LEGGETT'S, or BALD HILL, Battle of, an engagement of the Civil War, near Atlanta, Ga. The battle of Peachtree Creek (q.v.), 20 July 1864, was a Confederate defeat. On the 21st General Sherman advanced strong skir mish-lines to within about two miles of the works surrounding Atlanta. In the morning Leggett's division was ordered to carry a high, bare hill, situated about half a mile south of the Decatur Railroad. Supported on the right by Giles A. Smith's division, Leggett advanced under cover of the hill itself, dashed forward when reaching its base, drove Cleburne's Con federates from it and began to entrench. The Confederates made several vain efforts to re take it. From its summit Atlanta was in full view. Discovering at daybreak of the 22d that the advanced Confederate works had been abandoned, Sherman ordered a general ad vance along his line to occupy the city, and the movement began accordingly. During the night, however, the Confederate General Hood had abandoned his advanced lines on the left and ordered Hardee's corps of four divisions to march entirely past Sherman's left and at tack his left and rear. Giles A. Smith's divi sion of Blair's 17th corps held Sherman's left and Dodge's 16th corps was some distance in rear of the centre of Blair's corps and per pendicular to it. Blair fronted west, Dodge south.
About midnight Hardee moved out of At lanta by the McDonough road, and about day break, when the troops had made a night march of 15 miles, and passed beyond Sher man's left, he halted, formed line and gave his men needed rest. In half an hour the order was given to advance and his corps went for ward until Bates and Walther's divisions came to open ground, where they received a most deadly fire from Dodge's two Union divisions, which held them in check. Every effort to ad vance was repulsed with great loss and Gen eral Walther was killed. On the Federal side Gen. J. B. McPherson (q.v.), commanding the Army of the Tennessee, hastened troops to fill an interval between Dodge and Blair, rode to Dodge and then toward Blair's line, and had gone but a short distance when he fell mor tally wounded, being succeeded in command by Gen. John A. Logan. Meanwhile the left of '
Hardee's line had enveloped Giles A. Smith's division, attacking it in front, flank and rear, Smith gradually yielding ground and refusing to connect his left with Dodge's right, the Con federates gradually advancing to the foot of Leggett's Hill. When Hardee's attack on Sherman's left and rear was being delivered, Hood ordered Cheatham's corps to attack in front, and the attack fell upon Leggett's Hill and the 15th corps on the right of it, just as Leggett had repulsed an attack in his rear. Leggett, by desperate fighting, held his ground. The Confederates made repeated at tacks until nightfall, when Hardee withdrew his right wing, leaving his left connected with the entrenched line in front of Atlanta. On the right of Logan's corps the Army of the Ohio was attacked by Smith's Georgia militia, which was readily repulsed. On Hardee's right Wheeler's cavalry attacked Sprague's brigade in Decatur and for a time pressed it vigor ously, but Reilly's brigade of the Army of the Ohio coming to its assistance, Wheeler was re pulsed. The battle of Leggett's or Bald Hill was one of the greatest of Sherman's Atlanta campaign and involved four corps of his army and two of Hood's. The loss of the Army of the Tennessee was 430 killed, 1,559 wounded and 1,733 missing, with 10 guns; the entire Union loss during the day was about 4,000. The Confederate loss is not known; it has been variously estimated at from 6,000 to 10,000; it was probably between 5,000 and 6,000. Con sult 'Official Records' (Vol. XX XVIII) ; Cox, J. D., (New York 1882); Sherman, W. T., 'Personal (New York 1875); The Century Company's 'Battles and Leaders of the Civil War) (Vol. IV, New York 1887-88).