Battle of Atlanta - Battle

Battle

Meanwhile, Hood ordered Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee's corps on a march around the Union left flank, had Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler's cavalry march near Sherman's supply line, and had Maj. Gen. Benjamin Cheatham's corps attack the Union front. However, it took longer than expected for Hardee to get his men in position, and during that time, McPherson had correctly deduced a possible threat to his left flank, and sent XVI Corps, his reserve, to help strengthen it. Hardee's force met this other force, and the battle began. Although the initial Confederate attack was repulsed, the Union left flank began to retreat. About this time, McPherson, who had ridden to the front to observe the battle, was shot and killed by Confederate infantry.

Near Decatur, Brig. Gen. John W. Sprague, in command of the 2nd Brigade, 4th Division of the XVI Corps, were attacked by Wheeler's calvalry. Wheeler had taken the Fayetteville Road while Hardee's column took the Flat Shoals Road toward McPherson's position. The Federals fled the town in a stampede but managed to save the ordnance and supply trains of the XV, XVI, XVII, and XX Corps. With the failure of Hardee's assault, Wheeler was in no position to hold Decatur and fell back into Atlanta that night. Sprague was later awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.

The main lines of battle now formed an "L" shape, with Hardee's attack forming the lower part of the "L" and Cheatham's attack on the Union front as the vertical member of the "L". Hood intended to attack the Union troops from both east and west. The fighting centered around a hill east of the city known as Bald Hill. The Federals had arrived two days earlier and began to shell the city proper, killing several civilians. A savage struggle, sometimes hand-to-hand, developed around the hill, lasting until just after dark. The Federals held the hill while the Confederates retired to a point just south of there. Meanwhile, two miles to the north, Cheatham's troops had broken through the Union lines at the Georgia railroad. In response, twenty artillery pieces were positioned near Sherman's headquarters at Copen Hill and shelled the Confederates, while Logan's XV Corps regrouped and repulsed the Southern troops.

The Union had suffered 3,641 casualties, including Maj. Gen. McPherson, to the Confederates' 8,499. This was a devastating loss for the already reduced Confederate Army, but they still held the city. One notable establishment destroyed by Union soldiers was the Potter (or Ponder) House, built in 1857 and owned by Ephraim G. Ponder, a holder of sixty-five slaves before the war. In the battle, it was used by Confederate sharpshooters until Union artillery inflicted heavy damage. It was never rebuilt. One of Ponder's slaves, Festus Flipper, was the father of Henry Ossian Flipper, who later became the first African American cadet to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point.