"Battle of Ezra Church-The Poor House-Lickskillet Road
July 28th
Stephen D. Lee’s column was to attack the federals on the west side of Atlanta on the Lickskillet Rd. near the Alm’s House and Ezra Church. His column was led by Hindman’s old division commanded by John C. Brown.
“The lieutenant-general commanding gave me verbal orders to move with the utmost dispatch upon the Lickskillet Road until I reached the poor-House, where I would find General [William H.] Jackson’s division of cavalry. I preceded the advance of my column, and arriving at the point indicated learned that, his information indicated the enemy’s infantry to be small.
The lieutenant-general commanding arrived almost simultaneously with the head of the column…I was directed to attack and drive the enemy to the Ezra Church and hold that position.” OR 38, III, 767, Brown’s Report.
Sharp's Brigade, which had been moved from east of the city the day before, moved out three miles and attacked the enemy in a strong position on the road. But the right of his line, in traversing a space of more than a quarter mile in front of the Federal line, and flanked by a portion of it, was shot to pieces.
“During the morning of the 28th we were hurried out along the [Buck Head] road a distance of three miles to check the enemy, who was attempting to cross that road. As we arrived near the position to be contested the enemy had already engaged our cavalry.” Sharp (OR)
Lee’s line of battle roughly centered on the Poor House that stood near the present day entrance to Westview Cemetery on Gordon Rd. Brown formed on the left (Brantley, Sharp, Johnston, Manigault in reserve.) Clayton’s Division deployed on Brown’s’s right, east of the Poor House along Westview Avenue with Gibson on the left, Baker in the center and Holzclaw on the right. (Scaife, p. 105-6).
Gen. S.D. Lee was to wait until General Stewart had enveloped the enemy’s left flank before attacking along the Lickskillet Road. For some unknown reason, probably youth and inexperience, he began the attack against fortified breastworks and strongly placed artillery positions at the first sound of gunfire on his left.
Sharp’s “High Pressure Brigade” Formed in Line of Battle
Prior to the attack Co. A of the 10th Miss. commanded by Lt. James G. McGowan and captain Nolan’s company from the 41st Miss. were detached to the 9th Battn. Sharpshooters because they had been so reduced in numbers that the Sharpshooters could not cover an entire advanced skirmish line as they existed. The remainder of the brigade were formed with the 44th on the extreme right, the 10th Miss. to their left, the 7th Miss in the center with the 9th Miss to the left with the 41st Miss. on the extreme left connecting to Walthall’s brigade. The 44th was connected on the right to Deas’ Alabamians.
“The enemy being reported in possession of the road, the head of my column was oblique into the woods on the left and my line formed with the right resting near the road. The battalion of sharpshooters being too much reduced by casualties during the campaign to cover the front of the brigade, one company from the Tenth and another from the Forty-first Regiments were detached to co-operate with them, and deployed 200 yards in advance of the lines.” Sharp (OR)
9th Battalion Sharpshooters Advance
As was normally the case the Sharpshooters were deployed in advnce of the brigade in anticipation of the general advance. Lt. Downing of the 9th Battn. Miss. Sharpshooters describes their advance in his official report;
“About 11.30 o'clock I was directed by General Sharp to take command of the skirmishers (Captain Nolan and Lieutenant James G. McGowan, my superiors, having waived their rank), deploy them in front of the brigade, which rested south of and nearly parallel with the Taylor's Ferry road, move forward about 200 paces, and await orders. I had just succeeded in reaching the position designated and dressed the line, when I received an order to move forward and drive in the enemy's skirmishers, who were posted about 250 paces in our front behind rail piles, and protected by a section of artillery posted a short distance in their rear.”
“I immediately ordered the line to advance and charge them, which was promptly obeyed by Company A, of the Tenth Mississippi, and the Sharpshooters, who moved through an open field in a most gallant style, drove the enemy from their rail piles back upon their line of battle, with a loss of 6 wounded (4 from the Sharpshooters and 2 from Company A, of the Tenth Mississippi), and held the position they had occupied until our line of battle advanced and charged their works.”
