Battle of Allatoona

Battle of Allatoona
Part of the American Civil War
Battle of Allatoona Pass, 1897 illustration
Date October 5, 1864 Location Bartow County, Georgia Result Union victory
Belligerents
United States (Union)	CSA (Confederacy)
Commanders and leaders
John M. Corse	Samuel G. French
Strength
2,025[1]	3,276[1]
Casualties and losses
706[1]	897[1]

The Battle of Allatoona, also known as the Battle of Allatoona Pass, was fought October 5, 1864, in Bartow County, Georgia, as part of the Franklin-Nashville Campaign of the American Civil War. A Confederate division under Maj. Gen. Samuel G. French attacked a Union garrison under Brig. Gen. John M. Corse, but was unable to dislodge it from its fortified position protecting the railroad through Allatoona Pass.

Background

Allatoona Pass, circa 1860-65. Photo by Mathew Brady.

Allatoona Pass, circa 1862-65.

After the fall of Atlanta, Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood moved the Confederate Army of Tennessee northward to threaten the Western and Atlantic Railroad, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's supply line. Hood's corps under Lt. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart attacked a number of minor garrisons and damaged track from October 2 to October 4. Hood ordered Stewart to send a division to attack the Federal supply base where the railroad ran through a deep gap in the Allatoona Mountain range and then move north to burn the bridge over the Etowah River. At Hood's suggestion, Stewart selected the division of Maj. Gen. Samuel G. French, three brigades commanded by Brig. Gens. Claudius Sears, Francis M. Cockrell, and William Hugh Young.^[2]

The small Federal garrison, commanded by Col. John Eaton Tourtellotte, was a partial brigade (1st Brigade, 3rd Division, XV Corps), consisting of the 93rd Illinois Infantry, 18th Wisconsin Infantry, and Tourtellotte's own 4th Minnesota Infantry. Before the Southern division arrived, Sherman sent a reinforcement brigade (3rd Brigade, 4th Division, XV Corps) to Allatoona, under the division commander, Brig. Gen. John M. Corse, who took command of both brigades. The Federal troops occupied strong defensive positions in two earthen redoubts on each side of a 180 feet (55 m), 65 feet (20 m) deep railroad cut and many of the men, including the entire 7th Illinois, were armed with Henry repeating rifles.^[3]

Battle

French's division arrived near Allatoona at sunrise on October 5. After a two-hour artillery bombardment by twelve Confederate manufactured 12 pounder brass Napoleon guns of Myrick's Artillery Battalion^[4] manned by men of Capt. Alcide Bouanchaud's Battery [the Pointe Coupee Artillery), (Louisiana)^[5]], Capt. James J. Cowan's Battery of Warren County, Mississippi and Capt. Robert L. Barry's Battery (Lookout Artillery, Tennessee Volunteers)]. French sent a demand for surrender, which Corse refused. French then launched his brigades in an attack—Sears from the north (against the rear of the fortifications) and Cockrell, supported by Young, from the west. Corse's men survived the sustained two-hour attack against the main fortification, the Star Fort on the western side of the railroad cut, but were pinned down and Tourtellotte sent reinforcements from the eastern fort. Under heavy pressure, it seemed inevitable that the Federals would be forced to surrender, but by noon French received a report from his cavalry that a strong Union force was approaching from Acworth, so he withdrew at 2 p.m.^[6] A substantial Union force ordered by Gen. Sherman to the besieged stronghold reached Allatoona the next morning.^[7]

Aftermath

Allatoona was a relatively small, but bloody battle with high percentages of casualties: 706 Union (including about 200 prisoners) and 897 Confederate. Nonetheless, in his autobiography, General and President U.S. Grant praised the stand made by Corse and his men. Corse was wounded during the battle and on the following day sent a message to Sherman: "I am short a cheek bone and one ear, but am able to whip all hell yet." French was unsuccessful in seizing the railroad cut and Federal garrison, regretting in particular that he was unable to seize the one million rations stored there, or to burn them before he retreated.^[8]

There is a persistent myth that when Gen. Sherman signaled the garrison to "hold the fort" and "I am coming" he was only bluffing and never really sent re-enforcements to aid Gen. Corse in the defense of Allatoona. This myth goes further saying Gen. French relied upon false intelligence that Union re-enforcements were marching toward Allatoona to cut his Confederate force off from Gen. Hood's Army of Tennessee and thus mistakenly abandoned the attack on Allatoona. Even the most cursory review of available historical documents reveals that Gen. Sherman recalled in his memoirs that he ordered the Twenty-Third Corp commanded by Maj. Gen. Jacob D. Cox to the west toward Allatoona with instructions to burn houses and brush piles along the way to make a show of re-enforcements approaching. Sherman added, "The rest of the army was directed toward Allatoona..."^[9]

Cox's force was assigned the task of cutting off Gen. French from the Confederate Army of Tennessee and although it arrived too late to assist in the defense of Allatoona or cut Gen. French off from the main Confederate army, Sherman recalled, "... still several ambulances and stragglers were picked up by this (Maj. Gen. J. D. Cox's) command on that road."^[10]

Gen. Sherman's message to Allatoona via signal flag to "hold the fort" inspired the later popular religious hymn entitled Hold the Fort by Chicago evangelist Philip P. Bliss, which featured the chorus, "'Hold the fort, for I am coming'"^[11]

See also

• Sherman quotations

Notes

1. Kennedy, p. 391.
2. Kennedy, p. 390.
3. Welcher, p. 584; Kennedy, p. 390.
4. Major John D. Myrick
5. Evans, vol. 10, p. 195.
6. Welcher, p. 584; Kennedy, p. 391; Sword, p. 56.
7. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington, D.C., Ser. 1, Vol. XXXIX, Part III, p. 97-98.
8. Kennedy, p. 391; Jacobson, p. 38; Sword, pp. 55–56, 59.
9. Sherman, William T. 1990. Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman: Vol. 2, p. 622.
10. Sherman's Memoirs, Vol. 2, pgs 624, 625.
11. Smith, pp. 282-84

References

• Evans, Clement A., ed. Confederate Military History: A Library of Confederate States History. 12 vols. Atlanta: Confederate Publishing Company, 1899. OCLC 833588.
• Jacobson, Eric A., and Richard A. Rupp. For Cause & for Country: A Study of the Affair at Spring Hill and the Battle of Franklin. O'More Publishing, 2007. ISBN 0-9717444-4-0.
• Kennedy, Frances H., ed. The Civil War Battlefield Guide. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998. ISBN 0-395-74012-6.
• Sword, Wiley. The Confederacy's Last Hurrah: Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1992. ISBN 0-7006-0650-5. First published with the title Embrace an Angry Wind in 1992 by HarperCollins.
• Welcher, Frank J. The Union Army, 1861–1865 Organization and Operations. Vol. 2, The Western Theater. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-253-36454-X.
• National Park Service battle description
• Smith, Alfred B., Al Smith's Treasury of Hymn Histories, • Better Music Publications]; Keepsake ed (1985) ASIN: B00070TQY4

External links

• Battle of Allatoona Pass About North Georgia's detailed description of the battle
• Allatoona Pass at Civil War Virtual Tours
• Allatoona Pass Battlefield, "The Official Website"
• The Battle of Allatoona, October 5th, 1864 at Project Gutenberg (Text from 1891)

Coordinates: 34°06′58″N 84°42′58″W / 34.116°N 84.716°W