May 21, 1864—two weeks have elapsed since the Atlanta Campaign began. It has been an operation of surprise and maneuver, of exhaustion and hunger, and of ceaseless combat. Now, fifty miles closer to the crucial city of Atlanta, the two armies confront each other again in the Allatoona Mountains. General Joseph E. Johnston's Confederate army has occupied a strong defensive line protected by the Etowah River. As he has done before, General W. T. Sherman avoids a head-on conflict and plunges his Union army into a Georgia "wilderness." He hopes to flank the Confederates with his whole army, cut their supply line, and bring the struggle to a victorious end. When the Union army crosses the Etowah River, the fourth cycle in the Atlanta Campaign begins. In three major battles (New Hope Church, Pickett's Mill and Dallas), the two sides will viciously attack and defend, attempting to achieve the ultimate victory. Few open areas afford a view of the opponents; many die and are never found in the dense thickets. No grand assaults, no massed artillery bombardments occur here, yet, to most of the combatants, it is remembered as the most desperate fighting of the entire war—a veritable "Hell-Hole." Seven maps, an "Order of Battle" that reflects the current units and commanders, abundant endnotes, and an index to names, places and subjects add to the value of this work.
Jeffrey S. Dean
2006, 5.5" x 8.5", paper, index, 144 pp.
ISBN: 9780788433771
101-D3377
