Booknotes: The Atlanta Campaign, Volume 3

New Arrival:

• The Atlanta Campaign, Volume 3: From the Chattahoochee to Peach Tree Creek, June 28 to July 20, 1864 by David A. Powell (Savas Beatie, 2026).

Beginning in 2024, publisher Savas Beatie has been releasing installments of David Powell's planned five-volume 1864 Atlanta Campaign series once per year. The latest is The Atlanta Campaign, Volume 3: From the Chattahoochee to Peach Tree Creek, June 28 to July 20, 1864. Within the past ten years, this part of the campaign has received extensive attention in the literature. Powell's Volume 3 covers much of the same ground that Earl Hess addressed in 2017 with The Battle of Peach Tree Creek: Hood's First Effort to Save Atlanta and Robert Jenkins did earlier in two volumes (2014's The Battle of Peach Tree Creek: Hood's First Sortie, July 20, 1864 and 2015's To the Gates of Atlanta: From Kennesaw Mountain to Peach Tree Creek, 1-19 July 1864).

Powell's Volume 2 concluded in the aftermath of the Kennesaw Mountain battle, with the Confederate army poised to once again withdraw, this time to a final position north of the Chattahoochee River. When it came to Confederate Army of Tennessee commander Joe Johnston's fast deteriorating standing with the government, the abandonment of that pre-prepared line of fortifications (with its string of "Shoupades") without a battle was another nail in the coffin.

From the description: "Frustrated at Kennesaw, Sherman returned to flanking maneuvers. On July 2, General Johnston abandoned the Kennesaw Line and fell back to the Chattahoochee River—the last major water obstacle between Sherman’s forces and Atlanta. Two months of combat had taken a heavy toll on both armies, especially Johnston’s Army of Tennessee. When Johnston retreated across the Chattahoochee on July 9, his army numbered about 60,000 men, while Sherman’s strength was roughly 100,000. Confederate President Jefferson Davis, meanwhile, watched Johnston’s withdrawals with growing frustration. The abandonment of the Chattahoochee River Line convinced Davis to replace the defensive minded and close-mouthed Johnston with corps commander John Bell Hood, who promised a far more aggressive strategy."

It looks like a bit over 40% of the narrative covers the remaining maneuvering and fighting north of the Chattahoochee (plus Rousseau's Raid); around 25% is devoted to the Confederate abandonment of the river line, the Union crossing, and the convergence of both sides along Peach Tree Creek; and the remaining text the Peach Tree Creek battle itself. 22 maps are included, along with detailed orders of battle (the Union OB even includes regimental strengths, and there are battery compositions for both sides).