Principal Commanders: Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman [US]; Gen. Joseph E. Johnston [CS]
Forces Engaged: Military Division of the Mississippi [US]; Army of Tennessee [CS]
Estimated Casualties: 4,000 total (US 3,000; CS 1,000)
Description: On the night of June 18-19, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, fearing envelopment, withdrew his army to a new, previously selected position astride Kennesaw Mountain. This entrenched arc-shaped line, to the north and west of Marietta, protected the Western & Atlantic Railroad, the supply link to Atlanta. Having defeated General John B. Hood troops at Kolb's Farm on the 22nd, Sherman was sure that Johnston had stretched his line too thin and therefore decided on a frontal attack with some diversions on the flanks. On the morning of June 27, Sherman sent his troops forward after an artillery bombardment. At first, they made some headway overrunning Confederate pickets south of the Burnt Hickory Road, but attacking an enemy that was dug in was futile. The fighting ended by noon, and Sherman had suffered very high casualties.
Kennesaw Mountain 1864
Kennesaw Mountain Today
Rottenwood Creek With roads dried out, with sufficient supplies accumulated, and with the last units of McPherson’s Army of the Tennessee shifted from positions at Brushy Mountain and elsewhere for purposes of coordinating with and eventually replacing Schofield’s army in turning the Confederate left, Sherman abandoned his month-long focus on the battlefields around Kennesaw Mountain. He would now turn southward toward the Chattahoochee River and the prize of Atlanta. Sherman’s activities meant that Johnston must abandon his strong positions at the mountain and retire southward to protect his railroad lifeline to Atlanta. What followed would be a race for the Chattahoochee with an opportunity, Sherman believed, to embarrass Johnston’s Confederates in the act of crossing the river. Instead he found the Rebels with new defenses along an east-to-west-running ridge just north of Smyrna; flanks anchored near Rottenwood Creek at the river on the east, and fish-hooked at the west on a hill two miles from Ruff’s Mill. At 4 p.m. on July 4, a column of six regiments from Dodge’s Sixteenth Corps led by Colonel E.F. Noyes (39th Ohio Infantry) attacked an advanced position near this angle, capturing the line and about 100 prisoners.
Rottenwood Creek Gorge
As the Marietta Operations wound down Sherman set his sights on Atlanta. Sherman and Johnson would now move south with their attacks and counter-attacks. However, Johnson would not be given the opportunity to continue battling Sherman. On July 17, Confederate President Jefferson Davis replaced General Johnston with John Bell Hood as commander of the Army of Tennessee.
Davis, impatient with Johnston's defensive strategy in the Atlanta campaign, felt that Hood stood a better chance of saving Atlanta from the forces of Union General William T. Sherman. In a telegram informing Johnston of his decision, Davis wrote, "You failed to arrest the advance of the enemy to the vicinity of Atlanta, far in the interior of Georgia, and express no confidence that you can defeat or repel him, you are hereby relieved from command of the Army and Department of Tennessee, which you will immediately turn over to General Hood."
