 The fall of Atlanta and the success of the overall Atlanta Campaign were extensively covered by Northern newspapers , and were a boon to Northern morale and to President Lincoln 's political standing . The 1864 election was between former Union general George B. McClellan , a Democrat , and Abraham Lincoln . McClellan ran a conflicted campaign - McClellan was a Unionist who advocated continuing the war until the defeat of the Confederacy , but the Democratic platform included calls for negotiations with the Confederacy on the subject of a potential truce . The capture of Atlanta and Hood 's burning of military facilities as he evacuated showed that a successful conclusion of the war was in sight , weakening support for a truce . Lincoln was reelected by a comfortable margin , with 212 out of 233 electoral votes . 
