rumbling wagons, and scattered firing lulled the soldiers in the wilderness into an unquiet sleep. 19
That evening, McPherson moved closer to Hooker's right flank, but he remained separated by about a mile from Hooker 0 0 Howard's IV Corps was in supporting distance of Hooker, while Palmer's XIV Corps lagged further behind The Army of the Ohio had remained near Burnt Hickory until 5 p m., when Schofield received orders to move forward in support of Hooker Schofield's corps had to march along the roads taken by Hooker's wagon trains, and the roads were so few and so crowded that the Army of the Ohio was still west of Pumpkinvine Creek at midnight. Schofield halted his column at dark and rode forward to find Sherman and request instructions Returning, the scholar-general's horse fell in the mud, injuring him so badly that he had to tum command over

59 to Brigadier General Jacob D. Cox. 20
The Union Army was scattered for miles on the back roads, in the woods and on the hills around Pumpkinvine Creek. Stalled at New Hope Church, Sherman now attempted to draw his army together. McPherson held the right of the Federal line, with John A. Logan's XV Corps constituting his extreme right and G.M. Dodge's XVI Corps his left. Garrard's cavalry guarded McPherson's right flank, and Jefferson C. Davis' division from Palmer's corps was brought forward to form on McPherson's left. A gap still remained between Davis and the remainder of the Army of the Cumberland at New Hope Church. Howard's corps moved up to extend Hooker's line, the XX Corps remaining in line of bat-
21 tle near the church.

PICKETT S MILL- NEW HOPE CHURCH AREA, 1864

e HUNTSVILLE

913
958 959
M. M.
986
N.

f824l
IQQj

759 758
T
826 827
T

971 972
p

LEGEND
A Widmu Pickett B Christopher Harris C Oliver Brintle D J C Leverett E Susannah Hutcheson F J.C Pickett G. Henry Camp H John Allgood I A C Sanders J Levi Cooper K F M. Forsyth L B F Lester M. Emily Thompson N Henry Cornett 0. William Rogers P Z. Brand Q. T. W. Brooks R Malachi Pickett S William Steadby T. T D. Spraggen U. W.J Kerrrp V. Michael Coon W. William Hicks X E Y. Allgood Y James Rainwater Z. Elliot Moon AA A P Green BB. Charles Walker CC. Larkin Davis DD. William Welch EE. M T. Hogan FF Benjamin Childers

MAY 26, 1864
The full impact of war now came home to Paulding County citizens. Many had refugeed, but for others, it was too late. On May 26, the family of Ira Camp, neighbors of the Widow Pickett, fell back within the Confederate lines. Ira remained behind -- perhaps to protect his home, perhaps to retrieve a few more effects before he himself fled. He was outside his house that day, gathering a few chips to build a fire, when Union skirmishers on the nearby hills mistook him for a Rebel soldier and shot him. They gathered him up, seriously wounded, and took him back inside the Union lines, where he died three days later 22
War seemed to magnify the bleakness of the wilderness. A correspondent for the Augusta Daily fc:?nstitutionalist wrote: "The section of the country through which the enemy approach it is almost destitute of provisions, little or no crops having been made there during the past season." On June 3, he added to his portrait of Paulding County:
The road from Marietta to the field runs through a refreshing woody region until you approach the actual scene of conflict, when the trim country houses pass out of site [sic] and only a cabin now and then discloses the poverty of this part of the Empire State Gen Johnston has his headquarters here in a miserable hut by the road-side 23
The "miserable hut" mentioned by the Constitutionalist was located about a mile south of New Hope Church on the road to Dallas. Fanny Wigley, widow of William Wigley, had abandoned the home upon the approach of Sherman. General Johnston used it all during the operations along the Dallas Line. Among the guests of Johnston at the Wigley house was Governor Isham Harris of Tennessee 24
At the time of her flight, Fanny Wigley, 43 years old, had at least six
- 60 -

61
children, and perhaps as many as seven, still under her care. The youngest was Francis, only five years old; Martha, 22, was the oldest 25 the eldest
Wigley son was Asa, 20, who had enlisted in Company K, 60th Georgia., on March
1, 1864. In July, he was wounded in one of the battles in northern Vitgihia
and taken captive. He took the oath of allegiance to the United States gov-
ernment [required of all prisoners] in Washington, D.C., where he was released and furnished transportation to New York City on September 21 of
that year 26 The Wigleys and their neighbors were probably among those the Memphis
Daily Appeal spoke of when it noted, "The exodus of families with what few
effects they are enabled to bring off with them, still continues. 11 The
Augusta Constitutionalist and the New York Tribune described the panic in sim-
ilar terms According to the Augusta paper:
The populace are in the wildest confussion. Men, women and chilren are flying in panic before the advance of the enemy, like Hocks of sheep. Farms have been abandoned, homes deserted, and even personal apparel sacrificed to the terror-strfcketi haste which has impelled many of these unfortunate refugees.. They may be seen en...; camped on the road side in the most abject despair, knowffig and caring little as to their destination..28
A correspondent for the Tribune dcescr:fbed the partie in :fiauldirig County for
his Northern audience:
Families come to the hospitals and to headquarters, with long troops of children, wan, barefoot, ragged, and to'ta11y destitute, begging to be carried to the rear, where they can find subsistence. Their subsistence -- and it never amounted to much ---has l>een taken, obliging them to seek homes and food elsewhere.. Their &ituation is pitiable in the extreme.29
The situation would worsen before relief came. Sherman had no intention
of letting the defeat at New Hope Church slow him down. Jacob Cox's XXIII
Corps was met by Sherman at daybreak the morning of May 26. He ordered Cox to

62
move to the extreme left toward Brown's Mill and swing forward as an extension of the IV Corps line Cox described Sherman as he saw him that morning: "Cheery and undisturbed, as if the most ordinary business were going on, the General sat upon a log and sketched upon a leaf of his pocket memorandum book a map of the supposed situation n30 Cox was to cut a road from Owen's Mill near the bridge to Hooker's left, running almost due east and parallel to, but north of, the road on which Hooker and Howard were positioned 3l
As usual, Sherman was anxious as to McPherson's whereabouts. On May 26, Dodge's corps moved from Van Wert and crossed the Pumpkinvine at 10:30 am. With Dodge up, McPherson moved the XV Corps by way of Van Wert from Pumpkinvine Creek. Shortly before 2 p m., McPherson entered Dallas, which was guarded by a handful of Southern cavalry. On probing out and taking position on the Marietta road and the Villa Rica road, McPherson found Hardee in strong force opposite him.32
Lieutenant Colonel Fullerton of Howard's corps had risen early that morning, breakfasted at 3:30am., and then had ridden to the front line. At 5 a m , he received instructions from Sherman to place the IV Corps in the front, to the left of a dirt road Howard placed John Newton's division on hiS right
1
and T J. Wood's division on his left. Between Howard's left and the Army of the Ohio, there remained a gap. On his right, Howard's line connected with Hooker's corps. At 11 a.m., Wood's skirmish line moved forward, pressing back the Confederate skirmishers. Colonel Fullerton could now see the Dallas-Marietta road on the Army of the Cumberland's extreme left, and the open fields, wet with rain, interspersed with low timber growth. To the rear, the supply trains of Hooker and Palmer were blocking the road to the front line. 33
Early that afternoon, Wood's main force crossed Brown's Mill Creek Through the open fields among the woods, he could now see the Confederate line. Wood opened fire on the enemy with a battery of artillery, and for the rest of

63
the afternoon, the Union and Confederate guns exchanged fire. 34 The gloom of the lonesome woods was broken sporadically by the sounds of
muskets and cannons along the front lines. As Union troopers to the rear filtered to the front lines or shifted eastward, the thickets were alive with the rattle of wagons and the curses of teamsters, the rumbling of artillery, the steady tramp of infantry, and couriers galloping by on their horses, slinging up mud. But the tangling vines and scarcely-broken walls of miles of woodlands slowed the horses, the men, and the guns
Colonel Charles M Lum of the lOth Michigan had broken camp with his regiment at 7 a m , "and marched, as we supposed, toward Dallas for two and a half miles over all the moderate sized big hills that could be crowded into that distance " 35
Jefferson C. Davis' division of the XIV Corps formed the line of battle that afternoon on the East Marietta Road. McPherson's columns now went into position, their lines running across the Villa Rica road. McPherson's skirmishers pressed forward, only to find Hardee's corps entrenched in a position covering the Marietta and Villa Rica roads. Hardee's right stretched to the western end of Elsberry Mountain 36
At 3 am on May 25, General Patrick R Cleburne's division of Hardee's corps marched to Henry Lester's home Less than four years earlier, Lester had signed the Ordinance of Secession for Paulding County From here, Cleburne turned right at George Darby's, where he remained until sundown during the Battle of New Hope Church At dark, he received orders to march to New Hope Church The darkness, rain and crowded roads confused him as he reached the end of W H T Walker's division column. General Hardee sent orders to Cleburne, which the Irishman received at 10 30 p m., telling him to bivouac until 4 am and then move to Lemuel Maulding's farm on the Dallas-Atlanta road. His division reached the farm at 6:30 on the morning of May 26 In

64
the belief that Sherman was trying to flank the Confederates on the east, General Johnston sent reinforcements to the Confederate right, held by Hood's corps After a rapid march, Cleburne arrived with his division on the right flank between 2 and 3 p m. that afternoon 3?
Now under Hood's command, Cleburne took position before sundown. The Irish general's division anchored the right flank of the Army of Tennessee. To Cleburne's left was Major General T.C. Hindman's division. The Confederate line here ran roughly north and south and was retired a few yards to the east. In continuation of the retired line, Cleburne placed L.E. Polk's brigade in and diagonally across it upon a ridge ~ echelon by battalion to avoid raking artillery enfilade from any neighboring position established by Sherman. On Polk's right, Cleburne placed Major T.R. Hotchkiss' artillery, which consisted of four Napoleons, four Parrott guns and four howitzers. A regiment of D.C. Govan's brigade supported Hotchkiss on the right. Cleburne located the remainder of his division in the rear as a second line in support of his own front line and the right-most brigade of Hindman's division. As the sun sank over the hills and threw deep shadows over the woods, Cleburne's troops threw up entrenchments. When the stars rose and gunfire had died to a trickle in the dire.::tion of Dallas, the men were still entrenching. Cleburne described his position as, "in the main, covered with trees and undergrowth, which served as a screen along our lines and concealed us, and were left standing as far as practicable for that purpose."38
Sherman had now located Johnston's new line at Dallas. He originally intended to assault the Army of Tennessee's new position,. but the defeat at New Hope Church gave him second thoughts. Instead, he decided to turn Johnston's right flank just as he had done from Dalton to the Etowah 39
About 5:30 on the evening of May 26, Sherman laid out his plans for battle on the following day in Special Field Orders No. 12. The batteries of Hooker,

65
Howard and Schofield were to take position and fire until 9 a.m. At 10 a.m., George Thomas was to wheel Howard to the right, advancing "the left to the south, on the east side of the cleared valley in our front" to the commanding promontory overlooking the Marietta road. Jacob Cox was to move two divisions of the XXIII Corps in support of Howard's left. lihile the flanking movement was in progress, Hooker was to attack the Rebel works to his front. On the Union right, McPherson was to junction with Davis at or near Dallas and move on the Confederates at New Hope Church, connecting with Hooker's right General Sherman himself would remain near Hooker's headquarters on the 27th.
In effect, Sherman's three armies would be shifting eastward in an effort to turn Johnston's right flank If successful, Sherman would have his army between Johnston and the Chattahoochee River. All along the front lines, Union troops would be making assaults in order to pin down forces that Johnston might otherwise use to bolster his flanks. Meanwhile, the second-line units would be turning Johnston's flank, while the front line demonstrated to Johnston's front, eliminating suspicion of the flanking attack There were two problems that might arise: the eastward flanking movement might leave McPherson open to a similar flanking assault by Hardee's corps, or Johnston might anticipate the Union move and be waiting when the assault was launched 4l
Sherman directed the ~rmy of the Ohio to take position in front of a settlement known as Pickett's Mill, the corps to be facing south and connecting with the Army of the Cumberland on its right One-third of the corps was to be held in reserve, and the army's .flanks were to be concealed in the timber. Sherman had no intention of merely flanking Johnston. He meant to crush him. "It is useless to look for the flanks of the enemy, as he makes temporary breastworks as fast as we travel," Sherman grumbled. "We must break his line without scattering our troops too much, and then break through." By 8:45 that

66
evening, Sherman learned that the Army of the Ohio was in position on his left flank 42
Light skirmishing continued as darkness settled over the Paulding County hills McPherson had moved his troops near Dallas, with Hardee's skirmishers stubbornly resisting McPherson's two corps and Jeff Davis' division. The Confederates heard the rumble of the artillery when the Yankees places their guns in position for the next day's attack. At 9 p m , Sherman's division commanders received orders to furnish their men with 60 rounds of ammunition each. The three days' rations issued that night must now last four Hare than ever, Sherman needed to connect with the railroad. However, as he attempted to flank Johnston, Sherman realized that if he failed, he could still reach the railroad at Acworth He realized, similarly, that if this happened, he would be no nearer Atlanta than when he had marched southwest around Allatoona Pass. 43
That night, Johnston's lines were located thusly: Hardee's corps (minus Cleburne's division) held the left flank at Dallas; Bishop Polk's corps held the Confederate center between Dallas and New Hope Church; John Bell Hood defended the army's right flank on a line stretching from New Hope Church to near Pickett's Mill. Opposite Hood was the Army of the Ohio at Pickett 1 s Mill; the Army of the Cumberland's lines stretched from east of New Hope Church to Dallas McPherson was located on Thomas' right at Dallas Both armies threw up breastworks and strengthened their entrenchments that night. The war had shifted to the tiny country settlement at Pickett's Mill. 44

FOOTNOTES
Chapter IV
1 Richard M. McMurry, "The Hell-Hole," Civil War Times Illustrated, Vol. XI, No. 10 (Gettysburg, Pa :Historical Times, Inc., 1973), issue of February, 1973, p. 35
2 Official Records of the \-Tar of the Rebellion, Series I, Vol. XXXVIII, Part 2 (Washington, D.C Govennnent Printing Office, 1880-1901), pp. 29, 30, 122-24, and Part 3, p. 143
3 Ibi~., Part 2, pp 122-24.
4 Ibid , Part 2, pp 122-24, and Part 3, pp. 843, 844, 862, 863. 5 L.A.J. Papers, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Library, New
Orleans. 6 McMurry, ~ cit., p. 36. 7 Official Records. . . , ~ cit. , Part 2, pp. 122-24. 8 Ibid., pp. 29, 30.
Samuel Carter, III, The Siege of Atlanta, 1864 (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1973), pp 135, 136 9 Official Records ... , ~ cit., Part 2, pp. 29, 30, 61, 123, 124. 10 McMurry, ~ cit., p. 36. 11 Official Records .. , op cit., Part 2, p. 30. 12 L A.J. Papers, loc. cit.
13 Ibid.
14 Official Records . . , ~ cit., Part 2, pp. 30, 61, 123, 124; Part 3, p. 687.
McMurry,~ cit , pp 36, 37. 15 L.A.J. Papers, loc cit.
16 Official Records . . , ~ cit., Part 2, pp. 30, 61, 123, 124, Part 3, p. 687.
17 Bromfield T. Ridley, Battles an~ Sketches of the Army of Tennessee (Mexico, Mo.: Missouri Printing and Publishing Company, 1906), p. 305.
18 0.0. Howard, "The Struggle for Atlanta," Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol. IV (New York: Thomas Yoseloff, Inc., 1956), pp. 306-,-307.
- 67 -

68

19 McMurry, ~ cit , p 37. 20 Ibid

2l Ibid , pp. 37, 38 22 New York Daily Tribune (New York: 1864), issue of June 10, 1864.

23 Augusta Daily Constitutionalist (Augusta, Ga.: 1864), issues of May 27 and May 29, 1864.
24 Ibid

25 US. Bureau of the Census, Census of 1860 (Paulding County, Ga ).
26 Lillian Henderson (comp ), Roster of~ Confederate Soldiers of Georgia, 1861-1865, Vol VI (Hapeville, Ga.: Longine & Porter, Inc., 1964), pp. 200, 201
27 Memphis Daily Appeal (Memphis, Tenn.: 1864), issue of May 26, 1864.
28 Augusta Daily Constitutionalist, ~ cit., issue of May 29., 1864.
29 New York Daily Tribune, loc. cit.
30 Jacob D Cox, The Atlanta ampaign (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1882), p 75.

3l Official Records 32 Ibid , p. 321.

, ~ cit , Part 4, p. 320.

33 Ibid , Part 1, pp. 863, 864. 34 Ibid. 35 Ibid., p. 668. 36 Ibid , p. 631. 37 Ibid , Part 3, pp. 724, 725

38 Ibid. 39 McMurry, ~ cit. , p. 38. 40 Official Records .... ,~ cit., Part 4, p. 323.

41 Ibid.
42 Ibid., pp. 35, 36. 43 Ibid., Part 1, pp. 863, 864; Part 3, p. 143.
McMurry, ~ cit , p. 38.
44 Ibid.

V. PICKETT'S MILL

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"Battles at DaUas:J May 27-3Z, Z864" (Wilbur G. Kur>tz)

HOWARD'S FLANKING MANEUVER
The wilderness had again assumed the lulled peace that the armies had shattered. At 2:30a.m. on May 27, General Thomas relayed Sherman's orders to bring all the artillery into position. The guns were to fire until 9 a.m., and at 10 a.m., Howard's IV Corps was to move out. Howard's division commanders received their orders at 4:30a.m.: General Newton was directed to form: in two lines with his right resting on the road and extending as far as possible to the left, relieving David Stanley's division, who, in turn, was to relieve Wood, who was to form his division in a column of attack with a fourregiment front Wood was to strike off at 10 a.m., moving through the woods to the left of his front. 1
General Thomas seemed satisfied with Sherman's plans. An officer rode to Thomas' headquarters to inquire when the artillery was to open fire. Yawning and expanding his big bulk as he rubbed his beard, Thomas replied: At once.
At 5:30a.m., the artillery shattered the darkness and the quiet. The massed Union guns opened fire. Confederate artillery from Hardee's corps returned the fire, the batteries enfilading Sherman's guns. Only now did the Yankee staff seem to realize that the previously selected point of attack "would expose the troops to a murderous direct and cross fire artillery from different points as they passed over open ground .. " The guns were now blazing over the entire six-mile front of the Confederate line. 2
The sun rose above the hills that morning, blurred by the morning mist. Patches of fog hung above the cornfields. Roosters crowed from the isolated farms spread out in the meadows and along the banks of the tributaries of the Pumpkinvine
Generals Thomas and Howard rode to the left with their escorts to take a
- 69 -

70
reconnaissance of the terrain from one of the many ridges paralleling the Rebel line The fog, the mist, and the d'ense clouds of smoke from the enemy artillery hampered their vision The dense thickets obscured it even more. But the Union officers motioned with their hands, pointin'g out Joe Johnston's line as though they actually knew its every bend and fold.
Howard was not yet 34 years old, a pleasant-looking man with a heavy, fine beard He had been born in Leeds, Maine, and like many of the Confederate officers who had been immersed in the folds of the wilderness, he had attended \vest Point At the Battle of -Seven Pines in 1862, where Joe Johnston had been seriously wou,nde.d, Howard had lost his right arm. A kind man with a flair for melodramatic battle reports, t-he Maine Yankee was a devout Christian Like Bishop Polk in his grey hunting shirt and slouch hat across the way, Howard found no conflict between his religion and his war. Following the war, he was to be named the first commissioner of the Freedman's Bureau. With the rising sun flanking his left should~r ' George Thomas ordered Howard to shift Wood's division further left "and beyond all troops .and endeavor to strike the
enemy's flank ~~ 3
Before daybreak, Union scouts spied large masses of Confederates moving on the gap !>etween Dodge's XVI Corps and Davis' division of the XIV Corps XV Corps division commander Peter J. Osterhaus reconnoitered and ordered Wangelin's brigade to deploy in two lines on the left of Colonel James A Williamson at 5 a.m. A few minutes later, in the breaking darkness, the Confederates struck the left flank of Osterhaus' Second Brigade, driving it back. The Third Brigade hurried to the front, slowly checking and then driving back the Southern force. The XVI Corps soon ~arne up to connect with the left of the Third Brigade. The soldiers on the Union right now dug in, and two sections o~ light 12-pounders of the Fourth Ohio Battery were placed at the "key point" of Osterhaus' position. 4
By 6:45 that morning, McPherson was in Da'llas, with Hardee's troops in

Major General 0 0 Howard (U S Signal Corps photo, No. lll-B-l805, Brady Collection, National Archives

71
heavy force along the Marietta road. Skirmishing broke out all along the lines as Sherman made a demonstration to draw the Confederates' attention away from their right flank, where Howard's attack was to fall. Hardee's corps at Dallas and Polk's near New Hope Church exchanged rifle fire with Sherman in the early morning hours Both armies continued to throw up more barricades and dig ever deeper into the earth 5
Meanwhile, Howard's troops were massing At 8:20am., they began a wheelit1g maneuver to the !'eft At 10 a m , they were to march eastward to strike Johnston's right flank Here, John Bell Hood now gave Pat Cleburne permission to withdraw Daniel C Govan's brigade of his division. In Govan's place, Cleburne threw out a heavy line of skirmishers. 6
Howard's command formed in mass on the extreme left of Schofield's line for the assault To support him, General Thomas gave him R.W. Johnson's divisionof the XIV Corps, together with .a brigade from Schofield's Army of the Ohio (XXIII Corps). At 8:45a.m, Thomas sent General DavidS. Stanley forward in the direction of the Confederate works (Polk's corps) to his front. At 9: 05, both John Newton and Stanley were ordered to make a strong demonstration with their divisions. Heavy firing soon swelled up here along either side of Raper Creek. 7
Stanley's troops began relieving those of the Third Division, IV Corps (Wood) about 9 a.m 8 Howard King's brigade and Benjamin Scribner's brigade of Johnson's division participated in the flanking maneuver. King was positioned immediately to the rear of Wood's division in column by brigade in two lines. Scribner's brigade moved from King's left to the left center of Wood's center brigade 9 The attacking column under Howard was now massed on the left of the Army of the Cumberland's line The troops were formed in six parallel lines, each brigade being positioned in two lines. Wood's division was formed with Hazen's Second Brigade at the front bf the line, Colonel Gibson's First Brigade

