Davis - All the fighting they want: the Atlanta Campaign from Peachtree Creek to the citys surrender, July 18-September 2, 1864

All the Fighting They Want

T HE A TLANTA C AMPAIGN

F ROM P EACHTREE C REEK TO THE C ITY S S URRENDER J ULY 18-S EPTEMBER 2, 1864

by Stephen Davis

Chris Mackowski, series editor

Kristopher D. White, chief historian

Also part of the Emerging Civil War Series:

The Aftermath of Battle: The Burial of the Civil War Dead

by Meg Thompson

Bloody Autumn: The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864

by Daniel T. Davis and Phillip S. Greenwalt

Bushwhacking on a Grand Scale: The Battle of Chickamauga, Sept. 18-20, 1863

by William Lee White

Calamity in Carolina: The Battles of Averasboro and Bentonville, March 1865

by Daniel T. Davis and Phillip S. Greenwalt

Dawn of Victory: Breakthrough at Petersburg, March 25-April 2, 1865

by Edward S. Alexander

Fight Like the Devil: The First Day at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863

by Chris Mackowski, Kristopher D. White, and Daniel T. Davis

Grants Last Battle: The Story Behind the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant

by Chris Mackowski

Hell Itself: The Battle of the Wilderness, May 5-7, 1864

by Chris Mackowski

Hurricane from the Heavens: The Battle of Cold Harbor, May 26-June 5, 1864

by Daniel T. Davis and Phillip S. Greenwalt

The Last Days of Stonewall Jackson: The Mortal Wounding of the Confederacys Greatest Icon

by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White

No Turning Back: A Guide to the 1864 Overland Campaign

by Robert M. Dunkerly, Donald C. Pfanz, and David R. Ruth

Out Flew the Sabres: The Battle of Brandy Station, June 9, 1863

by Eric J. Wittenberg and Daniel T. Davis

A Season of Slaughter: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, May 8-21, 1864

by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White

Simply Murder: The Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862

by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White

Strike Them a Blow: Battle Along the North Anna River, May 21-25, 1864

by Chris Mackowski

That Furious Struggle: Chancellorsville and the High Tide of the Confederacy, May 1-4, 1863

by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White

To the Bitter End: Appomattox, Bennett Place, and the Surrenders of the Confederacy

by Robert M. Dunkerly

A Want of Vigilance: The Bristoe Station Campaign, October 9-19, 1863

by Bill Backus and Rob Orrison

T HE A TLANTA C AMPAIGN

F ROM P EACHTREE C REEK TO THE C ITY S S URRENDER J ULY 18-S EPTEMBER 2, 1864

by Stephen Davis

2017 by Stephen Davis

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America.

First edition, first printing

ISBN-13 (paperback): 978-1-61121-319-5

ISBN-13 (ebook): 978-1-61121-320-1

Mobi ISBN: 978-1-61121-320-1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Davis, Stephen, 1948- author.

Title: All the fighting they want : the Atlanta Campaign from Peach Tree Creek to the surrender, July 18-September 2, 1864 / by Stephen Davis.

Description: First edition. | El Dorado Hills, California : Savas Beattie, 2017. | Series: Emerging Civil War series

Identifiers: LCCN 2016014466| ISBN 9781611213195 (pbk) |

ISBN 9781611213201 (ebk.)

Subjects: LCSH: Atlanta Campaign, 1864.

Classification: LCC E476.7 .D375 2017 | DDC 973.7/371--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016014466

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To the late great Bell Irvin Wiley (1906-1980), who taught me that writing clearly about what you know is just as important as knowing it in the first place.

Maps by Hal Jespersen

Grant-Presstman Perimeter

Battle of Peachtree Creek

Hardees Flank Attack

Battle of Ezra Church

McCook-Stoneman Union Cavalry Raid

Confederate Railway Defense Line

March to the Macon & Western

Driving Route

For this contribution to the Emerging Civil War Series, I thank Dr. Chris Mackowski, series editor, for his prudent oversight and patient accommodation as we labored toward publication.

Hannah Gordon laid the whole thing out, bless her hearta phrase she doesnt hear enough in upstate New York.

Hal Jesperson continues to work his cartographic magic, and its getting to be that any Civil War author whose book his work appears in feels most fortunate indeed.

Talk about the tail wagging the dog: Gordon Joness and Gould Haglers appendixes add value to this work which far exceeds their appended essays. Gordon has become the internationally renowned expert on the Atlanta Cyclorama, and is the go-to guy on the Atlanta History Centers acclaimed Civil War collections. Gould Hagler has similarly emerged as the authority on Georgias Confederate monuments. Audemus jura nostra defendere (We dare defend our rights) , those stone inscriptions read, and no one knows this better than Gould.

The Nash Farm battlefield, located in Hampton, Georgia, is operated and staffed by the Friends of Nash Farm, Inc. The museum, open most Fridays and Saturdays except for holidays, houses a large artifact collection, period clothing exhibits, and history of the Nash farm and family. (nf)

Jack and Peggy Melton, publishers of Civil War News , took photographs at Jonesboro and Newnan when I so very much needed them, so I thank these shutterbugs extraordinaire. Dan Davis also assisted with photography; my thanks go to him, as well.

Author Stephen Davis delights in showing visitors the lost traces of the fighting around Atlanta, which have largely been lost to urban sprawl. (ahc)

Finally, my gratitude to Ted Savas, owner and managing director of Savas Beatie publishing, not only for his faith in and encouragement for mea opera civilis belli (my Civil War work) , but also because he brings such a sane perspective to all the stuff we writers do. Witness how he signed himself for a recent book review: The recovering attorney and widely published author appreciates red wine, good cigars, expensive gin, wreck driving and Mozart. A classically trained pianist, he plays bass (Rickenbackers only) in the hard rock band Arminius. To paraphrase Bob Dylan (Well I might look like a Robert Ford, but I feel just like a Jesse James): I may be a Steve Davis, but I wish I were a Ted Savas.