“ I was then ordered to remain in rear and keep up stragglers, which the command faithfully endeavored to obey, but with what success I leave it to General Sharp to determine.”
“Captain Nolan's company, for some reason, not known to me, failed to advance from the position we occupied previous to the charge, and did not come up until our line of battle had passed the position from which we had driven the enemy.”
“I cannot speak too highly of the gallant conduct exhibited by Lieutenants James G. McGowan and Joseph J. Dean, of Company A, Tenth Mississippi, the men of their company, and the Sharpshooters.” Lt. Downing, 9th Battn. Miss. SS (OR)
Brigade Ordered Forward 11 AM
Advanced 800 yards
“About 11 a. m. I was ordered to move forward and engage the enemy and drive him from his position. The brigade moved forward in handsome style, the skirmishers driving the enemy's skirmishers and forcing a section of artillery posted on the line to retire. After advancing a short distance we entered an open field, where the command was halted and reformed. Deas' brigade was on my right and Walthall's on the left. We moved forward across the field under fire and descended a hill, where we entered the woods and commenced the ascent of the hill upon which the enemy were posted. The distance we moved under fire was 800 yards.” Sharp
Col. Bishop orders the 7th Miss. Forward.
“On the 28th instant when we first moved on the enemy I met with a little or no resistance on my front until after we crossed the Lick Skillet road and passed through the open field in front of it. Here, advancing rapidly along the lane running to the front and at right angles to the Lick Skillet road, we reached some houses nearly half a mile in advance of that road.” OR Bishop
The 41st Miss., 9th Miss. on the left and 7th Miss. in the center were making good progress against the enemy in their front, but Deas’s Alabamians were being stalled and an angle formed in the federal line caused the regiments on the right of the 7th Miss. to be caught in an enfilading fire that caused them to falter and start to retire.
J. A. Scarborough of Co. F 7th Miss. told the the following story to the ¬Confederate Veteran about his friend Joe Cothern at Ezra Church:
“On the 28th of July, 1864, when the Confederates swept the Federal breastworks in front of Atlanta, Joe Cothern, a member of Company H, Seventh Mississippi Regiment, Sharp's Brigade, ran several hundred feet past the enemy's works and found a Federal artillery captain trying to get a cannon in position. Everything was in confusion, and with drawn sword the excited captain was trying in vain to rally his men and place his battery. By this time Confederates and Federals were getting considerably mixed. The captain dashed at Cothern and demanded his surrender. Cothern fired at him and inflicted a serious wound in the shoulder, the captain fell from his horse and screamed: 'I surrender! When the drivers saw their captain fall they abandoned their horses and took to their heels. Cothern then assisted the wounded captain on to the caisson, placed a brush in his hands, and ordered him to stimulate the hindmost span of horses while he mounted the lead horse, and dashed away with a fine twelve pound cannon drawn by three spans of fine horses, with a Yankee captain sitting on the caisson and whipping the horses for all they were worth, the Federals had rallied by this [time]and were pouring volley after volley into the Confederate lines to gain the ground they had lost, and the wounded captain was laying whip to the horses and crying out: 'Drive up, Johnnie! drive up, or you will all be killed!’”
“'Johnnie' made the landing unscathed with his prisoner, cannon, and three spans of horses, one of which was shot through the leg in the flight.” CV, “JOE COTHERN’S CAPTURE OF A CANNON”. J. A. Scarborough, Copy provided by Ms. Jackie Scarborough.
