Battle of Resaca
The Battle of Resaca, from May 13 to 15, 1864, formed part of the Atlanta campaign during the American Civil War, when a Union force under William Tecumseh Sherman engaged the Confederate Army of Tennessee led by Joseph E. Johnston. The battle was fought in Gordon and Whitfield counties, Georgia, and is generally viewed as inconclusive.
The campaign began with Johnston holding strong defensive positions at Buzzard's Roost Gap and Rocky Face Ridge, which he hoped Sherman would assault. He was compelled to abandon Dalton when the Union Army of the Tennessee under James B. McPherson seized the unguarded Snake Creek Gap on May 8, threatening Resaca from the west. Johnston retreated to Resaca where he was joined by reinforcements gathering there; he was pursued by Sherman, most of whose forces followed McPherson through Snake Creek Gap, while others came south down the Western and Atlantic Railroad.
On May 14, Sherman gained a foothold west of Resaca but an attack on Confederate defenses to the north and northwest was repulsed, as was an assault by Johnston on the Union left flank later the same day. On May 15, Sherman's attack to the north and a Confederate counterattack were both stopped, but other Union forces seized a bridgehead on the south bank of the Oostanaula River. With his line of retreat threatened, Johnston abandoned Resaca that night and retreated south to Adairsville, where there was a skirmish on May 17.
Background
Union Army
On April 30, Sherman commanded the Military Division of the Mississippi and gathered a field army numbering 110,000 soldiers of which 99,000 were available for "offensive purposes". All of the Union army's 254 guns consisted of 12-pounder Napoleons, 10-pounder Parrott rifles, 20-pounder Parrott rifles, and 3-inch Ordnance rifles. The 25,000 non-combatants accompanying the army included railroad employees and repair crews, teamsters, medical staff, and Black camp servants. Sherman directed elements of three armies.According to Jacob Dolson Cox, the Army of the Cumberland led by George H. Thomas mustered 60,000 troops and 130 guns, the Army of the Tennessee under James B. McPherson counted 25,000 soldiers and 96 guns, and the Army of the Ohio commanded by John Schofield numbered 14,000 men and 28 guns.
Mark M. Boatner III credited Thomas' army with 63,000, McPherson's army with 24,000, and Schofield's army with 13,500. On May 1, Sherman had 88,188 infantry, 4,460 artillery, and 6,149 cavalry, or an effective strength of 98,797 men. According to Kevin W. Young, Sherman had 110,000 troops.
Thomas' army was made up of the IV Corps under Oliver Otis Howard, the XIV Corps under John M. Palmer, the XX Corps under Joseph Hooker, and three cavalry divisions led by Edward M. McCook, Kenner Garrard, and Hugh Judson Kilpatrick. McPherson's army consisted of the XV Corps under John A. Logan and the Left Wing of the XVI Corps under Grenville M. Dodge. The XVII Corps under Francis Preston Blair Jr. would not join until June 8. Schofield's army was made up of the XXIII Corps under Schofield and a cavalry division led by George Stoneman. The IV and XX Corps each numbered 20,000 soldiers, the XIV Corps totaled 22,000, the XV Corps had 11,500, while the XVI and XVII Corps each counted about 10,000 men.
Confederate Army
Johnston's Army of Tennessee included two infantry corps led by William J. Hardee and John Bell Hood, and a cavalry corps under Joseph Wheeler. The army was soon joined by the corps of Leonidas Polk and the cavalry division of William H. Jackson, which was sometimes called the Army of Mississippi. Hardee's corps included the divisions of Benjamin F. Cheatham, Patrick Cleburne, William H. T. Walker, and William B. Bate. Hood's corps comprised the divisions of Thomas C. Hindman, Carter L. Stevenson, and Alexander P. Stewart. Polk's corps consisted of the divisions of William Wing Loring, Samuel Gibbs French, and James Cantey.On April 30, Johnston's Army of Tennessee reported 41,279 infantry, 8,436 cavalry, and 3,227 artillerymen serving 144 guns. Battles and Leaders calculated Johnston's reinforcements as follows: Hugh W. Mercer's brigade from the Atlantic coast on May 2, Cantey's division from Mobile, Alabama on May 7, Loring's division from Mississippi on May 10–12, French's detachment on May 12, Jackson's cavalry on May 17, and French's division on May 19. Other units arrived at a later date. There were about 8,000 non-combatants supporting the army, many of whom were men unfit for combat.
According to Young, Johnston had "almost 70,000" troops after Polk's corps joined. The American Battlefield Trust credited Johnston with 60,000 men at Resaca.
Strategy
, the General-in-chief of the Union Army ordered Sherman, "to move against Johnston's army, to break it up, and to get into the interior of the enemy's country as far as you can, inflicting all the damage you can against their war resources". Rather than "break up" the Confederate army, Sherman planned to drive it back to Atlanta. Since Atlanta was a critical Confederate railroad, supply, and manufacturing center, Sherman chose it as his objective. Sherman assumed that Grant's operations against Robert E. Lee in the Eastern Theater would be the primary campaign and that his operations in the Western Theater would be secondary. One thing both Grant and Sherman agreed on was that Johnston must not be allowed to reinforce Lee in the east.Sherman's first task was to gather enough supplies at his Chattanooga forward base to supply 100,000 soldiers and 35,000 horses for 70 days. That way, if the Confederates blocked the railroad between Nashville and Chattanooga, his Union troops would still be able to campaign. Sherman solved this problem by confiscating rolling stock from the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and two smaller railroads. By also prioritizing military use of the railroads, Sherman accumulated ample supplies by the end of April 1864. The Western and Atlantic Railroad connected Chattanooga with Atlanta and also supplied Johnston's army at Dalton. Sherman's 2,000-man railroad repair organization was led by William Wierman Wright.
