The Battle of Resaca (Civil War Georgia)
by Philip L. Secrist
Category: History

The battle of Resaca, Georgia, in May 1864, represents a series of firsts: the first major battle of the Atlanta Campaign, the first occasion in Georgia in 1864 of Confederate and Federal armies in their entirety facing one another across a field of battle, and the first major encounter between Joseph E. Johnston and William T. Sherman as army field commanders.The two-day battle of Resaca proved to be an experience that would cause Sherman to alter the patterns of strategy and tactics in the campaign that followed. Disappointed by McPherson's lack of aggressiveness on two occasions, and Hooker's bungled attack on Hood's Corps on May 15, Sherman abandoned General Grant's injunction to go after Johnston's army and break it up. Instead, he reversed the original sequence of the plan by turning to the strategy of maneuver. Sherman's resulting famous flanking maneuvers eventually led to his capturing Atlanta in September.The first book-length treatment of this important battle, The Battle of Resaca is a necessary addition for civil war historians and libraries.