Chickamauga and Chattanooga and the Blockade of Georgia's Coast

As Union General William Sherman came down to Chattanooga, TN to set up a base for the northern army, he decided he needed to try to take Atlanta. General Grant was to assist him in marching into Georgia. Aa they marched, Confederate General Hood intercepted them at Chickamauga. This was the first major battle in Georgia, and the Union army was forced back to Chattanooga. General Grant and the army was trapped in Chattanooga until they opened supply lines from the north, where the city would become the supply hub for the Atlanta campaign. The blockade of Georgia's coast was affecting the Confederates horribly. The Confederate army was not receiving enough food and tools, and their soldiers were either becoming very weak and dying in battle or leaving to join the Union. The south's economy was also failing because they could not ship cotton and tobacco out of their ports.