Originally, Sherman planned to have McPherson's army thrust across the northeast corner of Alabama in the direction of Rome, Georgia. However, he found that the XVII Corps was still at Cairo, Illinois and Andrew Jackson Smith's two divisions also could not be used. Therefore, Sherman planned to use McPherson's 23,000 men to execute a plan proposed by Thomas, namely to march through Snake Creek Gap and wreck the Western and Atlantic Railroad at Resaca. Then Sherman wanted McPherson to withdraw to the gap. Meanwhile, Sherman wanted the armies of Thomas and Schofield to push the Confederate army frontally. With the railroad cut, Sherman expected Johnston to retreat, whereupon McPherson would emerge from the gap again to strike Johnston from the west while Thomas and Schofield attacked from the north.
In early April, the Confederate government in Richmond, Virginia wanted Johnston to take the offensive against the Union troops opposed to him. Johnston asked for reinforcements, but Confederate President Jefferson Davis declined. Davis expected the main Union offensive to be in the east and believed that the Union army did not have the strength to mount major offensives in both east and west. When Wheeler reported with near-accuracy that Sherman had 103,000 soldiers, Davis and his military adviser Braxton Bragg refused to believe it. Bragg asserted that Sherman had no more than 70,000, including a field force of 60,000. Davis did not trust Johnston, but felt that he could not replace him on the eve of the campaign.
Operations
When Jefferson Davis awoke to the danger Sherman posed to Georgia, he authorized Polk to send Loring's division from Mississippi and an infantry brigade from Mobile. Polk exceeded his orders by ordering French's division and Jackson's cavalry to move from Mississippi to Georgia and by going there himself. By May 3, Sherman's forces were in motion. On May 7, Palmer's XIV Corps marched southeast from Ringgold to Tunnel Hill, Howard's IV Corps marched from Catoosa Springs to support the XIV Corps, and Hooker's XX Corps marched southeast from Lee and Gordon Mill toward Mill Creek Gap in Rocky Face Ridge. Schofield's XXIII Corps marched southwest from Red Clay to connect with the IV Corps near Catoosa Springs. McCook's cavalry was at Varnell's Station on Sherman's left flank. McPherson's army marched south-southeast from Lee and Gordon Mill to Ship's Gap and then east to Villanow. Garrard's cavalry division was supposed to lead McPherson's columns but it was delayed; Sherman ordered the offensive to begin without it.On May 8, in the Battle of Rocky Face Ridge, the IV Corps brigade of Charles Garrison Harker seized the northern tip of the ridge and other units moved up to Buzzard Roost Pass. At Dug Gap south, John W. Geary's XX Corps division tried to force its way through the ridge but failed. However, these actions were designed to divert Johnston's attention from McPherson's force. In fact, Wheeler's cavalry detected McPherson's column, but Johnston was convinced that it was headed for Rome. Johnston ordered that Loring's division march to Rome from Alabama and that William T. Martin's cavalry division should also go there. Meanwhile, James Cantey's brigade arrived at Resaca. At first, Johnston ordered it to march to Dalton, but reconsidered and instructed it to stay at Resaca.
After a march on May 9, the XVI Corps division of Thomas W. Sweeny passed through the long gorge of Snake Creek Gap and reached its southern exit. The other XVI Corps division of James C. Veatch and two XV Corps divisions marched as far as the northern end of the gap that evening. The third XV Corps division was guarding the wagon train and Garrard's cavalry was still distant. Sherman directed Kilpatrick to assist McPherson by sending a cavalry brigade. McPherson let Sherman know he was in Snake Creek Gap and issued orders to advance to Resaca the next morning. Cleburne later wrote that Johnston's chief of staff William W. Mackall told him that the gap was undefended because of "a flagrant disobedience to orders", but did not name the guilty party.
On the night of May 9, Cantey reported to Johnston that cavalry sighted Union troops near Villanow. Therefore, Johnston ordered J. Warren Grigsby's cavalry brigade to occupy Snake Creek Gap. As Grigsby's troopers approached the gap at mid-morning of May 10, they encountered McPherson's advance elements, the 9th Illinois Mounted Infantry and the 66th Illinois Infantry Regiments. Grigsby immediately ordered his cavalrymen to delay the Union advance toward Resaca. By 2 pm, Dodge's two XVI Corps divisions reached a crossroads about west of Resaca. Leaving Veatch's division to watch the road from the north, Dodge pressed on with Sweeny's division and routed a 1,400-man Confederate force defending Bald Hill. Cantey had only 4,000 men to defend Resaca, including Grigsby's cavalry.
According to William R. Scaife, the Confederate force included a brigade under Daniel H. Reynolds and two 4-gun batteries armed with 12-pounder Napoleons. Another source, Cox stated that Reynolds' brigade was at Dug Gap.
At 4 pm, Logan's two divisions reached the crossroads, releasing Veatch's division. Veatch's men crossed Camp Creek on Sweeny's left and approached the railroad. Meanwhile, Sweeny's division pressed forward and got within of the railroad. McPherson, worried that he was walking into a trap, recalled both of Dodge's divisions and marched his command back to Snake Creek Gap after losing 6 killed, 30 wounded, and 16 captured. His orders were to break the railroad, but all his troops accomplished was to cut down some telegraph wire.