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These communications (issued two days after the Battle of Atlanta) indicate the severe loss suffered in the 16th & 17th Army Corps-
HEADQUARTERS LEFT WING, SIXTEENTH ARMY CORPS,
Near Atlanta, Ga., July 24, 1864.
Capt. L. M. DAYTON,
Aide-de-Camp:
I respectfully request that the Third Brigade, Fourth Division, Sixteenth Army Corps, now at Decatur, Ala., be ordered to join this command. The two divisions, comprising four brigades present (two to each division), have lost in killed and wounded alone some 2,000 men, and the detaching two brigades, together with the loss from sickness, has reduced the command from 12,500 effective, which it started with, to some 6,000....If it is possible, under the exigencies of the service, I trust the general commanding the Military Division of the Mississippi will order up a portion of my command.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
G. M. DODGE,
Major-general.
***
HEADQUARTERS SEVENTEENTH ARMY CORPS,
Before Atlanta, Ga., July 24, 1864.
Capt. L. M. DAYTON,
A. D.C. and A. A. A. G., Mil. Div. of the Mississippi:
CAPTAIN: I have the honor to represent for the information of the Major-general commanding the Division of the Mississippi that this corps was reduced when I assumed command of it to about 10,000 effective men by leaving the strongest division at Vicksburg. Upon my arrival at Allatoona I left one brigade and two batteries, numbering about 1,200 men...
Since that time, in the various actions in which the corps has been engaged, it has lost about 3,000 men, leaving me an effective force of only some 6,000. Under these circumstances I would most respectfully request that that portion of this corps which was left at Allatoona, and which is now stationed at Kenesaw Mountain, may be relieved by some other command and ordered to report to me for duty as soon as practicable.
I am, captain, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
**I believe this was the only time a Federal army commander was killed in battle.
Reynolds. Gettysburg.
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Ole,
I'am think Battalion meant the Atlanta Campaign and if so I believe he was right. If not, Reynolds was indeed a big loss but I think the Union Army took at harder hit when they lost two very good potential senior commanders at the Battle of Chantilly with the likes of Phillip Kearney and Isaac Stevens.
But on further thought, they were only "potential" army commanders at the time of their deaths so I guess thaqt would not apply to this discussion.
Respectfully,
Spartan
Last edited by SpartanGSG; 07-21-2006 at 10:56 PM.
The dates in this thread confuse me a bit. (I'm easily confused, but usually just miss it as it goes by?) My gg grandfather was wounded in defense of Atlanta on August 9, 1864 from an exploding shell from one of Bill Sherman's parrott guns. The Battle for Atlanta in total consisted of several different 'battles'.
Larry:
I could be wrong (and most probably am), but I think the Battle for Atlanta most commonly refers to the engagement wherein McPherson was killed. Peachtree Creek, although one of the series of battles for Atlanta, remains Peachtree Creek. Kinda like the Hornet's Nest at Shiloh -- a part of a series of localized struggles, but the name came to cover all of them.
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Sherman's army actually consisted of three army groups (each having several army corps)-
Army of the Cumberland (Thomas)
"................Tennessee (McPherson)
"................Ohio (Schofield)
The dates in this thread confuse me a bit. (I'm easily confused, but usually just miss it as it goes by?) My gg grandfather was wounded in defense of Atlanta on August 9, 1864 from an exploding shell from one of Bill Sherman's parrott guns. The Battle for Atlanta in total consisted of several different 'battles'.
True....but there was an engagement during the period officially designated as the 'Battle of Atlanta.'
Atlanta Campaign Battles-
May 14-16......................Resaca
May 25-June 1.................New Hope Church/Pickett's Mill/Dallas
June 27..........................Kennesaw Mtn.
July 20...........................Peachtree Creek
July 21...........................Bald Hill
July 22...........................Atlanta
July 28...........................Ezra Church
~late July thru August~....Siege operations
Aug.31-Sept.1................Jonesboro
(also several minor combats between the dates given)
They had taken the best the CS Army of the West could throw at them and they had not only held but had forced the enemy to withdraw. In short order any ground lost had been recouped.
Lost Ground
The 17th A.C. (on the right of map, page 479) was entirely driven from the field (nearly a mile). They did not regain the ground.
The fighting involving the 16th A.C. went back and forth...but eventually they had to fall back to close with the new line of the 17th A.C. (map, page 482).
Hardee reported his losses as 3,299 (Craig L. Symonds, Stonewall of the West, p.230). I have no report for Cheatham's Corps but it is believed to be less than the loss suffered by Hardee's Corps.
So the 5,000 number may be more accurate.
~
This is the report many 'historians' use by which to gauge Confederate losses-
(Logan-) "...enemy's dead thus far reported buried and delivered to them, 3,220; total prisoners sent North, 1,017; total prisoners wounded in our hands, 1,000; estimated loss of the enemy, at least 10,000...." O.R., 1-38-3, p.21 http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-b...TIF&pagenum=21
"dead...3,220".......No side...in any battle (or part of a battle) during the entire war...had 3,000 dead in a 6 hours fight.
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