The Battle of Peach Tree Creek

by Earl J. Hess

  24. Capers to wife, July 17, 1864, Ellison Capers Papers, DU; Walker to Mary, July 12, 1864, W. H. T. Walker Papers, DU; Champion to wife, June 27, July 14, 1864, Sidney S. Champion Papers, DU.

  25. Davis to Johnston, July 11, 1864, OR, 38(5):875.

  26. Bragg to Davis, July 13, 1864, OR, 38(5):878; McMurry, John Bell Hood, 117; Hess, Braxton Bragg, 230–31.

  27. McMurry, John Bell Hood, 118; Hess, Braxton Bragg, 231.

  28. Hood to Bragg, July 14, 1864, OR, 38(5):879–80.

  29. Hess, Braxton Bragg, 232; McMurry, John Bell Hood, is the best biography of the general.

  30. Castel, Decision in the West, 198–206, 242–43; Hess, Kennesaw Mountain, 28–46.

  31. Numerous historians have written about the relationship between Bragg and Polk. See, for example, Hess, Braxton Bragg, 30–31, 65–72, 172–75, 178–79; Cozzens, This Terrible Sound, 264–65, 306–7, 513–14.

  32. McMurry, John Bell Hood, 118; McMurry, Atlanta 1864, 137; Connelly, Autumn of Glory, 415; Hay, “Davis-Hood-Johnston Controversy,” 81.

  33. Bragg to Davis, July 15, 1864, OR, 38(5):881; Johnston to Cooper, October 20, 1864, OR, 38(3):620–21; Joseph E. Johnston to Wigfall, August 27, 1864, Louis Trezevant Wigfall Family Papers, LC; Hess, Braxton Bragg, 233.

  34. Davis to Johnston, July 16, 1864, OR, 38(5):882.

  35. Johnston to Davis, July 16, 1864, OR, 38(5):883.

  Chapter 2

  1. Douglas Hapeman Diaries, July 17, 1864, ALPL; Sherman to Halleck, September 15, 1864, OR, 38(1):71; Blair to Clark, September 12, 1864, OR, 38(3):553; Sherman to Thomas, July 17, 1864, OR, 38(5):159.

  2. Sherman to Thomas, July 17, 1864, OR, 38(5):159. While modern day Atlantans refer to the stream as Peachtree Creek, R. Jenkins, Battle of Peach Tree Creek, xv, correctly prefers to use the Civil War era spelling of Peach Tree Creek.

  3. Thomas to Sawyer, August 17, 1864; Howard to Whipple, September 18, 1864; “Itinerary of the Fourteenth Army Corps, May 6–September 8”; and Davis to McClurg, September, no date, 1864, OR, 38(1):155–56, 201, 507, 634; Hight, History of the Fifty-Eighth, 342; entry July 17, 1864, Jacob Andervount Diary, AHC; diary, July 17, 1864, James R. Carnahan Papers, IHS; diary, July 17, 1864, Charles Richard Pomeroy Jr., Papers, DU; entry July 17, 1864, Douglas Hapeman Diaries, ALPL; Barnes, Carnahan, and McCain, Eighty-Sixth Regiment, 414; Cox, Atlanta, 150.

  4. Hight, History of the Fifty-Eighth, 343; Dan Griffin to Scribner, July 19, 1864, Benjamin Franklin Scribner Papers, IHS.

  5. Thomas to Sawyer, August 17, 1864: Banning to Wilson, September 9, 1864, OR, 38(1):156; 704; Cox, Atlanta, 150; Johnson to McClurg, August, no date, 1864, OR, 38(1):524; Angle, Three Years, 239.

  6. Williams to Perkins, September 12, 1864; Compton to Palmer, September 9, 1864; Geary to Perkins, September 15, 1864; Ward to Perkins, September 7, 1864; and Miller to Crawford, July 27, 1864, OR, 38(2):33, 53, 136, 327, 403; diary, July 17, 1864, Albert M. Cook Papers, SU; Alanson B. Cone Personal Narrative, NYSL; E. P. Failing diary, July 17, 1864, Failing-Knight Papers, MHS; Buckingham to Horace J. Munsey, August 6, 1864, Philo Beecher Buckingham Papers, AAS; Charles A. Booth Journal, July 17, 1864, WHS; diary, July 17, 1864, Curtis J. Judd Papers, CHM.

