Angol
In 1864, the Confederate States of America was in a
precarious situation. It had been split
down the middle when the Union forces gained control of the Mississippi River.
To add to the problems of the Confederate
government, the individual states, especially those that were threatened with
invasion by the northern forces, were determined to maintain a rather large
home militia to be used only in the event their states were invaded.
The Army of Tennessee had operated under a defensive
strategy for some time since the Battle of Perryville, falling back to the next
most strategic position, hoping to draw the Union forces into an unfavorable
situation. However, the Army of
Tennessee found itself falling back rapidly upon Atlanta an important rail hub
and vital to the supply of the South.
The Confederate administration wanted military
victories. Politicking in and out of
the army, John B. Hood became the commander of the Army of Tennessee,
supposedly with a "better plan" to save the breadbasket of the South and drive
the enemy back to the Ohio River.
