Georgia Natural Wonder #155 - Allatoona Pass. 1,408

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Georgia Natural Wonder #155 - Allatoona Pass

Allatoona Pass is one of the most historically significant battlefields in Georgia, and it features a deep awesome railroad cut through solid rock with steep cliffs that was the site of the Great Locomotive Chase of 1862. The Pass was approximately 360 feet long and 175 feet deep.  Built in the 1840’s, it was the deepest rail cut along the W & A between Atlanta and Chattanooga. The site is managed by Red Top Mountain State Park.



To get to Allatoona Pass, take I-75 exit 283 (Emerson Allatoona Road) toward the east and follow signs. Red Top Mountain State Park is located off exit 285, on Lake Allatoona. So just be aware these are separate exits, Allatoona Pass is before Red Top coming from Atlanta.



Allatoona Pass is a historically significant location due to its role in two major incidents during the American Civil War. In April 1862, James Andrews’ Raiders on board the steam locomotive "General" sped through Allatoona Pass during what has become known as the Great Locomotive Chase. They should have disabled the "Yonah" engine on the side rail as that was used to chase them. We have told this story in numerous earlier post, most notably GNW #136 which included a tangent on the City of Kennessaw.

April 13, 1887, the Western and Atlantic railroad special excursion.
The train stopped at Allatoona Pass on way from Chattanooga to Atlanta for the members and families of the International Association of Car Accountants. 

Two and a half years after the Locomotive Chase, and five weeks after the fall of Atlanta, one of the most stubbornly fought battles of the Civil War was waged on it's soil. Of the over 5,301 men engaged approximately 30 percent became casualties of war and lost their lives during the five-hour battle. Today, the well preserved earthworks and trenches are still visible. Interpretive panels and several monuments dedicated to the soldiers who fought in the battle provide context for the battle.



A large portion of the battlefield remains in a condition little changed since the time of the battle. Within easy walking distances are found a spectacular railroad cut through solid rock, two well preserved earth forts with extensive undisturbed trenches and outworks, a classic antebellum plantation house, and the grave of the unknown hero of the battle.

Antebellum History

We delved into the history of the underwater town of Allatoona with our last post on Red Top Mountain GNW #154 .


Daughter in front of Clayton Mooney House back in the day.

The town of Allatoona was established in 1829 by miners along the gold-rich Allatoona Creek in the southern part of Bartow County. The town grew steadily and reached its height in the 1840s when gold production at the creek was at its peak. But shortly thereafter the town began to decline as miners moved to California in search of richer claims. At its peak, the town has a large population of several hundred people, three productive grist mills, two churches a post office, several plantations and a school. The town was also home the Allatoona Railroad pass on the Western and Atlantic Railroad which was completed in 1845.


Clayton Mooney House today.

One of the first official buildings was a small post office that was active until 1918. Before the emergence of the civil war, the town became increasingly popular, people started coming to the town in search of gold and other resources; a silver mine was also located nearby that also brought miners to the small town. As well as a blacksmith, a small depot and a dry goods store.


Victorian Era house next door.

John Clayton was among the first settlers to the town of Allatoona he was a rich slave owner and owned several plantations around the area. The Clayton-Mooney home, circa 1836, is the only structure still standing that is a reminder of days gone by.


Grave of 16 unknown soldiers who died in house when it was used as a Civil War hospital.

Bullet holes and blood stains that are still visible remind us of the home's use as union headquarters and hospital during the battle.


Daughter found this marker years ago.

Union Capture of Allatoona Pass

When advancing on Atlanta in the spring of 1864, Commanding General William T. Sherman avoided Allatoona Pass by leaving the railroad at Kingston, Georgia, heading south into Paulding County and fighting at Dallas, New Hope Church, and Pickett's Mill. He captured the pass on June 1, 1864 as Rebels under Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston withdrew. 


The Pass was huge in the mind of Sherman.