72
next and Colonel Knefler's Third Brigade in the rear. 10 The Union forces consisted of Wood's division (IV Corps), Johnson's divi-
sion (XIV Corps), and McLean's brigade of the Second Division of the XXIII Corps The strength of the command was approximately 18,000.
General Howard selected a field on the extreme left of the Union line to mass his column. He formed his troops in the rear of the XIII Corps, shielded from the Confederates not only by the Army of the Ohio but also by the intervening woods. Despite the preparations on May 26 and the pre-dawn movements of May 27, however, it was not until about 11 a.m . that Howard began to move on the Confederate flank. In a blue mass, six lines deep with a brigade in front, Wood on the right and Johnson on the left, Howard struck out toward the northeast.11
Wood commenced his move at 10:55 a.m., with Howard and his staff accompanying him. At 11:15, Howard sent word to Jacob Cox (interim commander of the Army of the Ohio) that his (Howard's) first line had advanced about a mile. He told Cox to be ready to assist him in holding any position he might gain. At noon, George Stoneman's cavalry sent word the Rebel cavalry had been spotted in the rear of Howard's left. Howard halted to reform Wood's line in order to bring his left around so that he would now be moving almost due south, and he also sent word to McLean, on his right, to maintain connection. Leiutenant Colonel Fullerton rode back to Johnson and instructed him to move his troops up, working to Wood's left. Fullerton informed Johnson that Wood's division was swinging to the left, and he urged Johnson to retain connection with Wood.l2
Colonel Knefler reported that the column was preceded by a strong line of skirmishers and had advanced with its center resting on the Dallas-Acworth road Wood's division was to maintain connection with McLean on the west side of the road. "The connection with that brigade, however," wrote Knefler, "was soon broken, it having remained behind, and was not again met with the remainder

73
of the day."13 Howard believed that he had now reached the Rebel right flank. Wood
wheeled right until he faced south, and McLean was deployed to form a junction with Wood on his right. McLean's skirmishers pressed forward until reaching a
14 large open field~ where enemy works were discovered to the front. In his march upon the Confederate flank, Wood reported that he had gone "through dense forests and the thickest jungle, a country whose surface was scarred by deep ravines and interspersed by difficult ridges." Now, as the skirmishers found that in wheeling to the right they had swung inside the Confederate line, they were hastily withdrawn. The column faced left, filed left and struck out in a southeasterly direction, still probing for Joe Johnston's flank lS By now, Fullerton wrote, "[we] can see nothing fifty yards in front." 16
In his halt,. the fumbling withdrawal of skirmishers~ and the continued flank march, Howard showed signs of confusion He progressively delayed the attack by his maneuvering, reducing the chance of success And he had now given warning to the Confederate skirmishers of his intentions. When Wood agairi took up the march, he swiftly lost contact with McLean and, thereby, the main body of the Federal Army. Howard ordered l.Vood to restrict his movement to the left, and again he instructed McLean to keep his brigade connected with the flanking column.
At 1:45 p.m , the first line of Wood's division came in sight of the Conderate works over an open field. Wood halted in the edge of the woods to make preparations to again shift left. Howard galloped over to General R W. Johnson and informed him of the situation. He instructed Johnson on how be was to go into position on Wood's left At 2 10 p m., Wood resumed his flank march Fifty minutes later, Howard requested the commander of the Army of the Ohio to swing his line around to the right so that it would face east and west, connecting with his right and closing the gap between the XXIII Corps and the flanking

74
force Already Howard had gone much further to his left than Sherman ever anticipated, and it was causing problems for Howard and the entire army. 17
The First Brigade of Wood's division reached a point near Pickett's Mill about 2:30 p.m , where the troops halted for almost two hours. 18 Colonel Benjamin F. Scribner, with Johnson's division, found the march a trying ordeal After the first halt, he wrote, "We marched north, then east, to find the same seemingly interminable intrenchments."19
As they marched, the Yankee infantry could hear the sound of gunfire. Union skirmishers exchanged musketry with the Confederates along the front line. "The march," Howard declared, "was over rough and poor roads, when we had any roads at all The way at times was almost impassable for the 'mud forests' closed us in on either side, and the underbrush shut off all distant objects." The march was delayed by the constant reconnoitering. Wood's advance would periodically "skirmish up quietly" toward the Confederate lines, probing for a gap. lfuen near enough, officers with field glasses would make "as close observations as the nature of the thickets or more open fields would permit." 20
Shortly after 3 p.m., Howard was standing in the edge of the woods using his field glasses to follow Johnston's lines. Howard's aide, Captain Harry M. Stinson stepped boldly into an opening in the thickets, anxious to try out his new field glasses. Howard was not more than 700 yards from Hood's entrenchments Stinson had scarcely raised the glasses to his eyes before a bullet struck him and he fell to the ground on his face, a bullet hole in the back of his coat where it had penetrated his lungs and gone through his body. The incident stunned Howard Stinson later recovered from the wound, but Howard, in the following hours, seemed not to have recovered from the shock. He glanced about him anxiously now as his columns trudged eastward: uncertain of where the Confederates were, not certain of his own location, and no longer in touch with the main body of Sherman's army.21

75
Between 2:30 and 4:30p.m., Howard made arrangements for his assault. His eyes took in the more or less ,open woods which extended to the apparent flank of Johnston. A road skirted the woods opposite the Northern right, running perpendicular to the Confederate line, and another road ran obliquely toward the left and in the rear of R.W. Johnson's position. Howard planned for McLean's brigade to assume a position in a field in full view of the Rebel works McLean was to the right of the point of attack, and Howard envisioned his attracting the enemy's attention and drawing his fire. 22
General Wood's troops had now been on their feet since daylight. The halt, during which time Howard was moving Johnson's soldiers over to cover
23 Wood's left flank, was badly needed.
At 3:35p.m., Howard sent a note to Thomas advising him of his position and mentioning the difficulties he had experienced in marching over the rugged terrain to Sherman's left. He told Thomas that he believed he was turning the enemy's right flank. Minutes later, McLean reported that he was following Johnson's division according to Howard's orders and was in advance of his corps, leaving a gap of three-fourths of a mile between Howard and the Army of the Ohio. Five minutes later, a staff officer from McCook's cavalry notified Howard that his horsemen were on the column's left, attempting to connect with it. At 4 p.m., an officer attached to the Army of the Cumberland's headquarters staff returned from Thomas' headquarters. Sherman, he said, wanted Howard to hit the enemy's right flank and rear immediately. 24

SKIRMISHES ALONG THE MAIN LINE

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'his , .a~t~Uery tl? c':n~tinue_. popnding the Confederate entrenchments hidden. it1 t;he

tillnP.er~ .A .batte:ry of _2;0,..p01,lnd Par;rotts blasted the lines pf. Confederate :B:riga...

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in their entrenchments and the sharpshooters had little .effect.

With word fro'D\ his front line that Sherman was attempt.ing to flank him. on

the right, Johnston felt he could launch an attack against the weakened Union

rrght flank near Dallas. Hardee'_s corps pressed forward.

Charles Walcutt's brigade (Union) of the Fourth Division of the XV . Corps

was posted along the crest of a ridge which ran parallel to the Villa Rica

read. On the left was Oliver's brigade. As Walcutt's skirmishers advanced,

they gathered up 22 prisoners .. Hardee's attack drove :Walcutt back, and th'e

- 76 -

77
Yankees hastily dug out rifle pits Hardee was now to the right of and 500 yards distant from Walcutt, with four guns in position to command the Villa Rica road Although Garrard's cavalry was protecting the Union right flank, McPherson was nevertheless apprehensive of being hit in the rear. To Walcutt's right was Williams' brigade, the two lines forming an acute angle. At 1 p.m., the four Confederate guns opened on the Union left. When the artillery barrage ended, the Confederates as~aulted all along the front of the XV Corps. 27
P.J Osterhaus' division of the XV Corps absorbed the brunt of Hardee's attack. The left flank of his division had not connected with the XVI Corps, and it was here that Hardee concentrated his attention, striking the left flank of Osterhaus' Second Brigade and driving it back. Osterhaus immediately brought up his Third Brigade and sent the 12th Missouri forward as skirmishers, with the 29th and 31st Missouri regiments deploying on their left. The Confederates slowly yielded ground. When the firing died down, Osterhaus put in the First Brigade to relieve the Second. The XVI Corps came up to connect on Osterhaus' left, and the Yankees began entrenching. Two sections of light 12-pounders were placed ,on the key position of the division line, commanding the approach to its position. 28
Hardee's skirmishers were also harassing the Union front lines at Dallas on Jeff Davis' division's front. Further east, near New Hope Church, on the line of the IV Corps between Hooker and the Army of the Ohio, Joe Johnston launched probing assaults Major General David Stanley's division, which had replaced Wood on the front line to the left of Hooker's corps, deployed two brigades in columns of regiments to demonstrate on Johnston's center, while a brigade was left to hold Stanley's line of breastworks. Hooker, and the divisions of the IV Corps, sent forward skirmish lines, supported by artillery fire. The Confederates made a counter~demonstration, assaulting Newton's division of the IV Corps before being forced back. 29

78
While the armies maneuvered and ~kirmished between Dallas and New Hope Church, XIV Corps commander John M Palmer seethed Davis' divi~ion of Palmer's corps had been taken from him to support McPherson on the right, and now R W Johnson's division had been taken from him to support Howard on the extreme left. He dashed off a note to General Thomas, charging, "The indignity of forming a command of two divisions for Major-General Howard, taking my only divisions for that purp~se, leaving two of his divisions without com-
mander, and me withou~ a duty or a' man beyond my escort, disgraces me if I sub-
mit to it " Palmer requested that he be relieved of command. One hundred and fifty thousand men were fighting on the Dallas Line, while -John M. Palmer, surrounded by a feeble escort, was unableto do anything. His envy of Howard, however, would be short-lived. No matter pow degrading his present position of humiliation in the timber, ' it was infinitely preferable to that in which Howard would soon find. .himself at Pickett ' s Mill. 30
Near Pickett's Mill, at 4:35pm., General Howard sent two notes to George Thomas "I am on the ridge beyond the field that we were looking at this morning," he told the Army of the Cumberland commander. "No person can appreciate the difficulty in moving over this ground unless he can see it." 31 In a second note, he informed Thomas, "I am now turning the enemy's right flank, I think." 32

Major General Patrick R Cleburne (courtesy of the Cook Collection~ Valentine Museum~ Richmond~ Virginia)

CLEBURNE'S DIVISION AT PICKETT'S MILL
As the blue-coated Union soldiers slogged through the mud and tangled thickets toward Pickett's Mill, the Confederates followed their poorly-disguised intentions with interest.
Army of Tennessee cavalry commander Joe Wheeler placed Brigadier General John H. Kelly's division on Major General Pat Cleburne's right flank. Twentyfour years old and a native of Alabama, Kelly was attending West Point when the war broke out. He was the youngest general officer in the Confederacy when he was commissioned in 1863. On the afternoon of May 27, Kelly's dismounted troopers quickly threw up entrenchments extending on the prolongation of Cleburne's line for 800 yards. General William Thompson Martin's cavalry division was to the right of Kelly along the Burnt Hickory road, where Wheeler had placed him earlier in the day. Wheeler's cavalry, although protecting Cleburne's right flank for a considerable distance, could not hold the line against a concerted infantry attack. Furthermore, there was a two-mile gap between Kelly's right and Martin's left, held by W.Y.C. Humes' skirmishers.33
The Confederate infantry of Pat Cleburne would have to hold or the Dallas Line would buckle.
Patrick Cleburne never attended West Point. Born on the banks of the River Bride in County Cork, Ireland, Cleburne served in the ranks of the Britist 41st Regiment of Foot, eventually rising to the rank of corporal before immigrating to the United States in 1849. In Helena, Arkansas, he served as a drugstore clerk and later took up the practice of law. 34 When war broke out, Cleburne signed up as a private in the Yell Rifles. He rose swiftly through the ranks, and by the spring of 1864, he was the most respected division commander in the Army of Tennessee. Known as the "Stonewall of the West" (after Stonewall
- 79 -

80

Jackson), Cleburne had repulsed Sherman's assault on his lines at Missionary

Ridge the previous November When the Army of Tennessee fled the ridge, Brax-

ton Bragg ordered Cleburne to hold a small gorge, Ringgold Gap, in order to

allow the wagon trains and artillery of the Army of Tennessee to avoid cap-

ture Outnumbered approximately five-to-one, Cleburne beat back the assault-

ing Union forces For the gallant action, the Confederate Congress passed a resolution commending Cleburne and his men "for distinguished service."35

At dark on May 25, 1864, Cleburne had received orders to march from George

Darby's home to New Hope Church His division reached Lemuel Maulding's farm

at daybreak the following morning. Fearful of a Union attack on his right, Joe

Johnston sent Cleburne to strengthen that flank. He arrived between 2 and 3

p.m on the 26th, and he was now under the command of Hood was posted T.C. Hindman's division 36

To Cleburne's left

On the afternoon of May 27, Cleburne had at his disposal two brigades in

addition to his own division E C. Walthall's brigade and William A. Quarles'

brigade of Hindman's division Hotchkiss' artillery, consisting of four Napol-

eons, four Parrotts and four howitzers, was placed on L.E. Polk's right. All that morning, Cleburne's men had been busy improving their entrenchments 37

At 7 a.m., Cleburne had sent D.C. Govan's Arkansas brigade north on a

reconnaissance with instructions to swing to the left in his advance. Periodi-

cally during the reconnaissance, Govan sent Cleburne word that the Yankees were

moving to his right At 11 a.m., Cleburne ordered Govan to come in The

Arkansas brigadier left his skirmishers about three-quarters of a mile in Cle-

burne's front The Irishman now placed the Arkansas brigade to the right of Polk in rifle pits. 38

"Cleburne was fully forewarned of an impending assault, as the blundering

path of the Federal force had not gone unnoticed," a historian wryly noted. Yet Cleburne was not certain where the attack would fal1. 39

BrigadieP GenePal Daniel C Govan Couptesy of the Cook Collection, Valentine MUseum, Richmond
ViPginia)

81
At 3 p m , the line of Kelly's cavalry skirmishers was driven in by a force of Union cavalry advancing up Pickett's Mill Creek past the Widow Pickett's house Finding infantry moving on Kelly and threatening the Confederate rear, \fueeler brought up a brigade of Humes' troopers to fill the yawning gap between Martin and Kelly 40
Cleburne formed his line with Texan Hiram B. Granbury's brigade behind the unfinished earthworks along the southern edge of the ravine Granbury held the extreme right To his left was Govan's brigade, and on the far left was L.E Polk's brigade The heavily-wooded ravine before the Confederate line had been left with timber unslashed to conceal the position. This had succeeded to some degree in misleading Howard. To the right of Granbury and to the northeast was an open field, and to his left was a road leading north About 200 yards west, Cleburne had placed Hotchkiss' battalion of artillery. The guns were sited to fire in a northerly direction toward the hills and ridges which the Yankees were expected to occupy Cleburne directed Captain Thomas J Key, a fellow Arkansan and member of Cleburne's original company, to knock out part of Govan's rifle trench with two of the 12-pound howitzers Key then placed the guns so as to fire to the right oblique, enfilading the ravine and covering the road. 41

THIS IK>AD P,AOBABLY ~ -~~-~

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HISTORIC STRUCTURES ROADS AND
FIELDS

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SCALE: 1" :400'

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.

THE BATTLE
Hazen's Assault
General Howard and his division commander T.J. Wood rode off between 2 and 3 p.m. to reconnoiter the Confederate lines to their front They halted at a wooded ridge later known as Fish Hook Knoll There was a slight elevation in front of the knoll, and the area .between the knoll and Cleburne's line was relatively flat. From this vantage point, Howard and Wood could not tell where the Southern works ended They did see a line of entrenchments to their right, "but they did not seem to cover General Wood's front, and they were new, the enemy still working hard upon them," Howard later wrote. 42 What he and Wood did not see was that the ground to the east of the creek was so broken up as to render it impossible for any organized infantry force to operate. The deep ravine running east-west immediately in front of the Confederate line occupied by Granbury's brigade would prove a death trap, as Govan's infantry would be able to enfilade the ravine, as would Captain Key's two guns from the right, and from a high prominence immediately across the creek from Pickett's Mill on the left of the Union forces. 43
Ambrose Bierce, a topographic officer with W.B. Hazen's brigade of Wood's division, was a writer whose fiction revealed a pronounced obsession with death. When Bierce, the writer, recalled Bierce, the topographer, and the Battle of Pickett's Mill, he had no need for a fictional "death." He had only to desscribe the facts. 44
Bierce examined Oliver Otis Howard, the architect of the clumsy flanking maneuver that had brought them to the ridges above Pickett's Mill Creek:
In selecting General Howard for the bold adventure General Sherman was doubtless not unmindful of Chancellorsville, where Stonewall
- 82 -

(;

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CSA

3 TO 4 P.M. 27 MAY 1864

BATTLE MOVEMENTS SEQUENCE

CD NORTH
SCALE: 1" :400'
n - - T SCALE IN FEET
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83
Jackson had executed a similar maneuver for Howard's instruction. Experience is a normal school: it teaches how to teach.
But, as Bierce noted, "At Chancellorsville it was Howard who was assailed;
at Pickett's Mill, Hood. The significance of the first distinction is doubled by that of the second." 45
The second character in the drama was W.B. Hazen:
. . a born fighter, an educated soldier .. the best-hated man that I knew, and his very memory is a terror to every unworthy soul in service His was a stormy life: he was in trouble all around
Bierce continued:
Grant, Sherman, Sheridan and a countless multitude of the less eminent luckless had the misfortune .. to incur his disfavor, and he tried to punish them all. He was always -- after the war -the central figure of a court-martial or a Congressional inquiry, was accused of everything, from stealing to cowardice, was banished to obscure posts, 'jumped on' by the press, traduced in public and in private, and always emerged triumphant. While Signal Officer, he went up against the Secretary of War and put him to the controversial sword. He convicted Sheridan of falsehood, Sherman of barbarism, Grant of inefficiency. He was aggressive, arrogant, tyrannical, honorable, truthful, courageous -- a skillful soldier, a faithful friend and one of the most exasperating of men. Duty was his religion, and like the Moslem he proselyted with the sword. His missionary efforts were directed chiefly against the spiritual darkness of his superiors in rank, though he would turn aside from pursuit of his erring commander to set a chicken-thieving orderly astride a wooden horse, with a heavy stone attached to each foot.
As a fellow brigadier general commended: "Hazen is a synonym of insubordina-
tion."46
For approximately two hours from the time that he and Wood had reconnoi~
tered the enemy lines, Howard did nothing; he was making the final arrange-
ments to place Johnson's division on his left. Bierce remarked that this fatal
halt at the end of the march was "to acquaint the enemy of our intention to surprise him " 47
Howard and T.J. Wood were discussing the strategic situation, and Bierce

Brigadier GenePal William B. Hazen (U S Signal
CoPps photo, No. lll-B-2509, BPady Collection, CoUPtesy of the National Archives)

84
was suddenly shocked when he heard Wood say: "We will put in Hazen and see what success he has." Said Bierce:
When he (Hazen) heard Wood say they would get him in and see what success he would have in defeating an army -- when he saw Howard assent -- he uttered never a word, rode to the head of his feeble brigade and patiently awaited the command to go. Only by a look which I knew how to read did he betray his sense of the criminal blunder.48
As topographical engineer, Bierce had made a hasty examination of the terrain to his front He had pushed far enough through the timber "to hear distinctly the murmur of the enemy awaiting us." And Bierce dutifully reported it to Hazen, who reported it to lolood, who reported it to Howard, who plucked at his beard with the hand of his one arm and dutifully forgot.
Bierce summarized the situation along the ravines on Pickett's Mill Creek thusly:
.. a weak brigade of fifteen hundred men, with masses of idle troops behind in the character of audience, waiting for the word to march a quarter-mile up hill through almost impassable tangles of underwood, along and across precipitous ravines, and attack breastworks constructed at leisure and manned with two divisions of troops as good as themselves.49
The sun shone through the hardwoods along the ravine, glinting off the brass buttons and sabers of the blue-coated officers on horseback, off the stacked carbines of the infantrymen who joked and chewed tobacco as they watched the white clouds skim along the pale-blue surface of the sky, and which could not penetrate the gloom of the thickets where the Confederate brigades were hidden. Said Bierce: "Nothing could be heard but the wind among the trees and the songs of birds. Some one said it was a pity to frighten them. We laughed at that: men awaiting death on the battlefield laugh eas1. 1y ... n50
Howard made another mistake, more costly than the delay, which lost him the battle before it began: He formed his troops in columns of brigades,

Top of Hazen's Hill showing fouP Union gun positions (Photo by RichaPd M. Williams, DecembeP l4, l976)

4 TO 4:30 P.M. 27 MAY 1864

BATTLE MOVEMENTS SEQUENCE

(])
NORTH
SCALE: 1 :400'
L~FUTT T

Hazen's Hill from the south (Photo by Richard M. Williams, December Z4, Z9?6)

85
narrowing his battle front and virtually negating his overwhelming advantage in manpower: just as Hooker had done at New Hope Church. Each of the brigades of Wood's division formed in two lines, making the division six lines deep. Hazen formed his brigade in four battalions with a front only 200 yards wide. 51 In the rear of Hazen was the First Brigade, commanded by Colonel William H. Gibson. Behind Gibson was Colonel Frederick Knefler's Third Brigade. Johnson's division had not yet come up on Wood's left, and McLean's brigade of the Army of the Ohio had long since lost connection on the right. Despite the twohour delay, Howard was still unsupported on his right, temporarily unsupported on his left, not in control of his troops, and totally out of touch with the situation when he blindly rushed on Cleburne's line.
Assistant Adjutant General Fullerton recorded that the advance was sounded at 4:55 p.m , but heavy skirmishing had begun earlier 52 General Hazen left his horse at the rear and marched forward with the 6th Indiana on the front line. 53 In le.ss than one minute," Bierce wrote, "the trim battalions had become simply a swarm of men struggling through the undergrowth of the forest, pushing and crowding."
For the first 200 yards, the Second Brigade followed the general configuration of the creek The 23rd Kentucky on Hazen's extreme left marched along the steep bluff of the creek. When the command reached a steep ravine in the middle of a 10-acre field, regiments crossed above and below it. Bierce reported that the regiments were "inextricably intermingled, rendering all military formation impossible." The color-bearers kept to the front of the column with their flags closely furled, aslant backwards over their shoulders. Displayed, they would have been rent to shreds by the tree boughs All the horses had been sent to the rear, and general, staff and field officers marched forward with the troops.54
Staff officers from Howard's headquarters galloped to division commander

86
R W Johnson to urge him to hurry Scribner's brigade forward to support Hazen's left It was not until approximately 5 p.m. that Scribner's brigade emerged from the wooden ridge, passing the Widow Pickett's house and Pickett's Mill. 55
Scribner had been ordered to form on the left of Wood's center brigade (Gibson) and advance with it to protect the left flank of the division He threw skirmishers across the creek "on the other side of which rose a ridge, cut by ravines and difficult [of] ascent." He saw that he would have difficulty in advancing from the prolongation of Wood's line and therefore decided to throw his left forward and strengthen the line when Wood advanced. Two of his regiments had just moved out when the skirmishers opened a sharp fire, causing Scribner to bring up the rest of his brigade by the flank in order to draw the units into line when the front extended as the column advanced 56
Scribner's skirmishers struck Wheeler's cavalry line along the creek to the right of Granbury and opposite Pickett's Mill Wheeler rushed forward another regiment of Humes' brigade to hold off the Union skirmishers, and he ordered Kelly to close up on Humes to his right. As the skirmishers from Scribner's brigade swarmed down a ravine between Kelly's right and Humes' left, more cavalry reinforcements were called in. 57
Cleburne's right flank was being heavily pressed as the cavalry yielded ground stubbornly. If Wheeler's lines were broken, the Federals threatened to turn the entire right flank of the Dallas Line and strike the rear of Hood's corps. Hiram B. Granbury's Texas brigade, in position on the ridge, anchored the division right flank. To the front of the Texans' position was the Pickett farmhouse. Earlier that day, the Texans had explored the house, finding it empty. Before fleeing, the Picketts had attempted to store away their household goods, and the Texans discovered a featherbed and other domestic articles in an old well.5S

Brigadier General Hiram B. Granbury (Courtesy
of the Cook Collection~ Valentine MUseum~ Richmond~ Virginia)

87

About 4 p.m., a courier dashed up to Granbury's headquarters under a

great oak and handed him a dispatch tal commanders, Granbury barked out

Without sending orders to his regimen"Attention brigade!" The Texans formed

in four lines when he yelled, "Right face, forward, double quick march!" Off

at a run, the Texans moved a brigade length to their right and halted on the

road that ran through Cleburne's line. Opposite Granbury's left was the cor-

ner of the Pickett farm A rail fence ran along the borders of the field

there, and near it was the deep ravine which ran east about a brigade length

Between the field here and the field at the foot of the ravine was heavy tim-

ber. Granbury's men moved 40 yards down the hill in the thick brush as the

Confederate cavalry fell back and curved to the right . Just as the Texas brigade lay down with rifles cocked, a strong line of Federal infantry struck. 59

Pat Cleburne had first spotted the columns of Yankee infantry when t~ey

had driven back his skirmishers in the edge of an open field to Govan's front.

