Battle of Jonesborough
|Battle of Jonesborough|
|Part of the American Civil War|
|United States (Union)||CSA (Confederacy)|
|Commanders and leaders|
|William T. Sherman
Oliver Otis
Battle of Jonesborough
|Battle of Jonesborough|
|Part of the American Civil War|
|United States (Union)||CSA (Confederacy)|
|Commanders and leaders|
|William T. Sherman
Oliver Otis Howard
George H. Thomas
|John Bell Hood
William J. Hardee
|Army of the Tennessee
Army of the Cumberland
|Army of Tennessee|
|6 corps||2 corps|
|Casualties and losses|
The Battle of Jonesborough (modern name Jonesboro) was fought August 31–September 1, 1864, during the Atlanta Campaign in the American Civil War. Two Union armies led by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman maneuvered to draw the Army of Tennessee (led by John Bell Hood) away from their defenses at Atlanta, Georgia, where it could be destroyed.
Although Hood's army was not destroyed, the city of Atlanta was abandoned and then occupied by Union troops for the rest of the war. The fall of Atlanta also had far-reaching political as well as military effects on the course of the war.
In several previous raids during the campaign, Sherman had successfully (but temporarily) cut Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood's supply lines by using small detachments, but the Confederates had always quickly repaired the damage. Late in August 1864, Sherman believed that if he could completely sever Hood's supply lines—both the Macon & Western and the Atlanta & West Point Railroads—the Confederates would be forced to evacuate Atlanta.
Therefore, Sherman elected to move six out of his seven infantry corps against the Confederate supply lines. The Union army began pulling out of its positions on August 25 to hit the railroad between the towns of Rough and Ready and Jonesborough.
To counter this move, Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee and two Confederate corps were sent to halt and if possible rout the Union troops. However, Hood failed to realize most of Sherman's army was approaching there and in force, causing Hardee and his command to be highly outnumbered.
On August 31, Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard had two corps entrenched on the east side of the Flint River. John A. Logan's XV Corps dug in on high ground facing the Macon & Western Railroad. The XVI Corps, now led by Thomas E. G. Ransom formed a right angle connected to Logan's right. Frank Blair and the XVII Corps were in reserve west of the Flint River.
Hardee left Patrick Cleburne in command of his own corps while he directed the two-corps assault. Cleburne would move south and attack the Federal line held by Ransom, while Stephen D. Lee was to make the secondary attack against the Logan's line. Cleburne's lead division, led by Mark Lowrey moved west and just as it was turning north toward toward the Federal lines he was unexpectedly hit by H. Judson Kilpatrick's dismounted cavalry, concealed behind fence rails and armed with Spencer repeating rifles. Kilpatrick's fire was so effective that Lowrey broke off from his attack against Ransom's main line and directed his entire division against the Union cavalry. Lowrey succeeded in driving off the cavalry, but instead of returning to his original goal, he pressed the cavalry across the Flint River and was eventually stopped by Giles A. Smith's division from the XVII Corps west of the river.
Lee mistook the firing between Lowry and Kilpatrick as the main assault and attacked well before Cleburne's troops had actually gone into action with Ransom. Lee ordered a frontal assault that was vigor