The Battle of Peach Tree Creek

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by Earl J. Hess


  51. Marshall to Mary, July 29, 1864, John Law Marshall Correspondence, N-YHS.

  52. Morhous, Reminiscences, 114–16.

  53. Medical and Surgical History, 10:478; Thackery, Light and Uncertain Hold, 204–5.

  54. Medical and Surgical History, 10:530, 563, and 12:578.

  55. Ibid., 7:236; Thackery, Light and Uncertain Hold, 205.

  56. Medical and Surgical History, 7:198.

  57. Ibid.

  58. Osborne, “George Young,” 28–29; “List of Articles lost & destroyed in the Public Service near Atlanta Ga. While in the possession of Lt. Geo Young in the month of July 1864,” George Young Papers, AHC.

  59. Transcript of article in Ellenville Journal, January 11, 1884, and May 23, 1884, George Young Papers, AHC; Osborne, “George Young,” 29–30. Young’s coat, hat, and trousers, worn on July 20, are on display at the museum of the Atlanta History Center.

  60. Medical and Surgical History, 12:545.

  61. James Palmer Civil War Diary, undated and unpaginated, MDAH.

  62. Howell, To Live and Die, 330–31.

  63. Oscar Bowen quoted in Howell, To Live and Die, 331.

  64. R. M. Collins, Chapters, 229–31.

  65. Ibid., 231–35.

  66. Harry Stanley Diary, July 21, 1864, AHC.

  67. Potter, Reminiscences, 93, 95–96.

  68. G. Collins, Memoirs, 282.

  69. Morhous, Reminiscences, 113.

  Chapter 11

  1. Sylvester, “‘Gone for a Soldier,’” 211; Realf to Dear Friends, July 21, 1864, Richard Realf Letters and Poems, NL; J. Cate, If I Live to Come Home, 196; Padgett, “With Sherman,” 302; Edgerton to mother, [July 1864], William W. Edgerton Civil War Letters, UH; Hitchcock to parents, July 21, 1864, Watson C. Hitchcock Papers, CHS; Hynes to brother, July 29, 1864, William D. Hynes Papers, ISL; Foster to Mose, August 23, 1864, William F. Morgan Papers, NC.

  2. Wheeler to parents, brother, and sister, July 21, 1864, Lysander Wheeler Letter, GLIAH; Holzhueter, “William Wallace’s Civil War Letters,” 102; Elias J. Prichard to brother and sister, July 19 (continued July 22), 1864, EU; Trowbridge to wife and baby, July 22, 1864, George Martin Trowbridge Papers, WLC-UM; unsigned copy of untitled poem, Lewis A. Labadie Papers, DPL.

  3. Austin to wife, July 23, 1864, Judson L. Austin Papers, BHL-UM.

  4. Buckingham to wife, August 9, 1864, Philo Beecher Buckingham Papers, AAS.

  5. Merrill to Emma, July 24, 1864, Samuel Merrill Papers, ISL; Marshall to Mary, July 29, 1864, John Law Marshall Correspondence, N-YHS; Harrison to wife, July 21, 1864, Benjamin Harrison Collection, IHS.

  6. Harrison to wife, July 21, 1864, Benjamin Harrison Collection, IHS.

  7. Bode to editor, July 21, 1864, Indianapolis Daily Journal, August 2, 1864; Henry Lyon to editor, July 22, 1864, Indianapolis Daily Journal, August 1, 1864; unsigned letter, July 21, 1864, Washington Daily National Intelligencer, July 28, 1864; Montrose to editor of Cincinnati Commercial, July 24, 1864, in New York Daily Tribune, July 27, 1864, and in St. Louis Daily Missouri Democrat, July 26, 1864; Sylvester, “‘Gone for a Soldier,’” 211.

  8. F. Halsey Wigfall to Lou, July 20, 1864, and to Mama, July 31, 1864, Louis Trezevant Wigfall Family Papers, LC; G. Osborn, “Civil War Letters,” 215–16; McGuire, McGuire Papers, 27.

  9. Augusta Daily Constitutionalist, July 22, 1864; Scarborough, Diary of Edmund Ruffin, 3, 508.

  10. Marvin, Fifth Regiment Connecticut, 327–28; Compton to Palmer, September 9, 1864, and West to Grubbs, September 22, 1864, OR, 38(2):53, 377; diary, July 20, 1864, Andrew Jackson Johnson Papers, IHS; Stone, “Atlanta Campaign,” 441; Hunter to Curtis, August 17, 1864, OR, 38(1):769; E. E. Russell, “Where Hood Gathered No Acorns”; Coe, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, 178; Palmer, “A Gallant Record: What the 20th Conn. Did in the Atlanta Campaign”; Alanson B. Cone Personal Narrative, July 20, 1864, NYSL.