From the point on the ridge where Govan's right and Granbury's left met, there

was a spur which, 100 yards away, turned sharply to the northeast, running in a

direction almost parallel with the Confederate lines and of equal elevation.

Between the spur and the Confederate-held ridge, beginning in front of Gran-

bury's left, was the deep ravine mentioned in all the battle accounts: the

ravine down which the main thrust of Hazen's attack would fall. In the ravine

were occasional outcroppings of rock up to within 30 or 40 yards of Granbury's

men; from here, it flattened into a natural glacis, well-covered with grown trees and thick undergrowth 60

As the men of Hazen's brigade pressed through the woods in view of the

Confederate division on the ridge, Cleburne's troops opened fire. Bierce dis-

cribed that moment, which remained fixed in his mind, like a photograph taken

the instant the guns began and the woods swallowed many and the hundred-expres-

sions on the faces emerged as ghosts from the gunsmoke:

88
Hoarse, fierce yells broke out of a thousand throats. The forward fringe of brave and hardy assailants was arrested in its mutable extensions, the edge of our swarm grew dense and clearly defined as the foremost halted, and the rest pressed forward to align themselves beside them, all firing The uproar was deafening, the air was sibilant with screams and sheets of missiles. In the steady, unvarying roar of small-arms the frequent shock of cannon was rather felt than heard, but the gusts of grape which they blew into that populous wood were audible enough, screaming among the trees and cracking against their stems and branches.61
The Confederates blasted Hazen's bewildered men on both the left and right
flanks. Hazen referred to it as "one of the most desperate engagements of my
experience " Because of the ravine and the thick timber, the second line of
the brigade had veered left, coming in position directly on the left flank of
i
the first line. Granbury's infantry raked them with flanking volleys of musketry.62
The frenzied attackers soon lost all concept of time and distance and order.
The woods were screaming with guns, and all a man could see was the timber and
clouds of smoke and the glinting rifles of the Confederates. The 49th Ohio
marched forward in Hazen's line "In a few movements," Lieutenant Colonel Sam-
uel F. Gray wrote, "I lost sight of the first line, it having drifted to the
left." Gray watched as his regiment arrived at the ravine and was enfiladed by
artillery and musketry Beyond the clouds of blue smoke and the green timber, the Ohioan could discern the enemy on the hill. 63
Colonel Oliver H. Payne of the !24th Ohio commanded Hazen's right front bat-
talion in the assault. Payne saw his soldiers gain the hill, which rose steeply
from the ravine. He reported that his battalion:
... had advanced a few yards from the crest to within about thirty paces of the enemy's works, when it was met with such a withering fire from the front and each flank that it was checked and compelled to find shelter behind the crest of the hill.64
The 89th Illinois, on the extreme right of Payne's battalion, had no sup-
port to its right. McLean's brigade was out of sight, and Howard's own right

Brigadier General Thomas J Wood (U S Signal
Corps photo~ No lll-BA-294~ Brady Collection~ Courtesy of the National Archives)

Pickett's Mill Creek, facing north, above the mill dam (Photo by Richard M. Williams, December l4, l9?6)

89
flank was left hanging Flanking fire on the right from Polk and Govan's brigades and from the artillery decimated them. To the front, the artillery and the division rifles tore gaping holes in the ranks of the 89th Illinois. Lieutenant Colonel William B. Williams, regimental commander, wrote that the ''fire was so murderous that the column paused, wavered, and sought shelter such as they could find." 65
Driven back into the ravine, the bulk of Hazen's command was barraged by musketry to the front and on both flanks, while Captain Key's two howitzers blasted them with canister, shot, and shell as fast as they could load the guns.
Confusion and near-panic were as prevalent at Howard's headquarters as on the front line. General Wood was still calling for Johnson's division to move up on Hazen's left and provide him support. A disoriented, disturbed Howard built up rage in his frustration, directing it at McLean, who had left Hazen's right open to flanking fire. The conflict raging in the timber and undergrowth and in the old wheat- and cornfields and on the bank of the creek, shook Wood. The Kentucky general realized that the attack had been bungled, that Joe Johnston's flank had not been turned, that the assault was a mistake that could pot be retrieved for pride's sake, and that he himself could not dispose his supporting brigades to aid Hazen because of the nature of the terrain. When one of Wood's aides was shot and killed near his side, the general lost control of himself, and Howard later recalled: "For a few minutes, sitting beside his dying friend, he was completely overcome." 66
And there was good reason. Within half an hour of initiating his assault, Hazen lost 300 men. Rebel cannons spraying the hills and ridges where the Union staff watched the battle began zeroing in on the command post. A shell striking to Howard's left blew fragments in all directions. As he was walking forward, Howard felt a fragment strike his left foot. For a moment, the one-armed general imagined in horror

90
that he had lost his leg. But the fragment had only cut through the sole of his boot and through the up-leather, badly bruising him. Wounded and dazed, Howard sat around the wounded infantrymen being rushed to the rear, attempting to order his thoughts and retrieve something from his disastrous attack. 67
The brunt of the assault had fallen upon Granbury's Texans, who were without entrenchments. Cleburne connnended the Yankees, who "displayed a courage worthy of an honorable cause." The Yankees charged up to within a few paces of Granbury's line and yelled out: "Ah! damn you, we have caught you without your logs now," but Granbury didn't need logs. The screaming bluecoats rushed through the timber, "and as they appeared upon the slope," a Texan connnented, "[we] slaughtered them with deliberate aim." Cleburne wrote:
The piles of his dead on this front, pronounced by the officers of this army who have seen most service to be greater than they had ever seen before, were a silent but sufficient eulogy upon Granbury and his noble Texans 68
Scribner's Initial Assault
On l.Jood' s left, Scribner's brigade of the XIV Corps had pushed forward in support, but not in time to aid Hazen Scribner posted three regiments across the creek just north of the mill, where they were subjected to frontal and flank fire from Wheeler's cavalry on the hill to Scribner's front. 69 Scribner swung left again. His infantry drove Kelly's cavalry back through Granbury's line, where they deployed on a hill opposite Pickett's Mill. Scribner's troops now occupied the 300-square-yard field to Granbury's right, and were soon 40-50 yards in the Confederate rear. Granbury sent an aide galloping for help, Cleburne ordering two regiments of Govan's brigade to rush to the Texans' aid. The 8th and 19th Arkansas regiments under G.F. Baucum came at the Yankees on a run. Baucum's assault fell on Scribner's front line, and the disorganized elements of Hazen's brigade on Scribner's right. The Arkansans stormed up the

CoZoneZ Benjamin F SePibneP (U S SignaZ Cor-ps photo~ No ZZZ-BA-9Z3~ BPad~ CoZZection~ in the NationaZ APchives)

Viainity of the Widow Piakett's home, west of the aPeek (Photo by RiahaPd M. Williams, DeaembeP l4, l976)

Foundation of Pickett's Mill, facing south (Photo by Richard M. Williams, December l4, l9?6)

4:30 TO 5:15 P.M. 27 MAY 1864

BATTLE MOVEMENTS SEQUENCE

CD NORTH
SCALE: 1" :400'
SCALE IN FEET

91
ridge to their front and drove the Federals back across the wheatfield 9 who took position here and held Baucum off. 70 Ho' ward's last chance to turn the Confederate right .and win the battle although stumbled on almost by accident - had passed.
Second Stage of the Battle
Hazen's ' brigade had been shot to pieces in 30, 45 or 50 minutes, depending OQ the account. Compelled to fall back to protect its crumbling flanks, th.e brigade took position in .the bottom of the ravine. From here, they continued to fire on the Confederate positions, marked by Cleburne's blue battle flags 71
Ambrose Bierce, huddled in the ravine, was philosophical about it:
Early in my military experience I used to ask myself how it was that brave troops . could retreat while still their courage was high. As long as a man is not disabled he can go forward; can it be any... thing but fear that makes him stpp and finally retire? Are there signs by which he can infallibly know the struggle to be hopeless? In this engagement, as in others, my doubts were answered as to the fact; the explanation is still obscure.72
Bierce wrote of the "dead-fall," that invisible boundary between triumph
'-
and failure, "neutral ground, devoid of dead, for the living cannot reach it to fall there . Standing at the right of the line I had. an unobstructed view
I
of the narrow, open space across which the two lines fought." It was then dim with smoke rising and spreading in sheets among the branches of the trees. The Yankees fought kneeling behind trees , stones, and whatever they could find. But groups of them stood.
Occasionally one of these groups which had endured the storm of miS'siles for moments without perceptible ' reduction, would push forward, moved by a common despair, and wholly detach itself from the line. In a second every man of the group would be down There had been no visible movement of the enemy, no audible change in the awful, even roar of the firing --_yet all were down.73

Portion of one of the trench lines still rema~n~ng at Pickett's Mill (Photo by Jean K Buckley~ March 24~ l973)

Union main line east of the aPeek was positioned in this vicinity (Photo by Riahapd Williams~ Deaembep l4~ l9?6)

92
"No connnand to fall back was given," he wrote; "none could have been heard. Man by man, the survivors withdrew at will, sifting through the trees into the cover of the ravines, among the wounded who could drag themselves back; among the skulkers whom nothing could have dragged forward." On the left of Hazen's line in the cornfield, Bierce and his companions fell back along the rail fence. A flanking force of Confederates, Baucum's Arkansans, struck them
But already our retreating men, in obedience to their officers, their courage and their instinct of self-preservation, had formed along the fence and opened fire. The apparently slight advantage of the imperfect cover and the open range worked its customary miracle; the assault, a singularly spiritless one, considering the advantages it promised and that it was made by an organized and victorious foe against a broken and retreating one, was checked .. 74
As "the wreck of our brigade drifted back through the forest," said Bierce, they met Gibson's First Brigade of Wood's division moving down into the field. "Forty-five minutes had elapsed, during which the enemy had destroyed us and was now ready to perform the same kindly office for our successors." 75
With Hazen's scattered brigade retreating back up the hill, Scribner on the Union left found himself deployed on the left of Knefler's brigade. 76 To strengthen his threatened right flank against Scribner, Cleburne sent General Mark P. Lowrey's brigade a mile and onehalf to the east. Lowrey came up on the division right flank just as Baucum was preparing to charge. The 33rd Alabama joined in Baucum's charge, connecting from the field to the woods on his right. Scribner drove back the three regiments, and the 33rd Alabama retired into the woods beyond the field. Mistaking this for a repulse, Cleburne's staff officers hastened forward William Quarles' brigade of A.P. Stewart's division. 77
Lowrey detached his two right-most regiments to support Baucum. Soon

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5:15 TO 7 P.M. 27 MAY 1864

BATTLE MOVEMENTS SEQUENCE

CD NORTH
SCALE: 1" :400'
SCALI IN FEET
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Lowrey's position on the Confederate right following Scribner's assault (Photo by Richard M Williams, December l4, l9?6)

Position of Lowrey's right fZank during the BattZe of Piakett's MiZZ (Photo by Jean K. BuakZey, Marah 24, Z97J)

Brigadier GeneraZ R W Johnson U S SignaZ Corps photo, No ZZZ-BA-223, Brady CoZZeation, courtesy of the NationaZ Archives)

93
after, Quarles was pulled back behind Lowrey and formed in a second line. Quarles' 4th Louisiana advanced into the field, halted, and delivered a volley. Quarles then withdrew the Louisianans, forming them behind the field.78
In the meantime, Scribner had swung the 21st Ohio, 1st Wisconsin and 38th Indiana across the creek, clearing the hill north of Pickett's Mill. From right to left, Scribner had disposed the 78th Pennsylvania, 37th Indiana, 38th Indiana, 1st Wisconsin, and 21st Ohio on his front line, connecting with Wood's left. The 74th Ohio was alone in the second line.
The Final Union Assaults
At Union headquarters, the situation had gotten out of hand. Wood was distraught, and Howard, shell-shocked, cried, "The rebel fire . swept the ground like a hail storm. This is sure not war, it is butchery."80
Dissension in the ranks reflected the chaos of the battle. Gibson's brigade swept down in to the timber and ravine and fields as Hazen fell back. General Wood later wrote that Gibson's conunand "dashed handsomely and gallantly forward up to the enemy's works." Like Hazen, Gibson watched as his brigade was shot to pieces, torn asunder and then collected in the ravine or dissolved in the blue smoke curling up from the Rebel line. Wood later protested that bad roads had made it impossible to bring up the ammunition wagons Both Hazen and Gibson ran out of ammunition during the battle, and it was only after dark that new munitions would reach the division.81
Contentious, belligerent and furious, Hazen vented his spleen -- at Gibson. Hazen charged that he did not meet the supporting troops (Gibson's) in his rear until he fell back. Then Hazen heaped blame on Scribner, charging that the XIV Corps brigade commander had not acted in conjunction with him and had exposed his left to an attack from the rear. Hazen insisted that the first he saw of Gibson's brigade was the 32nd Indiana, which advanced to support him and "did so

94
in detached fragments, and not as a regiment." Only 50 men of the 49th Ohio, he said, even advanced as far as his lines. 82
When my command had worn itself out in a closed fight of just forty-five minutes, losing over five hundred men, and I had sent back all my staff and several other officers to hurry up the other lines, we began to fall back man by man, company by company, regiment by regiment, from sheer necessity ...
A stormy fighter to the last, W.B. Hazen again insisted: "I witnessed the attack of the two brigades following my own, and none of these advanced nearer than one hundred yards of the enemy's works. They went in at a run, and as organizations were broken in less than a minute."83
Payne's battalion of Hazen's brigade, on the extreme left, had been cut off from the other elements of the brigade when it had veered left in the ravine. A portion of Baucum's counter-attack had fallen on Payne, who continuously appealed for reinforcements. Payne sent an officer to Hazen locating his position:
Still the line did not come, and not until I had held the position for nearly an hour did any re-enforcements come up to the position the battalion occupied and then only the left of one of the lines of the First Brigade, which indifferently lapped the right wing of my battalion ... [Even then, they] reached me in strength so weak that a feeble effort to advance beyond my position was easily repulsed by the enemy.84
Howard received a dispatch written at 5:15p.m. from Thomas' headquarters It was now 6 p.m. Thomas informed Howard that he must connect his right with the left of the XXIII Corps and take up a strong position he could hold until reinforcements were sent in. Thomas further instructed Howard not to place his troops in a position which would risk their being turned. Johnson's division was to form so as to prevent Howard's left from being flanked. 85
The orders had come too late to save Hazen from disaster, however, and
Gibson had been ordered to attack just minutes before the letter reached Howard

95
Following the failure of Gibson's assault, General Wood sent forward Colonel Knefler's Third Brigade with orders to relieve Gibson and hold the ground "without renewing the assault." No longer were the Federals trying to breach Cleburne's line, but were only trying to cover and allow the dead and wounded to be brought off.86
Knefler summed up his attack briefly:
In the advance the first line was completely enfiladed by the enemy's artillery, suffering severely. The advance was made rapidly and in good order. After sustaining a murderous fire, I regret to say it was thrown into disorder ...
As the first line was scattered, Colonel Manderson brought on the second line, penetrating beyond the advance of the first, where rail barricades were hastily thrown up. The barricades did not block the fire on both flanks. 87
The brigade commander formed Colonel Alexander M. Stout's 17th Kentucky on the left of the first line of the Third Brigade, where they lay in position, as first Hazen, and then Gibson, assaulted the Confederate lines. Shells were bursting around them, and demoralized troops were rushing to the rear as the Third Brigade marched forward. Long before they could see the Confederates, they came under fire. The thick bushes and saplings obscured the Rebel defenses and broke up Knefler's ranks. 88
When Stout's Kentuckians reached the rail fence, the ravine was 50 yards to their left. They could now see Cleburne's troops in front across a small field with rail barricades and atop the ridge to the left of the ravine, commanding Knefler's line On his left, Stout connected with Scribner's brigade, but the other skirmish lines refused to advance as far as that of Stout. Desperately, Stout urged the commander of the 78th Pennsylvania of Scribner's brigade to advance to the front of his (Stout's) troops vlhen that failed, he tried to get Scribner to order the 78th Pennsylvania forward. Finally, he

Foundation of Pickett's ~ZZ, facing east (Photo by Richard M. WiZZiams, DecembeP Z4, Z9?6)

Faae of aliff near site of Piakett's Mill~ faaing north (Photo by Jean K Buakley~ Marah 24, l973)

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7 TO 8 P.M. 27 MAY 1864

BATTLE MOVEMENTS SEQUENCE

0 NORTH
SCALE 1" : 400'

96
ordered Stout to veer left into the ravine, where the two previous assaults had ended in failure. On the second line of the brigade, the 9th Kentucky came up to support the 17th Kentucky. 89
While Knefler's harassed troops continued firing at Cleburne's troops, as did Scribner's, the Federals made attempts to bring off their dead and wounded. "This was a work of much difficulty," Wood said cryptically. "The ground was unfavorable for the use of the stretchers, darkness was coming on apace, and the whole had to be done under the fire of the enemy."90
Dusk settled over the ravines, the trampled saplings, bullet-torn trees, shredded wheatfields, and the war-harvested cornfields, where mangled bodies lay, their sightless eyes reflecting the sundown beyond the outlines of Elsberry Mountain. Rail fences bordering the fields were piled in heaps to form barricades or lay scattered among the trees and bodies Corpses were in the creek, bullets had riddled the Pickett home, the mill, the Brand house, the slave cabin and the other farms and outbuildings in the area.
General Howard, himself in pain and physically helpless, nourished more than his share of anguish. In a more subdued state, he could survey the battlefield around Pickett's Mill, which he compared to the battlefields of Antietam and Gettysburg:
That opening in the forest, faint fires here and there revealing men wounded, armless, legless, or eyeless; some with heads bound up with ~otton strips, some standing and walking nervously around, some sitting with bended forms, and some prone upon the earth --who can picture it? A few men, in despair, had resorted to drink for relief. The sad sounds from those in pain were mingled with the oaths of the drunken and more heartless.91
Sundown to 10 P.M.
Lieutenant R.M. Collins of Company B, 15th Texas, was along Granbury's line that evening within sight of the Widow Pickett's house. At sundown, the

97
order came down the line from man to man: "Fix bayonets!" Said Collins: "In an instant a thousand bayonets gleamed in the twilight, and every man seemed determined to hold this line or give up his life in the effort."92
The shadows had now enveloped the gloomy Pickett home, the mill on the creek, the corn- and wheatfields, and the tangled ravine. The sun was now beyond Elsberry Mountain, which was becoming obscure in the twilight An order came down the line to cease firing, but no one knew who had given the order The Federal line then rose up about 15 yards away. Ordered to surrender, a few of the Federals threw down their arms and came in, marching up the steep bluff. In the darkness, it was difficult to see, and suddenly a Union officer stood up and screamed out "Run over them, men'" The armed soldiers below, as well as the unarmed men in the Rebel lines, joined in the attack against the Texans. A single volley ended it The Yankees fell back to the bottom of the ravine about 100 yards away
General Granbury sent Captain Dick English to Cleburne's headquarters, asking for permission to charge the Union forces in the ravine Cleburne referred the matter to army headquarters, and for the time being, the Texans waited 94
Union soldiers, individually and in regimental groups, began filtering to the rear, with or without orders Howard attempted to regain control over his troops, endeavoring to withdraw Wood's division a few hundred yards to the right and rear. Here, they would be stretched out with Knefler's brigade on the right, Gibson's in the center, and Hazen on the left Gibson's soldiers had already withdrawn, many on their own initiative, and by 8 p.m., the brigade was roughly 400 yards in back of the front line Gibson began entrenching in his new position Because of the heavy and constant fire, the brigade disintegrating to the rear abandoned many of its dead and wounded. 95
By dark, the remnants of Knefler's brigade on the front line were out of ammunition and had begun taking cartridges from the dead and wounded

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8 TO 10 P.M. 27 MAY 1864

BATTLE MOVEMENTS .
SEQUENCE

NORTH SCALE 1" : 400'

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98
Skirmishers had been ordered to the front to guard against a surprise attack.96 But, even at sundown, Oliver Payne's battalion of Hazen's brigade was
still along the front line, lost among the regiments and battalions of two other brigades and begging for orders. Portions of the battalion began falling back as they saw the left give way. Payne realigned with portions of Gibson's brigade in the rear and held his position until 7:30, when, in the darkness, he became increasingly apprehensive.97 All along the Union front line~ the troops had become intermingled, the ammunition was exhausted, and Captain Key continued shelling their positions. Within an hour after dark, Payne's men had run out of ammunition. Regiment after regiment now drifted to the rear.98
In the darkness, Wood shifted his division right. At last, h~ linked with McLean's brigade, pushing McLean to the left and narrowing the gap between McLean and the remainder of the XXIII Corps. lfuat McLean had been doing while he was to support Wood was a mystery.99 Howard was later critical of McLean's role in the battle, or lack of it. In his report, Howard said that by "some mistake of orders," McLean did not demonstrate against the Confederates, did not fire on them, and thereby left Wood open to the destructive flanking fire on his right. That night, when Wood link~d up with him, McLean was requested to shift further to the right to connect with the remainder of the Army of the Ohio. Howard charged that McLean "disregarded the request and moved off at once by the road, leaving these two divisions isolated. He alleged in excuse that his men were entirely without rations."lOO
By 10 p.m. that night, the Federal line ran thusly: Hazen's brigade held the most advanced position on the Union right; above and on his left was Gibson's brigade, posted at an acute angle to Brigadier General John H. King's brigade of Johnson's division on his left. To King's left, Scribner held the left flank of Howard's lines. Knefler's brigade was posted above Gibson and on his right.

