William T. Sherman was driving on Atlanta. It had taken less than a month to move his Union force from Dalton to just outside of Atlanta. He had maneuvered Joseph Johnston’s Confederate army out of numerous strong positions forcing Johnston to give ground rapidly. Sherman could not afford to bring on a major battle unless he was certain of success so he declined to go headlong at Johnston instead he wanted to cut the rail lines going into Atlanta which would sever its connection to the Confederacy and make its value so little that it would have to be abandoned.
To do so he began to shift his army toward the southwest to try to get around Johnston. The area there was and to some degree still is densely forested. It became known to those who fought here as “The Hell Hole.” Two battles were fought here, at Pickett’s Mill and at Dallas. Pickett’s Mill was a Confederate victory that inflicted heavy losses on Sherman’s army while Dallas was a Union victory that inflicted heavy losses on the attacking Confederates. Nothing was gained in the Hell Hole and the soldiers were only too glad to move out of it.
Sherman’s advance had been stalled two days before at New Hope Church and he was looking to get it going. He believed that the Confederate right flank was exposed and ordered Oliver Howard’s IV Corps to move to attack it. The only problem was that this was not the flank and it certainly was not exposed. After a five hour march Howard had 14,000 men to attack with. He faced 10,000 Confederates led by the best division commander in all of the Confederacy, Pat Cleburne. His men were entrenched and were ready around the site of Benjamin Pickett’s mill and farm located along Pumpkinvine Creek.
Howard launched only two assaults beginning at 5 PM. The first, spearheaded by William Hazen’s brigade was cut to pieces in a matter of minutes. The second did not press the matter hard and both brigades fell back. Howard saw the folly in continuing the assault and put an end to it. He had lost about 1,600 men compared to the Confederates who lost about 500. Johnston then moved to strike at Sherman at Dallas but the reverse happened there and no advantage was gained by either side. Sherman’s campaign was delayed in the Hell Hole for a week and he eventually moved out.
The Pickett’s Mill battlefield is preserved as Pickett’s Mill Battlefield State Historic Site. The terrain is much the same as it was in 1864 and several walking trails take visitors through the battlefield.