  11. Sherman to Halleck, September 15, 1864, OR, 38(1):71; Poe to wife, July 24, 1864, Orlando Metcalfe Poe Papers, LC.

  12. Sherman, Memoirs, 2, 72–73.

  13. Geary to Perkins, September 15, 1864, OR, 38(2):140; Tuttle to Monroe [after July 28, 1864], Miletus Tuttle Letters, UGA; Longacre and Haas, To Battle for God and the Right, 201; Gould and Kennedy, Memoirs of a Dutch Mudsill, 270–71; Byrne, Uncommon Soldiers, 173; Johnson to Folks at Home, July 25, 1864, Andrew Jackson Johnson Papers, IHS; Benjamin T. Smith Reminiscences, 158, ALPL; Balloch to wife, July 24, 1864, George Williamson Balloch Papers, DU; Van Horne, History of the Army of the Cumberland, 2:115–16.

  14. Geary to Perkins, September 15, 1864, OR, 38(2):140; J. Cate, If I Live to Come Home, 196; West to not stated, September 21, 1864, SOR, pt. 1, 7:29; Knapp to parents, July 24, 1864, Charles Webster Knapp Letters, WHS; Potter, Reminiscences, 95–95.

  15. Diary, July 21, 1864, and Cook to Fred, July 25, 1864, Albert M. Cook Papers, SU.

  16. Harry Stanley Diary, July 20, 1864, AHC; George A. Cooley Civil War Diary, July 21, 1864, WHS.

  17. Longacre and Haas, To Battle for God and the Right, 206.

  18. Roberts to sister, August 13, 1864, John H. Roberts Civil War Letters, WHS; Comfort to father, August 13, 1864, John R. Comfort Papers, WLC-UM; Foster to Moses C. Morgan, August 23, 1864, William F. Morgan Papers, NC; John Emerson Anderson Memoir, 154, LC. Historians have generally treated Hooker well for his performances in the Atlanta campaign. See Hebert, Fighting Joe Hooker, 282–83. and Rafuse, “Always ‘Fighting Joe,’” 246–50.

  19. Diary, July 21, 1864, John Wesley Marshall Papers, OHS; George A. Cooley Civil War Diary, July 21, 1864, WHS; History of the Seventy-Third, 326; Douglas Hapeman Diaries, July 20, 1864, ALPL; Alanson B. Cone Personal Narrative, July 20, 1864, NYSL; Cox, Atlanta, 149.

  20. Maley to William M. Maley, July 21, 1864, Henry H. Maley Letters, UND; Angle, Three Years, 239–40.

  21. Young, Reminiscences, 90; Nisbet, 4 Years on the Firing Line, 210; Dunlop to sister, August 13, 1864, Colin Dunlop Civil War Letters, AHC; “Special” letter, July 20, 1864, Augusta Daily Constitutionalist, July 23, 1864; T. J. Walker, “Reminiscences of the Civil War,” UTK.

  22. Hawes, “Memoirs of Charles H. Olmstead,” pt. 10, 43.

  23. Godwin to Bettie, August 15, 1864, D. G. Godwin Correspondence, AHC; Mathis, In the Land of the Living, 104; Winfield S. Featherston to Hood, December 18, 1866, John B. Hood Papers, NARA.

  24. Hood to Cooper, February 15, 1865, OR, 38(3):630–31.

  25. Hardee to Cooper, April 5, 1865, OR, 38(3):697–98.

  26. J. B. Hood, Advance and Retreat, 168, 171.

  27. Ibid., 171, 185, 251.

  28. Ibid., 168–69, 186; French, Two Wars, 219; Tower, A Carolinian Goes to War, 223.

  29. Roy, “General Hardee,” 381.

  30. Ibid., 379, 383–85; Thomas B. Roy to Govan, March 8, 1880, Daniel Chevilette Govan Papers, UNC; B. Benjamin Smith to Capers, April 3, 1880, Ellison Capers Papers, TC.

  31. Franklin, Civil War Diaries, 188–89; Buck, Cleburne and His Command, 231; Hewitt, Schott, and Kunis, To Succeed or Perish, 56; Tower, A Carolinian Goes to War, 224.