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99
Granbury's Attack
On the Confederate line, Cleburne now ordered Granbury and Lowrey to push skirmishers forward and make out the situation to their front Granbury could not advance his skirmishers, however until he had cleared his front of the Yankees in the ravine. Cleburne then gave the Texans permission to a assault the ravine E C Walthall's brigade of Hindman's division would replace Granbury on the Rebel line 101
Granbury's lines were formed and the men advised what to do. At the sound of a bugle, the Texans dashed down into the ravine with a screaming yell "like a whirlwind " The Yankees, mostly of Gibson's and Knefler's brigades, broke and ran and, said Lieutenant Collins, "tore the brush like cattle "102 The Texans charged with fixed bayonets, meeting little resistence. Those of the enemy who didn't run-- or didn't run fast enough -- surrendered.
The night attack did not strike Scribner's brigade across the creek. Seeing the Confederate preparations for an assault, Scribner distributed the surplus ammunition from the second line to his front-line troops. Already his men had constructed rail breastworks. As Granbury's Texans came down the hill in the darkness, Scribner heard them "rushing and shouting like demons." His brigade delivered a volley, but he soon saw that Wood's troops across the creek on his right were falling back, leaving his right exposed. Bringing up the 74th Ohio, he threw out a strong skirmish line with its right refused [curved to the right, not facing the front], occupying a portion of the ground that Wood's division had held Scribner instructed his regimental commanders as to the position they were to occupy if they had to fall back. 103
Tommy V Stokes, soldier-preacher and half-brother to Mary Gay of Decatur (author of Life in Dixie During the War), charged with Granbury's men that night

100
We went over ravines, rocks, almost precipices, running the enemy entirely off the field H'e captured many prisoners, and all of their dead and many of the wounded fell into our hands This charge was a desperate and reckless thing, and if the enemy had made any resistance they could have cut us all to pieces 104
Many of the Union wounded fell into Rebel hands, and in defense of himself Knefler said that it was "owing to the impossibility of bringing ambu-
lances to the scene of action, it being an almost impenetrable jungle, cut up
by ravines, creeks, and swamps, without roads, or even paths, for vehicles of
any description "lOS In his report, Cleburne listed 160 prisoners taken in
addition to the 72 wounded carried to the division field hospital at the Harris house 106
That night, Tommy Stokes became lost in the woods, wandering between the
two armies In his journal, he recorded "Here I was, alone in the darkness
of midnight, with the wounded, the dying, the dead. What an hour of horror! I
hope never again to experience such." Out of curiosity, he stared at the bod-
ies lining the trampled wheat- and cornfields and crowded in the ravines:
. hundreds upon hundreds, in every conceivable position, some with contorted features, showing the agony of death, others as if quietly sleeping I noticed some soft, beardless faces, which ill comported with the savage warfare in which they had been engaged Hundreds of letters from mothers, sisters, and friends were found upon them, and ambrotypes taken singly and in groups Though they had been my enemies, my heart bled at the sickening scene 107
For Oliver Otis Howard, it was even worse. "That night will always be a sort of nightmare to me I think no perdition here or hereafter can be worse," he wrote 108
Texas Lieutenant Collins wrote:
\~en the sun had chased the shades of night away beyond the Rocky Mountains, it revealed a sight on that hill side that was

101

sickening to look upon All along in the front of the center and left of our brigade the ground was literally covered with dead men. To look upon this and then the beautiful wild woods, the pretty flowers as they drank in the morning dew, and listen to the sweet notes of the songster's in God's first temple, we were constrained to say 'What is man and his destiny to do such a strange thing?'l09

A correspondent of the Memphis Appeal, which had refugeed to Atlanta, wrote:

I have just returned from a spectacle the most bloody mine eyes

ever beheld

Along a line of about one hundred yards, directly

in front of our right extreme, and over a broken woodland, lie the

dead bodies of seven hundred Yankees, heaped in confused piles of

two, three and half a dozen . The sight is horrible. For a hun-

dred yards you can scarecely tread without stepping over mangled

forms 110

Cleburne had to dispose of the dead According to Lieutenant Collins, the Texans dug two pits, in which they deposited about 500 bodies. 111 General Wood visited the battlefield after subsequent maneuvers had cleared the Confederates of Pickett's Mill He examined the site closely, finding numerous single graves and several lines of trenches "capable of containing from 25 to 40 bodies" outside of the Confederate entrenchments 112
Joe Johnston's aide, General W W Mackall, visited Pickett's Mill the following day and noted in his diary

The Golgotha this morning presented a horrible sight, though covered with the corpses of our inveterate foes, they were actually piled together so thick that you would at first sight suppose that they had been collected from different parts of the field preparatory to interment.113

Another witness described the field and the aftermath of the slaughter: "In the valley the Confederates left 770 Federals to be buried in one pit Had a Tamerlane been there, he could have erected a pyramid of human skul1s . 114

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102
The Aftermath
On the night of May 27, Howard's demoralized grand column dug in on the ridge and threw up more defenses in fear of a Confederate attack the following morning Reinforcements were sent in to bolster the Union left, while Bishop Polk's corps reinforced the Confederate right at Pickett's Mill. Heated charge and counter-charge was hurled among the commanding Union officers. Assistant Adjutant General Fullerton overheard an irate Hazen declare that there had been no entrenchments to his front (on Granbury's line). He vociferously denounced R.W Johnson and his entire division, asserting that he could have overrun the Confederate position had Johnson supported him. Nor did Hazen mince words in reviling the other two brigades of Wood's division. General Howard blamed his failure of McLean.
The actual blame for the debacle at Pickett's Mill rests on many shoulders. Howard's flanking column received inadequate cavalry support, and Howard brought along no artillery to barrage the Confederate lines. Incredibly, he did not carry enough ammunition to support his troops through the battle, the ammunition having virtually been depleted by dark The command was not prepared for the maneuver, despite the length of time devoted to it. Even worse, Sherman made no aggressive demonstration on the Confederate front lines to pin Johnston down and keep him from sending support to his right -- a direct reverse of what Lee and Jackson had done at Chancellorsville Nor was General Howard ingenious, capable, and aggressive enough to command such a strike force as his "grand column " He did not know where the Confederate lines were located, and he moved hesitantly and with obvious ignorance of the terrain toward the Rebel right His blundering course alerted the Confederates of his intentions from the beginning, and he also somehow lost contact with the XXIII Corps. At the end of what was supposed to be a surprise attack, Howard spent two hours trying to align his troops When he did finally attack, he formed

103
his brigades in the worst formation possible Instead of taking advantage of his superior numbers, he threw in his men a brigade at a time, while the remaining two-thirds of his army watched the battle, waiting for its turn to be slaughtered With ruthless effectiveness, Howard wiped out his overwhelming manpower advantage In the end, King's brigade of Johnson's division never saw action. The only coordination between Wood's and Johnson's divisions came when . Scribner pushed forward across Pickett's Mill Creek If corps commander Hood had shown his accustomed audacity by ordering a Confederate assault at sundown, when Howard was running out of ammunition, he may well have smashed Howard's entire force
The terrain was a contributing circumstance to Howard's failure: artillery could not be carried through the wilderness, ammunition wagons could not advance beyond Thomas' position, and perhaps, all in all, it was understandable that Howard lost contact with the Army of the Ohio
Joe Johnston visited the battlefield on the morning of May 28 and estimated the Union casualties at 3,000 115 When T J Wood submitted his casualty report, he listed only 1,457 (actually 1,475): 224 killed, 933 wounded, 318 missing For the various brigades, the breakdown was Hazen, 467 (87 killed), 326 wounded, 54 missing), Gibson, 681 (102 killed, 426 wounded, 153 missing), Knefler, 301 (21 killed, 169 wounded, 111 missing) Despite Hazen's charges, Gibson's First Brigade had suffered more severely than his In all, 224 were reported killed, but of the 318 missing, half or more had died, according to the death total This brings the death total to roughly 400, but s .everal Confederate sources mention that more than 700 Federals were buried after the battle 116 Scribner reported only the casualties of two regiments, which suffered 18 killed and 84 wounded Taking into consideration the other regiments, Scribner must have suffered upwards of 150 casualties, bringing the Union total to over 1,600 117

104
Pat Cleburne reported 85 killed, 363 wounded, for a total of 448.118 In the end, the Battle of Pickett's Mill was but another of the minor engagements in Sherman's Atlanta Campaign. Although it briefly checked his advance and prevented his turning the Confederate right at that point, it merely delayed his progress and did not cause him enough casualties to materially sway the course of the campaign. The real significance of the battle, and of the series of operations along the Pallas Line, was that it turned the war in Georgia into a war of trenches. When Joe Johnston resorted to the spade and trench, he lost the single-most advantage his inferior forces had over Sherman: maneuver. If it came down to trenches and numbers, Johnston could only lose. Sherman had more spades, more guns, and ~ore men. The results of May 27 were quickly forgotton. The battle exercised no lasting effect on the outcome of the campaign. Said Ambrose Bierce:
It is ignored by General Sherman in his memoirs, yet Sherman ordered it. General Howard wrote an account of the campaign of which it was an incident, and dismissed it in a single sentence; yet General Howard planned it, and it was fought as an isolated and independent action under his eye
It was one of those events, Bierce wrote, "which by their very nature, and despite any intrinsic interest that they may possess, are foredoomed to oblivion.ll9
To John Bell Hood, for whom the following days would bring command of the Army of Tennessee and catastrophe, it was a glimmering light in a wilderness of darkness. He wrote: "I shall ever remember the enthusiasm and transport of the gallant Cleburne at the time of this though small engagement, yet most brilliant affair of the whole campaign."lZO
Being overwhelmed by defeat, the Southern people clutched at straws. The newspapers, for a day or two, found a healthy straw in the Battle of Pickett's Mill. While apologizing to his readers for the tardiness of his column, war correspondent Alexander St. Clair Abrams wrote:

105
The cause of this is the absence of Sunday's agreeable fragments of shell and minie balls flying around me as they were during the past three days The effect they have upon the nerves of any man is striking (no pun intended) and does not dispose him to pen long letters 121
Correspondent S C. Reid missed covering the Battle of Pickett's Mill. He
was trying to get his story on the Battle of New Hope Church into the papers,
and the nearest telegraph-dispatch office was almost 20 miles away in Marietta.
Reid caught the train to Marietta, it taking him eight hours to get there, and while he was gone, the battle went on without waiting for him. 122
The Atlanta Daily Intelligencer magnified Howard's losses into between
5,000 and 7,000 There was also happy news in the fact, as a correspondent
recorded
I am glad to be able to chronicle some actual fighting on the part of this branch of the army (cavalry); for though composed of as good material as the infantry and artillery, for some unexplained cause, the cavalry in the army of Tennessee has not fulfilled the anticipations of the army
An editorial picked up on the assault on Granbury by Yankees who had sur-
rendered Said the editorial
a large number of them cast down their guns, and threw up their hands, calling for quarter Our troops ceased firing -- When the enemy were in a few feet of our line, over half of them having retained their guns~ deliberately fired on our men -- Such treachery astounded our veterans for a moment, but in another instant they fired on the dastard foe ... The slaughter was awful That it was justifiable, in our opinion, will be seen in the assertion. -We regret that a single one of the dastard foe escaped the retribution their treachery deserved . 123
Yet even the press was confused by the shape the war had now assumed It
had dissolved into a series of constant skirmishes, where one battle could not
be distinguished from another. The privates in their trenches were thoroughly
confused, and the generals at their headquarters (although they would deny the
fact) had lost control of the situation and had no more idea than the privates

106
what was across to their front, and on their left or right It began with New Hope Church, and from May 25 until September 2, the war in Georgia was fought in the trenches.
The Battle of Pickett's Mill was ignored and lost in the aftermath, blurred by the larger operations along the Dallas Line. What mattered so much as Pickett's Mill was the Dallas Line and what happened there-- what new strategic face it put on the war. In that context, the Battle of Pickett's Mill was not a particularly significant engagement Sherman turned the Dallas Line -- although when he emerged from the wilderness, he would be no nearer to Atlanta than when he had entered almost two weeks earlier All the troo~s that Pat Cleburne could conjure up from Arkansas would not have stopped him from turning the Dallas Line, for when the war went to the trenches, a logistical and numerical inevitability was staring the Confederates in the face.
Already Johnston had anticipated the necessity of retreating to a new line and had directed his chief engineer to prepare it beforehand Carefully surveyed and marked, the new line would extend from near Powder Springs to Lost Mountain to Pine Mountain and Kennesaw Mountain, making a curve facing northwest six to seven miles in the rear of New Hope Church 124 With the coming of June, the last of the armies would march from Pickett's Mill and leave the battlefield to resume its rural quiescence, with the cattail and dandelion and pine and underbrush and sapling and the scattered fields of the returning farmers covering over the graves and guns and bullets and the bones of the dead.

FOOTNOTES
Chapter !
1 Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, Series I, Vol. XXXVIII, Part 1 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1880-1901), p. 864.
2 Ibid. 3 Ibid , p. 194. 4 Ibid., Part 3, p. 129. 5 Ibid., Part 4, p. 328.
6 Ibid., p. 744; Part 1, P 864.
7 Ibid., Part 1, p. 864. 8 Ibid., p. 224. 9 Ibid., p. 523. lO Ibid., p. 194. 11 Ibid., pp. 194, 224, 523, 864 , 12 Ibid., pp. 194, 864. 13 Ibid., p. 446. 14 Ibid., p. 194. 15 Ibid., p. 377. 16 Ibid. , p. 865. 17 Ibid. 18 Ibid., p. 392 . 19 Ibid., p. 594. 20 0 . 0. Howard, Autobiography of Oliver Otis 'Jlowa'fd, Vol. I (N:ew York: The
Baker and Taylor Company, 1908), pp. 551, 552.
21 Ibid. 22 Official Records . , .QE.. cit., Part 1, p. 194. 23 Ibid., p. 377.
- 107 -

108
24 Ibid , P 865. 25 Ibid., Part 3, p. 34. 26 Ibid., pp. 846, 848, 849. 27 Ibid., pp. 315, 316. 28 Ibid , PP 129, 131. 29 Ibid , pp. 224, 631.
30 Ibid., Part 4, p. 324.
31 Ibid.
32 Ibid. 33 Ibid., p. 948.
34 Elizabeth and Howell Purdue, Pat Cleburne, Confederate General (Hillsboro, Tex.: Hill Junior College Press, 1973), pp. 5-26.
35 Ibid.
36 Official Records .. , cit., Part 3, pp. 724-26. 37 Ibid. 38 Ibid. 39 Sydney Kerksis, The Battle of Pickett's Mill (Atlanta: unpublished, 1975),
p. 3.
40 Official Records . , cit., Part 3, P 948.
41 Kerksis, cit., p. 4. 42 Official Records .. , cit., Part 1, p. 194. 43 Kerksis, EE. cit., p. 5. 44 Edmond Wilson, Patriotic Gore (New York: Oxford University Press, 1962),
p. 621. 45 Ambrose Bierce, The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Vol. I (New York:
Gordian Press, Inc., 1966), pp-:--- 282-84.
46 Ibid., pp. 282, 283.
47 Ibid., pp. 282-86.
48 Ibid , p. 284.
49 Ibid., pp. 285, 286.

109

50 Ibid., p. 286,

51 Ibid.

52 Official Records .. , .2... cit. , Part l, p. 865.

53 C.C. Briant, History of the Sixth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry (Indianapolis: 1891), p. 316.
54 Bierce, ~ cit , pp. 287, 288.
55 Official Records .. ,~ cit., Part 1, p. 594.

56 Ibid.

57 Ibid., Part 3, p. 948.

58 R.M. Collins, Chapters from~ Unwritten History of the War Between the

States (St. Louis: 1893).



59 Ibid.

60 Official Records , .2.. cit. , Part 3, pp. 724, 725.

61 Bierce, .2.. cit., p. 288.

62 Official Records .. , .2.. cit., Part l, p. 423. 63 Ibid., p. 413.

64 Ibid., p. 442. 65 Ibid., p. 402.

66 Howard, .2... cit. , pp. 553, 554.

67 Ibid., p. 555. 68 Official Records .. , .2E.. cit. , Part 3, pp. 725, 726.

Collins, loc. cit.

69 Kerksis, .2.. cit., pp. 6, 7. 70 Official Records . ,~ cit., Part 3, pp. 725, 726.

71 Ibid., Part 1, p. 378. 72 Bierce,~ cit., pp. 290, 291. 73 Ibid., pp. 291-93 .

74 Ibid., pp. 293, 294. 75 Ibid., p. 294.

110
76 Official Records . . . , ~ cit., Part 1, p. 595. 77 Ibid , Part 3, pp. 725, 726.
Kerksis, E.E. cit., p. 7. 78 Official Records .... ,~ cit., Part 3 , pp. 725, 726. 79 Ibid., Part 1, p. 595. 80 McMurry , ~. Cl.. t . , p 40 . 81 Official Records .... ,~ cit., Part 1, p. 377. 82 Ibid., p. 424. 83 W.B. Hazen, A Narrative of Military Service (Boston: Ticknor and Company,
1885).
84 Official Records ... ,~ cit., Part 1, p. 442.
85 Ibid., p. 866. 86 Ibid., p. 379. 87 Ibid., p. 447. 88 Ibid., p. 469. 89 Ibid. 90 Ibid., p. 379. 9l Howard,~ cit., pp. 555, 556 . 92 Collins, lac. cit. 93 Ibid. 94 Ibid. 95 Official Records .. ,~ cit., Part 1, pp. 392, 393. 96 Ibid., p. 447. 97 Ibid., p. 442. 98 Ibid., pp. 467, 468. 99 Ibid., p. 866. 100 Ibid., pp. 194, 195. 101 Ibid., Part 3, pp. 725, 726. 102 Collins, loc. cit.

