title: The Day Dixie Died: The Battle of Atlanta
author: Gary Ecelbarger
description: Although not a Gettysburg-style showstopper, the middling-sized (about 10,000 casualties) 1864 battle of Atlanta emerges as one of the Civil War's more dramatic engagements in this vivid recreation. Historian Ecelbarger (The Great Comeback) chronicles the daylong onslaught by Confederate general John Bell Hood's Army of Tennessee against the Union Army of the Tennessee, the left wing of Sherman's forces. Hood's intricate, audacious attack sent a long right hook around the Union flank and made for a bloody clash of charges and countercharges, with Yankees hopping back and forth across their trench line to fend off almost simultaneous attacks from front and rear. Ecelbarger lingers on the carnage ("Yankee lead tore into Rebel bodies, snapping bones, severing blood vessels. and piercing vital organs"), but his lucid narrative (embellished with excellent maps) doesn't let gore obscure the battle's larger shape. He also perceptively emphasizes the importance of personal leadership in a confused and volatile fight that felled a roster of generals, from Army of the Tennessee commander James McPherson to Southern officers whose loss befuddled and demoralized the Confederate assault. Ecelbarger paints a fine, panorama of a seldom-sung but rousing epic. 17 b&amp;w photos; 3 maps. (Nov.) (c) <BR>Copyright &copy; PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
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  “Your father believes that the only place you’ll be safe is Texas…”
  
  
  
  
  
  “Then you should listen to my father,” Dixie said, eyes blazing with anger
  before she spun around and headed out the deck door, slamming it behind her.
  
  
  Chance swore as he watched her walk to the edge of the railing, her back to
  him. The light breeze stirred her hair. He could see her breath coming out in
  small white puffs. Forty-eight hours. Hadn’t Bonner told him not to let Dixie
  get to him? Just find her and take her to the plane. Period. Bonner had said
  it was a family matter. Let them work it out. It had nothing to do with him.
  Hell, what were the chances that anyone was really trying to kill her anyway…?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter Sixteen
  
  Chance ran through the deep snow, breathing hard, his mind racing. Beauregard,
  thinking they were playing, had run ahead into the dense pines. He heard the
  dog let out a startled bark, then a yelp.
  
  Furious with himself for not thinking to bring his gun, Chance 