Battle of Peachtree Creek; July 20, 1864

[last_cav1971]

July 20, 1864 was John Bell Hood's first battle as head of the Army of Tennessee. Hood had assumed the command from Joseph Johnston just two days before.
For nearly 3 months, Sherman had pushed Johnston southward from Chattanooga to Atlanta. Johnston had blocked each of Sherman's flanking maneuvers, but in doing so he lost territory. Jefferson Davis finally lost patience with Johnston, and selected the more offensive-minded Hood to defeat Sherman.

Hood wasted little time. He planned to strike the Army of the Cumberland, commanded by Gen. George Thomas, as it crossed Peachtree Creek. The waterway was deep, and the Confederates destroyed all bridges on their retreat into the outskirts of Atlanta. Hood suspected that the Yankees were most vulnerable when only part of their force was across the creek so he planned a two-pronged assault to hold part of Thomas' army at bay while the rest could be pinned against Peachtree Creek.

Although a good plan, the execution was poor.
Scheduled for 1pm on July 20, the attack was delayed for three hours while Hood's troops shifted into position. The overall assault lacked a general coordination, so units charged the Union positions piecemeal. 20,000 Confederates assaulted the same number of Yankees, but the delay proved costly. The Confederates achieved some success, but could not drive the Union troops back into Peachtree Creek. After three hours, Hood ordered a halt to the advance.

Hood was not deterred. Two days later, he attacked Sherman's forces again at the Battle of Atlanta.

Mark
Deo Vindice

[Thomas McPeek]

Thank you good info:thumb:

Governor of Sinister Correction Centre.
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"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." Winston Churchill

[GeorgiaDixie]

It was the beginning of the end for Atlanta. Hood was never as good as Johnston in handling the army.

[last_cav1971]

The only quality that Hood had that Johnston didnt was the "feel for fighting". He would not back down and wait for a siege.

Mark
Deo Vindice

[Janos]

It's ridiculous to launch an attack like that two days after a change of command, given the strong dependence on personality in that war. Nowadays we have a rehearsal/rock drill process that would have eliminated the kind of errors that led to this defeat.