11]
103 Official Records , E_ cit , Part 1, p 595. 104 Mary A H. Gay, Life in Dixie During ~he War (Atlanta: Charles P. Byrd,
1897), p. 89
105 Official Records , ~ cit , Part 1, p 448 106 Ibid , p 726.
107 Gay, ~ c1 t , p. 91 108 Howard,~ ci~., p 556. 109 Collins, loc cit
110 Memphis Daily Appeal (Memphis, Tenn 1864), issue of June 1, 1864.
111 Collins, loc cit
112 Official Records , op cit , Part 1, p 387 113 vl W. Mackall, A Son~ Recollections of !_lis_ Father (New York: E P. Dutton
and Company, Inc , 1930), p 211.
114 C.A Evans (ed ), Confederat~ Military History, Vol X (Atlanta Confeder-
ate Publishing Company, 1899), p. 367
115 Official Records , E. cit , Part 3, p 616 116 Ibid Part 1, p 387
Ibid , Part 3, p 616 117 Ibid , Part 1, p 596 118 Ibid Part 3, p 726 ll9 Bierce, ~ cit , pp 279, 280 120 J B Hood, Advance and Retreat (New Orleans: 1880), p 118 121 A~lanta ~aily Intelligencer (Atlanta: 1864), issue of June 1, 1864. 122 J Cutler Andrews, The South Reports the Civil War (Princeton, N J : Prince-
ton University Pres~l970), p 442 -------123 Atlanta Daily Intelligencer, op cit , issue of May 31, 1864 124 Jacob D Cox, The Atlanta Campaign (New York: Charles Scribner's Son's, 1882),
p. 83

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~ [ the Rebellion~ l89l-l895~ Vol I~ Plate LVI~ 5

VI SHERMAN TURNS THE DALLAS LINE

THE BATTLE OF DALLAS
The sun rose above the wooded hills at Pickett's Mill on May 28, penetrating the thickets and revealing the bullet-scarred mill and beaten grain fields Corpses littered the battlefield. To the west, the sun's rays broke the darkness enshrouding New Hope Church and Elsberry Mountain.
Much earlier, at 1 a.m., George Thomas had sent Sherman a brief note, informing him of the Battle of Pickett's Mill and advising him that Stoneman's cavalry division had crossed Pickett's Mill Creek and connected with Howard. At 3 a.m., Sherman dashed off two notes: one to Thomas and one to John Schofield.
Sherman instructed Schofield to tear away the dam of the sawmill at Brown's Mill in order to loose the water in. the creek above. Schofield was then to reconnoiter the ground to his front for the purpose of pushing an assault column south along the east side of the field to a position to command the ground to the XX Corps' (Hooker's) front. From this position~ Schofield could look across the field and see a cotton gin with a house to the right. Sherman now wanted Schofield's wing to connect back with Burnt Hickory.!
In his letter to General Thomas, Sherman explained: "Before attempting to outflank the enemy by an enlarged movement by our left, we must force our front across the stream close up to which we now are, so that we command the open fields beyond." Thomas was to place more guns where Wood had been the previous night in order to enfilade "the clear space as far as the cotton~gin and along the road which passes the little cabin where you, Howard, and I were the day before yesterday." At the appropriate time, Newton and Stanley's divisions of the IV Corps and Hooker's XX Corps were to push across the creek until the entire line commanded the open ground to the front. At Pickett's Mill, General Howard was again enjoined to connect his right with Schofield's left. 2
- 112 -

113
Sherman now determined to slide eastward As Schofield moved to connect with Howard, the Army of the Cumberland moving on its left and cavalry covering trhe left flank of the army, General McPherson's Army of the Tennessee was to move eastward from Dallas to New Hope Church. Sherman had evidently profited by the lesson at Pickett's Mill and apparently had no intention of precipitating a major assault on the 28th He was now determined to outflank Johnston to the east in an ever-expanding war of spades and trenches.
But Sherman was to find his intentions thwarted and his army vitually pinned down for another w~eek Joe Johnston had ideas of his own. Guessing that Sherman was shifting east, he supposed that Sherman's right flank at Dallas was consequently weak and open to assault. On the Confederate right flank, one-legged John Bell Hood believed that he could flank the Union left just east of Pickett's Mill
At six o'clock that morning, General Sherman wrote Chief of Staff Henry Halleck in Washington, informing him of the situation along the Dallas Line It was then that the Southern cavalry struck the Union line Colonel E.M MeCook exaggerated his helplessness, undoubtedly, but insisted that lfueeler had made "the most stubborn and persistent one [fight] I have seen them make during this campaign They are all fighting dismounted in the timber, and I can't tell whether they are infantry or cavalry " McCook had his line formed on the Marietta road facing due southeast and warned that if his forces were not beefed up, the Confederates would break through and swoop down on the trains, hospitals, and rear of the infantry 3
Confederate Major Henry Hampton was at the Rogers . house along Cleburne's entrenched line that morning. Together with General Mackall, he rode over to Joe Wheeler's headquarters, where he met General Hood, who was no longer so intent upon flanking the Union left At sunrise, Hood's corps had no~ crossed Pickett's Mill Creek, and scouts reported that the Union forces had entrenched

114
along the Allatoona Road, cutting off Hood's intended avenue of assault. Guns were booming along the line as skirmishing broke out anew. Skirmishers pressed back Major General S.G French's line at 11 am., and at noon, Cleburne's skirmishers were driven back, but no attack followed As he rode off, Major Hampton again noted the 700 bodies in the field before Cleburne's line. 4
Whatever plans Johnston may have had of hitting Sherman's left east of Pickett's Mill were now cancelled He looked to his own left, where, theoretically, Hardee would be able to successfully assault McPherson, who was thought to be withdrawing his forces to work around to the left.
At 10:10 a m , Sherman warned McPherson "We are working round by the left, and, if you don't keep up, our line will become attenuated and liable to disaster " The commanding general 1.1rged his young favorite to move to Hooker's rear. Special Field Orders No 13 defined the moves of Sherman's army: 5
McPherson was to occupy the line facing east from Hooker's right to the creek above Brown's Mill He was to leave a division and his supply train at the bridge near Owen's Mill on Pumpkinvine Creek. The orders further instructed him
to maintain his cavalry to his right rear between Owen's Mill and Dallas. Thomas was ordered to connect with McPherson and form a line facing nearly
south across both branches of Pettit's (Pickett's Mill?) Creek, covering all the roads leading to Dallas from Allatoona and Acworth.
Schofield was instructed to move out to the main Acworth road and move south to cover the Army of the Cumberland's left. Stoneman's cavalry would be operating left of Schofield "as near the main Marietta road as he can force his l<Tay against cavalry" From his headquarters near the rear of Thomas' position, Sherman would direct the army's movements. 6
As late as 3 30 that afternoon, McPherson's Army of the Tennessee remained in its trenches near Dallas McPherson told Kenner Garrard that the intended move would not take place until after sundown. He wanted Garrard's division of

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XLIII, 5)

115
cavalry to occupy the Marietta road near where the army trains were parked. Even as McPherson's courier galloped off with the note, heavy gunfire broke out along the lines of the Army of the Tennessee. 7
Joe Johnston was not a master of offensive tactics; indeed, he scarcely knew what they were. Whether he had merely intended for Hardee's corps to probe to its front and feel out the Federal position at Dallas, or whether he had intended a full-scale assault, is unclear In any case, he blundered in his excessive caution.
On May 28, the XV and XVI Corps of the Army of the Tennessee were formed as follows:
"Blackjack" Logan's XV Corps was on the right, He had formed with William Harrow's division on his right, Morgan L. Smith's division in the center, and Peter J. Osterhaus' division on the left, connecting with the XVI Corps of Grenville M. Dodge. The Dallas-Marietta road ran through the center of Logan's line, and his right was formed along the Villa Rica road south of Dallas. The Villa Rica road ran up a high ridge, curving toward the south, and it continued to ascend for a distance after passing beyond Logan's line. McPherson had not extended his flank sufficiently to include the highest crest of the ridge. Wilder's mounted infantry protected his right-most division (Harrow's) of Logan's corps on a high bluff. The 1st Iowa Battery was positioned just below the bluff to the left and in an apex at the most exposed point of Logan's line. Where the line straightened past a spring, Logan had placed DeGress's battery just before his headquarters at the Jenkins house on the Villa Rica road. Logan had formed his center along a ridge running south, between cottonfields, wheatfields and a cotton gin located near the Villa Rica road. The center of his line thus looked out over more open fields, over which the Rebels would have to attack. Smith's division here sprawled across the Marietta road into the grain fields. An Illinois battery was located to the .front of the division

116
position On Logan's left? Osterhaus' division was placed along a crest in the timber roughly parallel to the Villa Rica road and a few hundred yards directly east of Dallas. 8 Dodge formed his XVI Corps with the Second Division on the right, connecting with Osterhaus of the XV Corps, and the Fourth Division connecting with the right of Jeff Davis' division of the XIV Corps,
Harrow had moved three guns ofthe 1st Iowa Battery to his extreme right flank just beyond his front line that morning, placed them in position, and opened on Hardee's works 600 yards to his front. Beyond the immediate Confederate works loomed Elsberry Mountain with more Rebel positions, guns, and a signal station Almost as soon as the 1st Iowa opened fire, the Confederates poured from their trenches 9
Hardee's plans apparently called for General Frank Armstrong's cavalry brigade to open the attack. If the Yankees were found to be in small force or not within their entrenchments, General James A Smith's brigade of Texas infantry of Cleburne's division was to advance and fire four guns in quick succession This was to be a signal for the entire division to assault 10
Between 3:40 and 4 p.m , Armstrong's cavalry opened fire on the Union right flank In columns of regiments, the Confederates marched out of their trenches -- Bate's, Walker's, and Cheatham's divisions -- to crush the Union line But the infantry mistook the sound of Armstrong's guns for the signal, and when they charged, they struck across the front of both corps of the Army of the Tennessee -- both well-entrenched
Armstrong's Confederate cavalry overran the first line of Union works at Harrow's division and captured the three guns of the 1st Iowa Battery before the works. The cavalry assault struck down the line of the Villa Rica road, "the weakest point in our whole position," Logan said The initial Confederate attack was only halted at the works before Charles Walcutt's brigade, and by the time Armstrong was checked, Bate's division drove on the XV Corps. 11

Major General John A Logan (U S Signal Corps photo no llZ-B-ZB77, Brady Collection, courtesy of the National Archives)

117
Waving his sword in the air, his red undershirt showing beneath his torn uniform tunic, Logan galloped toward Walcutt The dark-eyed Illinois native, with heavy brows, dark hair and a heavy, curved mustache hiding his mouth, rallied the Union troops: "Damn your regiments' Damn your officers! Forward and yell like Hell!" he screamed. Logan leapt his horse over the works and stormed forward. He was soon struck in the left forearm with a bullet, but his arm was put in a sling, and he continued to ride along the front, rallying his men. 12
Logan called on Osterhaus to support the right wing of the corps. Leaving C.R. Woods in charge of the First and Third brigades of the division, Osterhaus himself led the Second Brigade on the double-quick to the extreme right, arriving in time to repel the assault. But now Bate's troops were attacking the entire XV Corps front. The Confederate offensive on Osterhaus' division met with bloody repulse, and from their rifle pits, the Union soldiers shot down the screaming Rebel infantrymen Prisoners of the Third Brigade taken early in the assault were abandoned as the Confederates fell back 13 The First Kentucky Brigade (Orphan Brigade) was shattered as it attempted to storm Logan's Third Brigade front Johnny Green of the Orphan Brigade wrote: "We lost in the one hour
that this fight lasted, fifty one per cent killed & wounded of the men taken
into the charge."14 Osterhaus' counter-attack resulted in the recapture of the guns of the 1st
Iowa Battery To strengthen his right, Logan brought up Wilder's brigade of mounted infantry. The attack had hit across Harrow's division first, and then Smith's, and then Osterhaus' Cheatham and Walker threw their divisions into an uncoordinated effort to support Bate. Hardee's corps made two determined assaults on the line of the XVI Corps and did not achieve even the ephemera of success that there had been on the right flank. 15 Cheatham did little more than strengthen his skirmish line as he pushed forward against Jeff Davis' division Walker's assault on the XVI Corps was a decided failure. 16 In little more than

Major General Benjamin Cheatham U S Signal Corps photo no lll-BA-l7l5, Brady Collection, courtesy of the National Archives)

Major General William B Ba~e (Courtesy of the Cook Collection~ Valentine MUseum~ Richmond~ Virginia)

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118
an hour, Hardee withdrew his troops behind their works in the shadows of Els-
berry Mountain The attack had not failed for want of effort. A Union soldier declared:
Seven p.m. -- Talk about fighting, etc , we've seen it this p.m. sure, of all the interesting and exciting times on record, this must take the palm. At about 3:45 p.m a heavy column of Rebels rose from a brush with a yell the devil ought to copyright, broke for and took three guns of the 1st Iowa Battery which were in front of the works , the 6th Iowa boys without orders, charged the Rebels, retook the battery and drove them back They came down on our whole line, both ours and the 16th A.C., and for two hours attempted to drive us out 17
Bate's division suffered 450 casualties in the attack, while Armstrong's
troopers reported 167 casualties Including the losses in Cheatham's and l-lalker's divisions, the Confederates lost over 700 men 18 Logan reported losses in
the XV Corps as 379; no figures for the XVI Corps were reported Logan esti-
mated the Rebel casualties at 2,000, and McPherson estimated their losses were over 2,500 19
McPherson wrote Sherman at 6 25 that evening:
The enemy attacked us in force at 4 45 p m. along the whole extent of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Corps, and was handsomely repulsed, with heavy loss on his side and considerable on ours We are now bringing in prisoners and wounded Unless an imperative necessity demands it, I do not see how I can move to-night, besides, the effect on our men will be bad.20
Although Confederate losses had been comparatively heavy, Hardee had sue-
ceeded in pinning down the Army of the Tennessee and halting Sherman's east-
ward move Just before midnight, McPherson returned from Sherman's headquar-
ters and informed his corps commanders that the movements in Special Field
Orders No 13 were postponed Harrow was to strengthen his lines across the
Villa Rica road.21

MAY 28-29, 1864
The Confederate attack at Dallas on the 28th again stalled Sherman's move to the east, but the following day, he once more issued orders calling for a swing around Johnston's right, as he groped for the railroad. The Union lines on May 29 remained virtually as they had been two days before when Howard struck at Pickett's Mill. Hooker was on the extreme right of the Army of the Cumberland. To his right was Jeff Davis' division of Palmer's corps, acting in support of the Army of the Tennessee on Sherman's right flank. Two divisions of Howard's IV Corps were located to the left of Hooker. The Army of the Ohio was on the left of the IV Corps T.J Wood's division was positioned on Schofield's (Army of the Ohio) left, and to his left was R.W. Johnson's division of Palmer's corps. Stoneman's division of cavalry held a hill to Johnson's left, while McCook's cavalry division held the road leading from Burnt Hickory to Marietta via Golgotha The line ran some eight miles from south of Dallas to northeast of Pickett's Mill. 22
From Dallas, James McPherson issued Special Field Orders No. 23. At dusk, the reserve artillery ammunition wagons and trains were to be moved back to the rear Logan's and Dodge's corps trains were to take the Burnt Hickory road through Dallas, while McPherson instructed Logan to place a brigade and a battery of artillery in position on the hills southeast of Dallas, commanding the open fields along the Villa Rica and Marietta roads in the direction of the cotton gin. Dodge was ordered to place a brigade connecting on the left and commanding the open fields in his front Davis' right-most brigade was to maintain contact with the brigade of the XVI Corps. McPherson planned for the three brigades and battery to remain in position until the whole line of the Army of the Tennessee was withdrawn from the front.23
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McPherson's move would again link the Army of the Tennessee and the Army of the Cumberland, eliminating the potentially dangerous gap between Davis' division and Hooker's corps. Once McPherson effected the junction, the IV and XX Corps of the Army of the Cumberland were to slide eastward. The IV Corps would relieve Schofield. Davis' division was to rejoin Palmer's corps on the extreme left, occupying Stoneman's present position. Hooker would move to the left and form his corps to the left and rear of Davis' division, parallel to the Dallas and Allatoona road.24
But the Union move was again to run into Confederate obstacles. Signal officers of the XIV Corps reported seeing Rebel infantry with knapsacks moving toward the Union right. This was at 10:10 a.m. An hour and a half later, the signal officer informed headquarters that a Confederate wagon train was moving south from the hills in front of Hooker's right. He also spied a heavy co1umn o f smoke ~. n t he same d' . ~rect~on. 25 The force the Union officer located was that of Pat Cleburne, who had marched from the Confederate right at Pickett's Mill to the left of Walker's division on Hardee's corps front early Sunday morning, May 29. Hardee's corps was now reunited for the first time since Johnston had fallen back to the Pumpkinvine. From right to left, Hardee had positioned Cheatham, Walker, Cleburne, and Bate. Anticipating Sherman's moves and again assuming that he could catch McPherson outside his entrenchments, Johnston intended to probe the Union line on his left flank. 26 Shortly before noon, George Thomas and his escort galloped along the Union lines, surveying the positions from Brown's Mill to McCook's headquarters on the Burnt Hickory and Marietta roads. Thomas informed Sherman that he felt he had the advantage of the Confederates in artillery positions on either side of Pickett's Mill Creek. Thomas had placed guns at a hill near the mill, south of the creek< and had placed two guns north of the creek. He believed the positions

121
to be within range of the Dallas-Acworth road, and said they were located so as to concentrate fire on the Confederate right-flank entrenchments near the Leverett house. The gruff Virginian believed that a successful flank movement could be made on the Acworth road.2 7
To better the odds on his shift for the railroad, Sherman, on May 29, ordered General Frank P. Blair in Rome to replenish his stores and march for Allatoona Pass. Blair was to gain the eastern terminus of the pass and entrench there. Sherman instructed him to march via Free Bridge, cross the Etowah and move by way of Euharlee and Stilesboro for Allatoona. Either by means of Blair's force, or by flanking Johnston to the east, Sherman intended to turn Allatoona Pass. Obviously annoyed at the determined Confederate resistance, Sherman had his aide-de-camp write John Schofield:
The general commanding directs that you hold firm to your line, even to the hazard of a general engagement. We can fight an attack here as well as we can fight anywhere. Don't yield to the enemy any ground.28
It was a bright, hot day on the 29th, in contrast to the days before and the days ahead. While the generals planned their strategy, the privates in the trenches exchanged occasional shots and wished to heaven the war was ended Rufus Mead of the 5th Connecticut had grown tired of the bullets striking the breastworks, the pine boughs being whittled from the trees, and the never-ending sense of fear. He protested in his diary, "Oh when will this cease I fairly sicken when I think of it . . . " 29
The day passed with little bloodshed and only light skirmishing As the sun set in purple and scarlet and orange in the hills and draped shadows over the woods where the birds had begun to sing again, red-bearded Sherman watched with burning eyes the line of Rebel camp fires between his army and the Chattahoochee.

122
When the sun went down, the guns began to roar. Johnston launched assaults on the Union left to keep McPherson occupied and hold him to his works Johnston only sent in strong skirmish lines and did not attempt an assault of the character of Bate's on the 28th The night attacks began about 9 p.m. and continued throughout the night Like others of Johnston's offensive ploys, the night fighting on the 29th was uncoordinated, and it may have begun along the skirmish lines without his knowledge.
Cannonading opened along the lines of French's and Cantey's divisions of Polk's corps near New Hope Church. Staff officers were packing up wagons at army headquarters when tremendous artillery and musket-firing broke out on French's line about 10 p m. Assistant Adjutant General T B. Mackall was as confused about the action as the Union forces who were suddenly attacked. He wondered if it were a genuine assault or a false alarm, and he was inclined to believe that both sides had been aroused by a false signal 30
Along the lines of the XVI Corps, the Confederates made five distinct assaults. Dodge's men were pinned to their breastworks, and the anticipated maneuver to the east was again throttled. Corse's division of the XVI Corps was planning its withdrawal when a reinforced Confederate skirmish line poured up to within 20 yards of the Union works, driving in the skirmish line and delivering volleys of musketry before falling back Logan had withdrawn part of his troops on the extreme right when the Rebel attacks forced the Yankees to return to the trenches. From about 11 p.m until 3 a.m., the Confederates attacked the lines of the Army of the Tennessee, and the guns were still firing when the sun rose Excited by the assaults, McPherson's artillery began pounding away, and Hardee's guns responded. Frightened by the gunfire and fearing attack, the divisions of the IV Corps in the Union center began exchanging artillery and musketry with Polk's men 31
The assaults went on throughout the night, and an Illinois Yankee counted

123
eight separate attacks made on his unit. A Wisconsin infantryman also wrote, "Braver men never shouldered a musket than those rebels that came up to drive us out of our works." Another Yankee remembered how the Southerners came forward with their hats pulled down over their eyes "like men who care only to throw away their lives." He wrote: "O God, what a night. They may tell of Hell and its awful fires, but the boys who went thru the fight at Dallas are pretty well prepared for any event this side of eternity "32
In the early morning hours of the 30th, both armies tried to make some sense of the engagement. Bate protested that his soldiers had charged ~t their own initiative and could not be restrained The Rebels had broken into the enemy's works. Again, Lewis' brigade had suffered severely, and he countered Bate's protest, stating that he had been ordered to take the Yankee works. Lieutenant Mackall, as others, saw no purpose in the assault and felt it had been overrated: "[It] reminded some of occurrences at Yorktown; both sides aroused by false alarm." The commander of an Iowa regiment remarked that the attacks "were supposed to have been desperate, but I have since understood that the fight was ex ~arte, and that the enemy was at such a distance that they suffered but little or not at all, whilst our loss was not very heavy " McCook, whose cavalry was under fire all night, commented, "Their fire was without any result, except keeping my whole command awake all night I could not see their object!"33 Nor could a fuming reporter for the Augusta paily Chronicle and Sentinel, who termed Bate's at tack "one of the most wicked and stupid blunders of the vTar ...34

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MAY 30-31, 1864
Frustrated in his plans, Sherman wrote Major General Henry Halleck on the morning of the 31st: "To move General McPherson up to the center he has to make a retrograde of a mile or so, owing to difficult ground -- Every time he attempted to withdraw, division by division, the enemy attacked his whole line . " Sherman told Thomas the same thing and declared, "It is utterly impossible that our enemy can hold all his line in strength, and we must work to the left." 35
Sherman himself would go to Dallas and inspect the situation If the Rebels attacked when he began withdrawing, he would determine whether or not to engage in full-scale battle. "We must not remain on the defensive," Sherman emphasized. 36
May 30 was warm, dry and dusty, and comparatively quiet On the Union left at Pickett's Mill, John Palmer asked for more troops to pr event the Confederates from taking the road to Burnt Hickory and turning Sherman's left Cruft's brigade of Stanley's division was ordered to report to Palmer on the left wing.37
As Sherman studied the situation on the Union right at Dallas, he contemplated no movement for the 30th With Generals McPherson and Logan, as well as artillery chief Colonel W H H. Taylor, Sherman mounted a hi gh point on Logan's line near Dallas to survey the field. Hardee continued his steady barrage of artillery and musketry, and the Yankee generals soon had t o run for cover. Taylor was struck in the chest with a minie ball, and another tore through Logan's coatsleeve.38
After conferring with McPherson, Sherman issued orders f or t he 31st and the 1st of June. The Union lines were not to change on the 31st, with
- 124 -

125
skirmishing to continue along the entire front Meanwhile, McPherson was to be feeling for the Rebel left On June 1, Jeff Davis would rejoin the XIV Corps (Palmer's), Once again, orders called for McPherson to move and occupy Hooker's position near New Hope Church Thomas' army was to hold the line from the Owen's Mill road to the hill near Pic~ett's Mill by the Leverett house, overlooking the Acworth road Schofield, Sherman said, would secure possession of the Acworth road above the Lever ~ tt house Most importantly, Special Field Orders No 14 called for Stoneman's cavalry to move east of the Purnpkinvine on June 1 and secure possession of the east end of Allatoona Pass and the bridge across Allatoona Creek At the same time, Garrard's cavalry would be moving out by Burnt Hickory to the west end of Allatoona Pass 39
It remained to be seen if Johnston's inferior forces could once again check Sherman
Johnston had disposed his forces in an effort to do that. Hood held the right, Polk was in the center, and Hardee was ort the left Hardee's line was pencil-thin in many of the points from where it stretched for several miles over Elsberry Mountain Skirmishers often were left holding long intervals of the line Bate's division, supported by Cleburne, was directly in front of Dallas, A.P Stewart's division was on Hood's extreme right across Pickett's Mill Creek 40
The war seemed far away for Tommy Stokes on May 31 He was no longer on the hills about Pickett's Mill, but on the Confederate left near Dallas with Cleburne's troops To half-sister Mary Gay in Decatur, he wrote:
Here we rest by a little murmuring brook, singing along as if the whole world was at peace I lay down last night and gazed away up in the peaceful heavens All was quiet and serene up there, and the stars seemed to vie with each other in the brightness and were fulfilling their alotted destiny. My comrades all asleep, nothing breaks the silence I leave earth for a time and soar upon 'imagination's wings' far away from this war-accursed

