by Earl J. Hess
At 11 P.M., Hood informed the Richmond authorities of the day’s occurrences by telegraph, but he kept the report to a minimum, glossed over the details, and tried to put the best possible face on reality. “At 3 o’clock to-day a portion of Hardee’s and Stewart’s corps drove the enemy into his breast-works, but did not gain possession of them. Our loss slight.” Hood admitted that Clement Stevens was badly wounded, but he reported that Wheeler’s cavalry “handsomely repulsed” the Federals advancing from the east of Atlanta. This was the best spin he could put on the day’s frustrating events, the inauguration of his grand effort to save Atlanta with a new style of leadership to take the war to the heart of the invading foe.40
10: Cleaning Up
I have never seen the dead rebels lie so thickly strewn upon the ground, since the battle of Shiloh.—Emerson Opdycke
Found a female dressed in mens clothes & a cartradge box on her side when we picked her up. She was shot in the breast & through the thy & was still alive and as gritty as any reb I ever saw.
—Judson L. Austin
The battle of Peach Tree Creek left behind a landscape littered with dead, wounded, and the debris dropped by men under extreme pressure of events. The Federals controlled this shattered ground by the end of July 20 and upon them fell the job of cleaning it up. The first order of business was to take care of the human toll of combat and then to secure trophies in the form of abandoned enemy flags and weapons. Burying the dead was a comparatively quick task but taking care of the Union and Confederate wounded seemed never ending. It took weeks, months, even years for men to heal or eventually to succumb to their battlefield injuries. The legacy of Hood’s first strike at Atlanta lived on for many participants until the end of their long, suffering lives.
Many Federals walked across the battlefield on July 21 and saw sights that stunned them. John W. Houtz of the 66th Ohio counted eighty Confederate dead lying on the slope north of the position Ward’s division occupied on top of the Collier Road ridge, and he was fully aware that this was only one portion of the battlefield. It was easier to see sights of the dead on the Twentieth Corps sector because the enemy had driven beyond the ridge line, and thus their fallen lay scattered behind Hooker’s entire position. To some observers, the sight was very impressive. “The field was literaly [sic] covered with dead and wounded rebs,” reported Charles Laforest Dunham of the 129th Illinois. Another man, John March Cate of the 33rd Massachusetts, thought the “ground was piled in heaps of dead and wounded,” and reports indicated that on Williams’s sector bodies “frequently lay across each other.” Confederate dead lay close to Williams’s line. “It was a terrible sight to see their mangled limbs,” thought Alfred H. Trego of the 102nd Illinois. “I never saw the dead men lay so thick,” concluded another man in Harrison’s brigade.1
On Newton’s sector, the Federals found enemy dead lying between the main line on the ridge and the Union skirmish position farther south. Some lay only a few yards from the breastworks. After riding along both Newton’s and Hooker’s line, Emerson Opdycke thought, “I never have seen the dead rebels lie so thickly strewn upon the ground, since the battle of Shiloh.” Several men found the dead piled in heaps on Newton’s front as well as Hooker’s, and blood stained the ground where Confederates had been hit and then crawled away. In fact, Hamlin A. Coe of the 19th Michigan discovered “several places where the blood has run in streams down the hillside, and go where you will, there are pools of blood. It is a sickening and horrid sight such as I never wish to see again.”2
Many men paid special attention to the facial expressions of the Confederate fallen. For a soldier in the 70th Indiana who signed himself as Bode when writing a letter to the Indianapolis Daily Journal, some of them had smiles, and others looked horrid with blood streaked across their features. The body of Col. Jabez L. Drake of the 33rd Mississippi drew a good deal of attention. He was the highest-ranking Confederate officer left on the field and appeared to George Hoenig of the 26th Wisconsin to be “a huge guy with a red beard.” According to Maj. Charles P. Wickham of the 55th Ohio, Drake died partially in the pose of battle. The Rebel officer’s “tall form was still in death,” Wickham reported to Hartwell Osborn, “but with extended arm, sword in hand, had an air of resolution and defiance.” John March Cate reported that more than twenty Confederate dead were found “killed by blows on the head,” indicating the intensity of hand-to-hand combat on Ward’s sector.3
Soldiers also noticed that the battle of Peach Tree Creek scarred the natural landscape. Harry Stanley of the 20th Connecticut reported that the trees suffered enormously on parts of the battlefield. An artillery projectile bored a hole clean through a live oak tree three feet in diameter “as though it had been a straw. Other trees of smaller diameter were cut in two and their shattered limbs lay scattered in every direction. Every shrub and bush was cut and scarred by musket balls while the trunks of the larger trees had some times as many as 50 & 60 balls in the rough bark.”4
Most Federal and Confederate soldiers who participated in the battle of Peach Tree Creek were veterans of many engagements. There was little that they had not already seen in the form of human destruction on the battlefield. Their descriptions of the dead at Peach Tree Creek tended to report on the appearance of just another scene of death in a matter-of-fact way.
