East of Kingston, Georgia, General William Tecumseh Sherman saw the Allatoona Mountains. As a young officer he had marveled at a pass through these mountains (Hike it) while traveling to visit the Etowah Indian Mounds in Cartersville. Easily defended, the high ridge on either side of the railroad tracks would be expensive to take. Instead, the Union general decided to move south, into the rugged hills of present-day Paulding County.

Dallas, Georgia was a small farming community at a crossroads. Although no railroad serviced the community, the crossroads offered many strategic possibilities. While the move from Chattanooga to Kingston had taken 10 days, as Sherman crossed "The Rubicon of Georgia" (his somewhat egotistical name for Georgia's Etowah River), his advance slowed to a crawl.

Johnston, who had disappeared into the Allatoona Mountains with his entire army quickly discovered Sherman's action and moved troops west along an arc of ridges that stretch from Kennasaw Mountain to Dallas. Sherman's XX Corps, under the command of "Fighting Joe" Hooker, ran headlong into Hood's Rebels at New Hope Church during a driving rainstorm. Hood and his men stubbornly held their ground. Sherman decided to flank the Rebel Army to the east with an attack near a small farm settlement (now a state park) known as Pickett's Mill.

Unknown to Sherman, his men came up against Patrick Cleburne, the tough Arkansasan who had held off Sherman himself during the fighting at Missionary Ridge. Cleburne repulsed the Federal attack. Sherman was in desperate need of a railroad to feed his men. In the middle of "a hell hole," supply lines extended and vulnerable and facing stiff rebel resistance, Sherman ordered his men to withdraw. Realizing the movement, Johnston ordered Hardee to advance in force on a reconnaissance at the western end of Sherman's line. Heavy Confederate losses resulted in the battle of Dallas. As Sherman moved northeast from Dallas to the Western and Atlantic Railroad, General George Stoneman captured Allatoona Pass on June 1.

Ken Burns' Civil War

The Atlanta Campaign
Prelude
Opening Curtain
Sherman leaves his lifeline
A formidable foe
The battles for Atlanta
Chronology

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