126
land to where bright angels sing their everlasting songs of peace and strike their harps along the golden streets of the New Jerusalem.. 41
John Bell Hood, near Pickett's Mill, had now convinced himself that he could turn the Union left, and the Army of Tennessee's corps commander decided to feel out the Northern position to see if he should attack in force On the morning of May 31, skirmishers from Hindman's division and that of William W. Loring were thrown forward. Hindman's skirmishers had advanced 40 or 50 yards when Loring sent in the skirmishers of Featherston's and Scott's brigades of his command. Loring's skirmishers came upon the Union breastworks with a line of support in their rear. The Confederates overran the first position, but were unable to advance farther, having been met by a heavy fire from the supporting Union infantry, 150 yards in the rear of the breastworks. Finding Palmer's corps in strong position, Hood withdrew his infantry. Confederate losses were comparatively heavy. Featherston suffered 126 casualties, and Confederate losses may have totaled over 200.4 2

SHERMAN'S NEW STRATEGY
From his observations at Dallas, Sherman outlined a new strategy for withdrawing McPherson's army, instructing McPherson to withdraw by the left. Two brigades of Dodge's corps were to be stationed to protect the front line, as McPherson shifted his troops to the rear lines. The XV Corps would strike off and relieve Hooker Dodge's remaining division was to withdraw from Dallas toward Burnt Hickory and halt near Owen's Mill. After this, one of the two covering brigades could be removed to the Marietta road, leaving Dodge to watch the newly-located left flank and Logan to occupy Hooker's position.
Sherman could no longer count on Blair to seize Allatoona Pass and now wanted his cavalry to take it Once the cavalry had seized the pass, he would relieve them with infantrymen and recall the cavalry to the flanks. Sherman urged McPherson to make his move as early as possible on the morning of June 1 For Kenner Garrard, he outlined the course his cavalry should take on Allatoona, warning him of the critical importance of taking the pass: "Do not be deterred by appearances, but act boldly and promptly: the success of our movement depends on our having Allatoona Pass." 43
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JUNE 1-5, 1864
At 7 a.m. on June 1, the Army of the Tennessee commenced its withdrawal. General Dodge sent the First Brigade of his Second Division ahead to occupy the new works on the Allatoona road, built to cover the withdrawal The Fourth Division brought up the XVI Corps' rear and moved to a location near Owen's Mill. When the army passed the works of the brigade on the Allatoona road, the Second Division took position on the left of the Fourth Division filling the gap between it and the XV Corps, and covering the Acworth road where it crossed the Little Pumpkinvine. McPherson had finally effected his withdrawal. Sherman's three armies were now reunited, and he could begin his march eastward without the fear that Johnston would slice through a gap in the armies as Bragg had done at Chickamauga.44
From Elsberry Mountain, Confederate officers watched the Federal withdrawal. General Johnston rode to the mountain about midday to watch Pulling at his handsome beard, he observed the wagons passing in the Union front on the Burnt Hickory road. In the distance, the Confederate general could see the thin line of road miles away and the wagons and trains passing continually. Where the road could not be seen, dust marked the march Federal wagons were moving to New Hope Church, and the dust lines identified army wagons traveling beyond the crossroads to Burnt Hickory. At 1 o'clock, Frank Armstrong's cavalry entered Dallas and found the town virtually deserted Only the wounded Confederates left in the house with their piteous groaning reminded one of the war. Bullets had riddled the windowpanes, mowed down trees and shrubs, and had left debris and blood in the quiet streets 45
If there had been any doubt before, there was none now that Sherman was making his move eastward. Whether he intended to mass his forces and strike
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the Rebel right, putting his army between Johnston and Atlanta, or merely regain the railroad, was anyone's guess.
Garrard's cavalry cut off from the Army of the Tennessee at 3 30 p.m on June 1, reaching the Etowah Bridge at 7:30 a.m on June 2. Thunderstorms were raging that day, bogging down Sherman's eastward march, and skirmishing continued all along the battle lines. On June 2, Garrard's and Stoneman's cavalry divisions united at Allatoona Pass, securing it for Sherman. Hardee shifted his lines to move Walker's, Bate's, and Cleburne's divisions to the right, while Johnston continued to advance his skirmish lines in an effort to pin Sherman down.46
In the heavy rains, the confusing roar of cannon and musketry kept everyone on edge. IV Corps brigade commander Walter Whitaker wrote, "Here the fire was so heavy and concentrated that no human being could show above the works for any length of time without being shot."47 McPherson pleaded with Sherman to tell him what was occurring along the battle front
Cannot some plan be devised so that I can know on the extreme right (and vice versa) whether a battle is going on on the left? It is impossible to tell anything about it when you are so far off that you cannot hear volleys of musketry I do not wish my command to be behind or remiss in their duty, and at the same time I do not want to precipitate them against the enemy unless the occasion warrants.
In the north, Frank Blair ordered his XVII Corps to move out on June 3, south toward Allatoona to support Sherman. 48
During the flanking maneuver that day, Union and Confederate forces clashed on the extreme right near the home of James Foster It was thundering and lightning, and the rain was falling as the Confederates fought desperately to prevent Sherman's turning of the Dallas Line The Fosters were still in the house when the guns began to fire. A correspondent for the New York Daily Tribune, near the scene, wrote that the house "was perforated by two shells,

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which passed through, and exploded, fortunately without injury to anyone, but badly shattering the premises." The family fled the hom:;e and apparently escaped into the woods, but Foster himself was captured by Union soldiers and later taken within Rebel lines.49
On June 3, Hovey's division, supported by Butterfield, reached the Acworth road. Said Sherman, "Still our left is our weakest point should the enemy attempt it, which I do not apprehend." He ordered Thomas to relieve Schofield behind his parapets, whereupon Schofield would position his corps at the Acworth road. Thomas' pioneers were busy cutting roads to Burnt Hickory and Allatoona. Until Sherman heard more definitely from Blair, he could not withdraw beyond Brown's Mill as he wanted
McPherson's headquarters were near New Hope Church on June 3 as the rains continued to pour down. From Pickett's Mill at 6:15 that evening, Hooker reported that Butterfield's division was encamped on the Dallas and Acworth road at the junction of the roads from Marietta, Acworth, and Allatoona. Sherman had Schofield working to the east, as he was still fearful that Johnston
might strike his weak left fl~nk, and he urged Schofield to be aggressive. 50
On the morning of June 4, Sherman himself was 14 miles west of Marietta near the head of Allatoona Creek. Still, his army had not cleared the Paulding County wilderness along the Pumpkinvine. It had been raining for three solid days and was raining again, and artillery pieces and wagons were mired down on the clay paths winding through the hills The rain glistened off the burnt-red beard of the haggard-looking Union commander, whose eyes were hidden beneath the dirty slouch hat. In Rome, Sherman had officers urging Blair forward. After sundown that sultry evening, he told Thomas:
I am certain we should move our entire army over to the railroad about Acworth and Andersonville at once, for Joe Johnston is shrewd enough to see that we have begun such a movement, and will prepare the way.Sl

131
On the morning of the fifth of June, Federal skirmishers found that the Confederates had evacuated the first- and second-line rifle pits. Dismounted cavalry on a third line made some resistance to the Yankees A deserter reported that Johnston had retreated beyond the Chattahoochee. Reports went to the Army of the Cumberland headquarters that the Southerners had disappeared from their front. Before 9 am., T J Wood visited the Confederate position where his troops had been slaughtered at Pickett's Mill nine days earlier 52
In Special Field Orders No 18, Sherman instructed his army, "unless the enemy displays more force and activity than now," to move farther east. McPherson was to march north of and near Burnt Church, Thomas was to refuse his right beyond Brown's Mill Creek, and Schofield was to strengthen his position and be ready to follow Thomas 53
On June 4, Joe Johnston issued a circular containing instructions for removing his army from the position it had held along the Dallas Line for almost two weeks The following morning, he had his army aligned with his left at Lost Mountain, his center near Gilgal Church, and his right near the railroad. 54 On that day, Johnston received Joe Brown's reluctant offer of the 3,000-man Georgia Militia, and he suggested to Brown that the state troops be posted to protect the bridges and guard the fords on the Chattahoochee River leading to Atlanta.ss
Morale was at low ebb in the Army of Tennessee. Lieutenant Mackall insisted that the soldiers were better fed than ever and had implicit confidence in Johnston, but the baggage wagons were now ,south of the Chattahoochee Cheatham's division of Polk's corps held the Confederate left wing, Hood was in the Rebel center, and Hardee was on the right. The dissension in the command could not be hidden, and although he mentioned no names in his journal Mackall bad no need of doing so~ "Feeling in army: One lieutenant-general


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132
talks about attack and not giving ground, publicly, and quietly urges retreat.n56 A soldier in Polk's corps wrote in his diary:
June 4th we were ordered to leave our breastwork at New Hope & moved to Loss [sic] Mountain Marched the God blessed night through the rain & mud, from 6 inches to almost any imaginable depth.57
From his position near Lost Mountain on June 5, Johnston explained to Braxton Bragg in Richmond: "In consequence of the enemy's movement to his left, we have taken this position; our line nearly parallel to the Chattahoochee, more than two-thirds of it to the right of the mountain."58
On June 5, McPherson reached the railroad at the town of Acworth. The Union armies were still emerging from the wilderness. For two weeks, they had not slept a night without the sound of gunfire to lull them to sleep. Burning heat, sticky humidity, tangled thickets, miles of muddy trenches, the smell of corpses, the heavy rains, and the moldy scent of the air had haunted them from New Hope Church to Acworth. It had indeed been a "Hell-hole."59
Sherman was duly gratified, and no doubt relieved, for until he reached the railroad, the spectre of hunger was a frightening visitor in the Federal camps. Sherman wanted the public to appreciate the feat he had accomplished in turning the Dallas Line:
We have turned Allatoona Pass and reached the railroad at this point seven miles east of Allatoona Pass, and have full possession of all roads seven miles farther east to within six miles of Marietta. Johnston tried to head us off at Dallas but did not succeed. In all encounters we had the advantage. You may give this publicity.60
The Dallas Line operations had not been spectacularly successful, although Sherman indicated otherwise. For the first time, Johnston had slowed Sherman's progress through Georgia; in fact, Johnston had forced Sherman on the defensive for much of the time. The casualties for the two weeks were small in comparison

133
with those of the trench fighting in northern Virginia, each army suffering approximately 5,000 casualties, but accurate figures for these are lacking
In the long run, the fighting on the Dallas Line was not of crucial significance to the outcome of the campaign, but it changed the war from one of maneuver to one of trenches. Whether the ultimate results were of benefit to the Confederacy is open to question After he emerged from the wilderness, Sherman was no closer to Atlanta than he had been when the armies first clashed in a thunderstorm near New Hope Church, thus, strategically, Sherman had been checked. Yet in Richmond, the operations -- which lacked the monumental casualty lists that Lee was receiving and inflicting -- seemed mere skirmishes, in which Johnston had repeatedly refused to take the offensive. This opinion was no doubted strengthened by the letters John Hood mailed Jefferson Davis, in which he pointed out specific instances in which the overcautious Johnston had refused to press the advantage.
In any event, the armies emerged from the Dallas Line with substantially the same forces they had entered The logistical and numerical odds had not changed, and the most critical factor was that Sherman had turned Allatoona Pass.
It was still raining at 3:30 p m. on June 5 when Sherman wrote Henry Halleck in Washington: "The enemy discouraging us creeping around his right flank, abandoned his position and marched off last night . I expect the enemy to fight us at Kennesaw Mountain, near Marietta, but I will not run head on his fortifications .. " Less than a month later, Sherman would prove himself a liar And again, it would be Johnston's steady, stubborn defensive tactics that would force the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, as they had forced that of Pickett's Mill.61
The Southern press expressed continued confidence in "Old Joe's" army. The Atlanta Daily Intelligencer thundered:

/
Marietta and vicinity~ ,Tu;;,:-_~ Z864 (Official Atlas accompanying the Official Records q_f the War~ the Rebellion~ IJHZ-l895~ Vol I~ Plate XLIII~ 4.

134
It may be that, on this side of the Chattahoochee, the great battle will be fought, which is to determine the fate of Atlanta or to determine the fate of the enemy Re it so' As well fight the battle on the Chattahoochee, as at Marietta, or at New Hope, as well fight the battle in Fulton as in Paulding. The enemy defeated, the farther he is from his base, the more bloody and disastrous will be his rout, and that he will be defeated and routed we have the most abiding confidence 62
The events on the Dallas Line foreshadowed the later Confederate defenses
at Kennesaw Mountain and along the Chattahoochee Because there had been no
decision in Paulding County, it was already predictable that Sherman would
soon be in Fulton County It was perhaps also predictable that, if Johnston
could not defeat Sherman with the Blue Ridge at his back, with the Etowah in
his rear, and in the tangled thickets at Pickett's Mill, he would never defeat
Sherman.

FOOTNOTES
Chapter VI
1 Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, Series I, Vol. XXXVIII, Part 4 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1880-1901), pp. 332, 333.
2 Ibid. 3 Ibid., pp. 331, 335, 336. 4 Ibid., Part 3, pp. 706, 987. S Ibid., Part 4, pp. 339, 341, 342. 6 Ibid.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid , p. 339.
9 Ibid., Part 3, p. 145.
10 A.D. Kirwa~ (ed.), Johnny Green of the Orphan Brigade (Lexington, Kty.: Uni-
versity of Kentucky Press, 1956), p. 133. 11 Official R.ecords . , ~ .i_t_., Par t 3 , pp 95, 96. 12 James P. Jones, "Black Jack": John A. Logan_ and Southern Illinois in the Civil
War Era (Tallahassee, Fla.: Florida State University Press, 1967), pp. 203, 204. 13 Official Records ... ,~ cit., Part 3, pp 106, 987, 316, 129-31, 279, 145, 146, 95, 96, 162.
14 Kirwan, loc. cit. l5 Official Records .. ,~ cit., Part 3, pp 162, 106, 987, 95, 96, 145, 316,
129-31, 279. 16 0.0. Howard, Autobiography of Oliver Otis Howard, Vol. I (New York: The Baker
& Taylor Company, 1908), p 559. 17 Richard M. McMurry, "The Hell-Hole," Civil War Times Illustrated (Gettysburg,
Pa.: Historical Times, Inc., 1973), issue of February, 1973, p. 42. 18 Ibid. 19 Official Records ... , ~ cit., Part 3, p. 96.
Official Records ... ,~ cit., Part 4, p. 339.
- 135 -

136

20 Ibid , Part 4, pp 339, 340 21 Ibid

22 Ibid ' Part 3, p 145. 23 Ibid., Part 4, pp. 349, 350

24 Ibid.

25 Ibid., p. 345.

26 Ibid., Part 3, p 706

27 Ibid., Part 4, p. 344.

28 Ibid ' p. 346.
29 James A. Padgett (ed.), "With Sherman Through Georgia and the Carolinas Letters of a Federal Soldier," Part I, Georgia !!_istoric~!._ Quarterly, Vol. XXXII (Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1948), issue of December, 1948, p. 292
30 Official Records .... ,~ cit , Part 3, pp 706, 707, 987, 988

31 Ibid , pp 146, 96, 162, 403, 404, 380

32 McMurry, loc cit 33 Official Records . . . , ~ cit , Part 3, pp 988, 162

Official Records ., ~ cit , Part 4, pp 4, 357 34 J Cutler Andrews, The South Reports the Civil War (Princeton, N J
ton University Pres~l970), p 442

Prince-

35 Official Records , ~ cit , Part 4, pp 351, 352

36 Ibid 37 Ibid , Part 1, pp. 353-55, 868 38 Jones, ~ cit , p 205 39 Official Records , ~ cit , Part 4, pp 362, 363

40 Ibid., Part 3, p 98&

41 Mary A H Gay, Life in Dixie During the War (Atlanta Charles P Byrd, 1897), p 92
42 Official Records. , op cit , Part 3, p 875
43 Ibid , Part 4, PP 366, 367 44 Ibid , Part 3, pp. 380, 381, 404

137

45 Ibid., Part 3, pp. 989, 990

46 Ibid.,' p 990.

Ibid., Part 4, p 387. 47 Ibid., Part 1, p. 145 48 Ibid., Part 4, PP 390, 398, 399.
49 New York Daily Tribune (New York: 1864), i s sue of June 17, 1864.
50 Official Records . , ~ cit , Part 4, pp 385, 392, 393. 51 Ibid., pp. 400, 401
52 -Ibi-d ' Part 1' PP 387, 871.
53 Ibid., Part 4, p 407.
54 Joseph E. Johnston~ Narrative of Military S!J?,erations (New York : 1874), p. 335.

Jacob D. Cox, The Atlanta Campaign (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1882), p. 92
55 Official Records ... , ~ ~it., Part 3, p. 758

56 Ibid., p. 991.

5l Confederate Collection, Diaries and Memoirs: Jarad Curl Frazier (Nashville: Manuscripts Section, Tennessee State Library and Archives).

58 Official Records. '59 Ibid., p. 415. 60 Ibid , p. 418.

, ~ cit., Part 4, p. 759

61 Ibid , pp. 408, 409.

62 Atlanta Daily Intelligencer (Atlanta: 1864), issue of June 1, 1864

VII. POSTBELLUM

THE ALLATOONA CAMPAIGN
General John B. llood assumed command of the Army of Tennessee on July 17, 1864 Following a siege of over a month, Atlanta fell to Sherman on September 2, and Hood escaped with his army south to McDonough. He sought to negate Sherman's conquest of all of North Georgia by slipping around him to the north, forcing Sherman to abandon his gains and chase him back across territory fought over four months earlier Near the end of September Hood crossed the Chattahoochee River 24 miles south of Atlanta. Unsure of Confederate intentions, Sherman prepared for all eventualities, but before the month ended, it became clear that Hood was marching on Marietta 1
By October 3, the main Confederate army was near Lost Mountain Hood ~ent A.P Stewart's corps (formerly Polk's) to destroy the railroad north of Marietta and capture the Federal garrison at Allatoona. The two armies were maneuvering over the same terrain they had fought for in June. But now, the Confederates were moving north, and Sherman, reluctantly, was following. Stewart took the small Union garrisons at Acworth and Big Shanty, destroying the railroad behind him . . When he rejoined the main army, he sent S.G. French's division against Allatoona.2
In pursuit of Hood, Sherman pushed the head of his column to Kennesaw Mountain. From here, he signaled John M.. Corse to relieve Allatoona. From the mountain where he had met bitter defeat in June, Sherman could see the smoke curling up from the railroad burned by the Confederates; with his field glasses, he could see the combat at Allatoona, and to the west, the smoke from the Confederate camps near Dallas. 3
General French launched his attack on Allatoona at daybreak on October 5. The fort, now strengthened by the addition of Corse's troops, held out in the
- 138 -

139
face of frantic and disorganized Confederate assaults. French's 12 guns blasted the defenders in Allatoona, and the infantry ran up on the works time and again. Corse was shot in the face and rendered temporarily unconscious. Casualties in the Union garrison were mounting, but French's attacks became increasingly disorganized and grew weaker and weaker. About 3 p.m., he marched off in the direction of New Hope Church, ending what Jacob Cox termed "one of the most desperately contested actions of the war." The last major battle in the New Hope Church-Allatoona vicinity was finished. Sherman pushed on to Allatoona Church. One detachment of his army followed the road from Mount Olivet Church to Acworth, while another detachment pushed on near to Lost Mountain, driving back Hood's cavalry. Union cavalry skirmished with Confederate horsemen near New Hope Church on October 7, but Hood was in a hurry farther north. By the 14th, Sherman had followed Hood all the way back up to Resaca.4
The Confederate Army was so decimated by this time that Sherman was content to send a detachment of his army north into Tennessee after Hood, while he took 60,000 veterans on a march through the middle of helpless Georgia. On April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Courthouse. Two weeks later, Joseph E. Johnston -- again the commander of the Army of Tennessee -- surrendered to his old antagonist, William Tecumseh Sherman, near Durham, North Carolina. The war was over

PICKETT'S MILL- NEW HOPE CHURCH AREA, 1868

e HUNTSVILL,...E_ __,
876
)

819 820 821
10 ) l
838 837~6
---..;

900
4
901
972
8
973

1050

1048 104

b. 1049 N. A.

