A Summer of Battles, The Final Weeks of the Civil War's 1864 Atlanta Campaign: Volume 2 Jonesboro, Lovejoy's Station and the capture of Atlanta Paperback – November 9, 2025

The Civil War is one of the most significant events in United States history. The Atlanta Campaign is one of the most significant events in the Civil War because it won President Abraham Lincoln’s re-election and thus enabled him to prosecute the war through to the ultimate Federal victory over the Confederacy. While the Atlanta Campaign has attracted the attention of more historians in recent years, the campaign’s critical final weeks have not been adequately explored. A Summer of Battles fills this void, focusing on the 40-day period following the Battle of Ezra Church on July 28, 1864, until General William T. Sherman’s army occupied Atlanta in early September.Volume 1 covered August 1864, when the Northern and Southern armies faced off along 15 miles of earthworks and trenches north and west of Atlanta. Volume 2 picks up as General Sherman’s army approaches the Macon railroad in several places south of Atlanta, aiming to cut the vital railroad supply line of the Confederate army holding Atlanta. Volume 2 provides an in-depth exploration of the Confederate attack at Jonesboro on August 31, 1864, and the Federal attack on September 1. Volume 2 wraps up with accounts of the fighting at Lovejoy’s Station and the conclusion of the Atlanta Campaign. Appendices document some of the terrible human costs of the final weeks of fighting among soldiers and their families, an important topic often ignored in other works focused on the highest levels of command.Author David Allison is a life-long student of the Civil War who grew up in Atlanta and has lived there more than 60 years. In 2018 he published the book “Attacked On All Sides” about the battle of Decatur, Georgia, a sideshow of the epic Battle of Atlanta fought east of the city on July 22, 1864. He then began to explore war-time events on the west side and south side of Atlanta and became intimately acquainted with many of the surviving battlegrounds, discovering a wealth of dramatic first-hand stories overlooked in other histories. These are now gathered and presented in A Summer of Battles. Read more