Battles and Military History – The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable

Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign, Part 4

Chattahoochee River to the Battle of Peachtree Creek

By Daniel J. Ursu, Roundtable Historian
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2025-2026, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: This article was the history brief for the March 2026 meeting of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable.

Part 3 of this series (the February 2026 history brief) covered the previous phase of Union General William Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign in the wake of General Ulysses Grant’s letter of April 4, 1864, which directed Sherman regarding the rebel Army of Tennessee: “to break it up, and to get into the interior of the enemy’s country as far as you can, inflicting all the damage you can against their war resources.” Part 3 specifically covered Sherman’s advance against General Joseph Johnston’s retreating Army of Tennessee from Kennesaw Mountain to the Chattahoochee River. A formidable defensive general, Johnston throughout the campaign selected excellent defensive positions. But now, the Chattahoochee River was the last natural defensive position only a few miles north of Atlanta itself. As they say, Johnston “had his back up against the wall.”

Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign, Part 3

Allatoona Pass to Kennesaw Mountain and the Chattahoochee River

By Daniel J. Ursu, Roundtable Historian
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2025-2026, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: This article was the history brief for the February 2026 meeting of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable.

Part 2 of this series (the December 2025 history brief) further examined Union General William Sherman’s continued Atlanta Campaign in the wake of General Ulysses Grant’s letter of April 4, 1864, which directed Sherman regarding the rebel Army of Tennessee: “to break it up, and to get into the interior of the enemy’s country as far as you can, inflicting all the damage you can against their war resources.” That history brief covered Sherman’s advance against General Joseph Johnston’s retreating Confederate army from Resaca to Allatoona, arriving there on May 20, 1864. A formidable defensive general, Johnston throughout the campaign selected ideal defensive positions, and Allatoona was among the best.

Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign, Part 2

Resaca to Allatoona Pass

By Daniel J. Ursu, Roundtable Historian
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2025-2026, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: This article was the history brief for the December 2025 meeting of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable.

Part 1 of this series examined the start of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign in the wake of General Ulysses S. Grant’s letter of April 4, 1864, which directed Sherman regarding the rebel Army of Tennessee: “to break it up, and to get into the interior of the enemy’s country as far as you can, inflicting all the damage you can against their war resources.” In early May, Sherman instructed his three armies of maneuver to begin operations with John Schofield’s Army of the Ohio on the Union left, George Thomas’s Army of the Cumberland in the center, and James McPherson’s Army of the Tennessee on the right. Sherman endeavored to use his numerical advantage to outflank Confederate defenses on Rocky Face Ridge, and he succeeded in doing so.

Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign, Part 1

War of Maneuver – Rocky Face Ridge to the Outskirts of Resaca

By Daniel J. Ursu, Roundtable Historian
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2025-2026, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: This article was the history brief for the November 2025 meeting of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable.

The Roundtable’s 2025 field trip covered the Vicksburg Campaign, and the field trip in 2021 covered the Battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga. The Union’s ultimate success in these military actions in Confederate territory depended on many Northern generals, but most prominently and importantly on the leadership of General Ulyssess S. Grant. As a result of his successes, Grant was summoned by President Abraham Lincoln to come east, and Grant was put in command over all the Union armies.

Surrender? A Better Word Would Be Quit: Eastern Cherokee and the Confederacy

By Al Fonner
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2024, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in The Charger in December 2024.

When we think of the American Indian’s support of the Confederate States in the American Civil War, we most often think of what occurred west of the Mississippi River and in the Southwest. One name that often comes to mind is General Stand Watie, who raised and commanded a contingent of Cherokee fighters for the Confederate States, operating in the Indian Territory, Kansas, and Missouri. Although not as celebrated as Watie and his Cherokee, the Eastern Cherokee who remained in western North Carolina also threw their lot in with the Confederate States. This remnant formed the backbone of what became known collectively as Thomas’s Legion of Indians and Mountaineers. The Cherokee contingent of the Legion served primarily in the defense of the Appalachian Mountain region of western North Carolina, although they had some involvement in early operations in eastern Tennessee.

General Meade at Fredericksburg

By Daniel J. Ursu, Roundtable Historian
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2024-2025, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: This article was the history brief for the December 2024 meeting of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable.

In late 1862, President Abraham Lincoln appointed General Ambrose Burnside as commander of the Union Army of the Potomac in the wake of Burnside’s conquest of the famous bridge on the Union left flank at the Battle of Antietam. General Burnside formulated a plan for a rare winter offensive to build on the momentum of the Union strategic victory at Antietam. Relatively simple, Burnside would march his 140,000 troops, organized into three “Grand Divisions” of two corps each, south across the Rappahannock River and overwhelm what he had hoped to be a modest defense near Fredericksburg, Virgina. The march southward went surprisingly well, but the all-important pontoon bridges needed to cross the Rappahannock were tragically delayed. Consequently, the skeletal defenses on the Confederate side, which was south of the river and near the town, were adroitly reinforced by General Robert E. Lee in command of the 80,000-man Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. That said, Burnside’s army was nearly twice the size of Lee’s. On the very day of the December 2024 Roundtable meeting, that is, December 11, Union batteries on the commanding high ground on the north side of the river began a bombardment of the town.

General Meade’s Proposed Pipe Creek Line

By Daniel J. Ursu, Roundtable Historian
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2024-2025, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: This article was the history brief for the October 2024 meeting of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable.

At the Roundtable’s 2024 field trip to Gettysburg, the participants climbed to the top of the Lutheran Seminary cupola to view Chambersburg Pike as it rises off to the west. While standing in the cupola, they imagined the scene witnessed by General John Buford and others as these Union observers gazed at the Confederate troops raising a cloud of dust while they were marching toward the defensive positions of Buford’s troopers. The field trip participants heard about and saw the ground that the Union I Corps crossed to meet the Confederates head on as the cavalry defense yielded to the infantry of the Union’s First Division and especially the elite Union “Iron Brigade,” which was also featured in my April 2024 history brief. The battlefield guide described how the commander of the First Corps, General John Reynolds, led his troops from the front at the edge of Herbst Woods. But Reynolds was too close to the fighting, and he met an instant and untimely death from a Confederate bullet to his neck.

Ulysses S. Grant’s Grandson and the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable

One of the noteworthy events in the Roundtable’s history was the appearance of Ulysses S. Grant’s grandson at a meeting. This meeting, which occurred on December 3, 1958, was a joint meeting of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable and the Western Reserve Historical Society. At this meeting, Ulysses S. Grant III was the speaker, and he gave a presentation titled “The Strategy of the Civil War.” Who better to discuss this topic than the grandson of the person who was the author of the military strategy that won the Civil War and thereby preserved the Union? Of note, this presentation occurred during the third year of the Roundtable’s existence. The text of this presentation can be accessed by clicking on this link.

Union Irish Heroes at the Battle of Gettysburg

By Dennis Keating
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2023, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in The Charger in November 2023.

Many Irish Americans in the Army of the Potomac fought Robert E. Lee’s invading Army of Northern Virginia at Gettysburg July 1-3, 1863. While the Irish Brigade is best known, there were others who are also worthy of recognition for their heroism. Three of these men died on the field. This article is a day-by-day account both of individuals and of units.

History Repeating Itself, without the “Condemned”

By David A. Carrino
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2024, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in The Charger in April 2024.

George Santayana famously wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Santayana’s use of the word “condemned” makes it seem like a repetition of the past is undesirable and is something to be avoided. But some things in the past are worth repeating, and one such thing happened in a small, little-known Civil War battle. Something which happened in that battle was, in a sense, repeated in a much more widely known incident that occurred in World War II.