During early and mid-May 1864, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman successfully outmaneuvered the army of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in multiple battles in northwest Georgia. Each time, Johnston fell back to a new defensive position closer to the strategic Confederate city of Atlanta. Stopped at New Hope Church on Johnston's left on May 26th, Sherman attacked Johnston's right at Pickett's Mill on May 27th. The next day, Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee’s corps probed the Union defensive line, held by Maj. Gen. John A. Logan’s Fifteenth Corps and Maj. Gen. Grenville Dodge's Sixteenth Corps of Maj. Gen. James McPherson's Army of the Tennessee, both entrenched near Dallas on Sherman's right. Light skirmishing devolved into heavy fighting, with each side pouring more men into the fight. The Rebels were eventually repulsed, though both sides suffered high casualties. Both sides remained in their lines for five days. Sherman, looking to outmaneuver Johnston again and resupply his army also, left his Dallas lines on June 5th, and moved his army towards the rail head at Allatoona Pass. For the rest of June, the armies fought a series of battles around Marietta, 20 miles north of Atlanta, including fighting at Kennesaw Mountain and Kolb's Farm.