Book Review Decisions at Kennesaw Mountain: The Eleven Critical Decisions that Defined the Battle

Decisions at Kennesaw Mountain: The Eleven Critical Decisions that Defined the Battle. By Larry Peterson, Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2023, Paperback, 200 pp, $25.58.

Reviewed by Robin Friedman

Larry Peterson’s study of the June 27, 1864, battle of Kennesaw Mountain is part of the “Command Decisions of the American Civil War” series published by the University of Tennessee Press. The works in this series have the goal of identifying and analyzing the “critical decisions” made during a battle or campaign rather than presenting a detailed historical narrative. In Peterson’s definition, a “critical decision” is “one directly affecting a battle or campaign from that time forward.” (xii)  This approach is intended to increase the reader’s understanding of why a battle developed as it did rather than focusing on sometimes minute details of what happened.

The action at Kennesaw Mountain was part of the broader Atlanta Campaign, which began in early May 1864 and resulted in the Union capture of Atlanta on September 2, 1864. The campaign pitted Union Gen. William T. Sherman and the Military Division of the Mississippi against the Confederate commander of the Army of Tennessee, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. On July 18, 1864, General John B. Hood replaced Johnston as the commander of the Army of Tennessee.

Kennesaw Mountain played an important role in the campaign because it was Sherman’s only attempt to mount a large frontal attack against entrenched Confederate defenses rather than to turn and maneuver around the Confederate army. The attack was repulsed with large losses. When Sherman considered pursuing additional assaults, Union Maj. Gen. George Thomas advised against it, stating: “We have already lost heavily to-day without gaining any material advantage; one or two more such assaults would use up this army.” (55) Still, Sherman was able following the battle to maneuver the Confederates from their positions and to cross the Chattahoochee River, the last natural obstacle before reaching Atlanta.

Peterson places the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in context by discussing the prior actions in the Atlanta Campaign and the actions that followed. The body of the study discusses what Peterson describes as the eleven critical decisions that shaped the campaign. Peterson first develops a situation facing a commander. He then describes the options the commander had available to address the situation. Peterson then discusses the decision the commander made and the reasons for the choice. Finally, he discusses the impact of the decision in terms of the further course of the battle.

The text consists of four chapters setting forth the critical decisions of the battle, together with an introductory chapter and a conclusion. The first chapter explores five critical decisions that led to the battle of Kennesaw Mountain. The second chapter explores three critical decisions involving the battle of Kolb’s Farm, a small engagement prior to Sherman’s main attack. Chapter 3 explores the battle of Kennesaw Mountain focusing on two critical decisions. Chapter 4 deals with the aftermath of the Union defeat and with Sherman’s critical decision to return to the strategy of outflanking Johnston. The text is enhanced throughout with good maps and images.

An appendix to the study offers a driving tour of Kennesaw Mountain keyed to the eleven critical decisions developed in the four chapters of the book. This appendix is valuable for its many quotations that illuminate the brief discussion in the text. Peterson draws from participants in the battle, including Sherman and Johnston, and from contemporary studies of the battle, including books by Richard McMurry, William Scaife, Earl Hess, and Christopher Losson. Peterson describes how Col. Dan McCook reputedly urged his troops on before their gallant, but fruitless assault by quoting verse XXVII of Thomas M. McCauley’s poem “Horatius,” which is frequently recited by visitors to the battlefield:

Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the gate:
‘To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his Gods.  (90-91)

The appendices also include detailed Orders of Battle for both the Union and the Confederate forces. The book concludes with a bibliography for those wishing to do further reading.

Those already knowledgeable about the battle of Kennesaw Mountain and the Atlanta Campaign, as well as those just learning, will find this installment in the Command Decisions series helpful and thought provoking.

Robin Friedman retired from a career as an attorney with the United States Department of the Interior in 2010. He now spends most of his time pursing his passion for American studies, including history, literature, philosophy, and the Civil War.