November 27: Battles at Ringgold Gap and Taylor's Ridge -- Following the Union victory at Missionary Ridge, Yankee troops set out in pursuit of the Confederates retreating toward Dalton, Georgia. Intending to delay the Federal pursuit, Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne's command fell back and established a blocking position at Ringgold Gap where the Western & Atlantic Railroad passed through Taylor's Ridge. Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker sent his force forward to seize the gap, which it failed to do after five hours of heavy fighting. (AMC)

December: General Joseph E. Johnston appointed to command the Army of Tennessee; C.S.A. President Davis urges Johnston to attack and defeat the Union army at Chattanooga. (Castel 3)

February 1: U.S. President Lincoln issues a call for 200,000 more troops in addition to the 300,000 he had summoned in October of 1863. These 500,000 new soldiers would be twice the number the Confederacy could must together. (Castel 2)

February 22-27: Battles at Dalton -- From Vicksburg, Mississippi, Sherman launched a campaign to take the important railroad center at Meridian and, if the situation was favorable, to push on to Selma and threaten Mobile, in order to prevent the shipment of Confederate men and supplies. To counter the threat, Confederate President Jefferson Davis ordered troops into the area. While these operations unfolded, Thomas determined to probe Gen. Johnston's army in the hope that Johnston's loss of two divisions, sent to reinforce Lt. Gen. Leonidas Polk as he withdrew from Meridian to Demopolis, Alabama, would make him vulnerable. Skirmishing and intense fighting occurred throughout the demonstration. At Crow Valley on the 25th, Union troops almost turned the Rebel right flank, but ultimately it held. On the 27th, Thomas's army withdrew, realizing that Johnston was ready and able to counter any assault. (AMC)

March 9: Lincoln appoints Ulysses S. Grant to the newly created rank of Lieutenant General and places him in command of all Union armies. (Castel 2)

April 4: Grant sends General William T. Sherman instructions to "move against Johnston's army, to break it up, and get into the interior of the enemy's country as far as you can, inflicting all the damage you can against their war resources." (Castel 6)

April 10: Sherman defines his mission by saying he would "knock Jos. Johnston, and to do as much damage to the resources of the enemy as possible," compelling Johnston to retreat to Atlanta. (Castel 6)

April 13: Lt. General Hood, C.S.A., writes Pres. Davis, deploring Johnston's failure to take the offensive: "When we are to be in a better condition to drive the enemy from our country I am not able to comprehend." (Castel 8)

April 19: Grant responds to Sherman's April 10 letter, emphasizing the need to forestall Johnston from aiding Lee in Virginia. (Castel 6

May 4: Johnston telegraphs Davis and General Leonidas K. Polk requesting that the latter send a division and a brigade from his Army of Mississippi to defend Rome. Davis promptly authorizes Polk go at once with a division and "any other available troops" to that town. (Castel 12)

May 5: Union Major Generals Thomas and Schofield advance from the northwest and north toward Dalton while McPherson moves down from Chattanooga.

May 6-7: Skirmishes at Tunnel Hill mark the first fighting of the Campaign. (ng)

May 7-13: Battles at Rocky Face Ridge, Mill Creek and Dug Gap -- Gen. Joseph E. Johnston had entrenched his army on the long, high mountain of Rocky Face Ridge and eastward across Crow Valley. As Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman approached, he decided to demonstrate against the position with two columns while he sent a third one through Snake Creek Gap, to the right, to hit the Western & Atlantic Railroad at Resaca. The two columns engaged the enemy at Buzzard Roost (Mill Creek Gap) and at Dug Gap. In the meantime, the third column, under Maj. Gen. James Birdseye McPherson, passed through Snake Creek Gap and on the 9th advanced to the outskirts of Resaca where it found Confederates entrenched. Fearing defeat, McPherson pulled his column back to Snake Creek Gap. On the 10th, Sherman decided to take most of his men and join McPherson to take Resaca. The next morning, Sherman' s army withdrew from in front of Rocky Face Ridge. Discovering Sherman's movement, Johnston retired south towards Resaca on the 12th. (AMC)

May 13-15: Battle of Resaca -- Gen. Joseph E. Johnston had withdrawn from Rocky Face Ridge to the hills around Resaca. On the 13th, the Union troops tested the Rebel lines to pinpoint their whereabouts. The next day full scale fighting occurred, and the Union troops were generally repulsed except on the Rebel right flank where Sherman did not fully exploit his advantage. On the 15th, the battle continued with no advantage to either side until Sherman sent a force across the Oostanula River, at Lay's Ferry, towards Johnston's railroad supply line. Unable to halt this Union movement, Johnston was forced to retire. (AMC)