  7. Hascall to Campbell, September 10, 1864, OR, 38(2):571; diary, July 17, 1864, John Watkins Papers, UTK; Cox to Schofield, July 17, 1864, 6 P.M., OR, 38(5):164.

  8. McPherson to Sherman, July 17, 1864, 7:30 P.M., and Twining to Schofield, July 17, 1864, OR, 38(5):165.

  9. Wheeler to Mason, October 9, 1864, OR, 38(3):951–52; Ferguson to Wheeler, July 17, 1864, 6:30 P.M. and 6:40 P.M., OR, 38(5):885–86; Dodson, Campaigns of Wheeler, 205.

  10. Sherman to Halleck, July 17, 1864, 10 P.M., OR, 38(5):158.

  11. Garrett, Atlanta, 1:8–10; Kaufman, Peachtree Creek, 168, 170–72.

  12. Johnston to Cooper, October 20, 1864, OR, 38(3):618; Johnston, “Opposing Sherman’s Advance,” 274; Circular, Headquarters, Hardee’s corps, July 17, 1864, 10:30, OR, 38(5):887.

  13. Johnston, “Opposing Sherman’s Advance,” 274, and Johnston to Cooper, October 20, 1864, OR, 38(3):618; Thomas B. Mackall Journal (McMurry transcript), July 17–18, 1864, Joseph E. Johnston Papers, CWM; Cooper to Johnston, July 17, 1864, and General Orders No. 4, Headquarters, Army of Tennessee, July 17, 1864, OR, 38(5):885, 887; Johnston to Wigfall, August 27, 1864, Louis Trezevant Wigfall Family Papers, LC.

  14. Thomas B. Mackall Journal (McMurry transcript), July 17, 1864, Joseph E. Johnston Papers, CWM; Seddon to Hood, July 17, 1864, OR, 38(5):885.

  15. Hood to Johnston, July 28, 1864, 1 A.M., OR, 38(5):889; J. B. Hood, Advance and Retreat, 126; Connelly, Autumn of Glory, 417; F. Halsey Wigfall to Mama, August 7, 1864, Louis Trezevant Wigfall Family Papers, LC.

  16. J. B. Hood, Advance and Retreat, 126; Thomas B. Mackall Journal (McMurry transcript), July 18, 1864, Joseph E. Johnston Papers, CWM; Hood to Cooper, July 18, 1864, OR, 38(5):888; F. Halsey Wigfall to Mama, July 31, 1864, Louis Trezevant Wigfall Family Papers, LC.

  17. Thomas B. Mackall Journal (McMurry transcript), July 18, 1864, Joseph E. Johnston Papers, CWM; F. Halsey Wigfall to Mama, July 31, 1864, Louis Trezevant Wigfall Family Papers, LC; Johnston to Cooper, July 18, 1864, OR, 38(5):888; Johnston, “Opposing Sherman’s Advance,” 274–75.

  18. Johnston to Cooper, October 20, 1864, OR, 38(3):618; Johnston to Wigfall, August 27, 1864, Louis Trezevant Wigfall Family Papers, LC; Johnston, “Opposing Sherman’s Advance,” 275–76; Hay, “Davis-Hood-Johnston Controversy,” 67.

  19. Hay, “Davis-Hood-Johnston Controversy,” 67; Phillips, Correspondence, 645.

  20. Connelly, Autumn of Glory, 400, 403; R. Jenkins, Battle of Peach Tree Creek, 8–17. Col. Newton N. Davis of the 24th Alabama reflected the opinion of many when he assumed Johnston would strike at the enemy now that the Army of Tennessee had crossed the Chattahoochee River. He admitted that there was no official word to that effect. Davis to Bettie, July 11, 1864, Newton N. Davis Papers, ADAH. For a questionable postwar account asserting that Johnston had definite plans to attack when he was relieved, see Bright, “States in the Confederate War,” 395–96.

