This Day in Georgia Civil War History
July 21, 1864
Peachtree Creek Dead Buried, New Attack Planned in Atlanta
Under a flag of truce, Confederate and Union forces on the outskirts of Atlanta gathered their dead from the previous day’s Battle of Peachtree Creek. But Confederate General John Bell Hood was still determined to take the fight to the Union forces, despite being heavily outnumbered. Hood sent the Corps of native Georgian William J. Hardee on a flanking movement around Union General James McPherson’s forces east of Atlanta. The plan was for another Confederate force was to attack from the front at daybreak, while Hardee would attack from the rear. However, the night march went much slower than expected, so that the following morning Hardee nowhere near McPherson’s troops.
