The Atlanta Campaign
SEPT 17-21, 2025
The Atlanta Campaign (May–September 1864) was a significant military operation during the Civil War, led by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman. The campaign aimed to seize the vital Confederate city of Atlanta, Georgia, a crucial transportation and industrial hub for the South. Sherman's forces engaged in a series of battles against Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston, and later General John Bell Hood, who took command after Johnston's retreat. Through relentless flanking maneuvers, Sherman's army gradually pushed the Confederates back towards Atlanta, capturing the city in early September. The fall of Atlanta was a critical blow to the Confederacy, boosting Northern morale and helping secure President Abraham Lincoln's re-election. Sherman's success also set the stage for his infamous "March to the Sea."
Based in Marietta, GA
*Early Bird Pricing - Save $30 when you register for the Members or Non-Members Conference Package by June 30, 2025. Use code ATLANTA30 for Members, code ATLANTA301 for Non-Members when registering online.
ITINERARY
GENERAL INFORMATION:
· Conference based at Hampton Inn in Marietta, GA.
Conference Location:
Hampton Inn
2136 Kingston Court, Marietta, GA 30067
678-460-1160
All participants are responsible for arranging hotel accommodations for the seminar, which is not included in tour price. $154/night double occupancy plus tax.
Pricing includes breakfast for Hampton Inn guests. Special pricing for participants based on room availability. When making reservations, mention Civil War Tours or BOOK HERE:
https://group.hamptoninn.com/ppua7g
· Continental breakfast for Hampton Inn guests each morning.
· Check-In will be in the hotel lobby about 1 hour before the day’s activities begin. You only need to check-in once.
· Each participant will receive a packet of tactical maps and a name badge at check-in
· Classroom sessions will be held in the Hampton Inn conference room.
· Bus tours will leave from the Hampton Inn parking lot at the specified time.
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 17
· Bus leaves from Hampton Inn
· Lunch included
· Return by 6 p.m.
· Dinner on your own
8 a.m. to 6 p.m. PART I: Dalton, Resaca, and Cassville: The First Chapter in the Atlanta Campaign, May 7-19, 1864 Bus Tour led by Bob Jenkins
Sites to visit:
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Mill Creek Gap Battlefield Park
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Tunnel Hill—museum, Western & Atlantic Railroad Tunnel, Clisby Austin House
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Rocky Face Ridge Battlefield Park (America’s newest battlefield park)
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Historic Huff House (Johnston’s HQ)
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Johnston Statue
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Patrick Cleburne’s Proposal
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Dug Gap Mountain Battlefield Park (May 8 Battle Site)
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Snake Creek Gap (May 9)
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Resaca Battlefield Historic Site (May 13-15 Battle)
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Van Den Corput Battery Capture Site (May 15)
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Confederate Cemetery
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Cassville (May 19)
Dinner on your own.
THURSDAY, Sept. 18
· Bus leaves from Hampton Inn
· Lunch included
· Return by 6 p.m.
· Dinner on your own
8 a.m. - 6 p.m. Bus Tour Led by Bob Jenkins
PART II: New Hope, Pickett’s Mill, and Dallas: A New Type of War Emerges - The Hell Hole! (with 175,000 opposing troops), May 25—June 4, 1864 Bus Tour led by Bob Jenkins
Sites to visit:
· Pickett’s Mill Battlefield State Historic Site: (May 27 Battle) *some hiking
· New Hope Church Battlefield site (May 25 battle)
· Battle of Dallas earthworks (May 28 battle)
PART III: Pine Mountain, Kolb’s Farm, and Kennesaw: The Campaign Continues! June 5 - July 2, 1864
Sites to Visit:
· Living Hope Church 5th Indiana Battery works — the shot that killed Leonidas Polk
· Pine Mountain (June 14 site of Polk’s death)
· Kolb’s Farm (June 22 battle)
· Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park (visitor center)
Dinner on your own.
FRIDAY, Sept. 19
8:30 a.m.—12 p.m. Morning Lectures
· Lectures held at Hampton Inn’s Conference Room
Lectures include:
· Welcome & Overview of Civil War Preservation Project by Karen Lowry
General Joseph Wheeler and the Army of Tennessee's Cavalry Corps in the Atlanta Campaign by Keith Bohannon
The talk will examine Wheeler's background and the operations of his command from May-September 1864. During much of this time, Wheeler's command guarded the flanks of the army and protected vital railroads from Union cavalry raids. Wheeler's decisive defeat of Union cavalry forces during the McCook-Stoneman Raid is arguably the high point of his career.
Storming Kennesaw—Union Assault Tactics on June 27 by David Powell
The Federal brigade assaults against the Confederate line atop Kennesaw Mountain, delivered on June 27th, 1864, have long been considered an example of Sherman resorting to outdated column tactics to achieve a breakthrough of the Rebel defenses — which resulted in utter failure. Sherman then returned to flanking, and leveraged the Confederate Army of Tennessee out of their “impregnable” position five days later.
The real assaults were much more nuanced. The tactics were not mandated by Sherman but instead represented a mix of choices by the Union corps, divisional, and brigade commanders involved. Each of the eight brigades involved in the primary assaults were uniquely formed and deployed as each commander struggled to find the best formation for the mandated attack. They were, in effect, forward-looking tactical experiments; not a throwback to outmoded formations of an earlier era.
12 - 1 p.m. Lunch provided at Hampton Inn
1 - 4:30 p.m. Afternoon Lectures at Hampton Inn Conference room
The Battle of Bald Hill by Stewart Bennett
We will examine the battle, its importance to the fighting on July 21, and what became of this important historical landscape.