Colonel B.F. Johns, 7th Miss. commanding the 9th Miss. reported his success in the first advance in his official report:
“…when the regiment moved forward across a ridge through a corn-field, a distance of half a mile, where a dense undergrowth was encountered, through which the troops moved about 400 yards, where the enemy were found posted behind a small clearing about 150 yards across. The enemy occupied some temporary works and houses. The regiment immediately charged across this open space and drove the enemy, killing and wounding several, and capturing 5 prisoners. A few of the enemy held the ground stubbornly and fought hand to hand.” Johns 9th Miss OR
The Right Gives Way—7th Formed Right and Held
“At this point we were considerably in advance of the right of the line when it gave way and fell back. As the enemy had given rapidly back on my front, and all the firing this time came from the direction of the hill on my right, I formed my line along the lane so as to connect with that portion of the line on my immediate right, which had fallen back to the lane. Here I remained until the brigade was ordered to form on the Lick Skillet road.” Bishop
Col. Johns describes the impact of the 7th Miss being forced to fall back on his regiment. “While pressing through the woods between the two fields before alluded to, the Seventh Mississippi Regiment, which was on my right, fell back, thus causing an opening in the line, which was never closed until the brigade retired.”
Right under Heavy Oblique Fire
Attempted to move the 41st to the right
General Sharp realized that his right was unable to take the enemy position so he attempted to pull the 41st from the left and move them to the right in support of the 44th Miss., 10th Miss. and 7th Miss. “I soon found that my right was unable to carry the enemy's position. This was because the enemy's line was so formed that he had an oblique fire along my right. I hastened to the left of the brigade to move the Forty-first Regiment around to the support of the right, but found it so scattered that it was impossible to handle it as on organization.” OR
“44th lost within two of half its numbers”
10th Had to Retire
“The fire on the right was too severe to be withstood. The Forty-fourth, [which] was on the extreme right, had lost within two of half its entire numbers, while the gallant Tenth, on its left, had been almost as severely punished, besides losing 5 color-bearers. These two gallant regiments, never known to falter when the order was to forward, were forced to retire.” Sharp OR
Lt. Col. R.G. Kelsey of the 44th Miss. describes the action by his regiment and makes it clear why he was unable to withstand the cross-fire and odds he faced when he was ordered forward in his official report after the battle:
“About 11 a. m., orders being received for the regiment to be placed under arms to advance against the enemy, the regiment was soon under arms, and moved off by the left flank on the Buck Head road some mile in advance of the breast-works.”
“Line of battle being soon formed, the advance commenced about 11.30 a. m., my command having to advance through an open field for over a quarter of a mile before reaching the enemy's works, subject to an enfilading fire from the right.”
‘The works immediately in my front being some distance in the rear of the works on the right and in a large hollow, there being a large hill on the right and left, this destructive fire in my front and flanks thinned my ranks so much before I came in reach of their works that it was impossible to carry them, and was forced to fall back after the brigade on the right gave way.” [Deas/Johnston/Coltart’s Ala.]
“The officers and men acted very gallantly, remaining on the field until half their number were shot down and ordered to retreat.” Lt. Co. R.G. Kelsey 44th Miss. OR
“The other regiments of the brigade were advancing steadily, when they were forced to retire because the right had been repulsed. The Forty-first and Ninth, on the left, had driven the enemy from his position with but little loss.” Sharp OR
These regiments did suffer casualties, but in numbers less than the 44th and 10th Miss.. The 41st and 9th Miss. had in fact driven the enemy, and so had the 7th Miss.; but, to describe the casualties and their impact on the regiment as “with little loss”, a soldier of the 7th Miss. may take a different view than the one described at the Division or Brigade level; every loss was terrible.
Thomas Cotton of the 7th Miss. wrote, “On the 28th of July 1864 the Regt. was in the fight on the Lickskillet Road when Capt. T.S. Cotton was wounded & Lieut. Proby was killed. Lieut. W.V. Cotten was wounded and the Regt. Lost heavily.”
Reformed and advanced—More Disastrous Result
The brigade was again reformed and ordered to advance, but met with a similar fate with the right not advancing as far as it had in the first assault and the left being again enfiladed from the right. Col. W.H. Bishop of the 7th Miss. described that advance by the 7th Mississippi.
