On June 27, 1864, in hot and muggy conditions, Major General William T. Sherman's 100,000-man Union army faced General Joseph E. Johnston's 65,000 Confederates entrenched along an eight-mile front. After an early morning artillery bombardment, a wave of Union soldiers surged forward across this field and the battle began. Fighting ranged from the feint attack here against Big Kennesaw Mountain to the major assaults on Pigeon Hill and Cheatham Hill, as Union forces attempted to split the Confederate line.