  32. Sherman to McPherson, July 21, 1864, 1 A.M., OR, 38(5):218.

  33. Thomas to Sherman, July 21, 1864, OR, 38(5):212; Howard, “Struggle for Atlanta,” 314; diary, July 21, 1864, John Wesley Marshall Papers, OHS; Newton to Fullerton, July 21, 1864; Newton to assistant adjutant general, Army of the Cumberland, September, no date, 1864; and Kimball to assistant adjutant general, Second Division, Fourth Corps, August 4, 1864, OR, 38(1):291, 299, 307.

  34. Newton to assistant adjutant general, Army of the Cumberland, September, no date, 1864, OR, 38(1):299; diary, July 21, 1864, John Wesley Marshall Papers, OHS; George A. Cooley Civil War Diary, July 21, 1864, WHS; Newton to Whipple, July 21, 1864; Whipple to Newton, July 21, 1864; and Ramsey to Newton, July 21, 1864, OR, 38(5):214–15.

  35. “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):906–7; Day, One Hundred and First Ohio, 245.

  36. “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):907; Fullerton to Stanley, July 21, 1864, 2 P.M.; Fullerton to Wood, July 21, 1864, 2 P.M.; and Howard to Schofield, July 21, 1864, 2:45 P.M., OR, 38(5):214, 218.

  37. Howard to Whipple, September 18, 1864; Taylor to Mason, September 15, 1864; and Stookey to Lawton, September 12, 1864, OR, 38(1):203, 249, 272; diary, July 21, 1864, James R. Carnahan Papers, IHS; Chesley D. Bailey Diary, July 21, 1864, FHS; History of the Seventy-Ninth, 159; Barnes, Carnahan, and McCain, Eighty-Sixth Regiment, 421–22; John H. Tilford Diaries, July 21, 1864, FHS; Hazen, Narrative, 272; Gates, Rough Side of War, 245–46.

  38. Hotchkiss to Bestow, September 10, 1864, and Johnson to McGrath, September 15, 1864, OR, 38(1):396, 420–21; Jacob Andervount Diary, July 21, 1864, AHC; James Biddle Diary, July 20, 1864, DPL; Hazen, Narrative, 273; Howard to Whipple, July 21, 1864, 7 P.M., OR, 38(5):213–14.

  39. Sherman to Thomas, July 21, 1864, OR, 38(5):212; Schofield to Sherman, September 10, 1864, and Hobson to Kerstetter, August 15, 1864, OR, 38(2):516, 617.

  40. Hascall to Campbell, September 10, 1864, OR, 38(2):572; reminiscences, July 21, 1864, Thomas Doak Edington Papers, UTK; diary, July 21, 1864, John Watkins Papers, UTK; journal, July 21, 1864, Tilghman Blazer Collection, UTK.

  41. Howard to Dayton, September 17, 1864, OR, 38(3):39.

  42. Whipple to Hooker, July 20, 1864, OR, 38(5):205; Geary to Perkins, September 15, 1864, OR, 38(2):141; Carrier to wife, July 21, 1864, William H. Carrier Letters, WHS; diary, July 21, 1864, Albert M. Cook Papers, SU.

  43. Irving Bronson, “Recollections of the Civil War,” 51–52, TC.

  44. Diary, July 21, 1864, Andrew Jackson Johnson Papers, IHS; Merrill, Seventieth Indiana, 149; Bohrnstedt, Soldiering with Sherman, 127.

  45. Shimp to wife, July 26, 1864, William T. Shimp Papers, USAMHI; Bradley, Star Corps, 144.

  46. Sherman to Thomas, July 21, 1864, and Whipple to Palmer, July 21, 1864, OR, 38(5):212, 217.

  47. Johnson to McClurg, August, no date, 1864; “Journal of the First Brigade”: Hapeman to Ford, September 5, 1864; Minshall to Ford, September, no date, 1864; Brigham to not stated, September 10, 1864; Moore to Smith, September 8, 1864;: Baird to McClurg, September 7, 1864; and Gleason to Lowrie, August 16, 1864, OR, 38(1):524, 532, 538, 551, 565, 602, 743, 791; diary, July 21, 1864, Charles Richard Pomeroy Papers, DU; Douglas Hapeman Diaries, July 21, 1864, ALPL; Calkins, One Hundred and Fourth Regiment of Illinois, 226; Young to Sanders, September 17, 1864, OR, 38(3):909–10.

  48. Davis to McClurg, July 21, 1864, and Van Duzer to Eckert, July 21, 1864, 7:30 P.M., OR, 38(5):216–17, 222; Lum to Wiseman, August 8, 1864, OR, 38(1):671; Slack to father and mother, July 23, 1864, Albert L. Slack Letters, EU.

