The Battle of Ezra Church and the Struggle for Atlanta

Summary: Fought on July 28, 1864, the Battle of Ezra Church was a dramatic engagement during the Civil War's Atlanta Campaign. Confederate forces under John Bell Hood desperately fought to stop William T. Sherman's advancing armies as they tried to cut the last Confederate supply line into the city. Confederates under General Stephen D. Lee nearly overwhelmed the Union right flank, but Federals under General Oliver O. Howard decisively repelled every attack. After five hours of struggle, 5,000 Confederates lay dead and wounded, while only 632 Federals were lost. The result was another major step in Sherman's long effort to take Atlanta. Hess challenges many common misconceptions about the battle, and sheds new light on the complexities and significance of this important engagement, both on and off the battlefield.

Item details

ISBN: 9781469622415 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN: 1469622416 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN: 9781469622422 (ebook)
Physical Description: print
xv, 272 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.
Publisher: Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, [2015]

Contents / Notes

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-266) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

A delicate movement: maneuver, battle, and logistics -- They are Sherman's flankers: July 27 -- General Hood will attack me here!: morning, July 28 -- That shrill, terrifying yell: Brantley's Brigade -- A scene of absolute horror: Sharp's Brigade and Johnston's Brigade -- The bigest kinde of a rot: Clayton's Division and Manigault's Brigade -- The blood-stained path: Walthall's Division -- Nerve and persistency: along the line on July 28 -- The bloody effects of that half day's work: the battlefield -- Enough for one or two more killings: evaluating Ezra Church -- Our true move: July 29 to August 3.