June 27, 1864---The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain

JUNE 27, 1864:           

The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain:              

Following John Bell Hood’s miserable showing at Kolb’s Farm, William Tecumseh Sherman U.S.A. is convinced that Joseph E. Johnston C.S.A.’s forces are on the ropes, and that his lines are stretched thin. 

Sherman decides to move in with the Civil War tactical standard, a frontal assault against the center of Johnston’s force. Wisely, he orders a pre-assault bombardment. 200 Union cannon open up at 6:30 A.M. and batter the Confederate lines around Kennesaw Mountain for two hours. Not long after the Union guns begin to speak, some 200 Confederate guns begin to answer, and the battlefield becomes a howling nightmare. This should have alerted Sherman as to the mettle of the Confederate forces in front of him, but, uncharacteristically, Sherman does not see what he is seeing, or perhaps he judges the price reasonable for the prize. Around 8:30, the Union troops begin moving against the center and the flanks both, in an encircling movement which fails when they reach the Confederate trenches. Lines of Confederates pop up and blaze away at the Union men at pointblank range. 

Other Rebels retreat up the mountain, cannons and all, and begin firing down on the Union troops. After ferocious hand-to-hand fighting in the trenches under a hail of cannonshot, the Union troops dig in across from the Confederates. Both sides nickname this place the "Dead Angle." 

The fighting ends around 10:45 A.M. Three thousand Union troops fall, compared with just 500 Confederates.

Although it was an overwhelming Confederate tactical victory, the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain is a strategic loss for Dixie.  Sherman remains in place for four days, still launching small, costly, but effective attacks against Johnston.  One of these attacks is successful in moving Union troops within 5 miles of the Chattahoochee River, closer to the last river protecting Atlanta than any unit in Johnston's army. Johnston can be flanked, and the road to Atlanta opened.