The Battle of Atlanta was an important Union victory and led to the siege and capture of Atlanta six weeks. Powerful Confederate forces under their new commander General John Bell Hood made an effort to draw in and to inflict a decisive defeat on the Union's Army of the Tennessee then advancing. But the Confederates were again defeated, with very heavy casualties they could not afford. Hood was forced to fall back on an Atlanta that was now surrounded and under siege. (By John Osborne)