07/17/1864
Confederate President Jefferson Davis tired of what he considered to be General Joe Johnston's caution in his defense of Georgia and replaced him with the thirty-three year old John Bell Hood. Hood's reputation as a bold battlefield general signaled to all, Union and Confederate, that the defense of Atlanta would take on a more aggressive strategy. This unfolded but resulted in losses the Confederates could not afford, and ultimately the Union capture of the city seven weeks later. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation:
Charles P. Roland, An American Iliad: The Story of the Civil War (New York: McGraw Hill, 2002), 183-184.