The task of tallying the numbers lost on both sides at Peach Tree Creek now began. Thomas started by issuing a circular from his headquarters on July 25 announcing that 6,000 Confederates had fallen. That circular was widely read by the troops and carried considerable weight in many men’s eyes. Thomas’s estimate was supported by John Coburn, who reported a total of 500 Confederate losses on his brigade front. If one extrapolated that figure for the entire Union force engaged in the battle, it would mean Hood lost 6,500 men.5
Thomas’s and Coburn’s estimates rang true for many Federal observers. While George W. Balloch, Hooker’s chief commissary, supported it, other officers thought the number was too low. Douglas Hapeman of the 104th Illinois placed enemy losses at 8,000, as did a soldier in the 70th Indiana of Harrison’s brigade. Two men in Newton’s division thought it could run as high as 10,000. Jacob Cox noted that Hood did not dispute Sherman’s estimate of less than 5,000 Confederate casualties, even though he had the chance to do so after the war, but Cox also believed Thomas’s 6,000 figure was closer to the mark.6
But many other Union officers estimated enemy losses as significantly lower. Sherman placed it at 4,796, while Henry Stone, the assistant adjutant general on Thomas’s staff, put it at 2,800 or 3,300 depending on which of the two figures he concocted after the war. Estimates varied but normally ran from about 3,000 to 5,000.7
Federal losses were far easier to establish, and Thomas’s circular put it at 1,733 men. A month later, for unexplained reasons, Thomas reduced that number to 1,600 men. Henry Stone put it at 1,950 and 1,968 in two postwar publications, but unofficial estimates of Union casualties normally cited figures between 1,500 and 2,000. Historian Albert Castel places the number as 1,900 men.8
Not surprisingly, Confederate observers typically reported their own casualties as much lighter than did the Federals. Rebel estimates of their own loss ranged from only 1,000 to 1,700 men. Returns filed in the Army of Tennessee on July 10 and 31 bracket the time period of Hood’s three battles for Atlanta. Hardee and Stewart combined had 4,752 fewer men on July 31 compared to July 10. Hardee also fought heavily on July 22, and one division of Stewart was deeply engaged at Ezra Church on July 28. Splitting the number of troops lost by both corps from July 10 to 31 indicates that Hardee and Stewart could have suffered combined casualties of roughly 2,376 men on July 20. Historian Albert Castel has placed Confederate casualties at Peach Tree Creek at 2,500 men, and other historians have accepted that figure as official.9
It was far easier for the Federals to count the number of Confederate dead they buried on the battlefield than to estimate total Rebel casualties. Thomas reported that Newton’s men buried 200 bod
ies of the enemy on their division front. Thirteen of them lay before the 26th Ohio according to Lyman Gardner of Blake’s brigade. Three wounded Confederates also lay so close to the brigade’s line that their comrades could not retrieve them during the night.10
In Ward’s division, official counts of Confederate dead included thirty-eight “found behind and near our advanced line of battle” for Wood’s brigade, although wild reports of up to 400 Confederates buried on Wood’s sector alone exist. Drake’s burial attracted much attention. He was interred near where he fell along with several dozen of his men. Someone erected a sign that read “Col. Drake, 33 Miss., and 34 men.”11
As burial details began their work on Coburn’s sector, they first gathered the dead and placed them in rows, while other Federals dug burial trenches nearby. The sight of these bodies impressed a man in the 22nd Wisconsin. “I counted in front of our brigade 128 rebels, lying stark and stiff, in winrows, [sic] ready for the burial party.” The details continued to bring in the dead all through the day of July 21 in driblets, accumulating them so that as many as fifty-three could be interred in one long trench. Each regiment of Harrison’s brigade sent out details to collect and bury the enemy, totaling about 150 Confederates on the brigade sector. Thirty-four of them lay before the 70th Indiana, and forty-three in front of the 105th Illinois. The Indiana men dug trenches six feet wide and twenty feet long for the fallen enemy.12
