May 7-13, 1864
The Battle of Rocky Face Ridge was the first encounter between Union forces commanded by Major General William T. Sherman and Confederate forces commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston during the Atlanta Campaign. The engagement took place in Whitfield County, Georgia, near the town of Dalton, from May 7 through May 13, 1864.
In late November 1863, Union forces commanded by Major General Ulysses S. Grant successfully lifted Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston's siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Union victories at Lookout Mountain (November 24) and Missionary Ridge (November 25) forced Johnston to withdraw thirty miles south near Dalton, Georgia.
After the Federal breakout from Chattanooga, Grant was promoted to the special rank of Lieutenant General and placed in command of all Union armies. Grant moved his headquarters to Washington, leaving his trusted subordinate, Major General William T. Sherman, in command of Federal operations in the western theater. Upon arriving in Washington, Grant in conjunction with Sherman devised a "total war" policy aimed at the Confederate military, transportation systems, and anything else abetting the Rebel cause. Grant's primary military strategy was a coordinated effort to attack and defeat the two main Confederate armies in the field, Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia in the east, and Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee in the west. On May 5, 1864, Grant launched his Overland Campaign against Lee in Virginia. Two days later, Sherman led three armies, the Army of the Tennessee, commanded by Major General James B. McPherson; the Army of the Ohio, commanded by Major General John M. Schofield; and the Army of the Cumberland, commanded by Major General George H. Thomas, out of Tennessee in pursuit of Johnston's army in northern Georgia.
On May 7, 1864, Sherman's forces approached the Army of Tennessee, which was entrenched near Dalton in rugged, mountainous terrain on and around Rocky Face Ridge. On May 7 and 8, General George Thomas's Army of the Cumberland tested the Rebel defenses with limited gains. Foreseeing little prospect for success through frontal assaults, Sherman sent General James McPherson's Army of the Tennessee west, in search of a way around the Confederate defenders. On May 9, McPherson discovered an unprotected gap in the mountains at Snake Creek. Leaving Thomas to demonstrate before the main Confederate line, Sherman moved the remainder of his army south through Snake Creek Gap, threatening to disable the Western and Atlantic Railroad behind Johnston's lines. In danger of being outflanked and having his supply line severed, Johnston was forced to withdraw twelve miles to Resaca, Georgia on the night of May 12-13.
Although Sherman probably suffered higher casualties than Johnston (total casualties are unknown), the Battle of Rocky Ridge was a Union victory because Johnston was forced to yield ground to the Sherman's seemingly inexorable drive toward Atlanta, Georgia.
Ohio units that fought in the Battle of Rocky Face Ridge included:
Infantry units:
1st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
2nd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
5th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
6th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
7th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
10th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
13th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
15th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
19th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
20th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
21st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
27th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
29th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
30th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
32nd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
33rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
37th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
39th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
40th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
41st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
43rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
45th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
47th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
49th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
50th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
51st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
52nd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
53rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
54th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
55th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
57th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
59th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
61st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
63rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
64th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
66th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
68th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
70th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
71st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
73rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
74th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
76th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
78th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
79th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
81st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
82nd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
90th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
93rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
94th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
97th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
98th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
99th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
100th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
101st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
103rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
104th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
108th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
111th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
113th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
118th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
121st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
124th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
125th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Artillery units:
Battery A, 1st Ohio Light Artillery
Battery C, 1st Ohio Light Artillery
Battery D, 1st Ohio Light Artillery
Battery I, 1st Ohio Light Artillery
3rd Ohio Light Artillery
4th Ohio Light Artillery
6th Ohio Light Artillery
10th Ohio Light Artillery
14th Ohio Light Artillery
15th Ohio Light Artillery
19th Ohio Light Artillery
Cavalry units:
1st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Cavalry
3rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Cavalry
4th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Cavalry
10th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Cavalry
Related Entries
- James Birdseye McPherson
- Overland Campaign
- Ulysses S. Grant
- John McAllister Schofield
- William Tecumseh Sherman
- Robert Edward Lee
- George Henry Thomas
- Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 76th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 98th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 99th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 103rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 113th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 40th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 33rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 45th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 54th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 59th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 70th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 50th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 51st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 61st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 63rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 66th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 71st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 100th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 101st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- Atlanta Campaign
- 108th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 111th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 125th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 121st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 124th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 97th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- Joseph Eggleston Johnston
- 29th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 94th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 32nd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 64th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 68th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 73rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 74th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 78th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 79th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 81st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 82nd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 93rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- Army of the Ohio 1861?1862
- 10th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 4th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 24th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 55th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 57th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 52nd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 53rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 49th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 43rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 47th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 39th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 41st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 30th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 27th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 37th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- Army of the Tennessee
- Army of the Cumberland
- 1st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Cavalry
- Army of Northern Virginia