  21. Johnston, “Opposing Sherman’s Advance,” 275; Johnston to Cooper, October 20, 1864, OR, 38(3):618.

  22. Davis to Hood, July 18, 1864, OR, 38(5):888.

  23. J. B. Hood, Advance and Retreat, 127–28.

  24. Thomas B. Mackall Journal (McMurry transcript), July 18–19, 1864, Joseph E. Johnston Papers, CWM; F. Halsey Wigfall to Mama, July 31, 1864, Louis Trezevant Wigfall Family Papers, LC; Phillips, Correspondence, 647.

  25. J. B. Hood, Advance and Retreat, 162–63; Hood to Cooper, July 18, 1864, and Hood to Soldiers, July 18, 1864, OR, 38(5):889, 891; Hay, “Davis-Hood-Johnston Controversy,” 67; Connelly, Autumn of Glory, 424–25.

  26. “Grape” letter, July 19, 1864, Augusta Daily Constitutionalist, July 22, 1864.

  27. J. B. Hood, Advance and Retreat, 162–65; Hood to Cooper, February 15, 1865, OR, 38(3):636.

  28. Johnston to Cooper, October 20, 1864, and Hood to Cooper, February 15, 1865, OR, 38(3):619, 630, 636; J. B. Hood, Advance and Retreat, 162.

  29. J. B. Hood, Advance and Retreat, 162; French, Two Wars, 217.

  30. McNeill, “Survey of Confederate Soldier Morale,” 10–11, 15–16, 21; McMurry, “Confederate Morale,” 228–29, 233, 235, 238; McMurry, “Atlanta Campaign of 1864,” 8, 10–14; Castel, Decision in the West, 353–58, 360–65; McMurry, Atlanta 1864, 129.

  31. W. B. Corbitt Diary, July 18, 1864, Confederate Miscellany Collection, Series I, EU; Taylor Beatty Diary, July 18, 1864, UNC; Sykes to [wife], fragment dated [July 19, 1864], Jim Huffman, comp., “Pre-& Civil War Letters of Lt. Col. Columbus Sykes 16th [sic] Regiment Mississippi Infantry,” MDAH; Neal to Pa, July 20, 1864, Andrew Jackson Neal Papers, EU; Rountree, “Letters from a Confederate Soldier,” 290.

  32. Joslyn, Charlotte’s Boys, 268; Ross to Mary, July 19, 1864, Emmett Ross Papers, MSU; Mumford H. Dixon Diary, July 18, 1864, EU. See also William McLeod Civil War
Pocket Diary, July 19, 1864, SAF; Durham, Blues in Gray, 223; Jesse L. Henderson Civil War Diary, July 18, 1864, UM; Franklin, Civil War Diaries, 188; W. Cate, Two Soldiers, 89; Taylor Beatty Diary, July 19, 1864, UNC; [Murphree], “Autobiography and Civil War Letters,” 184; Robert G. Mitchell to Nettie, July 11, 1864, Mitchell-Fondren Papers, GA.

  33. Stevens to Johnston, July 18, 1864, OR, 38(5):890–91; Thomas B. Mackall Journal (McMurry transcript), July 18, 1864, Joseph E. Johnston Papers, CWM; “Grape” letter, July 19, 1864, Augusta Daily Constitutionalist, July 22, 1864; Kirwan, Johnny Green, 147; Nisbet, 4 Years on the Firing Line, 206; Black to Mary A. Black, July 20, 1864, Hugh Black Letters, AHC.

  34. Neal to Pa, July 20, 1864, Andrew Jackson Neal Papers, EU; Ross to Mary, July 19, 1864, Emmett Ross Papers, MSU; W. H. Reynolds to sister, July 20, 1864, William J. Dickey Family Papers, UGA; Cuttino, Saddle Bag, 268; Furman to wife, July 21, 1864, Charles Manning Furman Papers, USC; Brannock to wife, July 18, 1864, James Madison Brannock Papers, VHS; F. Halsey Wigfall to Mama, July 31, 1864, Louis Trezevant Wigfall Family Papers, LC; correspondent of Savannah Republican, reprinted in Augusta Daily Constitutionalist, July 22, 1864; “Grape” letter, July 19, 1864, Augusta Daily Constitutionalist, July 22, 1864.

