In the summer of 1864, Union Gen. William T. Sherman faced off against Confederate generals Joseph E. Johnston and John B. Hood in a series of battles in northern Georgia. Sherman's goal was to destroy the Army of the Tennessee, capture Atlanta and cut off vital Confederate supply lines. While Sherman failed to destroy his enemy, he was able to force the surrender of Atlanta in September 1864, boosting northern morale and greatly improving Abraham Lincoln's re-election bid. With Atlanta under Union control, Sherman would soon embark on his "March to the Sea,' which would lay waste the the countryside and hasten the Confederacy's defeat.
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in the American Civil War, an important series of battles in Georgia (May–September 1864) that eventually cut off a main Confederate supply centre and influenced the Federal presidential election of 1864. By the end of 1863, with Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Vicksburg, Mississippi, firmly under the control of the North, Atlanta, an important Confederate railroad, supply, and manufacturing centre and a gateway to the lower South, became the logical point for Union forces to attack in their western campaign.
The Union commander, General William Sherman, also believed a sustained campaign deep into Confederate territory would bring the entire war to an end. Southern defenders were under the strategic direction of General Joseph E. Johnston, until he was replaced by Lieutenant General John Bell Hood in July. The Atlanta Campaign itself consisted of nine individual battles as well as nearly five months of unbroken skirmishes and small actions. The fighting foreshadowed later in the year and introduced many Southern civilians to the horrors and ravages of “total war,” working to undermine Confederate morale. After a series of seesaw battles, Sherman forced Confederate evacuation of Atlanta (August 31–September 1). This Union victory presented President Abraham Lincoln with the key to reelection in the fall of 1864. It also greatly complicated the Confederate position near the Southern capital of Richmond, Virginia, as troops there now had to contend with Union forces to the north and south.
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