JULY 20, 1864:
The
Battle of Peachtree Creek.
Following a battle plan already designed by his
former commander Joseph E. Johnston C.S.A., General John Bell Hood decides to
stop the Union advance at Peachtree Creek.
Unfortunately for the notoriously
aggressive Hood, he fails to reconnoiter the Union lines sufficiently, and thus
is unsure where the Union lines are weakest. Hood’s lack of knowledge in
ordering the battle leads to a three hour delay as his subordinates shift
troops hither and thither to place their strongest forces into positions that
will allow them to attack the Union’s strongest forces. While this shuffling of
regiments goes on, the Federals are constructing defensive earthworks which
strengthen their positions even more. An impatient Hood finally tires of what
he sees as dithering, and launches his attack three hours late, yet
prematurely, before his units are fully in place.
Although the attack is full
of elan and the welkin rings with the spine-tingling Rebel Yell, Hood’s forces are
battered against the Yankee positions.
Hood
loses 3,000 men to Sherman’s 2,000, and he is unable to drive the Union away
from Peachtree Creek.
Hood, though more aggressive than Johnston, has
accomplished nothing in this battle but to bring Johnston’s nightmare to life
in losing irreplaceable men even while gaining nothing.
 |
| The aftermath of the Battle of Peachtree Creek. Confederate graves, marked with wooden headstones, are visible. |
Having lost his first
battle as commander of one of the main Southern armies John Bell Hood, however,
is undeterred.