May 17: Adairsville -- Following the Battle of Resaca, May 13-15, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston' s army retreated southward while Sherman pursued. Failing to find a good defensive position south of Calhoun, Johnston continued to Adairsville while the Rebel cavalry fought a skillful rearguard action. On the 17th, skirmish fire continued throughout the day and into the early evening. Maj. Gen. O.O. Howard's IV Corps ran into entrenched infantry of Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee' s corps, while advancing, about two miles north of Adairsville. The 44th Illinois and 24th Wisconsin (under the command of Maj. Arthur MacArthur, father of Douglas) attacked Cheatham's Division at Robert Saxon (the Octagon House) and incurred heavy losses. Three Union divisions prepared for battle, but Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas halted them due to the approach of darkness. Sherman then concentrated his men in the Adairsville area to attack Johnston the next day. Johnston had originally expected to find a valley at Adairsville of suitable width to deploy his men and anchor his line with the flanks on hills. The valley, however, was too wide, so Johnston disengaged and withdrew. (AMC)

May 18: After a small skirmish at Adairsville and some action at Rome, Johnston sets up at Cassville. Sherman mistakenly ends up at Kingston. An attack planned by Johnston is canceled and after the Battle of Cassville he withdraws to the Allatoona Mountains south of the Etowah River. (ng)

May 23: Sherman leaves the Western and Atlantic and heads south from Kingston. In 1844 the General visited the Etowah Indian Mounds near Cartersville, Georgia. The W&A cuts through Allatoona Pass east of Cartersville, which Sherman remembered and avoided.(ng)

May 25-26: Battle at New Hope Church -- After Johnston retreated to Allatoona Pass on May 19-20, Sherman decided that he would most likely pay dearly for attacking Johnston there, so he determined to move around Johnston's left flank and steal a march toward Dallas. Johnston anticipated Sherman's move and met the Union forces at New Hope Church. Sherman mistakenly surmised that Johnston had a token force and ordered Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker's corps to attack. This corps was severely mauled. On the 26th, both sides en-trenched, and skirmishing continued throughout the day. Actions the next day in this area are discussed under Pickett's Mills. (AMC)

May 26-June 1: Dallas, New Hope Church, Pumpkinvine Creek -- Johnston's army fell back from the vicinity of Cassville-Kinston, first to Allatoona Pass and then to the Dallas area and entrenched. Sherman's army tested the Rebel line while entrenching themselves. The Battle of Dallas occurred on May 28 when Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee's corps probed the Union defensive line, held by Maj. Gen. John A. Logan's Army of the Tennessee corps, to exploit any weakness or possible withdrawal. Fighting ensued at two different points, but the Rebels were repulsed, suffering high casualties. Sherman continued looking for a way around Johnston's line, and, on June 1, his cavalry occupied Allatoona Pass, which had a railroad and would allow his men and supplies to reach him by train. Sherman abandoned his lines at Dallas on June 5 and moved toward the railhead at Allatoona Pass forcing Johnston to follow soon afterwards. (AMC)

May 27: Sherman repulsed at Pickett's Mill -- After the Union defeat at New Hope Church, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman ordered Maj. Gen. O.O. Howard to attack Gen. Joseph E. Johnston' s seemingly exposed right flank. The Confederates were ready for the attack, which did not unfold as planned because supporting troops never appeared. The Rebels repulsed the attack causing high casualties. (AMC)

June 4: Johnston takes a position on Lost Mountain and Pine Top and moves to Brush Mountain to protect the railroad. (ng)

June 6: Union forces reach the Western & Atlantic at Acworth and reestablish their supply line.

June 10: The Union vanguard reaches Big Shanty (present-day Kennesaw, Ga.) and found itself confronted by a ten-mile long Confederate defense line. (Castel 25)

June 14: Leonidas Polk dies during fighting at Pine Mountain. (ng)

June 15: Fighting at Gilgal Church. The advances made by Sherman force Johnston to withdraw and reform a line at Kennesaw. (ng)

June 19: Johnston falls back to Kennesaw Mountain.

June 22: Hood attacks at Kolb Farm, halting Sherman's attempt to bypass Kennesaw.

June 25: Sherman declares that "flanking is played out" and orders Thomas and McPherson to "break through" Johnston's line with frontal assaults. (Castel 28)

June 27: The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.

