Looking For A Defensive Position

A part of the Atlanta Campaign, the Battle of Adairsville was fought northeast of Rome, Georgia on May 17^th 1864 as a Confederate delaying action.

After the Battle of Resaca, Confederate General Joseph E Johnston took his army south, while Union General William T Sherman pursued.  Looking for a good defensive position, Johnson moved on to Adairsville while the Cavalry fought rearguard actions.  Sherman divided his troops into three columns, and advance on a broad front.

On May 17^th 1864 Union Major General Oliver O Howard’s IV Corps began skirmishing about two miles from Adairsville with Confederate Lieutenant General William J Hardee’s entrenched Corps.  The 24^th Wisconsin and 44^th Illinois attacked Confederate Benjamin F Cheatham’s division near the Octagon House receiving heavy losses.  With three Union divisions preparing for attack, darkness fell and called off the fighting.

Sherman concentrated all his troops in the Adairsville area, preparing to attack Johnston the next morning.  Johnston finding the valley at Adairsville to wide, leaving him no place to anchor his flanks, he withdrew his troops.

If you are interested in reading more about the Battle of Adairsville, GA  is a good place to start.

Split But Still Able To Overwhelm

A prelude to the Battle of Bentonville, the Battle of Averasboro was fought March 16^th 1865 in Cumberland and Harnett Counties, in North Carolina.

Union Major General William Tecumseh Sherman split his army into two columns as they moved toward Goldsboro, North Carolina.  The right was commanded by Major General Oliver Otis Howard, and the left column by Major General Henry W Slocum.  Confederate General Joseph E Johnston hoped to attack the Union troops while they were split up, and he sent Lieutenant General William J Hardee’s Corps for the job.  Slocum’s men crossed the Cape Fear River near Averasboro, North Carolina.

At dawn on the morning of March 16^th 1865 troops of the XX Corps under command of Union Major General Alpheus S William were attacked by Confederate troops.  Union reinforcement came onto the field and pushed the Confederate skirmishers back.  The Confederates formed another line, and held their ground.  However in the late afternoon, as more Union troops arrived on the field, Hardee could see his men were in danger of being outflanked, and he withdrew his troops during the night.

Old Reliable Resigns

Confederate General William Joseph Hardee resigned his United State Army commission on January 31st 1861.

William Joseph Hardee the son of Major John and Sarah [Ellis] Hardee, he was born October 12th 1815 at his families home in Camden County, Georgia. He attended the United State Military Academy at West Point, graduating 26 out of a class of 45 in 1838. Hardee was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the 2nd United States Dragoons. The Army sent him to France in 1840 to study military tactics. During the Mexican - American War Hardee was serving under General Zachary Taylor when he was captured at Carricitos Ranch, Texas. After being exchanged on May 11th 1846 he served under General Winfield Scott and was wounded at La Rosia, Mexico in 1847. He wrote “Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics” [known as “Hardee’s Tactics”] in 1855. Hardee returned to West Point where he taught tactics and served from 1856 to 1860 as commandant of cadets.

When Georgia seceded from the United States, Hardee resigned his commission on January 31st 1861. He became at Colonel in the Confederate States Army on March 7th 1861, with command of Fort Morgan in Alabama. Hardee was made a Lieutenant General October 10th 1862. His assignment was to organize an Arkansas regiment. Do to his seeing that his men were well supplied, they nicked named him “Old Reliable”. Hardee was a Corps commander in General Albert Sidney Johnston’s Army of Mississippi during the Battle of Shiloh, where he was wounded. His Corps was defeated by Union Major General George Henry Thomas during their assault on Missionary Ridge as part of the Battle of Chickamauga. Hardee was in the Battle of Bentonville in March 1865, where his only son 16 year old William was mortally wounded. Hardee surrendered to Union General William Tecumseh Sherman at Durham Station April 26th 1865.

Following the war Hardee went back to his wife’s plantation in Alabama. He latter moved to Selma, Alabama where Hardee worked in insurance and warehousing. He would become the president of the Selma and Meridian railroad, and co-author the book “The Irish in America” in 1868. Hardee took sick while with his family on vacation in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, and died November 6th 1873 in Wytherville, Virginia. He is buried in the Live Oak Cemetery in Selma, Alabama.

Feeling Out The Lines

The Battle of Dallas, part of the Atlanta Campaign happened on May 28th 1864.

