On the Road to Atlanta: Crossing Peachtree

On July 19, 1864, Col. Frederick Knefler was ordered to cross Peachtree Creek, drive off the Rebel defenders, and seize the high ground beyond.

What struck me most interesting about this action was the formation Knefler adopted, which was essentially a column of regiments – even after Kennesaw Mountain.

While waiting, the Pioneers cut “long poles, about thirty feet long, to be used as sleepers.” To spearhead the assault, Knefler also selected “one hundred picked men” from the 9th Kentucky and 79th Indiana, led by Hoosier Maj. George Parker. Upon receiving the go-ahead, Private Huntzinger described the scene: “We went down to the crick & carried rails as we went & the pioneers carried the polls. . . . The field that the crick run through was in corn. We made a bridge across the crick & crossed & formed in line.” Corporal Leander Munhall of the 79th, an intelligent, observant soldier, also captured the moment: “I went out as a sharpshooter. Fired about 100 yards at close range. We were ordered to cross the creek. Our Regt. and the 9th Kentucky were selected for the purpose. We numbered about 350 men all total. Each man got a rail and we started. Got down to the creek without being seen, by way of a ravine. In five minutes we had a bridge complete and were crossing on it into a cornfield where the corn was breast high.” [1]

Once across, Knefler placed Parker’s assault force in front and organized his six regiments—absent the 59th, (237 strong, as of July 1) skirmishing at the road bridge—into three lines. The rest of the 9th (about 120 men) and 79th (170) followed Parker, commanded by Col. George Cram of the 9th. The next line, led by Col. George Manderson, included his own 19th Ohio (354) and the small 13th Ohio (118) now consolidated into just four companies. Major David M. Claggett brought up the rear with the 17th Kentucky (262) while Knefler ordered Col. George Dick and the 86th Indiana (188) to cover the column’s flanks “with strong detachments.” Knefler’s chosen attack formation, after accounting for skirmishers and supports, amounted to a three-line assault column, each roughly regiment-sized, covered by a picked force in open order—much like the regimental columns used at Kennesaw on June 27.[2]

Though the crossing had gone unnoticed, as they were deploying, noted Corporal Munhall, “the Rebs in the meantime had discovered us and opened on us. Private Huntzinger noted that Major Parker went down almost immediately, “severely wounded in the right leg.” “Geary’s division . . . was to cooperate in the crossing, but after considerable delay, that division failing to move” and with the element of surprise seemingly lost, Knefler did not want to wait any longer. “Our preparations being completed, General Wood ordered the advance.” As Munhall wrote: “We lay down until the balance of our brigade, acting as support, had crossed when we were ordered (the 9th and us) to charge. We did with a vim.”[3]

“We crossed the [corn] field expecting every minut to receive a heavy volley,” Huntzinger stated; with Knefler reporting here that “the enemy opened with musketry and artillery, inflicting considerable loss, but he was driven from the position and the works taken.” Huntzinger noted that they crossed the field relatively unscathed: “When we got to a bluff & come into a thick woods of pine, we charged up the hill as fast as we could go & yelled & the rebel skirmishers left their works.”

In fact, the 2nd Tennessee was badly surprised, their attention still fixed on the 59th Ohio skirmishing vigorously in front of their works. Confederate Lt. Edwin L. Drake of the 2nd Tennessee recalled that “our flank was turned by two brigades of the enemy who emerged from a pine thicket . . . a few paces to the left of the line. It was a run for life.” Drake, scrambling to get control of his men, came across Pvt. William Youree, “a puny, sallow, undeveloped youth . . . who was frequently sick [but] never shirked a duty nor asked a favor.” On July 10 Youree was so ill Drake ordered him to report to the hospital, but Youree refused to stay, insisting he “would rather stay with the boys.” Now Youree was too incapacitated to run, and Drake had to leave him. “In a few moments,” Drake continued, “I was wounded, but managed to get back to the main line.” Youree was killed, and only years later would Drake return to find his grave and identify him for his family.[4]

One member of the 13th Ohio, “P.B.G.,” writing for the Marysville Tribune, waxed especially bombastic: “Their works were proof against solid shot and shell, but when we showed them cold steel their traitorous hearts failed them and their cowardly legs carried them away. We took some prisoners who stated that there was much confusion among them on account of Johnson’s [sic] removal from the command, and Hood taking his place.” Munhall was also pleased. “We took them where they were not expecting us and we kept them going when we got them started. This accounts for our light loss. The Rebs lost quite a number and we took about half of the 2nd Tenn. prisoners among whom was the Lieut. Col. Commanding and quite a number of officers.” That colonel was William J. Hale, commander of the much-reduced 2nd Tennessee, along with two entire companies, totaling about 40 men. Huntzinger stated that the captures totaled “3 officers and 39 men.” The number of Confederate dead and wounded went unrecorded.[5]

Knefler’s men immediately set about digging in, reversing the Confederate entrenchments where possible. His losses were light, considering the mission and the men’s initial expectations; only four killed and 22 wounded. Meanwhile, Wood brought Nodine’s brigade across the creek. Earlier, Nodine had replaced the 25th Illinois, who had been skirmishing most of the day, with the 89th Illinois and 8th Kansas, the latter command having only recently returned from furlough and garrison duties to join the brigade on June 28. Both regiments, each about 300 strong, joined the 59th Ohio’s diversionary effort. Now, Nodine’s pioneers constructed their own footbridge next to the burned road bridge, and soon the brigade was filing across. Once on the south bank the Kansans began entrenching on the left of Knefler’s men, with the 89th on the 8th’s left. A northward bend in Peachtree creek here meant that on the upstream side of the bridge the creek flowed south to north, paralleling the road for some distance, allowing the 89th to anchor their flank on the streambank. Nodine’s casualties were lighter still, another four killed and nine wounded for a total of 13. Private Charlie Capron was well satisfied with the days work: “The army . . . is within 4 miles of the doomed city [Atlanta.] I was on the skirmish line . . . [but] fired only two shots.” According to Munhall, that satisfaction ran up the chain of command: “Generals Thomas, Howard, and Wood were eye witnesses and they declared it was decidedly the most brilliant affair they ever saw.”[6]

[1]July 19, Huntzinger Diary, INHS; George A. Smyth, ed., Leander Whitcomb Munhall’s Letters s Home 1862-1865, (n.p.: 1992), 80. Munhall identified the defenders as “Tyler’s Brigade,” suggesting that some of the 20th Tennessee might still have been on picket that afternoon.

[2]OR 38, pt. 1, 381, 450; P.B.G., “Letter from the 13th,” The Marysville (OH) Tribune, August 3, 1864; 4th Corps June 30 returns, RG 94, NARA.

[3]OR 38, pt. 1, 450; July 19, Huntzinger Diary, INHS; Smyth, Munhall’s Letters s Home, 80-81.

[4]Drake, “Tribute to a boy soldier,” 371. Drake placed the date of this action on July 18, but his account clearly describes this fight on the 19th.

[5]P.B.G., “Letter from the 13th,” The Marysville (OH) Tribune, August 3, 1864; Smyth, Munhall’s Letters Home, 81; July 19, Huntzinger Diary, INHS; Jenkins, To the Gates of Atlanta, 262-263.

[6]Jenkins, To the Gates of Atlanta, 263; OR 38, pt. 1, 396; “Dear Mother,” July 20, 1864, Charles Capron Letters, Old Courthouse Museum, Vicksburg MS; Smyth, Munhall’s Letters s Home, 81.