June 28: General Henry Halleck sends a telegram from General Grant to Sherman, instructing to move against Johnston instead of "retaining (his) forces where they are", because it was unlikely that Grant would defeat Lee or take Richmond in the near future. (Castel 31-32)

July 2: Federal troops leaves their trenches, risking a large-scale attempt to turn the Confederate left. Unable to counter the move, Johnston evacuates his lines on and around Kennesaw and retreats southward through Marietta. (Castel 29-30)

July 8: Schofield, acting on Sherman's instructions, secured a bridgehead on the south (actually west) side of the Chattahoochee at Isham's Ford. (Castel 30)

July 9: Johnston realizes he has been outgeneraled and his position is untenable, withdrawing his army to the other side of the Chattahoochee River, burning the railroad bridge and establishing headquarters at the Dexter Niles house, a mere three miles from the center of Atlanta. In the city, when they learned of the retreat, hundreds of the inhabitants fled, and the evacuation of military hospitals and machinery, already under way, accelerated. (Castel 31)

July 15: In a report to Davis, Bragg asserts that naming Hood to command would give "unlimited satisfaction." This was a lie, as reaction in the Army of Tennessee to Johnston being superseded by Hood was generally negative. (Castel 35)

Morning, July 16: Davis telegraphs Johnston, inquiring about a specific plan of operations. (Castel 34)

Evening, July 16: Johnston responds to Davis's telegram, stating that "As the enemy has double our number, we must be on the defense...We are trying to put Atlanta in condition to be held for a day or two by the Georgia militia, that army movements may be freer and wider." (Castel 34)

Morning, July 17: Davis decides that Johnston could not be depended on to make an all-out effort to hold Atlanta, and relieves Johnston of command, naming Hood as head of the Army of Tennessee. (Castel 34-35)

July 17: Sherman's army crosses the Chattahoochee River, with McPherson and Schofield heading for Decatur, east of Atlanta, and Thomas moving directly on the city from the north. (Castel 35)

Overnight, July 17: Johnston and Hood recieve their telegrams from Davis. Hood, with Hardee and Stewart, sends a telegram to Davis asking him to retain Johnston in command until a battle deciding the fate of Atlanta was fought. Davis would refuse. (Castel 35)

July 18: Hood formally assumes command. Johnston goes to Atlanta from whence he and his wife took a train south to Macon. (Castel 35)

July 20: The Battle of Peachtree Creek -- Under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, the Army of Tennessee had retired south of Peachtree Creek, an east to west flowing stream, about three miles north of Atlanta. Sherman split his army into three columns for the assault on Atlanta with George H. Thomas's Army of the Cumberland moving from the north. Johnston had decided to attack Thomas, but Confederate President Jefferson Davis relieved him of command and appointed John B. Hood to take his place. Hood attacked Thomas after his army crossed Peachtree Creek. The determined assault threatened to overrun the Union troops at various locations. Ultimately, though, the Yankees held, and the Rebels fell back. (AMC)

July 22: The Battle of Atlanta -- Following the Battle of Peachtree Creek, Hood determined to attack Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson's Army of the Tennessee. He withdrew his main army at night from Atlanta' s outer line to the inner line, enticing Sherman to follow. In the meantime, he sent William J. Hardee with his corps on a fifteen-mile march to hit the unprotected Union left and rear, east of the city. Wheeler's cavalry was to operate farther out on Sherman's supply line, and Gen. Frank Cheatham's corps were to attack the Union front. Hood, however, miscalculated the time necessary to make the march, and Hardee was unable to attack until afternoon. Although Hood had outmaneuvered Sherman for the time being, McPherson was concerned 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 reserve force and were repulsed. The Rebel attack stalled on the Union rear but began 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. About 4:00 pm, Cheatham's corps 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 halt their drive. Maj. Gen. 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. (AMC)

Early morning, July 22: Sherman is informed that the enemy seems to be evacuating Atlanta and orders Schofield to occupy the city while the rest of the army gives pursuit. (Castel 39)

Early afternoon, July 22: Hardee launches an attack on the Union left and rear.

Evening, July 22: Darkness ends the Battle of Atlanta, the largest engagement of the Atlanta campaign, one that cost the Confederates about 5,500 casualties and the Federals nearly 4,000, a large proportion of whom were prisoners from the XVII Corps. (Castel 42)

July 28: Battle of Ezra Church -- Earlier, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's forces had approached Atlanta from the east and north. Hood had not defeated them, but he had kept them away from the city. Sherman now decided to attack from the west. He ordered the Army of the Tennessee, commanded by Maj. Gen. O.O. Howard, to move from the left wing to the right and cut Hood's last railroad supply line between East Point and Atlanta. Hood foresaw such a maneuver and determined to send the two corps of Lt. Gen. Stephen D. Lee and Lt. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart to intercept and destroy the Union force. Thus, on the afternoon of July 28, the Rebels assaulted Howard at Ezra Church. Howard had anticipated such a thrust, entrenched one of his corps in the Confederates' path, and repulsed the determined attack, inflicting numerous casualties. Howard, however, failed to cut the railroad. (AMC)

July 30: Stoneman's cavalry sets out for Andersonville to free the Union prisoners, but is stopped at Macon by an inexperienced collection of Georgia Reserves, miltia and a number of citizen companies, and he and seven hundred of his troopers are forced to surrender near Sunshine Church. Also, McCook's cavalry is routed by Wheeler at Brown's Mill near Newnan. As a result, two of the Federals' four cavalry divisions were out of action. (Castel 44)

