Hood's first attack as commander breaks against Thomas's line north of Atlanta
By July 1864, Sherman's armies had pushed to within sight of Atlanta, with Peachtree Creek the last natural barrier before the city. John Bell Hood, who had replaced Joseph E. Johnston as Confederate commander only two days earlier, tried to strike Maj. Gen. George Thomas's Army of the Cumberland while it was still crossing the creek. Confusion between Hood and Lt. Gen. William Hardee delayed the attack until four in the afternoon, giving Union troops time to dig in. The Confederates broke through in one spot but could not hold it, and by the end of the day Thomas's line had bent without breaking.
Peachtree Creek was Hood's best chance to stop Sherman before Atlanta fell, and its failure set up the city's capture on September 1, 1864, which broke the Confederacy's last hope for a negotiated peace before that fall's election. Lincoln's reelection, and with it the war's outcome, turned in part on the six weeks of fighting this battle opened.
QWhat did Stewart's Confederate divisions actually capture on the Union side of the line?
On the Confederate left flank, Alexander Stewart's attack broke through further than anywhere else along the line that afternoon. His men forced two Union brigades to fall back and overran most of the 33rd New Jersey Infantry Regiment, seizing the unit's battle flag along with a four-gun Union artillery battery. It was the single clearest tactical success the Confederates managed all day, and it happened on the flank Hood was not personally overseeing when the fighting peaked.
QWhy was Patrick Cleburne's division sitting out the attack that afternoon?
Cleburne, one of the most respected division commanders in the Army of Tennessee, had been held back as a reserve force rather than committed to the initial assault. Once the attack stalled and Cheatham's corps came under heavy Union artillery fire on Thomas's left, Hood's staff redirected Cleburne's men to reinforce Cheatham instead of using them to widen Stewart's breakthrough on the opposite flank. The reserve that might have exploited Stewart's gains never got the chance.
QHow unfinished were the Union defenses when the Confederates finally attacked?
Thomas's Army of the Cumberland had only partially completed its defensive earthworks along Peachtree Creek by four o'clock, when the delayed Confederate assault finally arrived. The three extra hours bought by the confusion between Hood and Hardee gave Union engineers and infantry just enough time to get partial works in the ground, works that were incomplete but still sturdy enough to help absorb repeated Confederate charges without collapsing.