  49. Thomas to Sherman, July 21, 1864, OR, 38(5):213.

  50. Narrative, 7, Henry De Lamar Clayton Sr. Papers, UA; E. D. Willett Diary, July 21, 1864, ADAH.

  51. Circular, Headquarters, Featherston’s Brigade, July 21, 1864, Featherston Order Book, Winfield Scott Featherston Collection, UM.

  52. Grant to Sherman, July 21, 1864, 10 A.M., and Sherman to Halleck, July 21, 1864, 8:30 P.M., OR, 38(5):210–11.

  53. Sherman to Halleck, July 21, 1864, 8:30 P.M.; Sherman to Thomas, July 21, 1864; and Special Field Orders No. 40, Headquarters, Military Division of the Mississippi, July 21, 1864, OR, 38(5):211–12, 222; Sherman to Halleck, September 15, 1864, OR, 38(1):71–72.

  54. Hood to Seddon, July 22, 1864, 10:30 P.M., OR, 38(5):900; Walthall to Gale, January 14, 1865, OR, 38(3):926; Jim Huffman, comp., “Pre-& Civil War Letters of Lt. Col. Columbus Sykes 16th [sic] Regiment Mississippi Infantry,” MDAH; Stewart to Mason, January 12, 1865, and French to Gale, December 6, 1864, OR, 38(3):872, 903; E. D. Willett Diary, July 21, 1864, ADAH.

  55. Sherman to Halleck, September 15, 1864, OR, 38(1):72; Van Duzer to Eckert, July 22, 1864, 9 P.M., OR, 38(5):232; Stone, “Atlanta Campaign,” 444; Sherman, Memoirs, 2, 75.

  56. Howard to Whipple, July 22, 1864, 8 P.M., OR, 38(5):226–27; Howard to Whipple, September 18, 1864; Suman to [Lawton], September 10, 1864; Hurd to Lawton, September 13, 1864; Rose to [Lawton], September 14, 1864; Askew to McGrath, September 12, 1864; Johnson to McGrath, September 15, 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):203, 276–77, 282, 289, 410, 421, 907; diary, July 22, 1864, James R. Carnahan Papers, IHS; Jacob Andervount Diary, July 22, 1864, AHC; Hazen, Narrative, 273; History of the Seventy-Ninth, 160.

  57. Parsons to brother, July 22, 1864, George W. Parsons Papers, IHS; Kimball to assistant adjutant general, Second Division, Fourth Corps, August 4, 1864; Bryan to Opdycke, September, no date, 1864; and Moore to Waterman, September 12, 1864, OR, 38(1):307, 321, 372; James Biddle Diary, July 22, 1864, DPL; History of the Seventy-Third, 326; Newton to Whipple, July 22, 1864, and Fullerton to Stanley, July 22, 1864, 12:30 P.M., OR, 38(5):225.

  58. “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):908–9; Howard to Whipple, July 22, 1864, 8 P.M., OR, 38(5):227.

  59. Reminiscences, July 22, 1864, Thomas Doak Edington Papers, UTK; diary, July 22, 1864, John Watkins Papers, UTK; Nash to Erastus Winters, January 3, 1911, George W. Nash Letter, FHS.

  60. McPherson to Logan, July 22, 1864, 6 A.M., OR, 38(5):231.

  61. Hooker to Whipple, July 22, 1864, 5 A.M., and Circular, Headquarters, Twentieth Corps, July 22, 1864, OR, 38(5):227, 233; Harrison to [Speed], September 14, 1864; Dustin to Grubbs, September 15, 1864; Dutton to Mitchell, August 5, 1864; and Miller to Crawford, July 27, 1864, OR, 38(2):348, 362, 364, 406.

  62. Diary, July 22, 1864, Andrew Jackson Johnson Papers, IHS; Charles A. Booth Journal, July 22, 1864, WHS; Harris to Carman, September 7, 1864; Salomon to Boughton, September 15, 1864; and Geary to Perkins, September 15, 1864, OR, 38(2):73, 100, 141–42; diary, July 22, 1864, Marcellus Warner Darling Papers, UI; E. P. Failing Diary, July 23, 1864, Failing-Knight Papers, MHS; Bauer, Soldiering, 153; Irving Bronson, “Recollections of the Civil War,” 52, TC; Alanson B. Cone Personal Narrative, July 22, 1864, NYSL; Hinkley, Narrative of Service, 130–31; diary, July 22, 1864, Albert M. Cook Papers, SU.