For Geary’s troops, the task of interring Confederate dead on the division front meant digging graves for 409 bodies. But Williams had to admit that his men failed to keep accurate count of the number they interred. Some regimental parties in Williams’s division reported the number; for example, the 123rd New York buried sixteen Confederates. Farther west, in Johnson’s division of the Fourteenth Corps, Douglas Hapeman reported that his men buried five Confederate dead on the 104th Illinois sector, but Hapeman also noted that the Confederates had taken most of their dead away in the night.13
Peach Tree Creek Battlefield. This well-known photograph, exposed by George Barnard a few months after the engagement, is difficult to place. One can discern at least ten graves with wood taken from a nearby board fence serving as markers. At least two markers have writing on them; one appears to be “A sergeant of . . .” The fact that most of the graves are lined with fence rails to protect them from roving animals indicates they must be the graves of Union soldiers. Because none of the terrain features can be linked to the topography of the battlefield, we have to rely on Barnard’s note that this is the Peach Tree Creek field. (Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ppmsca-32828)
There was no danger involved in collecting the enemy dead behind the main Union line on the second ridge, but forward of that line it was a different matter. When Harrison sent details forward to find all they could, Confederate skirmishers opened fire on them. “After this exhibition of bad faith,” Harrison reported, “I made no further effort to reach the rebel dead that could be seen between our lines.”14
The result of all Union burial efforts from July 21 to 25 amounted to 563 Confederate bodies recovered and interred by the victors of Peach Tree Creek. Thomas estimated Hood’s men also were able to recover 250 more of the fallen. If he was correct, then the Confederates left at least 813 of their dead and mortally wounded on the field when they broke off the engagement on the evening of July 20.15
There were a number of Federal dead to be buried on July 21 as well. Details collected them separately from the Rebel bodies but also lined them up in rows prior to interment. Joseph B. Newbury of the 79th Ohio counted 214 Union dead in the sector held by Ward’s division. For some of the fallen, comrades fashioned a headboard out of available wood and even scribbled name and unit with a lead pencil on it. When possible, the Federals covered their own dead with some ceremony. A chaplain officiated over the trench wherein fifty-one men of Harrison’s brigade were buried. “I can never forget the solemn and impressive scene,” recalled Edwin H. Conger of the 102nd Illinois, “as, standing around that hallowed trench,” the chaplain said “‘Many in one’ is the motto borne proudly on our Nation’s banner. Many in one grave our fallen brothers rest, and is not the coincidence a fitting one?”16
The bodies of prominent Federal officers received special treatment. Col. George A. Cobham Jr. of the 111th Pennsylvania was among the highest-ranking Union casualties of the battle; his body was preserved for shipment to his home in Warren, Pennsylvania, where it was buried. Lieut. Col. Charles B. Randall of the 149th New York received the same treatment. “Our Lt Col looks just as natural as life,” commented E. P. Failing, a hospital attendant belonging to the regiment. “The expression is that of entire satisfaction just as tho he was hugely pleased, he died instantly.” For those Federal officers not sent home, burial on the battlefield became an exercise in individualism. No mass graves for them, but a separate burial spot carefully marked so that the family could find it later. Benjamin Harrison wrote to Malcolm A. Lowes and gave him this information so he could recover the body of his son, Lieut. Josiah Lowes of the 70th Indiana, who had been killed at Peach Tree Creek. Trusted staff officers also received special treatment when possible. One of Geary’s aides was killed on July 20. Burial details located the body and brought it to Geary’s headquarters. The general could not help but cry on seeing the remains of this member of his military family.17
Hooker made a show of riding along the lines on July 21 to congratulate his men and observe the burial of the dead. “Boys, we have whipped them again,” he told the troops. The men greeted him with cheers when he reached one unit after another. “He stopped a while” at the 129th Illinois “and looked at the staring dead, and was soon surrounded by our men. He could not, however, control his feelings, tears came in his eyes, and he rode off.” But at least one officer in Ward’s division rejected postbattle reports implying that Hooker saved the day on July 20. “The boast about his rallying his running soldiers on the day of the fight is sickening,” commented John McWilliams.18
