Atlanta campaign

Atlanta Campaign
Part of the American Civil War
Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman and his staff in the trenches outside of Atlanta
Date May 7 – September 2, 1864 (3 months, 3 weeks and 5 days) Location Northwestern Georgia and around Atlanta 33°44′56″N 84°23′17″W / 33.749°N 84.388°W / 33.749; -84.388 Result Union victory
Belligerents
United States (Union)	Confederate States
Commanders and leaders
William T. Sherman George H. Thomas James B. McPherson  † John Schofield Oliver O. Howard	Joseph E. Johnston John B. Hood William J. Hardee Leonidas Polk  † Joseph Wheeler
Units involved
Military Division of the Mississippi:[1] Army of the Cumberland Army of the Ohio Army of the Tennessee	Army of Tennessee[2]
Strength
112,819[3]	Beginning- 60,000 Infantry, 11,000 cavalry, 7,000 Artillery[4]
Casualties and losses
31,687; (4,423 killed, 22,822 wounded, 4,442 missing/captured)	34,979; (3,044 killed, 18,952 wounded, 12,983 missing/captured)

The Atlanta campaign was a series of battles fought in the Western Theater of the American Civil War throughout northwest Georgia and the area around Atlanta during the summer of 1864. Union Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman invaded Georgia from the vicinity of Chattanooga, Tennessee, beginning in May 1864, opposed by the Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston.

Johnston's Army of Tennessee withdrew toward Atlanta in the face of successive flanking maneuvers by Sherman's group of armies. In July, the Confederate president, Jefferson Davis, replaced Johnston with the more aggressive General John Bell Hood, who began challenging the Union Army in a series of costly frontal assaults. Hood's army was eventually besieged in Atlanta and the city fell on September 2, setting the stage for Sherman's March to the Sea and hastening the end of the war.