The Nicest Fight I Ever Saw: The 55th Ohio and Peach Tree Creek

Orderly Sergeant Alvin B. Chase of the 55th Ohio had seen his share of hard fighting during the Civil War, but he ranked the Battle of Peach Tree Creek fought July 20, 1864, outside of Atlanta, Georgia as “decidedly the nicest fight I ever saw.”

          For the first time in the Atlanta campaign, the 55th Ohio fought the Confederates in an open field and came out victoriously. “So far as our corps is concerned, we gave them a good thrashing,” he wrote. “When we charged on the Rebs yesterday, we charged over more of their dead and wounded than we ever did in a battle before. Our loss was not very heavy as the 55th Ohio lost three killed and 20 men wounded. We buried 108 Rebels this morning and we have more to bury yet. We captured all of their wounded that couldn’t walk off the field and three stands of colors. Our brigade did nobly,” he concluded.

          The 55th Ohio was assigned to the Third Brigade (Colonel James Wood) of the Third Division (General William T. Ward) of the 20th Army Corps under General Joseph Hooker. Peach Tree Creek would prove to be Hooker’s last major engagement in the war, and the last in which he’d lead the 20th Corps. The fighting conducted by Hooker's men at Peach Tree Creek ranks amongst its best of the war, and it was this engagement that finally convinced General Sherman that the 20th Corps could "toe the mark" just as well as any other troops in his army.

          The day before the battle, General Sherman’s headquarters issued a communication stating that General Joseph Johnston had been removed from command of the Army of Tennessee and John Bell Hood appointed in his stead. [add link] “The notice to the command was unusual,” Captain Hartwell Osborn of Co. B of the 55th Ohio wrote. “It stated that the new Confederate general was a graduate of West Point and that his classmates reported that he was of an impetuous, rash, and confident disposition, and that all commanding officers must be governed accordingly. The prospect of meeting the enemy in the open field was hailed with satisfaction by the whole army who were heartily tired of butting up against well-constructed breastworks.”

          Captain Osborn wrote a superb book of his experiences soldiering in the 55th Ohio and I take the liberty of quoting from his Trials and Triumphs: The Record of the Fifty-Fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry to give a more in-depth story of the Battle of Peach Tree Creek.

Captain Hartwell Osborn, Co. B, 55th Ohio Volunteer Infantry

          Peach Tree Creek, upon the south bank of which General Johnston had planned his advance line for the defense of Atlanta, ruins nearly due west from the junction of its three branches north of Atlanta and empties into the Chattahoochee near the railroad bridge. General Johnston had planned an attack upon the Union armies when they should be somewhat separated by the different crossings, and General Hood seems to have endeavored to carry out the plan.

          The 20th of July 1864 is a date to be remembered so long as the 20th Corps shall live in history. The Third Division crossed Peach Tree Creek not far east of Howell’s Mill at 11 a.m. Upon reaching the higher ground south of the stream, we found that the 14th Corps had marched to the right and formed the right of the army near the railroad bridge. The First Division [General Alpheus Williams] of the 20th Corps connected with the left of the 14th Corps while General John Geary’s Second Division prolonged to the line to the east with the Third Division assigned to cover the ground up to the right of Newton’s division of the 4th Corps which was posted on an elevation to our left and front.

          It was an intensely hot day and as the rear of the command slowly climbed the hill, we noticed an effort to hurry the formation and to double quick the last regiment into position. The line was formed upon a ridge parallel to Peach Tree Creek and overlooking the valley of Shoal Creek, a small stream flowing north. Upon a ridge parallel to and south of the one upon which the Union line was located ran a country road leading from the Buckhead road to the main Atlanta road.

          The brigade line was formed having upon the front the 20th Connecticut and 26th Wisconsin; the second line was formed by the 73rd Ohio and the 55th Ohio. The 33rd Massachusetts had been detailed as train guard for the division on July 17th and was not present while the 136th New York had been detailed to cover the front of the division as skirmishers. In adjusting the line, this regiment was left in front of the First Division and did not return to the brigade till night.

The entire 55th Ohio utilized .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets during the Atlanta campaign. 

