In late November 1863, Union forces commanded by Major General Ulysses S. Grant successfully lifted Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston's siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Union victories at Lookout Mountain (November 24) and Missionary Ridge (November 25) forced Johnston to withdraw thirty miles south to near Dalton, Georgia.
In
late November 1863, Union forces commanded by Major General Ulysses S. Grant
successfully lifted Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston's siege of
Chattanooga, Tennessee. Union victories at Lookout Mountain (November 24) and
Missionary Ridge (November 25) forced Johnston to withdraw thirty miles south to
near Dalton, Georgia.
After the Federal breakout from Chattanooga, Grant was promoted to the special
rank of Lieutenant General and placed in command of all Union armies. Grant
moved his headquarters to Washington, DC,
leaving his trusted subordinate, Major General William T. Sherman, in
command of Federal operations in the Western Theater. Grant's primary military
strategy was a coordinated effort to attack and defeat the two main Confederate
armies in the field, Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia in the east, and
Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee in the west. On May 5, 1864, Grant
launched his Overland Campaign against Lee in Virginia. Two days later, Sherman
led three armies, the Army of the Tennessee, commanded by Major General James
B. McPherson; the Army of the Ohio, commanded by Major General John M.
Schofield; and the Army of the Cumberland, commanded by Major General George H.
Thomas, out of Tennessee in pursuit of Johnston's army in northern Georgia.
Throughout the summer of 1864, the Confederate and Union armies engaged in a
series of battles between Dalton and Atlanta in northern Georgia. Most of the
fighting occurred at places on or near the Western and Atlantic Railroad, which
connected Chattanooga and Atlanta. Both sides depended on the railway for
supplies throughout the campaign. In a pattern that was often repeated, Sherman
employed flanking movements that threatened the railway to Johnston's rear,
forcing the Confederate commander to retreat south in order to protect his
supply lines.
By June 9, 1864, Johnston had withdrawn the Army of Tennessee to an entrenched
position in the Marietta area, in Cobb County, Georgia. Over the next three
weeks, Sherman continued to press Johnston, engaging his army at various
locations near Marietta, including at the Battle of Gilgal Church on June 15.
In this battle, the Union Army's Third Division of the Twentieth Corps of the
Army of the Cumberland, which was commanded by Major General Joseph Hooker and
Major General Daniel Butterfield, encountered a Confederate division, commanded
by General Patrick Cleburne. Cleburne's men quickly withdrew to Gilgal Church,
where the Southerners dismantled the church to use the boards and pews for
defensive works. Cleburne's men drove the Northerners from the battlefield,
inflicting approximately 200 casualties while suffering only a few themselves.
While this engagement was a loss for the Union military, after the Battle of
Gilgal Church and several other engagements, Sherman forced Johnston to
withdraw from the area by July 3.
Ohio units that participated in the Battle of Gilgal Church included:
Infantry units:
55th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
73rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
79th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Artillery units:
Battery C, 1st Ohio Light Artillery Regiment
Cite this Entry
MLA Style
"Battle of Gilgal Church," Ohio Civil War Central, 2022, Ohio Civil War Central. 16 May 2022 <http://www.ohiocivilwarcentral.com/entry.php?rec=452>
APA Style
"Battle of Gilgal Church." (2022) In Ohio Civil War Central, Retrieved May 16, 2022, from Ohio Civil War Central: http://www.ohiocivilwarcentral.com/entry.php?rec=452