What events led to the Battle of Atlanta?

Following the surrender of Vicksburg, which divided the confederacy at the Mississippi, Grant determined to further divide the South at the Appalachian Range, opening the way to the deep south at Chattanooga. When Lincoln appointed him to him to overall Union Command, he left Sherman in charge of the West. Sherman decided on a campaign of Total War against the South to deprive its army of food and other needed supplies, and to possibly draw forces away from Lee in the East to counter the threat to their homes, by devastating everything in his path.