What is Atlanta Campaign?
[[File:Atlanta campaign.svg|thumb|right|300px|{{Center|Atlanta Campaign 1864}}]] The '''Atlanta Campaign''' (6 May 1864 – 2 September 1864) was a series of [[battle]]s during the [[American Civil War]]. The [[campaign]] was [[wikt:plan|plan]]ned and [[wikt:execute|execute]]d by the [[Union Army]] under [[Major general]] [[William T. Sherman]]. The first part of the plan was to defeat the [[Confederate Army|Confederate]] [[Army of Tennessee]] led by [[General officer|General]] [[Joseph E. Johnston]]. The second [[wikt:goal|goal]] was to take the important city of [[Atlanta]]. Sherman captured Atlanta but was unable to completely [[wikt:destroy|destroy]] the Army of Tennessee. == Background == The [[war]] had been going on for three years when [[Ulysses S. Grant]] was given [[Command (military)|command]] of the Union Army.<ref name=Arnold18.21>''American Civil War: The Essential Reference Guide'', eds. James R. Arnold; Roberta Wiener (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011), pp. 18–20</ref> While a much smaller army, the Confederates had been moving their forces to battle whichever Union army was active at the time. By doing this they had won most of the battles. Grant decided to [[wikt:coordinate|coordinate]] his armies and defeat the confederates. His [[Field army|field armies]] would all engage the confederate field armies at the same time. This would pin down the smaller southern armies so the Union army could defeat them. Grant would personally lead the [[Army of the Potomac]] against Confederate general [[General Robert E. Lee]] and his [[Army of Northern Virginia]]. He would try to capture the [[Capital city|capital]] of the confederacy, [[Richmond]].<ref name=Arnold18.21/> Sherman would move his army against Johnston and capture the [[Confederate States of America|South's]] second largest city, Atlanta. If successful, it would shorten the war and get [[President of the United States|President]] [[Abraham Lincoln]] [[wikt:reelect|reelect]]ed that November.<ref name=Arnold18.21/> If they failed, Lincoln would los