Union Major General William Tecumseh Sherman learned on May 24th 1864 that his Confederate equivalent General Joseph E Johnston was forming a defensive line along the south side of Pumpkinvine Creek. Johnston’s army fell back during a series of skirmishes, first to Allatoona Pass, and then to the Dallas, Georgia area where they entrenched. Sherman’s army also entrenched while feeling out the Rebel line. The Battle of Dallas on May 28th 1864 began with Confederate Lieutenant General William J Hardee’s Corps made a probe into the Union defensive line held by Union Major General John A Logan, looking for weaknesses. Fighting occurred at several different points, with the Confederates being driven off after suffering high casualties.

Sherman vacated his position at Dallas on June 5th 1864 and moved to the railroad at Allatoona Pass, where he could get supplies and men by train. Johnston followed shortly after.

Slowing The Union Up

The Battle of Averasborough in North Carolina was fought on March 16th 1865.

Part of General William Tecumseh Sherman’s army in South Carolina, the left wing under the command of General Henry W Slocum and the right wing under Oliver Otis Howard marched with an objective of Goldsborough, North Carolinia. Howard marched toward Goldsborough while Slocum’s wing affected a march toward Raleigh in order to draw the Confederates.

Confederate General Joseph E Johnston attacked Slocum’s wing. Johnston sent General William J Hardee’s corps to slow Slocum up. On March 16th 1865 to two forces ran into each other in the town of Averasborough. Sherman who was traveling with Slocum’s wing ordered an attack on Hardee’s right and front. Although initially routing the Confederates, somehow Hardee’s men drew up and formed a defensive line in about a mile. The Confederates held this spot, holding off the Union’s repeated attacks until after dark. Hardee withdrew during the night having succeeded in delaying Slocum’s movements. The Union forces lost only 182 to the Confederates 865 casualties.

He was First In His Class

A career United States army officer James Birdseye McPherson was born November 14th 1828.

James Birdseye McPherson was born November 14th 1828 near Clyde, Ohio. He began his education at the Norwalk Academy in Ohio, before going on the graduate first in his class at West Point in 1853. His roommate at the Military Academy was John Bell Hood. McPherson was appointed to the Corps of Engineers, and taught for a year after his graduation at West Point.

At the beginning of the Civil War he was stationed in San Francisco, California. McPherson requested a transfer to the east, and received a position on the staff of Major General Henry W Halleck. McPherson was the Chief Engineer for Brigadier General Ulysses S Grant when the Union Army captured Forts Donelson and Henry. Following the Battle of Shiloh he was promoted to Brigadier General. In 1862 McPherson was given command of the XVII Corps in the Army of the Tennessee, and in 1864 he got command of the whole of the Army of the Tennessee when Major General William Tecumseh Sherman was promoted.

On July 22nd 1864 Union troops noticed that the Confederate soldier had pulled out of Atlanta, Georgia. Sherman felt the Confederates where evacuating, but McPherson argued that they were moving to attack the Union’s right flank. While this was being discussed four divisions under Confederate General William J Hardee flanked the Union XVII Corps. McPherson was riding toward his old Corp when he was confronted by a line of Rebels yelling for him halt. He turned his horse in an attempt to escape but was mortally wounded.

Four days after McPherson’s death Sherman wrote to his wife, telling her, "I lost my right bower in McPherson."

No One Celebrated

The Confederates took the advantage at the Battle of Stones River in Tennessee [aka the Battle of Murfreesboro] by attacking first. At dawn on December 31st 1862 while many of the Union men where having breakfast, two of Lieutenant General William J Hardee’s and one of Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk’s divisions strongly assaulted the right wing under Union Major General Alexander M McCook. By ten that morning the Rebels had managed to push the Union troops back about three miles, almost to the Nashville Pike. Only the units fighting tenaciously under Brigadier General Philip H Sheridan and Brigadier General James S Negley keep the battle from being a total Federal rout. At noon along the Nashville Pike troops under Major General Thomas Crittenden used infantry and artillery to push back a Confederate attack. The noise of battle was so loud that soldiers had to put cotton in the ears. As night came on the fighting died off. No one celebrated the New Year that night, as the two armies stayed in position for the next day.

Worth looking at
Stones River Bloody Winter Tennessee

Personal Recollections And Experiences Concerning The Battle Of Stone River (1889)

http://www.nps.gov/history/NR/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/40stones/40stones.htm