After the fall of Atlanta, Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood moved the Confederate Army of Tennessee northward to threaten the Western and Atlantic Railroad, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's supply line.

Hood ordered Stewart to send a division to attack the Federal supply base where the railroad ran through a deep gap in the Allatoona Mountain range and then move north to burn the bridge over the Etowah River.

General Corse answered immediately: Your communication demanding surrender of my command I acknowledge receipt of, and respectfully reply that we are prepared for the "needless effusion of blood" whenever it is agreeable to you.

[8] Allatoona was a relatively small, but bloody battle with high percentages of casualties: 706 Union (including about 200 prisoners) and 897 Confederate.

Corse was wounded during the battle and on the following day sent a message to Sherman: "I am short a cheek bone and one ear, but am able to whip all hell yet."

[10] There is a persistent myth that when Gen. Sherman signaled the garrison to "hold the fort" and "I am coming" he was only bluffing and never really sent re-enforcements to aid Gen. Corse in the defense of Allatoona.

This myth goes further saying Gen. French relied upon false intelligence that Union re-enforcements were marching toward Allatoona to cut his Confederate force off from Gen.

Even the most cursory review of available historical documents reveals that Gen. Sherman recalled in his memoirs that he ordered the Twenty-Third Corps commanded by Maj. Gen. Jacob D. Cox to the west toward Allatoona with instructions to burn houses and brush piles along the way to make a show of re-enforcements approaching.

He did order Cox to reconnoiter the Dallas-Acworth Road on the 7th, but the purpose of lighting the fires along the way was so that Sherman, atop Kennesaw Mountain, could track his progress.

Sherman ordered Brigadier General Kenner Garrard's cavalry division to Allatoona, but clearly after the battle had ended.