  35. McMurry, “Confederate Morale,” 235; McMurry, “Atlanta Campaign of 1864,” 10; John Henry Marsh to Quintard, July 26, 1864, Charles Todd Quintard Papers, DU; Dunlop to sister, August 13, 1864, Colin Dunlop Civil War Letters, AHC.

  36. For memoirs and unit histories, see Samuel Wragg Ferguson Memoirs, 56, SCHS; Watkins, Co. Aytch, 171–72; Head, Campaigns and Battles, 136–37; Cannon, Inside of Rebeldom, 236–37; Kendall, “Recollections of a Confederate Officer,” 1175–76, 1191; Goodloe, Confederate Echoes, 129–30; autobiography, 29, Edwin Hansford Rennolds Sr. Papers, UTK; Thompson, Orphan Brigade, 260–61; Little and Maxwell, History of Lumsden’s Battery, 45–46; Joseph B. Cumming Recollections, 59, UNC; R. M. Collins, Chapters, 226; memoir, Joshua W. Mewborn Papers, USAMHI. For diaries that are obviously rewritten after the war, see E. D. Willett Diary, July 17, 1864, ADAH; Mumford H. Dixon Diary, July 18, 1864, EU; Spurlin, Civil War Diary, 43.

  37. Gale to Gale, July 30, 1864, Crist, Papers of Jefferson Davis, 10:570.

  38. “Memoranda to Special Field Orders No. 36, July 17,” and Sherman to Thomas, July 18, 1864, 6 A.M., OR, 38(5):167, 170.

  39. “Order of the Day for July 18, 1864,” Headquarters, Department of the Cumberland, July 17, OR, 38(5):167.

  40. Howard to Whipple, September 18, 1864; Newton to assistant adjutant general, Army of the Cumberland, September, no date, 1864; Bradley to Lee, September 12, 1864; Moore to Waterman, September 12, 1864; and “Journal of the Atlanta Campaign, kept at headquarters of the Fourth Army Corps, by Lieut. Col. Joseph S. Fullerton, Assistant Adjutant General,” OR, 38(1):201, 296–97, 355, 371–72, 901; Howard to Whipple, July 18, 1864, 7 P.M., OR, 38(5):171; Longacre and Haas, To Battle for God and the Right, 199–200; Benjamin T. Smith Reminiscences, 155–56, ALPL; Baumgartner and Strayer, Yankee Tigers, 123–24; History of the Seventy-Third, 322; diary, July 18, 1864, John Wesley Marshall Papers, OHS.

  41. Sherman, Memoirs, 2, 72; Sherman, “Grand Strategy,” 253; Sherman to Halleck, September 15, 1864, OR, 38(1):72; Cox, Atlanta, 148; Johnson, A Soldier’s Reminiscences, 280.

  42. “Estimated strength of Hood’s army,” OR, 38(5):178.

  43. Stanley to Fullerton, no date; Wagner to Lee, September 10, 1864; “Journal of the Atlanta Campaign, kept at headquarters of the Fourth Army Corps, by Lieut. Col. Joseph S. Fullerton, Assistant Adjutant General,” OR, 38(1):225, 337, 901–2; History of the Seventy-Third, 157, 322; Gates, Rough Side of War, 244; “Special,” correspondence of Memphis Daily Appeal, July 19, 1864, reprinted in Augusta Daily Constitutionalist, July 22, 1864; diary, July 18, 1864, James R. Carnahan Papers, IHS; diary, July 18, 1864, John Wesley Marshall Papers, OHS; diary, July 21 [18], 1864, Silas Sweeney Mallory Papers, RBHPC.

  44. Williams to Perkins, September 12, 1864; Geary to Perkins, September 15, 1864; Barnum to Forbes, September 11, 1864; Chatfield to Wheelock, September 16, 1864; Zulich to Wheelock, September 7, 1864; Ward to Perkins, September 7, 1864; Miller to Crawford, July 27, 1864; Bloodgood to Crawford, September 9, 1864; Wood to Beecher, September 23, 1864; and Buckingham to Young, September 8, 1864, OR, 38(2):33, 136, 272, 290, 314, 327, 403, 426, 441, 453; Buckingham to Horace J. Munsey, August 6, 1864, Philo Beecher Buckingham Papers, AAS; Charles A. Booth Journal, July 18, 1864, WHS; Trowbridge to wife and baby, July 17–18, 1864, George Martin Trowbridge Papers, WLC-UM.

