July 24, 1864---The Private War of "Ole Man" Presley Jones

JULY 24, 1864:         

The Second Battle of Kernstown. After skirmishing with Union forces the day before near Kernstown, Jubal Early’s suddenly no-longer exhausted troops, surprisingly fresh from their retreat from Washington, fall in force upon Union troops in the Shenandoah Valley, routing them. As before, the Federals in the Valley retreat all the way northward across the Potomac, leaving the road open to Maryland. Soon enough, Early again moves north, cutting the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and burning Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.  

The usually phlegmatic President Lincoln is enraged at David Hunter, whom he orders to be immediately relieved of command. General George Crook becomes temporary commander of Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley this day.

 

“Ole Man” Presley Jones, the Avenger on Muleback, singlehandedly defends Covington, Georgia with a squirrel rifle when hundreds of Federal troops come to destroy the rail lines through the town. He kills two Yankees and wounds several more before he is captured and executed. They are the only men lost in the Covington Raid, which destroys the rail lines, the depot, the warehouses, and the new, as-yet unoccupied military hospital which the Confederates had built presuming troops from Atlanta would make use of it.  The cutting of the Covington spur isolates Atlanta from the southwest Confederacy.

July 23, 1864---"Are you able to take care of the enemy . . . ?"

JULY 23, 1864:      

   

General Jubal Early C.S.A. has returned to the Shenandoah Valley, and engages Union troops under General David Hunter near Kernstown. Abraham Lincoln, well aware that Hunter had previously retreated out of the Valley without offering battle to Early, and that Washington, D.C. had been invested as a result, sends Hunter a terse and acerbic telegram:

Are you able to take care of the enemy when he turns back upon you, as he probably will on finding that Wright has left? 

Hunter takes great umbrage at his Commander-in-Chief’s implied criticism of his competence and asks to be relieved of command. But before Lincoln even sees Hunter’s own request, he orders Hunter replaced. Ulysses S. Grant makes him a “desk general.”  Hunter stews in his own juice pushing papers for the rest of the war. 

July 22, 1864---The Battle of Atlanta

JULY 22, 1864:          

The Battle of Atlanta. 

With Union troops within walking distance of Atlanta, General William Tecumseh Sherman U.S.A. attempted to break the Confederate lines around the city. Although the battle did not end in the fall of Atlanta this very day, it broke the back of Confederate combat resistance around the city. Union troops under the commands of General “Black Jack” John A. Logan, General Francis P. Blair, General Grenville Dodge, and Major General James Birdseye McPherson advanced on the city in a broad arc.

Although Sherman at first believed that the Confederate army had abandoned the city, once Union troops reached the actual environs of Atlanta, General John Bell Hood C.S.A. opened up with artillery and massed attacks against the Union front.  The Ponder House became a nest of Confederate snipers and an especial target of Union troops. 

The battle lines were so close and so confused that General McPherson found himself in the midst of a Confederate squad. Refusing to surrender, he was shot in the back and killed as he tried to reach his own lines. Sherman and Grant both grieved the loss of McPherson, who was well-known as one of the Union’s brightest and most aggressive commanders.

John Bell Hood wrote of McPherson:

I will record the death of my classmate and boyhood friend, General James B. McPherson, the announcement of which caused me sincere sorrow. Since we had graduated in 1853, and had each been ordered off on duty in different directions, it has not been our fortune to meet. Neither the years nor the difference of sentiment that had led us to range ourselves on opposite sides in the war had lessened my friendship; indeed the attachment formed in early youth was strengthened by my admiration and gratitude for his conduct toward our people in the vicinity of Vicksburg. His considerate and kind treatment of them stood in bright contrast to the course pursued by many Federal officers.

Although General Patrick Cleburne C.S.A. was almost able to break McPherson’s fragmented Corps, “Black Jack” Logan began to bombard the city from Bald Hill causing him to withdraw. As darkness fell, the battle ended with Atlanta all but encircled.

This gaslight lamppost survived the shelling of Atlanta despite being hit several times, and now bears memorial plaques listing the names of Confederate dead who were killed defending the city, including freemen, freedmen, and slaves

The Union had lost 3,641 men killed, wounded or missing. Confederate losses were 5,500. John Bell Hood, who had lost three battles in three days of command, was left with less than 35,000 men ages 14 to 70 to hold Atlanta. 

July 21, 1864---The Battle of Bald Hill

JULY 21, 1864:                    

The Battle of Bald Hill. 

Following John Bell Hood’s defeat the previous day, Union troops under Major General Francis P. Blair, the brother of the U.S. Postmaster-General, engage and defeat Confederate soldiery under General Patrick Cleburne C.S.A. at Bald (or Leggett’s) Hill. The spot, today at the intersection of Interstate 20 and U.S. Route 23, overlooks Ralph Abernathy Drive and downtown Atlanta. Though only a political general, Blair has carried the war right into the heart of Georgia.    

July 20, 1864---The Battle of Peachtree Creek

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.