General John Bell Hood tried everything he could: Surprise attack.
Flanking march. Cavalry raid into the enemy's rear lines. Simply
enduring his opponent's semi-siege of the city. But nothing he tried
worked. Because by the time he assumed command of Confederate forces
protecting Atlanta, his predecessor Joe Johnston's chronic,
characteristic strategy of gradual withdrawal had doomed the city to
fall to William T. Sherman's Union troops.
Joe Johnston lost Atlanta and John Bell Hood has gotten a bum rap,
Stephen Davis argues in his new book, Atlanta Will Fall: Sherman, Joe
Johnston, and the Yankee Heavy Battalions. The fall of the city was
inevitable because Johnston pursued a strategy that was typical of his
career: he fell back. Again and again. To the point where he allowed
Sherman's army to within five miles of the city. Against a weaker
opponent, Johnston's strategy might have succeeded. But Sherman
commanded superior numbers, and he was a bold, imaginative strategist
who pressed the enemy daily and used his artillery to pound their lines.
Against this combination, Johnston didn't have a chance. And by the time
Hood took over the Confederate command, neither did he.
Atlanta Will Fall provides a lively, fast-paced overview of the entire
Atlanta campaign from Dalton to Jonesboro. Davis describes the battles
and analyzes the strategies. He evaluates the three generals, examining
their plans of action, their tactics, and their leadership ability. In
doing so, he challenges the commonly held perceptions of the two
Confederate leaders and provides a new perspective on one of the most
decisive battles of the Civil War.
An excellent supplemental text for courses on the Civil War and American
nineteenth-century history, Atlanta Will Fall will engage students with
its brisk, concise examination of the fight for Atlanta.
