While several Union cavalry units raided near Atlanta, Union General Sherman ordered his own siege lines extended by sending infantry along the western borders of Atlanta toward important railroad outlets to the city’s south. General O.O. Howard, who eventually succeeded the slain James McPherson, moved his Union forces from the eastern side of Atlanta to its western border. Hood sent units of his Atlanta defenders to stop Howard’s troops, causing the two forces to clash at Ezra Church, Georgia on Thursday, July 28, 1864. After assaulting Federal forces for most of the afternoon and taking disproportionately high numbers of casualties, the Confederates called off their attack and retreated into the safety of Atlanta’s fortifications. Once again Hood’s Confederates proved incapable of destroying even part of Sherman’s attacking Union forces.
00000174-b11b-ddc3-a1fc-bfdbb1a20000The Schreiner University Department of History is honoring the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with a series of short vignettes focusing on events from 1861 through 1865. The Civil War was the most destructive conflict in American history, but it was also one of our most defining moments as a people and as a nation. Let us know what you think about "This Week in the Civil War." E-mail your comments to Dr. John Huddleston at jhuddles@schreiner.edu.Airs: Weekdays at 5:19 a.m., 8:19 a.m., 4:19 p.m. on KTXI and 4:49 a.m., 9:29 p.m. on KSTX.