The fighting 263defense, repulse a major attack by Sherman,
and then counterattack.
Johnston determined to fight on the
defensive around Dalton, seeking an error by
the enemy to exploit. Yet in the event he
had to fall back to Dalton, he failed to
prepare alternate defensive positions to his
rear and to design traps for Sherman's army.
Throughout the campaign, when his army
retreated, he and his staff had to scramble to
find new defensive locations. Inevitably, he
yielded the initiative and sacrificed the
operational level of war for strictly tactical
defensive positions.
On the Union side, upon Grant's return
from Washington, he summoned Sherman
from Memphis to discuss plans for the
campaign season. Sherman would succeed
him out west. To save time, they took the
train to Cincinnati together, plotting strategy
and discussing personnel changes. Two
weeks later, Grant issued his plan in writing.
He intended to assume the initiative on as
many fronts as possible, 'to work all parts of
the army together, somewhat toward a
common center,' something the Union had
attempted yet failed to accomplish for two
years, 'You I propose to move against
Johnston's army, to break it up, and to get
into the interior of the enemy's country as
far as you can, inflicting all the damage you
can against their war resources.' Grant
refused to dictate the specifics of the
campaign plan; he merely requested that
Sherman submit a general plan of his
operations.
Rather than a single army, Sherman
commanded what modern soldiers would
call an army group. At his disposal for the
campaign against Johnston, he had Thomas's
Army of the Cumberland, McPherson's Army
of the Tennessee minus A. J. Smith's people,
and a small corps under Major-General John
M. Schofield, head of the Department and
the Army of the Ohio. Hooker remained with
Sherman's forces, commanding the XI and
This map shows the movements of the combined armies
of Major General William T. Sherman durig the Atlanta
campaign, from early May through mid-July 1864.
Union advances during the
Atlanta campaign