On or about May 28, Stoneman's Cavalry began their assault at Allatoona Pass. From notes kept by Merritt Lewis of Company E of the Fifty-First Illinois, it seems that the rebel force, although small, were making best use of the fine defensive structure established there:



"Saturday. Skirmishing going on. Rebels strongly entrenched at Allatoona Pass. Sunday. Skirmishing continued. Rebels charged our lines at night and were repulsed. Monday [May 30]. Our army still confronting the rebel army at Allatoona pass."

 

By June 1, Sherman's two mounted divisions, one under Brigadier General Kenner Garrard, the other under Lt. Col. George Stoneman, had seized Allatoona Pass from the small Confederate force that Joe Johnston had left there. (Just reading that Stoneman's roommate at West Point was Stonewall Jackson.) This meant that Federal locomotives were now be able to steam south to provide the Union army with bullets, powder, and fresh food. As Sherman later recounted in his report: 

"On the 1st of June our three armies were well in hand, in the broken and densely-wooded country fronting the enemy intrenched at New Hope Church, about five miles north of Dallas. General Stoneman's division of cavalry had occupied Allatoona, on the railroad, and General Garrard's division was at the western end of the pass, about Stilesboro."

Getting the troops on the move again proved difficult, since on that day it also began to rain. The rains kept up for over two weeks, turning the landscape into a red clay quagmire. At New Hope Church, northeast of Dallas, where a bloody and intense battle was taking place, the rough land was also a quagmire. Troops, horses, caissons became mired in a sea of mud. The federals irreverently christened New Hope Church "The Hell Hole", and the entrenched lines were so close that taunting calls traveled back and forth. 



Sherman's attempt to outflank the Confederates at Dallas, Georgia, had clearly failed. He had hoped to move decisively, but the fighting had instantly degraded into what he called "a big Indian war". Sherman wanted to get his offensive astride the Western and Atlantic Railroad again to simplify his supply problems. For this reason, Stoneman's successful occupation of the railroad at Allatoona Pass became hugely significant in the ongoing Union march on Atlanta...



The hero of that June 1st skirmish was Myles  Walter Keogh. He was an Irish soldier. Serving the armies of the Papal States during the war for Italian unification in 1860, he was recruited into the Union Army during the American Civil War, serving as a cavalry officer, particularly under Brig. Gen. John Buford during the Gettysburg Campaign. After the war, Keogh remained in the regular United States Army as commander of I Troop of the 7th US Cavalry Regiment under George Armstrong Custer during the Indian Wars, until he was killed along with Custer and all of his men at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.


Papal States Keogh

Myles Keogh would later receive the brevet rank of Lieutenant Colonel in recognition of gallantry performed around this time. It appears that following a number of assaults, each with little success, General Stoneman turned to his aide-de-camp, Major Keogh, in an effort to break Confederate lines.


Decorated Union Calvary Officer Keogh

Captain Allen recounts the event:

"A battalion of four companies [300 men] were placed at his disposal. In columns of companies he started at a brisk trot, and with cap in hand, turned to the battalion and cried out, 'Hip, hip, hurrah boys! Here we go,' and breaking into a gallop, the battalion, with Keogh well in the lead, charged on the enemy capturing all whose fleetness of horse did not permit them to escape."

In recognition of the dismissive attitude he and some within the Ohio Cavalry had adopted weeks before regarding Keogh's dress and appearance, Captain Allen further wrote: "…Keogh ever after was a most welcome guest at every campfire, and every canteen in the regiment was freely proffered to him." Another telling of this event was published in the "Forest and Stream" magazine, date and author unknown, and titled "Irish-American soldier of fortune".


7th Calvary Keogh

A copy of the article was sourced in the National Library of Ireland and appears to be based on the memoirs of an enlisted Union soldier. Interestingly, it differs little from Captain Theodore Allen's recollections: 

"While they were forming again to make another charge, Keogh rode down to them and said to the captain who was in command that Gen. Stoneman had been kind enough to direct him to take command during the next charge. He was welcome to do it, and the officers were now anxious to see what he would do with it after he had got it. He formed his four troops in column of fours, each troop parallel with the next one; that made a solid column with a platoon front. The Confederates, who were hid by the timber, stopped firing after the last repulse."



"They might as well stop, they could not hit anyone from where they were on top of the hill and the timber prevented them from seeing much, anyhow."



