Click it, Part 2: Centennial map of the bloody Battle of Peachtree Creek

Some of you may recall me posting several weeks back this 1964 Georgia Department Transportation map superimposing the Battle of Atlanta over streets and highways.

Here's a similar map for the Battle of Peachtree Creek, which happened two days before on July 20, 1864.

• Click the map for a pop-up.

As many of you know, the battlefield lies in Atlanta's tony Buckhead district. Very little remains because of development. Wine bars and restaurants vastly outnumber the few plaques remaining along roadways and inside Tanyard Creek Park.

Interestingly, most of the road names still exist 45 years after this map was issued. Yes, Peachtree Battle Avenue is named for the bloody fight. Much of the Confederate attack occurred along Collier Road.

Piedmont Hospital is at the northwest corner of the intersection of Collier Road and Peachtree Road (second red arrow from the right). Bitsy Grant Tennis Center and Bobby Jones Golf Course are just above Overbrook Drive (center-left of red shaded area). They are bordered by Northside Drive on the west, Peachtree Creek on the north and Dellwood Drive on the east.

The battle was a disaster for the Confederacy. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, who had fought a defensive, cat-and-mouse campaign against Union Gen. William Sherman, had just been replaced by John Bell Hood.

Hood, wrongly as it turns out, began to go on the attack against Union forces. He made this assault after Union forces crossed Peachtree Creek while others moved toward the east and south. The Union lines were bent but not broken under the weight of the Confederate attack. By the end of the day, the Rebels had failed to break through anywhere along the line. Estimated casualties were 6,506: 1,710 on the Union side and 4,796 on the Confederate.

Two days later, Hood ordered another failed assault at the Battle of Atlanta.

The gig was up.