1111 1112
18

LEGEND

A Martha Pickett

B Malachi Pickett

b Malachi Pickett

c J c. Pickett

c JC Pickett

D. A.C Arnall

E. Broum and OWen

e Braum and Owen

e Brown and OUJen

F TM Brooks

G. L. L. Brown

H Zach Brand

I

0 F Pringle

i. 0 F Pringle

J Duncan Bohannan

j Duncan Bohannan

K. 0 p Cooper

L. Nancy Camp

l Nancy Camp

M. Caroline Cooper

m Caroline Cooper

N. FP Camp

0 Gary Davis .

P. BF Elsberry

Q. JP Elsberry

R. James Basford
s. John Hogan

s John Hogan

T James Hogan

t
u James Hogan v I G. Kemp w u Kemp X J c Leverett

y J LG1JJson
z JM LG1JJr>ence

l

DB Morgan

2 JH Martin

3 Isaac Morgan

4 John Moore

5 B Morris

6 ' G.A Owen
7 c Osborn

8 I. Osborn

9 J R Pruett

lO 6 Pruett

ll L Phillips

l2 N Parris

l3 Joseph Srn-lth

l4 Abraham Smith

l5 Allen Smith

l6 A C Sanders

l? J w Shelton

lB WM Woodard

THE PICKETT'S MILL SITE AND SUBSEQUENT OWNERSHIP
Following the war, the value of land acros .~ Georgia declined. The por..tion of the state that suffered the most was the cotton belt Although values in the grain-growing region of North Georgia dropped also, the decline was much less pronounced. Paulding County farmers and merchants had done most of their suffering when Sherman passed through, and when the refugees returned to their farms and wasted .fields, they began a steady reb,Iilding process.
The process was slow and resulted in a return to the general conditions existent in antebellum Paulding County. There was little change, little growth, virtually no industrialization, and the relative isolation of Paulding was only overcome when the railroads came. Even Reconstruction passed Paulding by with little effect.
The Ku Klux Klan flourished in portions of northwest Georgia immediately following the war, and in Congress, the Committe,~ to tnvestigate Conditions in the Late Insurrectionary States examined the racial disturbances in Georgia between 1868 and 1871, identifying northwest Georgia as one of two "troublespots" in the state. Although the committee did not specifically name Paulding, it did identify the neighboring counties of Bartow, Polk, Haralson, and Gordon.
Ku Klux Klan activity in this region was among the highest in the state, the committee reported. However, the racial disturbances need not be traced directly to the Klan. Like these other counties, it was overwhelmingly Democratic in politics Without the need of organized terror, the whites in North Georgia could -- and did -- control the free black populace, limit its rights, and dictate its behavior. Tilis was in contrast to much of the remainder of the state. The nearest Union garrisons were in Rome and Atlanta, and the combination of so-called Klan terror and friction between moonshiners and the Federal
- 140 -

141
government lasted considerably after 1871. The carpetbaggers played no political part in the Paulding County region -- both because of the predominantly white racial structure of the county, and because it was a rural, non-industrialized, comparatively poor area.5
Even prior to the war, the landholdings in Paulding County were much smaller than in the cotton belt, and the size of these landholdings changed little following the war. The landholders were of substantially the same stock, from the same families, and with the same traditions as their pre-war counterparts. The Pickett families remained in the same general area. Malachi Pickett, in 1868, owned 440 acres along Pumpkinvine Creek, about three miles west of Pickett's Mill. He remained one of the three most prosperous men in the militia district.6 Malachi lived until about 1885 and is buried in the New Hope Church cemetery. 7
Martha Pickett owned 166 acres in 1868, all on the site of the battlefield.8 After advertising the sale of the Benjamin Pickett estate in the Atlanta Weekly Intelligencer in 1867, she sold her one-half interest in Lot 1042 and the mill at auction to Ben Farmer for $100. 9 She later remarried a Mr. Hicksaw.
James C. Pickett, Ben's brother, lived long enough to prove that he who fights and runs away will never have to fight another day. He lived to see World War I and is buried next to his wife Elizabeth in the cemetery at New Hope Church. After the Civil War, James Pickett increased his landholdings along the headwaters of Pickett's Mill Creek south of the battlefield, adjacent to Chris Harris' farm and near Martha Pickett's land. He bought lands farther to the west, and a late 19th-century map of Paulding County shows his home in Lot 1195 along the road to New Hope Church. 10
In 1867, J.C. Leverett sold Lot 976 to J.W Hill. At the time of the deed, Leverett was operating a sawmill on the site and had formerly operated

l!'oundations of the Brand House (Photo by Riahard M. Williams, Deaember 7A, Z976)

142
a woolen factory, perhaps destroyed during the Battle of Pickett's Mill or torn down by Union troops in the following days. 11 Leverett retained less than 100 acres, bounded on the south by the lands of Martha Pickett and Chris Harris, on the north and west by Zach Brand, and on the north and east by Isaac Osborne.12
Christopher Harris' property was evaluated at almost twice that of Malachi Pickett in the 1863 Tax Digest. He owned the site of the former mill and a total of 260 acres, bounded on the west by Martha Pickett, on the north by Chris Hill, J.C. Leverett and Isaac Osborne, on the south by James Pickett, and running east to the Cobb County line. The 1896 map in the Paulding County Courthouse shows his home as being in Lot 1116 on the right side of the Lost Mountain road near its junction with the Acworth road. 13
Zachariah Brand, buying at auction from the Ben Pickett estate and from the Rogers, owned land valued at $500 by 1868. Most of it was in the hillier section north and west of Pickett's Mill Creek, poorer farm land and not as accessible to trading roads as the land of Chris Harris. The tax digest recorded Brand's land at less than half that of Malachi Pickett, but closely comparable to James Pickett's and greater than that of Martha Pickett. 14
To the northeast of the old mill and along the lines of the 1864 operations were Isaac Osborne's holdings. The former justice of the peace and militia district officer also owned some land across the line in Cobb County, a total of 140 acres. North of Osborne, along the Cobb County line, was John Moore's farm. S.G. and U. Kemp owned acreage to the west of Moore, north of Zach Brand, and O.F. Brintle lived to the north of the Kemps. 16
F.P. Camp owned a small farm southwest of Pickett's Mill, and T.M. Brooks ran a larger farm south of Camp and just west of Chris Harris' land To the west of Brooks' land was W.M. Woodard's property. James Hasford and Nancy Camp, also to the west, owned portions of the area, along which the Union and Confederates lines had extended west of the mill in 1864.17

143
Littleton Brown and Rhode Islander George Owen formed a partnership, the two of them owning 480 acres of land valued at $8,000. Their acreage was centered on the Pumpkinvine, southeast of Huntsville and less than two miles south of Malachi Pickett's farm. Brown's individual holdings were valued at $1,200, and he continued operation of his mill, once destroyed by Union soldiers in 1864.18
The Hogans, J.M. Lawrence, the Pruetts, A.C. Sanders , and John W Wells were others in the district who were land-ri'ch, but most of them were, and remained, money-poor The farmers continued their basic agriculture, concentrating on grains, small acreages of cotton, livestock-grazing, and some lumbering.
Shortly after the turn of the century, there were new features on the map of the Pickett's Mill-New Hope Church-Huntsville area. The Pruett school was located north of Brown's Mill, the Brintle school was established below Cross Roads Church, the Woodall school was located in Lot 1111, and another school stood on Lot 981, east of Brown's Mill. Henry Camp lived northwest of the Woodall school, and Chris Harris and T.M. Brooks both lived along the road to New Hope Church. The J.T. Travett place was situated in the east corner of 898 on the road to Cross Roads Church. G.J. Kemp now lived on what had formerly been J.C. Leverett's land, near the site of Leverett's Mill. Neither Pickett's Mill nor Leverett's Mill appear to have been in operation by this time. 19
During the first half of the 20th Century, much of the land in Paulding County around the site of the Pickett's Mill battlefield passed from private ownership into the hands of real estate, insurance, or timber companies. The land reflected the change. No longer was it primarily agricultural in usage, with cleared fields and pastures Instead, it began to grow up in timber.
In August of 1932, the Prudential Insurance Company sold C.E. McMichen Lots 977, 1040, 1041, the west half of Lot 1042, and one acre in the southern

Foundation of Pickett's MiZZ, Zooking south toward the areek (Photo by Jean K. BuakZey, Marah 24, Z973)

144
part of 1050, formerly owned by the Camps, Zach Brand, and Ben and Martha Pickett 20 On October 1, 1951, W.V. and Clarence McMichen purchased 300 acres near the Pickett's Mill site from Mrs. R.W. Weilden. This 300-acre tract included all of Lots 969, 970, 971, 974, 975, the west part of 972 and 973, and 18 acres of 901. The McMichens began to dispose of their holdings near Pickett's Mill after 1950. On August 16, 1952, the McMichen brothers sold 200 acres to the North Georgia Timberland Company (Lots 970, 971, 974, 3/4 of 969, 3/4 of 975,
. 23 end lots of 972 and 973, and 18 acres of 901).
J F. Marchmont, on July 25, 1936, bought 115 acres stretching north, west, and south of the site of Pickett's Mill, his purchase including a portion of the "Old Christ Harris homeplace." He bought the land from \ol.K. Glore, it consisting of four acres in the southwest corner of 975, the southwest quarter of 969, all of 976 (owned once by J.C. Leverett), and Lots 1115, 1116, 1117, and 1118.24 On June 9, 1952, Marchmont sold a portion of this to the North Georgia Timberland Company, which bought 54 acres -- all of 976, the southwest quarter of 969, and four acres in the southwest corner of 975. 25 This company now owned 395 acres on the site of the battlefield.
North Georgia Timberland Company (later known as the Georgia Kraft Company), retained the Pickett's Mill lands for about two decades. On September 24, 1971, Georgia Kraft conveyed eight separate tracts in Paulding County to Property Management Services, Inc , of Cobb County. Property Management Services had bought out the Piedmont Southern Life Insurance Company, which owned vast tracts in the county. AmOng the eight tracts purchased from Georgia Kraft was Tract V, which included Lots 969, 970, 975, 976, 977, 1040, 1041, a~d parts of 901, 971, 972, 973, 1042, and 1050 In all, Property Management bought 495 acres. On December 10 of the same year, this company deeded to the Beneficial Investment Company of Cobb County the bulk of its purchase from Georgia Kraft Beneficial purchased Lots 969, 970, 971, 974, 975, 976, 977, 978, 1040, 1041,

145
1050, half of 104l, and portions of 901, 972, and 973. The total land involved was 467.76 acres. 27
The State of Georgia purchased this same 467.76-acre tract from Beneficial Investment on July 31, 1973,28 and the State made an additional purchase of 82.545 acres on November 12, 1974, from the Georgia Kraft Company, consisting of portions of Lots 1112, 1113, and 1114. The State's final purchase was made on December 10, 1974, from Adelphi Land Investments, Ltd., which included portions of Lots 1047, 1048, and 1049, which totaled 79.56 acres. The State of Georgia now owns 629.806 acres of the Pickett's Mill battlefield site. 30

LAND USAGE
For at least two decades, much of the acreage now owned by the State was used by the Georgia Kraft Company The timber company cut several new roads through the battle site, and, in other cases, used previously-existing roads to haul out lumber. Allowing what had previously been field and pasture to grow up in pine, the timber company inadvertently contributed to bringing the battlefield back to a state similar to that existing in 1864. At the time of the battle, the site was characterized by dense, second-growth timber. At the time of State acquisition, much the same physical situation was existing, due to the timber practices in the area Thus, the site possessed a very high degree of visual integrity.
Many of the roads formerly cutting through the woods have all but disappeared. Entrenchments are still in evidence, old road beds are visible, and several house foundations, well sites, and the foundations of outbuildings are to be seen The battlefield area has been remarkably well-preserved, and this gives the site a quality of authenticity and vLsual appeal that should allow the visitor to better experience the feel of this bloody battle in May of 1864, when an army of 100,000 men marched down from t he mountains, bound for Atlanta
The fact that the site has been relatively undisturbed has caused problems, however. Amateur historians and archaeologists and others of the general public have dug into the trenches and plowed into the remains of entrenchments in search of minie balls, shrapnel, and other a rtifacts. Another factor of concern is the burgeoning growth of Atlanta, which has made Paulding County a suburb of the metropolis Increasing population expanding out from Atlanta has made the development of suburbs in and near the battlefield area a real threat, and additional acreage may be required to shield the area from visually-intrusive
- 146 -

147
growth. Finally, the acquisition of the site of the old Pickett's Mill is vital
to the interpretation of the battlefield. The State now owns the western half of Lot 1042, but the mill site is located on the eastern half of this lot. Nor does the State own the site of the Harris house and other land between this site and the mill, where the Confederate lines ran.

FOOTNOTES Chapter VII
1 Jacob D. Cox, The Atlanta Campaign (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1882), pp. 223, 224.
2 Ibid., p. 225. 3 Ibid., p. 226. 4 ~- pp. 227-37.
5 c. Mildred Thompson, Reconstruction in Georgia (Savannah: Bee Hive Press,
1972 reprint), pp. 338-42. 6 Paulding County Tax Digest, 1868. 7 Wilbur G. Kurtz, Sr. Collection, Atlanta Historical Society, Box 32, 7. 8 Paulding County Tax Digest, 1868.
9 Paulding County Superior Court, Deeds and Mortgages, Book ! p. 548.
10 Paulding County Tax Digest, 1868. 11 Paulding County Superior Court,~ cit., p. 549. 12 Paulding County Tax Digest, 1868. 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid. 15 Ibid. 16 Ibid. 17 Ibid. 18 Ibid. 19 M.D. West, "Map of Paulding County, Georgia, 1896." 20 Paulding County Superior Court,~ cit., Book XX, p. 76. 21 Ibid. , Book 3K, p. 301. 22 Ibid., Book 3L, p. 277. 23 Ibid., Book 3M, p. 88.
- 148 -

149
24 Ibid., Book YY, p. 571. 25 Ibid., Book 3L, p. 154. 26 Ibid., Book 5W, pp. 395-400. 27 Ibid., Book 5Y, pp. 364, 365. 28 Ibid., Book 6Z, P 120. 29 Ibid., Book 7N, p. 470. 30 Ibid. , Book 7N, p. 165.

VIII. APPENDICES

APPENDIX A
Inventory and Appraisement of Benjamin W Pickett's Estate* October 23, 1864

Item first
2
3
4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42

206 Acres land including homestead & Mill Place

1 Negro man named Martin

1 Jack ass

1 Gray Horse

1 Bay Mare

1 2 year old Colt

1 Yoke Steer

1 Black Cow

1 Heifer

29 Head Hogs $25 ea

6 " Sheep $15 ea

1 Carry Log

Log Chain

Wagon

l Grindstone

2 Plow Stock Cleves & Singletree

5 " , 1 Scraper & 1 (blank)

4 Weeding Hoes $4 ea

2 set Plow Gears

1 Shovel & Spade

1 Mattock

3 Pole Axe and handaxe

1 I ron lvedge

1 Scythe & cradle

1 cross saw

1 Handsaw & drawing Knife

2 Augurs

1 Doubletree & Slg chain

1 Lot Harness & Singletree

1 Lot old irons

1 Jar Plain [illegible]

2 Bee hives 20 ea

1 Double Barrel Shot-Gun

1 Pistol

40 Bags Wheat more or less

300 " Corn

"

11

11 $3

25 Hundred Bundles Fodder $5

Cavalry saddle

Side Saddle

1 Pr Saddle Wallet

1 Patent Lever Watch

1 Lot Shucks

$4,000.00 800.00 800.00 800.00 800.00 150.00 500.00 150 00 150.00 550.00 90 00 100 00 3 00 200 00 2 00 10 00 10 00 16 00 10.00 10 00 4 00 13 00 2.00 10 00 10 00 5 00 2 00 5 00 1 00 3 00 2 00 40 00 30 00 25 00 240 00 900 00 125 00 . 20 00 40 00 5 00 50 00 30 00

* Paulding Coun_!y Wills and Estate Records, ~_E~k ~- 1861-186 7_, pp 446-4 7

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APPENDIX B
Confederate Forces Engaged Pickett's Mill, Georgia, May]]_, 1864
Hardee's Corps, Army of Tennessee Lieutenant General William J. Hardee
Cleburne's Division Major General Patrick R. Cleburne (At the time of the battle, General Cleburne's division was detached from Hardee's corps, Lieutenant General John B. Hood counnanding, and further to Hindman's division, Major General Thomas C. Hindman commanding.)
Polk's Brigade Brigadier General Lucius E. Polk
1st Arkansas Infantry, 15th Arkansas Infantry, 5th Confederate Infantry, 2nd Tennessee Infantry, 35th Tennessee Infantry, 48th Tennessee Infantry.
Govan's Brigade Brigadier General Daniel C. Govan
2nd Arkansas Infantry, 24th Arkansas Infantry, 5th Arkansas Infantry, 13th Arkansas Infantry, 6th Arkansas Infantry, 7th Arkansas Infantry, 8th Arkansas Infantry, 19th Arkansas Infantry, 3rd Confederate Infantry.
Lowrey's Brigade Brigadier General Mark P. Lowrey
16th Alabama Infantry, 33rd Alabama Infantry, 45th Alabama Infantry, 32nd Mississippi Infantry, 45th Mississippi Infantry.
Granbury's Brigade Brigadier General Hiram B. Granbury
6th Texas Infantry, 15th Texas Cavalry (dismounted), 7th Texas Infantry, lOth Texas Infantry, 17th Texas Cavalry (dismounted), 18th Texas Cavalry (dis-
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mounted), 24th Texas Cavalry (dismounted), 25th Texas Cavalry (dismounted).
Hood's Corps, Army of Tennessee Lieutenant General John B. Hood
Hindman's Division Major General Thomas C. Hindman
Falthall's Brigade Brigadier General Edward C. Walthall
24th Mississippi Infantry, 27th Mississippi Infantry, 29th Mississippi Infantry, 30th Mississippi Infantry, 34th Mississippi Infantry
Stewart's Division Major General Alexander P. Stewart
Quarles' Brigade Brigadier General William S. Quarles (The Official ~ecords of the War of the Rebellion indicates Brigadier General Randall A Gibson as being in command of this brigade However, General Cleburne refers several times to Quarles as being in command on May 27, 1864 )
1st Louisiana Regulars, 13th Louisiana Infantry, 16th Louisiana Infantry, 25th Louisiana Infantry, 19th Louisiana Infantry, 20th Louisiana Infantry, 4th Louisiana Infantry, 4th Louisiana Battalion (Sharpshooters)
Cavalry Corps, Army of Tennessee Major General Joseph Wheeler
Kelly's Division Brigadier General John H Kelly
Allen's Brigade Brigadier General William W. Allen
3rd Confederate Cavalry, 8th Confederate Cavalry, lOth Confederate Cavalry, 12th Confederate Cavalry

153 Dibrell's Brigade Colonel George C. Dibrell
4th Tennessee Cavalry, 8th Tennessee Cavalry, 9th Tennessee Cavalry, lOth Tennessee Cavalry, 11th Tennessee Cavalry
Artille~
Hotchkiss' Battalion
Arkansas Battery Captain Thomas J. Key
Semples Alabama Battery Lieutenant Richard W. Goldthwaite
Warren Mississippi Light Artillery Lieutenant H. Shannon

APPENDIX C
Federal Forces Engaged
Pickett's Mill, Georgia, May 1r. 1864
Fourth Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland Major General Oliver 0 Howard
Third Division Brigadier General Thomas J. Wood
First Brigade Brigadier General August Willich (Colonel William H. Gibson in command on May 27, 1864.)
25th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 35th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 89th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 32nd Indiana Volunteer Infantry, 8th Kansas Volunteer Infantry, 15th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 49th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry
Second Brigade Brigadier General William B. Hazen
59th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 6th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, 5th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, 6th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, 23rd Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, 1st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 7lst Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 6th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 41st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 93rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 124th Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Third Brigade Colonel Frederick Knefler
79th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, 86th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, 9th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, 17th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, 13th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 19th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 59th Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Fourteenth Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland Major General John M. Palmer
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First Division Brigadier General Richard W. Johnson
First Brigade Brigadier General William P Carlin
104th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 42nd Indiana Volunteer Infantry, 88th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, 15th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 33rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 94th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, lOth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, 21st Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry.
Second Brigade Brigadier General John H King
11th Michigan Volunteer Infantry, 69th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 15th U S Infantry (9 companies, 1st and 3rd battalions), 15th U.S Infantry (6 companies, 2nd battalion), 16th U.S Infantry (4 companies, 1st battalion), 16th U.S. Infantry (4 companies, 2nd battalion), 18th U.S. Infantry, 2nd battalion, 19th U.S. Infantry (1st battalion and Company A, 2nd battalion.)
Third Brigade Colonel Benjamin F. Scribner
37th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, 38th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 74th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 78th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, 79th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (not present), 1st Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry.
Twenty-Third Army Corps, Army of the Ohio Major General John M Schofield
Second Division Major General Milo S. Hascall
First Brigade Brigadier General Nathaniel C McLean
80th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, 9lst Indiana Volunteer Infantry, 13th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, 25th Michigan Volunteer Infantry, 45th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 3rd Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, 6th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry.

APPENDIX D
Biographical Sketches of Participating General Officers, U.S.A. and C.S.A
Brief biographical sketches of the primary participants in the Battle of Pickett's Mill are of interest. Many of the Confederate officers did not survive the war; others who did led checkered careers that were limited in scope by the very fact of the war and defeat. The Federal generals, not restricted by defeat, led fuller and more active careers.
Oliver Otis Howard Oliver Otis Howard was born 8 November 1830 in Leeds, Maine. He graduated
from the Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1854 He lost his right arm at the Battle of Seven Pines, Virginia He was appointed First Commissioner of the "Freedman's Bureau" in 1865. Still in the service, he served in the West and as superintendent of the Military Academy He died on 26 October 1909
Thomas John Wood Thomas John Wood was born on 25 September 1823 in Munfordville, Kentucky.
He graduated from the Military Academy in 1845. His service during the war was distinguished, although his part in the Battle of Chickamauga remained contraversial. On 9 June 1868 he retired from the army due to wounds received during the war. He died 25 February 1906.
William Babcock Hazen William Babcock Hazen was born in West Hartford, Vermont, on 27 September
1830 He graduated from the Military Academy in 1855 and served on the frontier, where he was severely wounded in an Indian fight. His service during the war
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was distinquished. He remained in the army and was appointed Chief Signal Officer in 1880. He died on 16 January 1887.
Richard W. Johnson Richard W Johnson was born 27 February 1827 near Smithland, Kentucky. He
graduated from the Military Academy in 1849, a class which furnished five generals to the Union and eight to the Confederacy. His elder brother was a surgeon in the Confederate Army. His pre-war service was on the frontier. In 1862 he was captured near Gallatin, Tennessee, and later exchanged. He was severely wounded at Pickett's Mill on 28 May 1864, being struck by an unexploded artillery projectile. Upon his recovery, he was appointed Chief of Cavalry of the Military Division of the Mississippi. He retired from the service in 1867 for a physical disability. He died on 21 April 1897.
Hiram Bronson Granbury Hiram Bronson Granbury was born in Copiah County, Mississippi, on 1 March
1831. He moved to Texas in the early 1850's and took up the practice of law. Commissioned as Brigadier General to rank from 29 February 1864, he led the Texas Brigade with distinction. He was killed at Franklin, Tennessee, on 30 November 1864, one of six Confederate general officers killed or mortally wounded on that tragic field.
William Andrew Quarles William Andrew Quarles was born near Jamestown, Virginia, on 4 July 1825.
He practiced law in Tennessee. Captured at Fort Donelson, Tennessee, he was exchanged Promoted to Brigadier General to rank from 25 August 1863, he took part with distinction in the Atlanta campaign He was wounded and again captured at Franklin, Tennessee, 30 November 1864. He served in politics after the war, and he died on 28 December 1893.

