At Atlanta, Georgia, Sherman’s army by the end of August 1864 was on the move, attempting to push farther south and east to cut Atlanta’s last railroads into the city. With the Union Twentieth Corps holding the Union lines around Atlanta, three separate forces under Sherman moved against Atlanta’s last railroad links to the outside world. When one of the two remaining railroad lines into Atlanta was severed on Tuesday, August 30, Hood countered by sending his former corps under General Cleburne and S.D. Lee to attack the Federal flank near Jonesborough. But his attack failed with heavy losses, leaving Atlanta only with the Macon Railroad still under Confederate control. It appeared that Sherman desired to seize Atlanta more than he desired cutting off Hood’s possible retreat from the city.
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.