Battle of Resaca, by Kurz and Allison, 1889.
Starting on May 13, 164 through May 15th The Battle of Resaca was fought as General William T. Sherman began his March to the Sea. When I first read the one sentence about this battle starting yesterday, I thought “Where the hell is Resaca?” I assumed it was somewhere in Georgia and probably in northeast Georgia as Sherman started his movements toward Atlanta.
Location in Gordon County and the state of Georgia
Sure enough there is Resaca highlighted in the northeast corner of Georgia. From Wikipedia
The Battle of Resaca was part of the Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War. The battle was waged in both Gordon and Whitfield counties, Georgia, from May 13–15, 1864. It ended inconclusively with the Confederate Army retreating. The engagement was fought between the Military Division of the Mississippi (led by Major General William T. Sherman) on the side of the Union and the Army of Tennessee (General Joseph E. Johnston) for the Confederates. Continue Reading
and about the fighting on May 13th……
On May 13, the Union troops tested the Confederate lines to pinpoint their whereabouts. The next day full-scale fighting occurred, and the Union troops were generally repulsed except on the Confederate right flank where Sherman did not fully exploit his advantage. On May 15, the battle continued with no advantage to either side until Sherman sent a force across the Oostanaula River, at Lay’s Ferry, using newly delivered Cumberland pontoon bridges and advanced towards Johnston’s railroad supply line. Unable to halt this Union turning movement, Johnston was forced to retire, leading to the Battle of Adairsville on May 17.
After reading about the battle I went to look for information about the town on Wikipedia……
Resaca, originally known as Dublin, was founded in 1848 with the arrival of the Western and Atlantic Railroad into the area. Dublin was renamed Resacca (with two Cs) when it was incorporated as a town in 1854. In 1871, the spelling of the town was shortened to its present form of Resaca.[4]
The city was named by returning Mexican-American War inductees who fought at the Battle of Resaca de la Palma (translated Dry River Bed of the Palms) near Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, in 1846. Read More
So here you had men on both sides fighting in a town named after a town that some of these soldiers may have fought at in 1846 when they were fighting for their country in the Mexican American War only 18 years before!!
What reading all this did make me realize was that I have not read very much about Sherman’s March to the Sea. Most of my reading has been about the battles in Virginia. So I will need to be on the look out for books about the Georgia battles!! May 17th, huh, The Battle of Adairsville!! Maybe I’ll check it out when we get there!