  45. Charles A. Booth Journal, July 18, 1864, WHS; Trowbridge to wife and baby, July 17–18, 1864, George Martin Trowbridge Papers, WLC-UM; diary, July 18, 1864, Dwight S. Allen Papers, WHS; E. P. Failing Diary, July 18, 1864, Failing-Knight Papers, MHS; William Clark McLean Diary, July 18, 1864, McLean Family Papers, NYSL; Alanson B. Cone Personal Narrative, July 18, 1864, NYSL; diary, July 18, 1864, Albert M. Cook Papers, SU; Ketcham to Fay, September 6, 1864, OR, 38(2):80.

  46. Candy to Forbes, August 1, 1864; Pardee to Creigh, August 10, 1864; and Warner to Mindil, September 8, 1864, OR, 38(2):158, 199, 251–52; John W. Houtz Diaries, July 18, 1864, OHS.

  47. Johnson to McClurg, August, no date, 1864, and Moore to Smith, September 8, 1864, OR, 38(1):524, 601; diary, July 18, 1864, Charles Richard Pomeroy Papers, DU; Douglas Hapeman Diaries, July 18, 1864, ALPL; Dan Griffin to Scribner, July 19, 1864, Benjamin Franklin Scribner Papers, IHS; Johnson to Palmer, July 18, 1864, OR, 38(5):172; Kaufman, Peachtree Creek, 139, 141–43, 145.

  48. Johnson to Palmer, July 18, 1864, OR, 38(5):172.

  49. Thomas to Sawyer, August 17, 1864; Davis to McClurg, September, no date, 1864; Morgan to McClurg, September 15, 1864; Lum to Wiseman, August 8, 1864; Banning to Wilson, September 9, 1864; and Baird to McClurg, September 7, 1864, OR, 38(1):156, 634, 652, 670, 704–5, 742; Slack to father and mother, July 23, 1864, Albert L. Slack Letters, EU; Thomas to Sherman, July 18, 1864, 2:15 P.M., OR, 38(5):170–71; Kaufman, Peachtree Creek, 148–49, 151, 153, 156.

  50. Schofield to Sherman, September 10, 1864, and Hascall to Campbell, September 10, 1864, OR, 38(2):516, 571; diary, July 19, 1864, John Watkins Papers, UTK; “Journal of the Atlanta Campaign, kept at headquarters of the Fourth Army Corps, by Lieut. Col. Joseph S. Fullerton, Assistant Adjutant General,” OR, 38(1):902.

  51. Howard to Dayton, September 17, 1864, and Dodge to Clark, November 25, 1864, OR, 38(3):38, 383.

  52. Stewart to Mason, January 12, 1865, and Walthall to Gale, January 14, 1865, OR, 38(3):870–71, 924; General Orders No. 4, Headquarters, Army of the Mississippi, July 18, 1864, OR, 38(5):891.

  53. French to Gale, December 6, 1864; Young to Sanders, September 17, 1864; and Cockrell to Sanders, September 20, 1864, OR, 38(3):903, 909, 917.

  54. Joslyn, Charlotte’s Boys, 268; Franklin, Civil War Diaries, 188; Roy to Cleburne, July 18, 1864, and General Orders No. 57, Hood’s Corps, July 18, 1864, OR, 38(5):890, 892; entry July 18, 1864, William McLeod Civil War Pocket Diary, SAF; E. D. Willett Diary, July 28, 1864, ADAH; narrative, 7, Henry De Lamar Clayton Sr. Papers, UA.

