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Sherman's goal was the conquest of Atlanta– 100 miles away from Chattanooga. Between Sherman and the city stood a series of mountain passes and a Confederate army, commanded by General Joseph Johnson. Johnson was waiting for Sherman to directly attack him. Sherman would not oblige. In a series of flanking manuevers, Sherman forced Johnson back to the outskirts of Atlanta. At that point, Johnson was replaced by Hood. Hood attempted a number of assaults on Union lines, all of which failed. On September 1st, Hood withdrew from Atlanta, when Sherman cut Atlanta's last remaining rail link.

 

After the victory at Missionary Hill, Sherman succeeded Grant as commander of the Armies of the West, while Grant went on to become a Lieutenant General as the general in chief. Sherman's next goal for the army of West was not a western city at all, but rather the heart of the South- Atlanta. It was 100 miles away from Chattanooga as the crow flies, but between it lay a series of mountains that provided many opportunities for defense. It was General Johnson ( who had replaced Bragg's) plan to fight a set piece defensive battle to defeat Sherman. Sherman however, had other plans. Johnson's first line of defense was Rocky Face Ridge at Buzzards Roost. Sherman instead had sent his forces on a flanking movement to Rescae. This forced Johnson to pull back to there, which he did by May 12th. At Rescae he held up Sherman who could not find any weakness in the defenses there. Instead he once again engaged in a wide flanking movement. This forced Johnson to pull back once more. This time to Cassville. There Johnson planned to turn and fight. Sherman's forces were dispersed but the Confederate believed they had been outflanked again, and thus they once again fell back. This time they withdrew to positions overlooking the railroad at Altoona Pass. Once again Sherman outflanked Johnson, forcing him to fall back to New Hope Church. There the two armies skirmished for a few days, as they slowly moved northward back to the rail line. In the course of the skirmishing Confederate General Polk was killed by a Union shell. Union troops stopped before entrenched confederate positions along Kennesaw mountain. In frustration Sherman launched on June 27th a number of fruitless attacks on Confederate lines. For the first time Sherman's forces suffered higher losses then the Confederates.
Sherman then reverted to flanking movements, this time sending McPherson around to the Confederate rear. Johnson spotted the movement and fell back to Smyrna, about five mile from the Chattahochee. Sherman had considered a frontal assault, but finally thought better of it and decided instead on another flanking movement. This time he forced the confederate forces back to the Chattahochee River. When Sherman reached it, he was able to see his goal, the city of Atlanta eight miles in the distant. Another flanking movement once again forced Johnson to make one last retreat this time to Peachtree Creek, a mere five miles from Atlanta.
By this time the Confederate government had lost faith in Johnson's ability to defend Atlanta. On the 16th he was relieved of command and replaced by Hood one of his subordinates.
Hood was more aggressive then Johnson. On July 21 and 22nd the confederates under Hood launched two attacks against Union forces. Neither succeeded. In the course of the attack on the 22nd Union General McPherson, who Sherman considered the finest general in the Union army after Grant and himself was killed. Sherman went ahead and began a siege of Atlanta. He began long range artillery fire as inhabitants of the city began to flee.
Sherman was not content to maintain a long term siege of the city, and was therefore determined to cut the last remaining rail link between the city and the rest of the South . Sherman's army began one final flanking movement to the South, cutting the rail line at Jonesboro. Hood forces responded by attacking the union forces, but failed. Hood had no choice but to retreat from Atlanta which he promptly did. On September 2nd Sherman's army entered Atlanta. In less then four months and at the cost of 31,000 casualties the heart of the South had been taken.