History UnderfootAtlanta

Peachtree Creek

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Order of battle

  1. morning to early afternoonThomas's Army of the Cumberland finished crossing and deployed south of the creek. Newton's division stood on a ridge astride Peachtree Rd about 200 yards north of Collier Rd, with Kimball west of the road, Blake east of it and Bradley in reserve. Ward's division lay in the creek bottom with Wood, Coburn and Harrison from east to west. Geary's division was massed forward on the Collier Rd ridge, and Williams's division stood to Geary's right beyond the ravine. A.G. McCook's brigade (XIV Corps) was on the right near Howell Mill Rd. A gap remained between Newton's right and Geary's left.
    Units: US IV Corps: Newton's 2nd Div (Kimball, Blake, Bradley). XX Corps (Hooker): Ward's 3rd Div (Wood, Coburn, Harrison), Geary's 2nd Div (Candy, Jones, Ireland), Williams's 1st Div (Knipe, Ruger, Robinson). XIV Corps: A.G. McCook's 1st Bde, 1st Div, with Davis's and Baird's divs to the west 123
  2. 1 p.m. ordered; about 3:30 p.m. launchedHood ordered the attack for 1 p.m., to drive Thomas back into the angle of the creek and the river. Events east of the city forced a one-mile shift to the right, which delayed it until all but Ward's division were in line. From right to left: Bate with his right on Clear Creek; Walker astride Peachtree Rd; Maney; Loring on Loring Heights; Walthall astride Howell Mill Rd; French in reserve facing the XIV Corps.
    Units: CS Hardee's corps: Bate (Tyler, Lewis, Finley), Walker (Mercer, Gist, Stevens), Maney (Maney's, Wright's, Strahl's, Vaughan's). Stewart's corps: Loring (Featherston, Scott), Walthall (O'Neal/Cantey's, Reynolds; Quarles's bde guarding the crossings downstream), French (not seriously engaged) 456
  3. about 3:30–4:30 p.m.Bate's division, leading the echelon, lost its way in the swampy, thicketed Clear Creek bottom while swinging around Newton's left toward the bridge. Bradley's brigade, massed along the road above the creek, met it with musketry. Thomas personally placed Ward's two batteries on the high ground by today's Peachtree Hills Ave, and their canister shattered Bate's right.
    Units: CS Bate's div. US Bradley's bde (Newton); Ward's two batteries under Thomas's direction 41
  4. about 3:30–4:30 p.m.Walker's division, slowed by uncut forest, charged astride Peachtree Rd into musketry and canister from Newton's barricaded line and fell back with heavy losses. Brig. Gen. Clement Stevens was mortally wounded near the Collier house. Maney's attack on Walker's left, through miry bottoms and steep hills, also failed. Kimball changed front on his right to stop a break, with support from Ward's division.
    Units: CS Walker's div (Stevens mortally wounded), Maney's div. US Newton's div (Kimball, Blake) 714
  5. about 4:00–4:30 p.m.Loring's two brigades, about 2,700 men, attacked. Featherston's Mississippians crossed Tanyard Branch under fire from Geary's guns and re-formed astride today's Dellwood Dr. They drove the 22nd Wisconsin skirmishers off Collier Rd and charged into the gap between Newton and Geary, but Coburn's and Wood's brigades counterattacked from the ravine and drove them back. Featherston reported losing half of his 1,230 men.
    Units: CS Featherston's bde (Loring). US Ward's div: Wood's & Coburn's bdes (22nd Wis., 33rd & 85th Ind., 19th Mich.; 73rd & 55th Ohio on Wood's left) 8910
  6. about 4:30 p.m.Scott's brigade overran the 33rd New Jersey on its advanced hill and took its state flag. Scott's left charged Geary's front and briefly seized four guns. His right regiments crossed Tanyard Branch into the gap at Collier's Mill, where the 129th Illinois and then Harrison's brigade, astride the branch, caught them in crossfire. A Federal officer wrote that few fields were 'strewn so thickly with dead and wounded' as around Collier's mill.
    Units: CS Scott's bde (27th, 35th, 49th & 55th Ala., 12th La.). US Geary's div (Jones's bde, 33rd N.J.; Candy's bde); Harrison's bde (129th & 105th Ill., 70th Ind.) 111213
  7. about 4:00–5:00 p.m.Walthall's division advanced northeast astride Howell Mill Rd through the Embry plantation. O'Neal's (Cantey's) brigade hit Geary's right, forcing him to bend his line back across today's Overbrook Rd and the deep ravine to join Williams's left; O'Neal's men who plunged into the ravine lost heavily.
    Units: CS O'Neal's (Cantey's) bde (Walthall). US Geary's div (Candy, Ireland, Jones), Williams's left 314
  8. about 4:00–5:00 p.m.Four regiments of Reynolds's Arkansas brigade formed abreast at old Mt. Zion Church and crossed Howell Mill and Collier roads into the wooded ravine against Knipe's and Robinson's brigades of Williams's division, supported only by Selden's battery. Enfiladed from both flanks, they failed twice. Reynolds's left swung around Knipe's right but was driven off by Ruger's brigade and fire from A.G. McCook's entrenchments (XIV Corps).
    Units: CS Reynolds's bde, Selden's battery (Walthall). US Williams's div (Knipe, Robinson, Ruger); A.G. McCook's bde (XIV Corps) 1514
  9. eveningNowhere on the two-mile front did the attack get more than a passing success. Hardee, with no reserves to renew the attack, withdrew, and Stewart's shattered divisions fell back to the shelter of the outer line.
    Units: Both armies 141617