Description: After the Battle of Peachtree Creek, John Bell Hood determined to attack Major General James B. McPherson’s Army of the Tennessee. He withdrew his main army at night from Atlanta’ s outer line to the inner line, trying to get Sherman to follow. Meanwhile, he sent William J. Hardee with his troops on a fifteen-mile march to hit the unprotected Union left and rear, east of Atlanta. Wheeler’s cavalry was to operate farther out on Sherman’s supply line, and General Frank Cheatham’s corps were to attack the Union front. Hood miscalculated the time it would take to march, and Hardee was unable to attack until afternoon. Although Hood had outmaneuvered Sherman for the time being, McPherson was worried about his left flank and sent his reserves—Grenville Dodge’s XVI Army Corps—to that location. Two of Hood’s divisions ran into this force and were repulsed. The Rebel attack stalled on the Union rear but was beginning to roll up the left flank. Around the same time, a Confederate soldier shot and killed McPherson when he rode out to observe the fighting. Determined attacks continued, but the Union forces held. At about 4:00 pm, Cheatham’s troops broke through the Union front at the Hurt House, but Sherman massed twenty artillery pieces on a knoll near his headquarters to shell these Confederates and stop their drive. Major General John A. Logan’ s XV Army Corps then led a counterattack that restored the Union line. The Union troops held, and Hood suffered high casualties.

Objectives: Union- To gain control over Atlanta, as several major confederate railroads intersected there that carried supplies to their army.  Confederate - To flank the Union Army from behind and suppress their forces.

Leaders: Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman [Union]; Gen. John Bell Hood [Confederacy]

Forces: Military Division of the Mississippi [Union]; Army of Tennessee [Confederacy]

Terrain: The land was mostly flat except for a large ridge called 'Bald Hill' which help the Union Army gain victory.  There was also a large pond in the battle field.

Casualties: 12,140 total (Union - 3,641; Confederacy - 8,499)

Result(s): Union victory