  63. William Clark McLean Diary, July 22, 1864, McLean Family Papers, NYSL; E. Brown, Twenty-Seventh Indiana, 515–16.

  64. Williams to Perkins, September 12, 1864, OR, 38(2):35; diary, July 23, 1864, Albert M. Cook Papers, SU.

  65. Trowbridge to wife and baby, July 22, 24, 25, 1864, George Martin Trowbridge Papers, WLC-UM.

  66. Palmer to Whipple, July 22, 1864, 4:30 A.M., OR, 38(5):227; Johnson to McClurg, August, no date, 1864; Minshall to Ford, September, no date, 1864; Moore to Smith, September 8, 1864; and Hunter to Curtis, August 17, 1864, OR, 38(1):524, 551, 603, 769; Calkins, One Hundred and Fourth Regiment of Illinois, 227, 359; Douglas Hapeman Diaries, July 22, 1864, ALPL; diary, July 22, 1864, James M. Randall Diary and Letters, www.ehistory.com.

  67. McIntire to Ford, September 5, 1864; Briant to not stated, no date; Davis to McClurg, September, no date, 1864; Baird to McClurg, September 7, 1864; Wilson to Spofford, August 20, 1864; and Barnett to [Houghtaling], OR, 38(1):540, 543, 635, 743, 820, 830; diary, July 22, 1864, Charles Richard Pomeroy Papers, DU; Patrick and Willey, Fighting for Liberty and Right, 232.

  68. William Cline Diary, July 22, 26, 1864, UND; Henry Perrin Mann Civil War Diaries, July 22, 1864, SHSM-RCR.

  69. Sherman to Thomas, July 22, 1864, 11 A.M., OR, 38(5):223; Sherman to Halleck, September 15, 1864, and Poe to not stated, October 8, 1865, OR, 38(1):72, 131–32.

  70. Sherman to Thomas, July 22, 1864, 11 A.M., and Thomas to Sherman, July 22, 1864, 5 P.M., OR, 38(5):223–24; Thomas to Sawyer, August 17, 1864, OR, 38(1):157; Stone, “Atlanta Campaign,” 445; Van
Duzer to Meigs, July 20, 1865, OR, 52(1):694.

  71. Angle, Three Years, 238–39.

  Conclusion

  1. Kerwood, Annals of the Fifty-Seventh, 267; Hughes, Civil War Memoir, 213; Tower, A Carolinian Goes to War, 224.

  2. Ike to Ed. P., August 16, 1864, Unidentified Civil War Union Soldier Letter, GHS; Bauer, Soldiering, 152; Joseph B. Cumming Recollections, 60, UNC; entry of July 20, 1864, Harry Stanley Diary, AHC; “Memoranda of an interview with Gen Hooker at Garden City Long island Oct 1 1875,” box 4, folder 9, Ezra J. Carman Papers, NYPL.

  3. E. Brown, Twenty-Seventh Indiana, 525–26; Elmore to parents, July 26, 1864, Day Elmore Letters, CHM.

  4. Stewart to Mason, January 12, 1865, OR, 38(3):871; Johnston, “Opposing Sherman’s Advance to Atlanta,” 277; Stone, “Atlanta Campaign,” 442–43, 485–86; Cox, Atlanta, 162.

  5. Connelly, Autumn of Glory, 443–44; Castel, Decision in the West, 382–83; McMurry, Atlanta 1864, 151; McMurry, John Bell Hood, 124, 130; Daniel, Cannoneers in Gray, 160.

  6. Castel, Decision in the West, 382. R. Jenkins, Battle of Peach Tree Creek, 35, believes that Hood “might well have pulled off another Chancellorsville-like surprise and routed Thomas’s Army of the Cumberland” if he had attacked on July 19 instead of July 20. He cites Reynolds’s attack on Dilworth’s crossing of Peach Tree Creek on the former day as an indication of aggressive defense. I see no reason to believe that contention. Thomas’s men conducted themselves with due caution and were alert for trouble on both days. Moreover, Dilworth defeated Reynolds and established a bridgehead on the south side of the creek, rendering this vicious little battle anything but an argument in favor of major Confederate attacks on July 19. At best, the Reynolds-Dilworth battle shows that a more aggressive defense by the Confederates could have resulted in a slower, more cautious approach by Thomas.

  7. Symonds, Joseph E. Johnston, 163–66. Stewart recalled that Johnston’s instructions to him were to prepare a good defensive position south of Peach Tree Creek and expect the Federals to approach Atlanta from the north. He did not tell Stewart whether he intended to attack as they crossed the stream but “his dispositions were evidently made with a view to so attack, and were inconsistent with any other purpose.” Robinson, “General Joseph E. Johnston,” 361.

 

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