Bishop advances the 7th Again
“The second time was advanced my left rested on the lane previously mentioned. We succeeded in passing through the field on the right of the lane nearly to the woods on the crest of the hill on our front under a heavy fire from the enemy on the hill on our right. The enemy in our immediate front were formed behind a rail fence in the edge of the woods. We endeavored to drive them from their position, but the line had by this time become too much weakened to do so.
As the enfilade fire from our right had now become too severe to remain in that exposed position, we were compelled to fall back toward the left, again changing front to the right along the lane. Here we remained until ordered to retire. “ Bishop OR
“The brigade was then retired and reformed, when we were again moved forward. This assault terminated as the first. The left advanced until it was fired into obliquely from the right, while the right was unable to advance even as far as in the first assault.” Sharp
From the perspective of the private soldier W.J. Bass Co. G wrote his account of the battle with comments laced with his low opinion of General Hood, a sentiment held by many in the regiment.
Greatest Mistake of the War
“ About 11 oclock AM on the 28th we marched about 2 miles in a North Western direction and Engaged the Enemy in their works near what was called the Lick Skillet Road. We succeeded in carrying the Enemies works in our front of our Brigade but could not hold them We made Several charges but could not carry them [any more] the Enemy were in their breast works in the woods while we were in an old field in front of them and [felt that no] other commanding general in the confederate Army would have exposed his men in such a way. Only General Hood who was then commanding the Army at that place as he had been just been put in General Joseph Johnson’s place who had been removed by the Department which was one of the greatest mistakes of the war.”
Bass Wounded at Ezra Church
Three Generals Wounded
“I was wounded in one of these charges and was carried back to a field Hospitle Some 2 miles distant I understand that our command fell back about one-half mile that night our loss was great much more than the Enemy as they had all the advantage in every respect. Generals Lowring [Loring], Walthall and Stewart were wounded in the battle.” (WJB)
Walthall’s Men Sent to the Slaughter
“Walthall's division was then advanced, and we were ordered to retire. We were not again moved against the enemy. For further details I have the honor to refer to the accompanying reports of regimental commanders. My entire loss during the engagement was 214 killed, wounded, and missing. The number engaged (officers and men) was 1,020. We have to report many of our most valuable officers killed and wounded.” Sharp
The ensuing devastation to the infantryman who charged those breastworks was dramatic. Casualties for the Confederates were estimated between 3000-5000. Lee and Hood’s actions were never completely explained. Hood once again tried his failed flanking strategy used on July 22nd, but this time without the element of surprise. The result of the two attacks combined with the losses at Peachtree Creek was a demoralized and whipped Army trying its best to just survive. In fact, very brave and previously loyal soldiers began to look for a way to escape further disaster and save their own hides.
An often-repeated story representing the futility of Hood’s tactics goes like this. A picket from Logan’s troops hollered across the lines at twilight: ‘Well Johnny, how many of you are left?’ and the Confederate replied with a bit of fatalisitic satire: ‘Oh, about enough for another killing.’ Cox, Jacob, Atlanta, p.186.
When Sherman heard of the battle, he exclaimed, “Good! That’s fine, just what I wanted. Tell Howard to invite them to attack, it will save us trouble, save us trouble. They’ll only beat their brains out, beat their brains out.” Connally, James Austin, Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society, 1928, 354. [Scaife, 108].
William Van Davis Diary, Capt. Co D. 30th Miss.wrote, “Battle on left wing, great loss. Failed to carry breastworks. Barnett wounded. Wyse sent to Hosptl with Mumps. Miller overheats. Company as flankers, not in the fight.” WVD 30th Miss.
Pvt. Kern noted in his diary: “July 28th 1864…Heavy fight on the left, don’t know the result,” undoubtedly referring to Lee’s disastrous fight at Ezra Church.