In mid-July of 1864, Union General William Sherman was headquartered outside of Atlanta. There a Union spy informed him that Confederate General Joseph Johnston was being replaced with General John Bell Hood. Sherman knew little about Hood, except that he lost a leg at the Battle of Chickamauga.
After the first meeting of Union General Sherman and Confederate General Johnston to negotiate Johnston's surrender, Johnston asked that in their next meeting, the Confederate Secretary of War. John C. Breckinridge be present. Sherman objected to having a political appointee of the Confederacy to join the next meeting. Johnston countered by reminding Sherman that Breckinridge was also a major general in the Confederate army. Based on that, Sherman agreed to allow Breckinridge to attend the next surrender meeting.
After the loss at the Battle of Chattanooga, Jefferson Davis replaced Bragg with General Joseph Johnston. Johnston's troops would be asked to defend the march of Union General William T. Sherman to Georgia.
William Sherman Sherman was the Northern General. Hood replaced Johnston for the South.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis became dissatisfied with General Johnston's inability to stop the Union's advance towards Atlanta. Union General Sherman was making steady progress and Davis believed a more aggressive John Bell Hood would better protect Atlanta. On July 17, 1864 Bell replaced Johnston.
General Sherman began his campaign into Georgia with 100,000 troops. His Confederate opponent, General Joseph Johnston commanded only 50,000 troops.
Confederate General John Bell Hood had replaced General Johnston in order to prevent the fall of Atlanta. He was not successful and General Sherman had the city basically under siege. To save what was left of his army, General Hood had to evacuate Atlanta and Sherman marched in unopposed.
General William Sherman's march through South Carolina
On July 17, 1864 President Jefferson Davis replaced General Joseph Johnston with General John Hood. US General William Sherman would now face General Bell and his name was familiar to Sherman. He asked one of Hood's classmates at West Point, General Schofield, about the abilities of Hood. Schofield's answer was not pleasing to Sherman in that the response was that Hood was a man of reckless courage.
On July 8, 1864, General Sherman's forces were moving close to Atlanta, Georgia. General John Schofield's Army of the Ohio flanked Confederate Johnston's army again and crossed the Chattahoochee River. Johnston was forced to retreat just below Peachtree Creek, this location was only five miles from Atlanta. Confederate President Jefferson Davis ordered Johnston to vigorously defend the city, however to do so meant Johnston had to make an offensive attack on the pressing Union forces. This, he informed Davis, was impossible at the moment. Johnston informed Davis such an operation required an opportunity that currently was unavailable. Davis had believed that Johnston was to blame for Sherman's deep advance into Georgia and on July 17, 1864, he replaced Johnston with General John Bell Hood.
Johnston was keenly aware of the numerical superiority of the enemy, and reckoned he would lose any big pitched battle. So his strategy was to conserve manpower and fight a delaying action, while denying Sherman any major victories. His President, Jefferson Davis, did not think this was the Confederate way of doing things, and replaced him with a younger and more gung-ho General (Hood), who led that army to disaster.
Atlanta was an important city for the Confederacy to hold, and armies under the command of Union General William T. Sherman were pressing on towards that city. Jefferson Davis believed that General John B. Hood could do a more effective job then Johnston. Davis replaced Johnston on July 17, 1864.
The two Confederate generals who failed to stop General William Tecumseh Sherman during his famous "March to the Sea" were Joseph E. Johnston and John B. Hood. Johnston commanded the Confederate Army of Tennessee and attempted to strategically retreat and delay Sherman's advance, but was ultimately unsuccessful. Hood, who took over command from Johnston, launched aggressive but poorly coordinated attacks that failed to halt Sherman's forces. Sherman's campaign ultimately led to significant destruction in the South and contributed to the Confederacy's defeat.