Massachusetts Colored Regiment I
A House Divided: Overland Campaign II
A House Divided: Overland Campaign I
A House Divided: The Fall of Atlanta II
Lead: One hundred and fifty years ago the Republic was facing its greatest crisis. This continuing series examines the American Civil War. It is "A House Divided."
Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.
Content: Having pushed Confederate armies under Joseph Johnston back from the suburbs of Chattanooga to within 20 miles of his goal, the vital railroad and manufacturing hub of Atlanta, William Sherman was briefly stymied in late June at Kennesaw Mountain with heavy losses. Summer rains had turned the Georgia clay to muck in June, but by early July these roads had begun to dry. Sherman’s maneuver machine was back in business. He crossed the Chattahoochee River on July 9th and was at Peachtree Creek, four miles from the City, the next day. Panic struck the civilian population as Sherman’s relentless campaign seemed on the verge of success.
A House Divided: The Fall of Atlanta I
Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.
Content: In Summer 1864 a sense of malaise and depression gripped the North as the fortunes of Federal armies seemed to flag. Not since the heady days of Confederate triumph in the winter and spring of 1862 and 1863 did the cause of the Union seem so hopeless. In many ways this was a product of war weariness after three years of almost constant conflict and a sense that the Union war strategy had bogged down in Georgia and Virginia, but also it grew from the effusion of blood that attended Yankee forces at seemingly every turn. The horrific slaughter at Cold Harbor had led to stalemate in front of Petersburg, and though Phillip Sheridan eventually rolled up Jubal Early in the Shenandoah Valley, that would not come until deep into the Fall.