  55. Garrett, Atlanta, 1:10, 610; Cox, Atlanta, 147; Hood to Cooper, February 15, 1865, OR, 38(3):636.

  56. J. B. Hood, Advance and Retreat, 165.

  57. Dodson, Campaigns of Wheeler, 206; Mackall to Wheeler, July 18, 1864, 11:45, OR, 38(5):889–90.

  58. Hood to Seddon, July 18, 1864, and Circular, Headquarters, Hardee’s Corps, July 18, 1864, OR, 38(5):889, 892.

  59. Walker to Mary, July 18, 1864, W. H. T. Walker Papers, DU.

  60. Hay, “Davis-Hood-Johnston Controversy,” 81–82; McMurry, John Bell Hood, 122; McMurry, Atlanta 1864, 140.

  61. Hay, “Davis-Hood-Johnston Controversy,” 76; McMurry, John Bell Hood, 123; McMurry, Atlanta 1864, 140.

  62. Sherman to Halleck, July 18, 1864, 7 P.M., and Sherman to Thomas, July 18, 1864, OR, 38(5):169–70.

  Chapter 3

  1. Balloch to wife, July 19, 1864, George
Williamson Balloch Papers, DU; Special Field Orders No. 37, Headquarters, Military Division of the Mississippi, July 18, 1864, and Sherman to Thomas, July 19, 1864, OR, 38(5):179, 183; Castel, Decision in the West, 367–68.

  2. Harry Stanley Diary, July 20, 1864, AHC; Memoranda to Special Field Orders No. 36, July 17, 1864, OR, 38(5):167; Geary to Perkins, September 15, 1864, OR, 38(2):137; History of Battery A, 116; Newbury, “At Peach Tree Creek”; Grunert, One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Regiment Illinois, 84; Byrne, Uncommon Soldiers, 171; Rice, “With Sherman: Another Chapter of the Peach Tree Creek Battle.”

  3. Fullerton, “Orders of the day for the Fourth Army Corps for July 19, 1864, unless changed in orders to-night,” July 18, 1864, 9 P.M.; Howard to Thomas, July 19, 1864, 7:40 A.M.; Howard to Whipple, July 19, 1864, 9:30 A.M.; and Howard to Sherman, July 19, 1864, OR, 38(5):180–81, 186–88; Howard to Whipple, September 18, 1864; Wood to Fullerton, September 10, 1864; Knefler to Bestow, September 10, 1864; Dick to Erb, September 12, 1864; and “Journal of the Atlanta Campaign, kept at headquarters of the Fourth Army Corps, by Lieut. Col. Joseph S. Fullerton, Assistant Adjutant General,” OR, 38(1):201, 381, 450, 457, 902; History of the Seventy-Ninth, 157–58; diary, July 19, 1864, James R. Carnahan Papers, IHS; Jacob Andervount Diary, July 19, 1864, AHC.

  4. Wood to Fullerton, September 10, 1864; Knefler to Bestow, September 10, 1864; Cram to Erb, September 14, 1864; and “Journal of the Atlanta Campaign, kept at headquarters of the Fourth Army Corps, by Lieut. Col. Joseph S. Fullerton, Assistant Adjutant General,” OR, 38(1):381–82, 450, 462–63, 903; History of the Seventy-Ninth, 158; Chesley D. Bailey Diary, July 19, 1864, FHS.

  5. Wood to Fullerton, September 10, 1864; General Orders No. 42, Headquarters, Third Division, Fourth Corps, July 19, 1864; Johnson to McGrath, September 15, 1864; Knefler to Bestow, September 10, 1864; Cram to Erb, September 14, 1864; Bridges to Fullerton, September 9, 1864; Bradley to Immell, September 6, 1864; and “Journal of the Atlanta Campaign, kept at headquarters of the Fourth Army Corps, by Lieut. Col. Joseph S. Fullerton, Assistant Adjutant General,” OR, 38(1):382, 389, 420, 450, 462–63, 484, 504, 904; Cross, Nobly They Served, 104; History of the Seventy-Ninth, 158; Barnes, Carnahan, and McCain, Eighty-Sixth Regiment, 419; [McConnell], Diary of William McConnell, 86; Chesley D. Bailey Diary, July 19, 1864, FHS; Jacob Andervount Diary, July 19, 1864, AHC. Hale spent the rest of the war in prison, taking the oath of allegiance to the U.S. Government on July 5, 1865. Oath of allegiance, July 5, 1865, William J. Hale Service Record, NARA.