Battle of Gilgal Church

33°58′12″N 84°39′49″W / 33.97013°N 84.66372°W / 33.97013; -84.66372

Battle of Gilgal Church
Part of the American Civil War
Wartime photograph shows Pine Mountain near where General Polk was killed.
Date June 15, 1864 Location Cobb County, Georgia Result Confederate tactical victory
Belligerents
United States	Confederate States
Commanders and leaders
William T. Sherman Joseph Hooker	Joseph E. Johnston William J. Hardee
Units involved
Military Division of the Mississippi	Army of Tennessee
Strength
June 10–19: c. 100,000	June 10–19: c. 65,000
Casualties and losses
Gilgal Church: 650–734 Latimer's Farm: unknown	Gilgal Church: 250[note 1] Latimer's Farm: 200

The Battle of Gilgal Church (June 15, 1864) was an action during the Atlanta Campaign in the American Civil War. The Union army of William Tecumseh Sherman and the Confederate army led by Joseph E. Johnston fought a series of battles between June 10 and 19 along a front stretching northeast from Lost Mountain to Pine Mountain to Brushy Mountain. At Gilgal Church, attacks by the divisions of John W. Geary and Daniel Butterfield from Joseph Hooker's XX Corps were repulsed with about 700 casualties by Confederates from William J. Hardee's corps. That day in a separate action, other Union troops overran a Confederate skirmish line, capturing about 300 men. Gilgal Church was part of a series of minor actions that included the Battle of Latimer's Farm on June 17–18.

After the Battle of Dallas on May 28, Sherman moved northeast until he reached the Western and Atlantic Railroad at Acworth. On June 4, Johnston abandoned his defensive positions near Dallas and New Hope Church and withdrew to a new line of entrenchments. Sherman was reinforced by Francis Preston Blair Jr.'s XVII Corps, and on June 10 he resumed his offensive. Confederate corps commander Leonidas Polk was killed by an artillery round on June 14 at Pine Mountain. That evening, Johnston withdrew from Pine Mountain and Sherman's forces followed, bringing on the clashes near Gilgal Church. Shortly after the Union attacks failed, Johnston pulled Hardee's corps back to a new line behind Mud Creek. At Latimer's Farm, Union troops from Oliver Otis Howard's IV Corps gained a foothold in the Confederate line. On June 19, Johnston's Army of Tennessee fell back to fresh defenses based on Kennesaw Mountain.
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