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Battle of Jonesborough

Sherman's March to the Sea

August 31st - September 1, 1864

The battle of Jonesborough was the last battle fought during the Atlanta Campaign. General William T. Sherman wanted to capture the city of Atlanta and destroy General Hood’s Army of Tennessee. He had tried before to cut Confederate Gen. Hood’s supply lines, but was yet to be successful. Sherman needed a way to completely sever their supply lines. If he could do this, he believed the Confederates would be forced to leave Atlanta, making it Union territory.

General Sherman decided to move the majority of his infantry against the Confederate supply lines. Confederate Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee decided he would move two of his corps to try to stop the Union near Jonesborough. He did not know that Sherman had sent 6 of his 7 corps, and Hardee’s men were vastly outnumbered.

The battle was fought August 31 – September 1, 1864. On the first day, Hardee had his men attack two Union corps. The Union corps fought off his men. When Hood found this out, he removed one of Hardee’s corps and moved them into the city of Atlanta to help defend it. The next day, Sept 1, 1864, Union troops broke through Hardee’s now much smaller number of troops. That night Hood ordered Atlanta to be evacuated since he knew that it could not be defended. While the Union did cut off Hood’s supply lines, they were unable to completely destroy Hood’s army. Sherman was pleased because on Sept 2, 1864, Atlanta became Union property.

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