On May 23, Sherman moved away from his railroad supply line when he launched a wide sweep that aimed to turn Johnston's left flank.

Polk's corps was made up of the divisions of James Cantey, Samuel Gibbs French, and William Wing Loring.

[4] Sherman began his campaign on May 7, 1864 with the Battle of Rocky Face Ridge during which he turned Johnston's western flank with McPherson's forces while Thomas and Schofield threatened his front.

At the Battle of Adairsville, Johnston planned to counterattack Sherman's widely-spread army, but it miscarried when Union cavalry arrived from an unexpected direction.

The Western and Atlantic Railroad ran through a gorge at Allatoona Pass and Johnston posted his army there in a very strong defensive position.

Since it would be leaving the railroad line, the army packed 20 days of supplies into its wagons and sent all its wounded and unfit men to the rear.

[8] On the morning of May 23, Lawrence Sullivan Ross, leading one of Jackson's cavalry brigades, reported that major Union forces were crossing the Etowah at Milam's and Gillem's bridges.

Farther to the northeast, Hood's corps arrived at New Hope Church and began digging rifle pits and building breastworks.

Hooker's XX Corps left Burnt Hickory and crossed a bridge over Pumpkinvine Creek after driving off some Confederates trying to burn the span.

Of Palmer's other two XIV Corps divisions, Absalom Baird's remained at Burnt Hickory to guard Thomas' wagon train and Richard W. Johnson's was retained as a reserve.

[20] When Thomas and Howard examined the place selected for Wood's attack, they found that it was an open field exposed to crossfire.

Weakly supported on the left by Johnson's division and on the right by McLean's brigade, Wood's attack failed and the Battle of Pickett's Mill was a Union defeat.

[22] Finally convinced that Johnston's entire army was facing him from well-established entrenchments, Sherman planned to shift his troops from the right to the left flank.

Once this movement was completed, Blair's XVII Corps would move from Rome to Allatoona Pass and Sherman's work gangs could rebuild the railroad bridge across the Etowah.

Sherman's orders for May 28 were for McPherson to send Davis' division back to Thomas and shift his position toward the left, taking over Hooker's lines.

[23] On the evening of May 27, Wheeler reported that Sherman's left flank along Little Pumpkinvine Creek was exposed and Hood convinced Johnston to attack it.

In fact, Sherman was so anxious about his left flank that the previous evening he ordered Howard to bend his line back and barricade it against attack.

[28] The Union defenses were held by Logan's XV Corps, from right to left, the divisions of William Harrow, Morgan Lewis Smith, and Peter J. Osterhaus.

[29] Worried about the rifle fire coming from the Union lines, Lieutenant Colonel Frank A. Montgomery of the 1st Mississippi Cavalry Regiment went to a hilltop battery position to observe the Federal defenses.

At 3:45 pm, Armstrong's dismounted cavalrymen rushed Harrow's division, overran the picket line, and captured three guns from the 1st Iowa Battery.

[30] After witnessing the brusque repulse, Bate ordered the signal guns not to fire and sent couriers to each of his brigade commanders to cancel the planned assault.

At the appointed hour, McPherson carefully pulled out from the area near Dallas and marched to occupy the Union lines farther north.

[33] That day, Stoneman's horsemen occupied Allatoona Pass and the repair of the railroad line was begun from Kingston to the Etowah.

[36] That day, the divisions of Baird and Johnson from Palmer's XIV Corps filled the gap between Schofield's new position and Pickett's Mill.

[37] Believing that Sherman was about to sweep around his right flank to seize Marietta, on the night of June 3, Johnston ordered a 6 mi (10 km) retreat.

On June 4, Sherman directed McPherson to pull his troops from the area around New Hope Church, march behind the other Union forces, and take a position on the far left flank.

Sherman's losses were soon replaced by the addition of Blair's XVII Corps and other units, but Johnston's army had only the Georgia militia to rely on for reinforcements.

In the fighting around New Hope Church and Dallas, Johnston held up Sherman's advance for two weeks by effectively countering his opponent's maneuvers.

The 25,000 non-combatants with the army included railroad employees and repair crews, teamsters, medical staff, and Black camp servants.

The Confederate trenches lay along the southern edge of the campus, as marked by a Civil War Marker sign along Highway 61.