By Robert D. Jenkins, Sr.
Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2024.
ISBN 978-0-88146-931-8. Illustrations. Maps. Notes. Appendices. Bibliography, Index.
Pp. 384. $39.00.
The adage about the truth being the first casualty of war has never been more apropos than in reference to the Civil War. One-and-a-half centuries after the guns fell silent, the war is still being fought in print, video, and internet mediums, purportedly in search of the truth, or a truth, about our nation’s greatest conflict. Robert D. Jenkins, Sr., a Dalton, Georgia, lawyer, brings forth his third book on an aspect of the Atlanta Campaign of 1864. This effort seeks to reveal the truth of what happened on 19 May 1864 at Cassville, Georgia. He seeks to answer the question of why Confederate forces under General Joseph E. Johnston did not make a stand against Federal troops under Major General William T. Sherman at this location. He does so with meticulous research and clear writing, without a hint of bias.
Cassville is a Georgia village, once the seat of Cass (now Bartow) County. After retreating down the Gravelly Plateau from Adairsville, Johnston posted his Army of Tennessee north of the Etowah River, from Cassville on the east to Rome on the west, in the hopes that he could turn and surprise Sherman’s divided Army of the Tennessee with his three corps under Lieutenant Generals John Bell Hood, Leonidas Polk, and William J. Hardee.
The affairs as defined by the enskins are of the controversy over Johnston’s intent and actions at Cassville. Who directed what; who did what; and who told the truth afterward? Johnston commanded the largest Confederate force in the field at that time (approximately fifty percent larger than General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House the same month). Johnston may not have had the ability to defeat Sherman outright, but he had the strength to damage Sherman’s Army of the Tennessee, perhaps causing him to retreat upon his line of communication back to Chattanooga, but he did not fight at Cassville. After this failure, Johnston ordered his forces to retreat across the Etowah to defensive positions in the Allatoona Mountains, giving Sherman an opening to reconsolidate his forces and continue his march toward Atlanta. However, in Johnston’s official reports, memoirs, and later writings, he claimed that his corps commanders’ failures and lack of confidence forced him to retreat.
The problem, as explained by Jenkins, is that Johnston’s claims fail to pass examination for truthfulness and accuracy, and they got worse the more he wrote. His official report was problematic on its face, and his memoirs further muddied the waters. Hood’s responses countered Johnston in his own official report and memoirs. Hood’s death, not long after his memoirs were published, did not end the dispute. Johnston continued to write and speak about Cassville until his own death, causing questions at each instance. Additionally, historical acceptance of Johnston’s explanations over the decades has further perpetuated the controversy.
This book will place more details of the affairs before the reader than a review can provide, but rest assured that it is constructed in such a way to clear up confusion. The Cassville Affairs is written in two parts, essentially two books, covering the failed offensive in the morning and the failure to defend in the evening. Jenkins puts Johnston’s actions in context with a defensive-offense mindset that was the hallmark of Johnston’s command philosophy throughout the Civil War.
In addition to many photographs and drawings of all the major players and significant locations, the Jenkins includes more than thirty excellent maps, using them to explain the complex geography and road network of the Gravelly Plateau, bringing clarity to situations where various participants referred to the same roads and locations by different names. He also locates events among modern roads and buildings that were not present in 1864. An example is a photograph of Confederate works that have since been overrun by a Chick-fil-A distribution center. As in any quality history, the attribution here is solid with hundreds of footnotes, five appendices, and an extensive bibliography that strengthens the narrative. The Cassville Affairs is highly recommended to anyone interested in the Atlanta Campaign.
Command Sergeant Major James H. Clifford, USA-Ret.
McDonough, Georgia