Attacked On All Sides: The Civil War Battle of Decatur, Georgia, the Untold Story of the Battle of Atlanta

The battle fought during the American Civil War at Decatur, Georgia, on the Friday afternoon of July 22, 1864, was a small affair, what General William T. Sherman might have called an afternoon dash, but one which killed and mangled only several hundred men. The Battle of Decatur was foredoomed to oblivion as a sideshow to the great and famous Battle of Atlanta. That epic pageant, fought simultaneously that hot summer afternoon six miles to the west of Decatur and involving tens of thousands of combatants, is portrayed vividly in the Atlanta Cyclorama and numerous books. Amidst the later historic drama of the death struggle for Atlanta in the summer of 1864, the Battle of Decatur was seemingly forgotten almost before the gun smoke cleared and the dead were buried. Among the many published accounts of the Battle of Atlanta, the Battle of Decatur is often given only a brief mention or even omitted altogether. The tale has elements of a great story: A smaller force attacked by a much larger force. Tremendous human courage and tragedy. A bayonet charge. AMedal of Honor won. The Battle of Decatur is linked to one of the great horrors of the Civil War, Georgia’s Andersonville prison. Most of the Federals captured by the Confederates at Decatur were sent to that hell-hole, and many met their deaths there. The battle is also linked to the greatest maritime disaster in American history, the Sultana explosion, in whicha sidewheel steam ship carrying freed Federal prisoners of war back to their homes blew up on the Mississippi River, claiming more lives thanthe sinking of the Titanic. And most don’t know the battle’s connection to modern American pop culture: American Idol star Kelly Clarkson’sgreat-great-great grandfather and uncle fought in the battle. One survived, the other died.Other participants in the Battle of Decatur went on to lead notable post-war lives and to become nationally prominent figures who shapedlate 19th century American political, business and military events. Among the Federals, Colonel (later General) John W. Sprague, who commandedthe Federal forces during the battle, later helped settle the American northwest as a founder of the city of Tacoma, Washington. Jeremiah Rusk, second in command of one of the Federal regiments in the battle, later became governor of Wisconsin and the first-ever U.S. secretary ofagriculture. That regiment’s commanding officer, Milton Montgomery, founded what’s now the oldest law firm in Omaha, Nebraska. Other participantsbecame members of Congress or state politicians. One became a close business associate of the great steel magnate Andrew Carnegie.Among the Confederates, General Joseph Wheeler after the war helped to reconcile the North and South as a member of Congress and played arole in one of the U.S. Army’s first overseas invasions in Cuba. Decatur resident Mary A.H. Gay, who was in the town at the time of the battle,later wrote a book based on what she saw that inspired Margaret Mitchell’s creation of the character Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone With TheWind,” one of the top-selling novels of all time.That is the impetus for this book, the first book-length treatment of the Battle of Decatur, its participants and the aftermath it had on them.

David Allison grew up and lives just outside Decatur, Georgia. His interest in the Battle of Decatur was sparked while a teenager by finding musket balls in the old cemetery in Decatur. A nearly lifelong student of the Atlanta Campaign, Allison has worked for more than three decades as a newspaper reporter and editor in Atlanta.