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Edward Cary Walthall Edward Cary Walthall was born on 4 April 1831 in Richmond, Virginia. He
moved at an early age to Holly Springs, Mississippi Later, he studied law and went into practice; he also served as district attorney. He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General on 13 December 1862 Serving in a steadfast manner, he was wounded near Chattanooga. Promoted to Major General to rank from 6 July 1864, he served with the Army of Tennessee until the end and was paroled at Greensboro, North Carolina, on 1 May 1865. Returned to his law practice, he later went into politics and was a United States Senator from 1885 until his death on 21 April 1898.
John Herbert Kelly John Herbert Kelly was born at Carrolton, Alabama, 31 March 1840. He
entered the Military Academy in 1857 but resigned on 29 December 1860 and was soon commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Artillery in the Regular Army of the Confederate States. After distinguished service, he was commissioned Brigadier General to rank from 16 November 1863, the youngest general officer in the Confederate Army at the time of his appointment. He was given a division in Wheeler's cavalry corps and earned a handsome reputation during the Atlanta campaign. He was mortally wounded in an engagement near Franklin, Tennessee, on 2 September 1864.
Daniel C. Govan Daniel C. Govan, born 4 July 1829 in North Carolina, attended South Caro-
lina College. He joined kinsman Ben McCulloch in the California gold rush, but returned to become a planter in Mississippi and Arkansas When the war broke out, he was commissioned a Lieutenant Colonel of the Second Arkansas Govan was appointed Brigadier General on 29 December 1863 He was captured at the Battle of Jonesboro on 1 September 1864 and was later exchanged and returned to

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brigade command in the Army of Tennessee. He surrendered with Johnston's army and returned to his plantation, later serving as Indian agent for a time.
Lucius E. Polk Lucius E. Polk was born in Salisbury, North Carolina, on 10 July 1833, a
nephew of Bishop Leonidas Polk. L.E. Polk enlisted as a private in the Yell Rifles and was wounded in the face at Shiloh. He was wounded again at Richmond, Kentucky, and was named Brigadier General on 13 December 1862. When he was again wounded at Kennesaw Mountain, Polk left active duty. He was active in Democratic politics in Tennessee following the war and served in the State Senate.
Thomas Carmichael Hindman Thomas Carmichael Hindman, whose division was positioned on the left of
Cleburne's during the Battle of Pickett's Mill, had close ties with Cleburne which antedated the war. Born 27 January 1828, Hindman attended school in New Jersey, but he returned to Mississippi and fought in the Mexican War. He became involved with the great-grandfather of novelist William Faulkner through the actions of his brother Robert. On 8 May 1849 in Ripley, Mississippi, Robert Hindman suddenly attacked Faulkner behind his (Hindman's) house, the two of them having been friends and served together in the Second Regiment, Second Mississippi Infantry in the Mexican War. Hindman drew a pistol and Faulkner grabbed his arm, but the larger Hindman threw the other against the house. He placed his pistol at Faulkner's head and pulled the trigger, but the gun failed to fire. Faulkner then drew his knife. Hindman cocked the gun and pulled the trigger again, and again the gun failed to fire. As he attempted to fire for a third time, Faulkner stabbed and killed him. Faulkner was arrested and charged with murder, the trial being delayed until February of 1851. Thomas Hindman, who had just been admitted to the bar, made his first speech as a prosecuting attorney, denouncing Faulkner, but Faulkner was acquitted. As Faulkner stepped from the Ripley courtroom into

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the street, Thomas Hindman attacked him. In the struggle, Faulkner killed a Hindman partisan. Faulkner was arrested once more and tried for murder Again, he was acquitted. Faulkner met Hindman in the dining room of the Ripley Hotel later, where Hindman drew his pistol, then dropped it, the gun going off at that time. The bullet struck the ceiling above Faulkner's head. Hindman then challenged him to a duel, and Faulkner met him at 6 AM on 1 April 1851 on a dueling ground 400 feet from the Arkansas bank of the Mississippi River opposite the foot of Jefferson Street in Memphis. A Dr. DeSoto and Faulkner met Hindman before the duel. DeSoto drew his pistol and started to shoot Hindman, but Faulkner grabbed the pistol and the hammer struck his hand An editor of the ~emphis Appeal succeeded in preventing the duel Hindman moved to Arkansas afterwards, while Faulkner remained in Ripley, where he became the leader of the Know Nothing Party and editor of the newspaper, Uncle Sam Faulkner was the prototype from which William Faulkner molded his "Colonel Sartoris "
Controversy followed Hindman to Arkansas He was a short man, 5'1" tall, who "dressed in tight-fitting clothes, ruffled shirts, and patent leather boots." He conducted a whirlwind campaign against the Know Nothings and barely avoided a number of duels. In a Helena, Arkansas newspaper, Hindman savagely attacked the character of W.D. Rice, Know Nothing candidate for the State Senate On 24 May 1856, Hindman learned that Rice and his partisans would attack him. Hindman asked his friend Pat Cleburne to accompany him, Cleburne brought two derringer pistols with him. From the entrance of a grocery store, Rice and a friend opened fire, hitting Hindman in the right breast Rice's brother shot Cleburne in the back. Hindman darted around the corner, and Cleburne managed to join him. They stood on the curb, calling Rice out. Cleburne shot one of his assailants, who later died from the wounds. Cleburne continued to suffer ill effects from his wound and never completely recovered. Hindman enlisted in the Yell Rifles and was appointed Brigadier General on 28 September 1861. He was appointed Major General

161

on 18 April 1862. Following the war, he fled to Mexico and operated a coffee

In plantation.

1868, Hindman returned to the United States. quickly becoming

embroiled in political quarrels, and was assassinated on 28 September 1868.

APPENDIX E
Report of Major General Patrick R. Cleburne
The following is the report of Major General Patrick R Cleburne, C.S.A., of the Battle of Pickett's Mill, extracted from Cleburne and His Command; by Irving A Buck, reprint, McCoward-Mercer Press, Jackson, Tenn., 1959.
PICKETT'S MILL
Report of Maj -Gen. P.R. Cleburne, C.S Army, Commanding Division, of the Battle of New Hope Church (Pickett's Mill)
Headquarters Cleburne's Division Paulding County, Ga , May 30, 1864.
Colonel: In compliance with orders I submit the following account of the operations of my division on the afternoon and night of the 27th instant:
About 2 or 3 o'clock of the afternoon of the 26th I arrived with my division on the extreme right of the then line of the army, when I was sent to support Major-General Hindman. At that point our lines, the general bearing of which was north and south, retired for a few yards to the east. In continuation of this retiring line I placed [L.E.] Polk's brigade, of my division, in and diagonally across it upon a ridge en echelon by battalion to avoid an artillery enfilade from a neighboring position held by the enemy Resting on Polk's right was placed Hotchkiss's artillery, consisting of four Napoleons, four Parrott guns, and four howitzers Supporting Hotchkiss on the right was one regiment of [D.C ] Govan's, of my division The remainder of my division was disposed in rear as a second line in support of Hindman's right brigades and my first line. Intrenchments were thrown up in the afternoon and night of the 26th and in the morning of the 27th The position was, in the main, covered with trees and undergrowth, which served as a screen along our lines [and] concealed us, and were left standing as far as practicable for that purpose.
On the morning of the 27th at about 7 o'clock Govan was sent to the north front on a reconnaissance, with directions to swing to the left in his advance From time to time while engaged in this reconnaissance Govan sent me word that the enemy was moving to the right (his own left) At 11 A M upon my order to that effect, Govan came in, leaving his skirmishers about three-quarters of a mile in front. I at once placed him on the right of Polk, where he covered himself in rifle-pits.
About 4 PM., hearing that the enemy's infantry in line of battle were pressing the cavalry on my right -- they had already driven in my skirmishers I placed [H.B ] Granbury on Govan's right He had but just gotten into position and a dismounted cavalry force, in line behind a few disconnected heaps of stones loosely piled together, had passed behind him when the enemy advanced. He showed himself first, having driven back my skirmishers, in the
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edge of an open field in front of Govan about 400 yeards across, where he halted and opened fire. From the point on the ridge where Govan's right and Granbury's left met there made off a spur, which at about a hundred yards from it turned sharply to the northeast, running then in a direction almost parallel with it and maintaining about an equal elevation. Between this spur and the parent ridge, beginning in front of Granbury's left, was a deep ravine, the side of which next to Granbury was very steep, with occasional benches of rock, up to line within 30 or 40 yards of Granbury's men, where it flattened into a natural glacis. This glacis was well covered with well grown trees, and in most places with thick undergrowth. Here was the brunt of the battle, the enemy advancing along this front in numerous and constantly reinforced lines. His men displayed a courage worthy of an honorable cause, pressing in steady throngs within a few paces of our men, frequently exclaiming, "Ah! damn you, we have caught you without your logs now." Granbury's men, needing no logs, were awaiting them, and throughout awaited them with calm determination, and as they appeared upon the slope slaughtered them with deliberate aim. The piles of his dead on this front, pronounced by the officers of this army who have seen most service to be greater than they had ever seen before, were a silent but sufficient eulogy upon Granbury and his noble Texans. In the great execution here done upon the enemy, Govan, with his two right regiments, disdaining the enemy in his own front, who were somewhat removed, and Key, with his two pieces of artillery, run up by hand upon my order to a convenient trench made in our breastworks, materially aided Granbury by a right-oblique fire, which enfiladed the masses in his front.
In front of a prolongation of Granbury's line and abutting upon his right was a field about three hundred yards square. The enemy, driving back some cavalry at this point, advanced completely across the field and passed some forty or fifty yards in its rear. Here, however, they were confronted by the Eighth and Nineteenth Arkansas, consolidated, commanded by [Colonel G.F.] Baucom, hastily sent by Govan upon Granbury's request and representation of the exigency. In a sweeping charge Baucum drove the enemy from the ridge in his front, and with irresistible impetuosity forced him across the field and back into the woods from which he had at first advanced. Here he fixed himself and kept up a heavy fire, aided by a deadly enfilade from the bottom of the ravine in front of Granbury.
When Baucum was about to charge, Lowrey, of my division, who had been hastened up from his distant position (upwards of a mile and a half from my right as finally established), came into line, throwing his regiments in successively as they unmasked themselves by their flank march. His arrival was most opportune, as the enemy was beginning to pour around Baucum's right. Colonel [S.] Adams, with the Thirty-third Alabama, which was the first of Lowrey's regiments to form into line, took position on Baucum's right and advanced with him, his seven left companies being in the field with Baucum and his other four in the woods to his right. Baucum and Adams finding themselves suffering from the enemy's direct and oblique fire, withdrew, passing over the open space of the field behind them. The right companies of Adams, which were in the woods, retired to a spur which rises from the easterly edge of the field about 200 yards from its southerly edge, where Baucum's and Adams's left companies rested. Here they halted, Captain
[Wm. E.] Dodson with fine judgment perceiving the importance of the position
it would have given the enemy an enfilading fire upon Granbury, which would have dislodged him -- and making his company the basis of alignment for the remainder of Lowrey, now coming into position.
This retrograde movement across the field was not attended with loss, as might be expected, the enemy not advancing as it was made It was mistaken, however,

164
for a repulse, and some of my staff-officers, hearing that my line had broken, hastened forward Quarles's brigade, of Stewart's division (just then providentially sent up by General Hood) to reestablish it Lowrey being under the same impression, detached his two right regiments (which had not been engaged) under Colonels [W.H.H.] Tison and [A B.] Hardcastle, and had them quickly formed in support of Baucum and Adams The error, however, was soon discovered, and my line being ascertained to remain in its integrity, Quarles's brigade was conducted to the rear of Lowrey and formed as a second line
The Fourth Louisiana (Colonel [S E] Hunter), finding itself opposite an interval between the two regiments of Lowrey's line, caused by Baucum's resting closer upon Granbury on his return from the advance than he had done at first, under the immediate superintendence of General Quarles, advanced into the field, halted, and delivered a very effective fire upon the enemy in his front After some minutes Quarles withdrew this regiment and formed it behind the field, where they continued their fire across it General Quarles and his brigade have my thanks
During these movements the battle continued to rage on Granbury's front and was met with unflagging spirit
About the time of Quarles getting into position night came on, when the combat lulled. For some hours afterwards a desultory dropping fire, with short, vehement bursts of musketry, continued, the enemy lying in great numbers immediately in front of portions of my line, and so near it that their footsteps could be distinctly heard.
About 10 P.M. I ordered Granbury and Lowrey to push forward skirmishers and scouts to learn the state of things in their respective fronts Granbury, finding it impossible to advance his skirmishers until he had cleared his front of the enemy lying up against it, with my consent charged with his whole line, Walthall, with his brigade from Hindman's division, whom I sent to his support, taking his place in the line as he stepped out of it The Texans, their bayonets fixed, plunged into the darkness with a terrific yell, and with one bound were upon the enemy, but they met with no resistance Surprised and panic-stricken, many fled, escaping in the darkness, others surrendered and were brought into our lines It needed but the brilliancy of this night attack to add lustre to the achievements of Granbury and his brigade in the afternoon I am deeply indebted to them both
My thanks are also due to General Lowrey for the coolness and skill which he exhibited in forming his line His successive formation was the precise answer to the enemy's movement in extending his left to turn our right Time was of the essence of things and his movement was the quickest His line was formed under heavy fire on ground unknown to him and of the most difficult character, and the stern firmness with which he and his men and Baucum's regiment drove off the enemy and resisted his renewed attacks, without doubt, saved the right of the army, as Granbury had already done before
During the progress of the battle much service was rendered by the rifle battery and two remaining howitzers of Key's battery, in position on Polk's right They were trained in enfilade upon the enemy's reserves massed behind the hill in front of the spur we occupied I regretted I did not have more guns for this service I had sent the Napoleon guns to the right, where they were unable to

165
find positions, and so were useless. During these operations Polk was not engaged, but it was source of strength and confidence to the rest of the division to know that he had charge of the weakest and most delicate part of our line.
It is due to the following officers of my staff that I should acknowledge the industry, zeal and activity they manifested in the battle-- Maj. Calhoun Benham, assistant adjutant-general; Maj. J.K. Dixon, assistant inspector-general, Capt. Irving A. Buck, assistant adjutant-general; Capt. Robert McFarland, Lieutenants L H. Mangum, S.P. Hanley, and J.W. Jetton, aides-de-camp, and Capt. C.H. Byrne, volunteer aide-de-camp. They did their full duty with ability, gallantry, and enthusiasm. I am indebted to them for their co-operation.
My ordnance, under Capt. C.S. Hill, and my medical department, under Surgeon D.A. Linthicum, and my artillery, under Maj. T.R. Hotchkiss, were well administered.
My casualties in this battle were few. I had 85 killed, 363 wounded, carrying into the engagement 4,683 muskets. The enemy's losses were very heavy. The lowest estimate of his dead is 500. We captured 160 prisoners, who were sent to Army Headquarters, exclusive of 72 of his wounded carried to my field hospital. I took upwards of 1,200 small-arms.
This battle was fought at a place known as the Pickett Settlement, and about two miles east of New Hope Church.
Very respectfully,
P.R. Cleburne, Major-General
Lieutenant-Colonel [W H.] Sellers, Assistant Adjutant-General, Hood's Corps.

APPENDIX F
The Battle of Dallas
(The following account of the engagement at Dallas, Georgia, is extracted from Ed Porter Thompson's History of the Orphan Brigade; Louisville, Kty., by Lewis H. Thompson, 1898, pp. 254-58.)
The position of Johnston's army, as noted in preceding chapter, was essentially modified during the night of May 27th. Cheatham's and Walker's divisions, excepting a line of skirmishers, were withdrawn, and the line from Higley's Mill to the left of Walker's skirmish line left to be defended by the (cavalry) division of Gen. Jackson and by Bate's infantry. Disposition being made to that effect, the latter received, during the afternoon, the following communication from corps headquarters:
"Gen. Johnston desires you to develop the enemy and ascertain his strength and position, as it is believed he is not in force." This was in keeping with the opinion of both Jackson and Bate, and the following order was thereupon issued:
"Headquarters Bate's Division, 3 P.M. May 28th, 1864.
"Gen. Jackson will move his left brigade (Ferguson's) to Van Wert Road, and have it take position in rear of Dallas by 4 PM., leaving a force in observation on the south and west approaches to said town of Dallas. He will have Ross's brigade to move in flank of Dallas and be ready, if necessary, to enter said town: Armstrong's brigade will move directly forward, and drive the enemy; and when opposition ceases in his front, he will swing on his right as a pivot. Smith's infantry brigade will advance directly to the front, and execute same movements as Armstrong, when able to do so without exposing his flank. Bullock and Lewis (the latter commanding, in addition to his brigade, the skirmishers on his right), will move at signal agreed upon.
"By command of Maj.-Gen. Bate. "C.J. Mastin, A.A. Gen."
After this the Major-General had an interview with brigade commanders, and the order was thus qualified verbally: "Develop him by this movement, but, if coming in contact with stubborn resistance behind the fences, withdraw without assault, unless satisfied it can be carried " Gen Armstrong's brigade charged, and found the enemy in force, and entrenched. He made a gallant charge, entered their entrenchments, and captured a battery, but a brigade's being hurled against him caused his retirement. Gen. Bate then ordered the movement on the right to be stopped, the signal for the advance of infantry not yet being given.
The charge of Armstrong's brigade was made with a yell, which, together with the fire of musketry and the enemy's artillery, caused Gen. Lewis and Col. Bullock, on the right, to believe the entire left was charging, hence they moved forward, and came, amid the thick undergrowth, in close range of the enemy's fire before they were able to see their intrenchments -- one or two regiments of the former taking the first line of the breast-works of the enemy, and the latter approaching near the same, both driving everything before them, killing many and capturing some
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thirty prisoners. Smith, being near the signal station, and therefore better informed, did not advance. The prisoners taken subsequently, said that the enemy conceded a loss of one thousand in the fight. The enemy was found to be in force and intrenched -- Logan's corps, of three divisions, and Dodge with two, under command of McPherson, and Jeff C. Davis, of Palmer's corps, on the left. While the movement accomplished the effect of ascertaining the strength and position of the enemy, and had perhaps some important bearing on his subsequent operations, it was made at an enormous sacrifice to Kentuckians. Col. Bullock received the order to retire before Gen. Lewis got it, and withdrew, and as Smith had not advanced at all, both flanks of the Kentucky Brigade were without support after it had rushed upon the enemy's advanced line, assailed by a literal storm of shot and shell. Cobb's artillery demolished a battery of the enemy, drove it away, and exploded a caisson. The brigade succeeded as previously stated, in silencing the enemy's batteries in the first line of works, and drove his infantry along its front back into the second line, but the fire was murderous, and to advance further, was certain destruction, yet it held its ground within less than fifty yards of the enemy's line, that swarmed with riflemen, while some artillery in his rear fired upon it as point-blank as possible without endangering the men in the trenches.
When ordered to retire, those who had not been killed or wounded returned and formed in their works When the signal was given to retreat the Fifth Kentucky had gotten to within twenty yards of the enemy's rifles, and either misunderstood or stubbornly refused to go until Col. Hawkins seized the colors and again ordered it to the rear. It was a desperate charge, and a heroic stand, well illustrating the dashing yet steady and unflinching courage of Kentuckians -- the indomitable will that makes them maintain unequal conflict and brave destruction rather than falter or flee. The loss of the brigade in the short period of time was fifty-one per cent., and among those killed outright or mortally wounded were some of our noblest officers and men.
The movement was futile, however, as compared with results, and so destructive because only partially carried out as planned, as to give rise to much dissatisfaction and complaint at the time, but subsequent inquiry and investigation developed the fact that the Major-General had not been either culpably rash or careless. He made the following explanation of it himself, which was accepted by Kentuckians as exonorating him from blame, though they had suffered so terribly: "The movement was made upon full consultation with brigade commanders, on the receipt and exhibition of Gen. Johnston's order, sent that evening, through Lieut.-Gen. Hardee. We being located several miles distant from the corps as well as army headquarters, and the evening too far spent to await further communications, it was believed that the enemy in our front was not in force; that, as he was several miles from his railroad base, it was merely a force of observation to prevent his right being turned This belief was partly induced from the fact of our having so easily driven the enemy, at daylight the day before, from the high and advantageous point on my right, where Capt. Donaldson fell, as before shown, which was the key to the left of Gen Johnston's line, as could be seen by the enemy; and there having been no attempt to regain this point, which, if occupied, would have reversed the left center of our army line, to possess which was all important to him, if his object was either to turn our left, or to hold, with tenacity, his right in my front. Those, among other reasons, then discussed, induced the belief with my brigade commanders and the cavalry commander, as well as in my own mind, that the enemy was not in force, nor heavily intrenched in my front; and that he was dmonstrating on his right, to draw out and thin Gen.

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Johnston's line, preparing to assaulting it at a central point, or to strike his right. Skirmishers advanced in my front, in order to ascertain his strength and state of his position, without being able to develop either, because of the dense and tangled undergrowth, and the heavy timber which intervened between the two opposing lines; and as so many on these advancing skirmish lines had been shot down from ambush, it was concluded to ascertain the strength and position of the enemy before me that evening, as per order of the General, through my corps commander, and especially, as he had written it was of the utmos~}mpor tance to know -- we not knowing what other dispositions of the General depended on its execution; hence the order, cited above, for the movement. It will be seen that the whole advance movement of the infantry depended on the result of Gen. Jackson's cavalry movement on the extreme left of my line, and a signal was to be given for his (Jackson's) movement alone, when he ascertained whether the enemy, on my extreme left, was in force and intrenched; and if so, there was to be no signal given for the advance of the infantry. Jackson advanced Armstrong's brigade promptly at the first signal, which, by a bold, vigorous and direct assault, found him to be in force and intrenched and in force. Smith's infantry brigade did not advance, as there had been no signal to do so; but two brigades, the Kentucky and Florida, did advance. Inquiring into the cause, I learned that Gen. Lewis, on my extreme right, not knowing cause of delay, thinking, perhaps, he had failed to hear the signal for his advance, and that the infantry lines were engaged, sent an officer to see how this was This officer came down the line to the point where Smith's (the left infantry) brigade should have been, and finding his works (the line) vacated, and hearing the charge of Armstrong, took it for granted that Smith was engaged, and that the signal had been given, and under their very natural impression, hurried back and informed Lewis that Smith was engaged, and that they were behind time. Thereupon these two brigades charged.
"In point of fact, the signal for infantry to advance had not been given. Smith had not advanced, but had merely vacated his line of works, and formed line of battle under the brow of the hill immediately in his front, so as to move more promptly and in better order should the signal be given Thus it is seen that the infantry movement depended altogether upon the information from Jackson as to the strength and position of the enemy in his front, (which being recPived, no signal was given), and that the partial and gallant fight was made under a misapprehension, (and a very natural one under the circumstances) "

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