Draws on diaries, unpublished letters, and other archival sources to trace the events of the Civil War campaign that sealed the fate of the Confederacy and was instrumental in securing Abraham Lincoln's reelection.

Maps on end papers.

The greatest event of the war -- Crazy Bill: The Banks of the Chattahoochee, July 1864 -- The Gamecock: Confederate Headquarters, Atlanta, July 17 -- Old Woodenhead: Hood takes command -- Hood's first sortie: The Battle of Peachtree Creek, July 20 -- Night March: Skirmishing and first shots, July 21-22 -- "An Iliad of woes": Bald Hill, or, The Battle of Atlanta, July 22 -- The Battle of the Poor House: Ezra Church, July 28 -- "A used-up community": The bombardment of Atlanta -- "I have Atlanta in my hand": The Battle of Jonesboro, August 31 - September 1 -- "A day of terror and a night of dread": the surrender of Atlanta, September 2 -- Yankee Town: occupation and expulsion, September-October -- The whole world on fire: the burning of Atlanta -- Resurgens: Atlanta rebuilds -- Afteword: War is hell -- Author's note: Atlanta's lost battlefields -- Appendix A: Order of Battle -- Appendix B: Report by W. P. Howard to Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown on the destruction of Atlanta.