August 31, 1864---The Battle of Jonesboro

AUGUST 31, 1864:    

The Battle of Jonesborough (Jonesboro) (Day One):

                 

General William Tecumseh Sherman U.S.A. digs his troops in along the Flint River which marks the municipal boundary of Atlanta in 1864. (The north-south running Flint River is also the fictional frontage of Tara in Gone With The Wind.) General William Hardee C.S.A., realizing that the next Union advance will bring Federal troops into Atlanta proper, tries to drive Billy Yank off at Jonesboro. Hardee’s troops break against the strong Union emplacements. Union losses are 178. Confederate losses are well over 2,000 (many captured). General John Bell Hood later described the apparent mass surrender of Hardee’s men as “disgraceful.”