Cut off from all lines of supply, the Confederate army was forced to evacuate or risk being trapped in the city and starving. Hood ordered a retreat on Sept. 1, and by midnight the last of his infantry units were marching down the McDonough Road (present-day Capitol Avenue and McDonough Boulevard) and out of town.
The next day, Mayor James Calhoun made a decision with a spin worthy of future Atlanta leaders. With his Southern defenders gone, Calhoun chose a delegation of citizens with pro-Union sentiments -- including a slave, Robert Yancey. The group rode north beyond the city limits and past the abandoned Confederate trenches in search of the Union army. Finding a captain at the present-day corner of Northside Drive and Marietta Street, Calhoun formally surrendered Atlanta.