          The skirmishers of the brigade advanced to the ridge in front, but no immediate movement of the enemy was indicated. At about 2:30 p.m., however, signs of activity in the 4th Corps upon our left front excited interest, especially the fact, of which the entire line became aware, that General George Thomas galloping his horse. The general was a very heavy man and was methodical and careful in movement. Riding to a battery near our line he gave orders and as the battery moved, by voice and sword, he urged it to speed. The pickets in front began to fire.

          On our left, the non-combatants, ambulances, and camp followers of the 4th Corps began to retire rapidly. Volleys of musketry and cannon began and it was evident that the enemy was attacking. The first line of the brigade marched down the hill and a sharp combat began. The right of the 4th Corps broke back a little but soon stayed. Into this gap the enemy rushed, presenting as they did so their flank to our line. The front line had been somewhat concealed by the bushes in the valley of Shoal Creek and the attacking line was delayed by the swampy nature of the valley. 

For Captain Osborn, one of the first indications of trouble at Peach Tree Creek was the rare sight of General George H. Thomas galloping his horse to give orders to a nearby battery. Thomas was known amongst West Pointers as "Slow Trot" but to his volunteers he was "Pap."   

    The front line delivered a most effective fire upon the Rebel line which came on with the dash and spirit of veterans. This Confederate force consisted of General Winfield Featherston’s brigade of Loring’s division and comprised the 1st Mississippi Sharpshooters, the 33rd, 3rd, 22nd, 31st, and 40th regiments of Mississippi infantry, formed from right to left as named.

"On came the Rebels lines, sweeping everything before them, shouting and cheering in the fullness of their enthusiasm. On they came over the second hill and down almost to the ravine when our men suddenly rose up and poured into their ranks a most murderous volley. Many of them fell, some tried to hide in the ditches on the hillside, and others went back. Then our line charged up the crest of the hill and continued to deliver a rapid and telling fire on the retreating foe." ~Colonel Samuel M. Hurst, 73rd Ohio

          The roar of volley firing from the entire front of the division as the attack rolled on like a wave to the west disclosed the plan of the action, which was to assault the Union line by successive division attacks beginning on our left. Upon the front of the Third Division the assault was repulsed, but the Confederate line came on again and again, sullenly retiring and again coming forward as if to reclaim the dead and wounded which covered the field. For four hours, the contest raged along the whole front of the corps with the same result. The 73rd Ohio was sent to relieve the 26th Wisconsin in the front line and the 55th Ohio was moved at the double quick to fill a gap between our left and the right of the 4th Corps.

          Colonel Samuel Ross, who commanded the 20th Connecticut upon this day, said of the 55th Ohio in his report of the battle that “in the early part of the action the 55th Ohio was moved from the second line to our left to fill the space between our left and the right of the 4th Corps. The regiment stood four hours in the open field and both officers and men are entitled to praise for their steadiness in this most obstinate battle.”

          For the 20th Corps, this engagement was a most brilliant feat of arms. Without defenses and in the open field, it sustained an unexpected and furious attack of the enemy. It met this attack with a countercharge, repulsed all subsequent attacks, killed and captured many of the enemy and held the field. When General Sherman took final leave of the corps at Louisville one year later, he referred to this day as the one which gave him absolute confidence in the valor and reliability of the 20th Corps.

          The enemy retired to their fortified line after dark and the tired soldiers slept on their arms in line of battle. The morning of the 21st showed the ground about Collier’s Mill covered with Confederate dead and wounded. Colonel Charles P. Wickham relates that among the dead he noticed the striking figure in the lifeless form of Colonel J.B. Drake of the 33rd Mississippi, whose tall form was still in death but with an extended arm, sword in hand, had an air of resolution and defiance. We spent the 21st of July in the position captured on the 20th. General Hooker rode the line in the forenoon and congratulated his victorious troops in person. The enemy had withdrawn during the night, thus surrendering his eleventh fortified position and retired to the works which contrabands and state troops had erected for the defense of Atlanta.

Sources:

Letter from Orderly Sergeant Alvin B. Chase, Co. D, 55th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Jeffersonian Democrat (Ohio), August 12, 1864, pg. 1

Osborn, Hartwell. Trials and Triumphs: The Record of the Fifty-Fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co., 1904, pgs. 159-162

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