“A Human Hurricane on Horseback: Black Jack Logan’s Atlanta Campaign” by Gary Ecelbarger via Zoom
John Logan is the most significant historical figure of the 19th Century who has escaped the notice of the 20th and 21st Century. His biographer will discuss and analyze six months of Logan's influence during the Atlanta Campaign and the subsequent Presidential election of 1864 to illustrate that he not only ranks among most dominant political generals in American history, but his battle record as a corps and army commander in one campaign places him in the highest pantheon of the Civil War.
The General in the Jar: Current Military Status of Joseph E. Johnston by Richard McMurry
4:30—7p.m. Dinner on your own
7 p.m. To the Gates of Atlanta, July 1-19, 1864 by Robert Jenkins
To The Gates of Atlanta covers the period from the Confederate victory at Kennesaw Mountain, 27 June 1864, to the eve of the Battle of Peach Tree Creek, 20 July 1864, the first of four major battles for Atlanta which culminated in the Battle of Jonesboro, 31 August and 1 September 1864, and sealed the fate of Atlanta and the Confederacy.
Known as “The Gate City,” Atlanta became central to the War during the long summer of 1864 as the opposing armies slugged it out along the Georgia countryside. For General William Tecumseh Sherman and his blue legions, Atlanta had to be taken. For the Confederate forces, and its Commander in Chief, President Jefferson Davis, the city had to be saved. However, the second principal army of the South’s commander, General Joseph E. Johnston, had given little confidence that he would fight to save Atlanta and turn back the blue horde which threatened to capture the Confederacy’s second principal, and arguably her most important city.
SATURDAY, Sept. 20
· Bus leaves from Holiday Inn
· Lunch included
· Return by 6 p.m.
· Dinner on your own
8 a.m. to 6 p.m. PART IV: The Battles of Atlanta: Hood takes Command and New Strategy Emerges, July 3 - Aug. 25, 1864, Bus Tour led by Bob Jenkins
Sites to visit:
· Shoupade Park: Chattahoochee River defenses
· Peach Tree Creek (old Bobby Jones Clubhouse—walking tour
· Atlanta History Center
- Turning Point, The Atlanta Campaign of 1864 Exhibit (Dubose Gallery) (site of world’s largest Civil War artifacts collection)
- The Texas locomotive (famous from the Great Locomotive Chase)
- Battle of Atlanta Cyclorama
· Ezra Church (July 28), Westview Cemetery & Mozley Park
· Utoy Creek (August 6-7) - Cascade Springs Nature Preserve
Return to hotel by 6pm. Dinner on your own.
SUNDAY, Sept. 21
· Bus leaves from Hampton Inn
· Lunch on your own
· Return by 1 p.m.
8 a.m. to 1 p.m. PART V: Cavalry Operations and Jonesboro: Sherman Closes the Door and Atlanta Falls, Aug. 25—Sept. 2, 1864 Bus Tour led by Bob Jenkins
Sites to visit:
· Nash Farm Battlefield Park (Aug. site of Lovejoy Station/Kilpatrick Raid)
· Battle of Jonesboro (Dept and Confederate Cemetery)
Return to hotel by 1 p.m.
**RECOMMENDED READING**
1. Albert Castel, Decision in the West, Kansas University Press, 1992.
2. Dave Powell, The Atlanta Campaign, Part I, Dalton to Cassville, Savas Beatie, 2024.
3. Robert Jenkins, The Cassville Affairs, Johnston, Hood, and the Failed Confederate Strategy in the Atlanta Campaign, Mercer Univ. Press, 2024.
4. Gary Ecelbarger, The Day Dixie Died, the Battle of Atlanta, St. Martin’ Press, NY: 2010.
5. Gary Ecelbarger, Slaughter at the Chapel, the Battle of Ezra Church, University of Oklahoma Press, 2016.
6. Robert Jenkins, The Battle of Peach Tree Creek: Hood‘s First Sortie, 20 July 1864, Mercer University Press, 2013.
7. Robert Jenkins, To the Gates of Atlanta: From Kennesaw to Peach Tree Creek, Mercer University Press, 2015.
Seminar registration fee schedule:
____$950 Members Conference Package (Entire program)
____$990 Non-Members Conference Package (Entire program)
____$250 Thursday Only
____$250 Friday Only
____$250 Saturday Only
____$190 Sunday Only
*Early Bird Pricing - Save $30 when you register for the Members or Non-Members Conference Package by June 30, 2025. Use code ATLANTA30 for Members, code ATLANTA301 for Non-Members when registering online.
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Payment Policy: Full payment is due prior to seminar.
Cancellation Policy: -Seminar registrations cancelled two weeks before a scheduled seminar are subject to a $100 per person administrative fee; cancellations received within two weeks will be charged 50% of the registration fee, including partial registrations or $100 (whichever is greater).
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► We reserve the right to make changes in the tours where necessary, due to unforeseen circumstances. We do not like to cancel tours but if we must cancel due to insufficient participation or other circumstances, our total obligation will be to refund all monies paid to us for the specific event.
► We strive to accommodate all of our seminar participants. If you have ANY dietary restrictions, please tell us during registration so we can make the appropriate arrangements.
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Chambersburg Civil War Seminars & Tours is an affiliate of the Greater Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce. The purpose of this partnership is to drive awareness about our local military heritage and support local businesses.
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