August 6: Schofield's XXIII Corps is repulsed at what he hoped would be a vulnerable point in the Confederate line along Utoy Creek. Meanwhile, Palmer resigns as commander of the XIV Corps, to be replaced by Jefferson C. Davis, whose main claim to fame was the murdering of a fellow Federal general in Louisville in 1862. (Castel 46)

August 9: Sherman's artillery begins to rain shells and solid shot on Atlanta day and night, eneavoring to "make the inside of Atlanta too hot to be endured." The bombardment did considerable damage to buildings in the northern part, killed and injured a hundred or so civilians, among them women and children, but achieved no military effect whatsoever. (Castel 46)

August 14-15: Raiding in Dalton -- Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler and his cavalry raided into North Georgia to destroy railroad tracks and supplies. They approached Dalton in the late afternoon of August 14 and demanded the surrender of the garrison. The Union commander, Col. Bernard Laibolt, refused to surrender and fighting ensued. Greatly outnumbered, the Union garrison retired to fortifications on a hill outside the town where they successfully held out, although the attack continued until after midnight. Skirmishing continued throughout the night. Around 5:00 am, on the 15th, Wheeler retired and became engaged with relieving infantry and cavalry under Maj. Gen. James B. Steedman's command. Eventually, Wheeler withdrew. The contending forces' reports vary greatly in describing the fighting, the casualties, and the amount of track and supplies captured and destroyed. This engagement was inconclusive, but since the Confederates withdrew, it may be termed a Union victory. (AMC)

August 19: Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick (U.S.), with 4,700 troopers, strikes the Macon railroad at Jonesboro, 15 miles south of Atlanta. (Castel 47)

August 20: Battle at Lovejoy's Station -- While Confederate Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler was absent raiding Union supply lines from North Georgia to East Tennessee, Maj. Gen. William Sherman, unconcerned, sent Judson Kilpatrick to raid Rebel supply lines. Leaving on August 18, Kilpatrick hit the Atlanta & West Point Railroad that evening, tearing up a small area of tracks. Next, Kilpatrick headed for Lovejoy's Station on the Macon & Western Railroad. In transit, on the 19th, Kilpatrick's men hit the Jonesborough supply depot on the Macon & Western Railroad, burning great amounts of supplies. On the 20th, they reached Lovejoy's Station and began their destruction. Rebel infantry (Cleburne's Division) appeared and the raiders were forced to fight into the night, finally fleeing to prevent encirclement. Although Kilpatrick had destroyed supplies and track at Lovejoy's Station, the railroad line was back in operation in two days. (AMC)

August 25-26: The Union army pulls out of its trenches and begins marching in a great arc to the west and south of Atlanta, leaving behind only the XX Corps to guard the rebuilt railroad bridge over the Chattahoochee. (Castel 47-48)

August 31-Sept. 1: Battle of Jonesboro -- Sherman had successfully cut Hood's supply lines in the past by sending out detachments, but the Confederates quickly repaired the damage. In late August, Sherman determined that if he could cut Hood's supply lines—the Macon & Western and the Atlanta & West Point Railroads—the Rebels would have to evacuate Atlanta. Sherman, therefore, decided to move six of his seven infantry corps against the supply lines. The army began pulling out of its positions on August 25 to hit the Macon & Western Railroad between Rough and Ready and Jonesboro. To counter the move, Hood sent Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee with two corps to halt and possibly rout the Union troops, not realizing Sherman's army was there in force. On August 31, Hardee attacked two Union corps west of Jonesborough but was easily repulsed. Fearing an attack on Atlanta, Hood withdrew one corps from Hardee's force that night. The next day, a Union corps broke through Hardee' s troops which retreated to Lovejoy's Station, and on the night of September 1, Hood evacuated Atlanta. Sherman did cut Hood's supply line but failed to destroy Hardee's command. (AMC)

September 1: Hood realizes there is no possibility of regaining control of the railroad and the only choice left him was to evacuate Atlanta. This he orders done as soon as it becomes dark. Sherman orders the IV Corps and the XXIII to move down the railroad, destroying track as it went, until it reached Jonesboro where it was to join the XIV Corps in an attack on Hardee's forces. (Castel 48-49)

September 3: Sherman wires Washington "Atlanta is ours, and fairly won..."

September 8: Sherman issues Order No. 67, requiring that all civilians not connected with the Union army depart the city. After a series of indignant, unavailing protests from the Confederates the exodus began, and over ten days virtually all the civilian citizens were evacuated. (Marvel 50)

November 16: Sherman departs Atlanta for Savannah in his "March to the Sea."