Working hard on July 21, the burial details managed to find and inter the overwhelming majority of the dead, both Union and Confederate. But the woods covering part of the battlefield hid other bodies for days to come. By July 23, the Federals had stumbled across many decaying remains of their enemy in the brush. By then “the bodies are loathsome and appear fit emblems of their Confederacy,” thought William A. Brand of the 66th Ohio. Roaming through the woods to find blackberries, George Loyd of the 149th New York came across the bodies of sixteen Confederates on July 24. Two days later, nearly a week after the battle, the problem still had not been solved. Two squads of volunteers from the 73rd Ohio went out through the woods to find all they could, and no more complaints about overlooked remains were heard after that.19
The battlefield of Peach Tree Creek was littered not only with the fallen but with thousands of articles of war ranging from muskets to the personal equipment of hundreds of Union and Confederate soldiers. The most prominent and sought-after articles were the unit flags dropped by Rebel color-bearers as they were shot or stumbled in retreat. According to Thomas’s circular of July 25, the Federals recovered seven Confederate flags on July 20. Detailed accounts filed by staff members indicate that two sergeants of the 105th Illinois secured the flag of the 12th Louisiana after its bearer was shot by other regimental members, but the 12th Louisiana participated in the action against Geary’s right wing, not opposite Harrison’s brigade. Reports also indicated that Pvt. Dennis Buckley of the 136th New York took the flag of Drake’s 31st Mississippi after he “knocked down color bearer with musket and wrenched colors from him.” Buckley later received a Medal of Honor for the deed. The 26th Wisconsin was credited with the capture of the flag belonging to the 33rd Mississippi.20
But one must read official accounts of flag captures with caution. Enemy colors were the most prominent trophies of the battlefield, and most of them were actually dropped by their bearers and abandoned rather than literally captured by victorious troops. Moreover, exactly who �
�captured” a particular flag often was clouded by controversy. For example, Pvt. Thomas J. Williamson of the 85th Indiana recovered a Rebel flag while the regiment was advancing with Coburn’s brigade, but he left it on the ground and continued moving forward “as he could not carry the flag and shoot at the same time.” The flag was later picked up by someone else who undoubtedly claimed it as a captured trophy. An unnamed private of Company C, 22nd Wisconsin also picked up a Confederate color but left it on the ground. It was later claimed by a man in the 26th Wisconsin. Lieut. Col. Edward Bloodgood tried to retrieve the flag on July 21 so it could be credited to his 22nd Wisconsin, but the officers of the 26th refused to give it up. Capt. John Speed, Ward’s assistant adjutant general, broke up the heated discussion about the issue by consoling Bloodgood. “Colonel, you needn’t care for the flag; the 22d Wisconsin have enough to cover themselves with glory.”21
While flags were a scarce and sought-after commodity on the battlefield, there was a host of minor trophies lying about. Hooker’s headquarters compiled a list of them to indicate which regiment recovered the more prominent of these smaller symbols of victory. The list was focused mostly on officers’ swords and scabbards, with one trophy reportedly wrenched from the hands of its owner by Capt. Samuel T. Walkley of the 129th Illinois. Individual Union soldiers recovered trophies that were not officially reported, becoming the personal property of the man who took possession of them. Charles Harding Cox of the 70th Indiana obtained an officer’s sword and a Confederate canteen made of cedar wood, in addition to a haversack. Many Federals ransacked the dead before burial to find watches and other valuables. One man recovered nine gold pieces worth twenty dollars each from a dead Confederate officer. “Quite an amount of ‘green backs’ was found upon the persons of the rebels,” reported Charles A. Booth of the 22nd Wisconsin.22