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VOL. I.
Battles of Resaca, Ga.
May 9th, 13th, 14th and 15th,
1864.
From “The Mountain Campaigns in
Georgia, or War Scenes on the W. A A.”
we are permitted to make the following
extracts, which refer to the fighting at
Resaca, Ga., immediately on the line
•of the Western and Atlantic Rail
road, during May, 1864:
On this same day (May 9th) quite an
important fight occurred at Resaca,
between two brigades of Confederates,
under General Canty, and the army of
the Tennessee, under Major-General
McPherson, who had made a fiank
movement through Snake Creek Gap,
for the purpose of capturing the town
:and railroad bridge in Johnston’s rear,
which lasted till dark, and resulted in
the repulse of the Federals.
During the night, General Johnston
sent down Hood’s corps of three divis
ions, under Generals Hindman, Cle
burne and Walker, and, finding these
too strong for him, McPherson retreat
ed to Snake Creek Gap and entrenched.
Snake Creek Gap, which played so
important apart in this movement, and
in shaping the general results of the
■campaign, cannot be better described
than in the following quotation, also,
from General Cox:
Snake Creek is an insignificant
branch of the Oostanaula, running
southward between high and rugged
ridges, which, on the east, are nearly
continuous with Rocky Face, and are
known by the general name of Chat
toogata Mountains. On the west the
parallel range is called Horn Moun
tain. A watershed half-way from
Tunnel Hill to the Oostanaula sepa
rates the sources of Mill Creek from
those of Snake Creek, and this divide
is properly the gap. The whole pass,
however, is known by the name, and
is a wild and picturesque defile, five or
six miles long. Hardly a cabin was
to be, seen in its whole length, lhe
road was only such a track as country
wagons had worn in the bed of the
stream or along the foot of the moun
tain. The forest shut it in, and only
for a little while at midday did the
sun enter it. Near its southern ex
tremity it reached the
more open country bordering the river,
THE BATTLE OF RESACA NUMBER.
which here runs for a little way nearly
west, and roads branch off to Resaca,
eastward, and southward to Calhoun,
turning the south end of the precipi
tous ridges, which guard Dalton on the
west. Resaca itself stands in the el
bow at the junction of the Connasauga
with the Oostanaula, and on the north
bank of the latter stream. Camp
Creek, another small stream, flows into
the river just west of the village, and
the high plateau bordering it and the
more rugged hills between it and the
Connasauga a little further north, made
it a very strong place for the en
trenched camp which the Confederate
commander had prepared there. —
(“Atlanta,” pages 35, 36.)
General Sherman says of this en
gagement that McPherson:
r 5 c 5
* * * * had not done the full
measure of his work. He bad in hand
twenty-three thousand of the best men
of the army, and could have walked
into Resaca (then held only by a small
brigade), or he could have placed his
whole force astride the railroad above
Resaca, and there have easily with
stood the attack of Johnston’s army,
with the knowledge that Thomas and
Schofield were on his heels. * * *
ATLANTA, GA., APRIL, 1886.
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* Such an opportunity does not come
twice in a single life; but at the criti
cal moment McPherson seems to have
been a littl° timid. Still he was per
fectly justified by his orders, and fell
back, and assumed a defensive position
in Sugar Valley, on the Resaca side of
Snake Creek Gap. As soon as I was
informed of this, I determined to pass
the whole army through Snake Creek
Gap, and move on to Resaca with the
main army. —(Sherman’s Memoirs,
Vcl. 11, panes 34, 35.)
During the next day, another at
tempt was made upon the Confederates
at Mill Creek Gap; but resulted in a
Federal repulse.
On the evening of the 11th, General
Johnston ordered General Wheeler to
move, at daylight the next day, around
the end of Rocky Face Ridge, towards
Tunnel Hill, with all of his available
cavalry, to ascertain if the movement
southward by the Federal army had
been a general one. General Hind
man was instructed to support Wheeler
with his division. The Confederates
encountered Stoneman’s cavalry at
this point, and drove them back, with
a loss to the latter of 150 men and
some 400 loaded wagons.
This reconnaissance confirmed the
impression that almost the entire Fed
eral army was marching toward Snake
Creek Gap on its way to Resaca.
Accordingly, Dalton * was evacuated
the next day by the Confederate army,
which retired to Resaca.
The Federal army approaching Re
saca on the Snake Creek Gap road, was
met about a mile from the place by
Loring’s division, and held in check
long enough to enable Hardee’s and
Hood’s corps, then just arriving, to
occupy their ground undistured. As
the army was formed (in two lines)
Polk’s and Hardee’s corps were west of
the place and railroad, facing to the
west, the former on the left, with its
left resting on the Oostanaula. Hood’s
corps extended from Hardee’s right
across the railroad to the Connasauga,
facing to the northwest.
There was brisk skirmishing all the
afternoon of May 13th on Polk’s front,
and that of Hardee’s left division —
Cheatham’s. —(Johnston’s Narra
tive, pages 309, 310.)
Early the next day, the skirmishers
became engaged along the entire line,
beginning on the west. “Those of
Polk’s corps, from some unaccountable
mistake, abandoned their ground,
which was regained only by great per
sonal efforts on the part of their field
officers, * * * * A vigorous as
sault was made upon Hindman’s divis
ion; but the assailants were repulsed.”
Later on during the day, Lieutenant-
General Hood was ordered to attack
the Federal left, with Stewart’s and
Stevenson’s divisions. This movement
began about six o’clock in the after
noon, and was conducted by the Con
federates with admirable precision and
vigor, and before dark the Federal
left was driven from its ground.
* On August 15, 1864, Dalton was cap
tured by Wheeler’s cavalry, who were raid
ing Sherman’s communications. The Con
federates secured 200 prisoners and destroyed
considerable army stores, etc., and then
went northward.
Dalton was also captured by Hood’s
army, on its grand retrograde movement,
after the fall of Atlanta. There was a
sharp fight south of the town. The Confed
erates here captured the garrison, a regiment
of negro troops. This was on October 13,
1864.
NO. 4.