"But as soon as Keogh had started his column up at a trot, he riding at its head, the firing began again. Keogh stood up in his stirrups, and facing his men, swung his cap above his head, and yelled 'Give them a cheer, boys, and go for them now.'



"The cheer was given, and they went for them, sending the Confederates clear across the hill and down the other side of it and here the rest of the regiment that had followed him to support him took up the chase and kept the enemy going. Whenever a charge was made after this, and Keogh was present, he took part in it, whether he had any command or not, and always came out without a scratch even."


Grave of Keogh at Little Bighorn, he got scratched there.

The city of Allatoona became a supply center from June, 1864 until November, 1864. Its proximity to the railroad and nearby fields for herds of cattle made it ideal as a staging area for the supplies needed to feed Sherman's 100,000-man army.

Union Troops Fortify Allatoona

A garrison was placed in the hamlet, which author David Evans described as “a wretched and forlorn looking town of four or five houses scattered around the south end of the railroad cut through Allatoona Mountain.” On June 6, 1864, Sherman ordered Allatoona fortified and prepared as a secondary base. By July 14, Union engineers had fortified both sides of the railroad cut, building a four-sided earthen fort encircled by a deep ditch east of the railroad, and a larger, six-sided redoubt on the western ridge. Each fort mounted a smooth-bore Napoleon gun and two 3-inch rifled cannon, and was surrounded by trenches and rifle pits; the forest had been leveled for 200 to 300 yards west of the trenches, forming a barrier of fallen trees. The slope on both sides of the cut had also been cleared, giving both forts a good field of fire.



Once its defenses were complete, Sherman established his main supply depot there, placing a million pounds of hardtack and salt pork in warehouses near the railroad, along with 9,000 head of cattle in the valleys around the town. “I regard Allatoona of the first importance in our future plans,” Sherman declared. “It is a second Chattanooga; its front and rear are susceptible of easy defense and its flanks are strong.” Sherman placed such importance on the Allatoona depots that he stated in General Field Orders No. 57, on August 16, “The depots at the bridge, at Allatoona, and Marietta, will be held against any attack.”

The Battle of Allatoona Pass

The Battle of Allatoona, also known as the Battle of Allatoona Pass, was fought October 5, 1864, in Bartow County, Georgia, and was the first major engagement of the disastrous Franklin-Nashville Campaign of the American Civil War.



A Confederate division under Maj. Gen. Samuel G. French attacked a Union garrison under Brig. Gen. John M. Corse, but was unable to dislodge it from its fortified position protecting the railroad through Allatoona Pass.

Background

Following its evacuation of Atlanta, Confederate General  John Bell Hood and his battered Army of Tennessee, after suffering 24,979 casualties out of an original force of 68,000 men, pulled back to Lovejoy Station, 35 miles southeast of Atlanta, to regroup. The Army of Tennessee had been weakened by disease, desertion, dead and wounded in battle - 20,000 in the month and a half since Hood took over command from General Joseph E. Johnston - plus immense losses of small arms, artillery, and ammunition. Hood’s troops were bone tired and short of shoes and clothes. “Even food was scarce,” author David Nevin wrote, “because Georgia farmers had become increasingly reluctant to sell their produce in exchange for the inflated Confederate paper currency.” Hood’s Army was in no condition to attack Sherman’s superior numbers. Despite its losses in men and materiel, Hood’s Army of 40,000 men in three corps was still a force to be reckoned with, and a threat that Sherman, despite his superior numbers, could not ignore.


The cavalry charge at Lovejoy Station on August 24th,1864, ranks as one of the most dramatic cavalry actions of the Civil War

But Sherman did not attack Hood at Lovejoy Station. Instead, on September 7, he pulled back to Atlanta. His army needed a brief rest, author Shelby Foote wrote, “in which to digest its gains and shake its diminished self together, while its leader pondered in tranquility his next move.” Even with reductions due to casualties, Sherman’s three armies - Maj. Gen. David M. Stanley’s Army of the Cumberland, Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard’s Army of the Tennessee, and Maj. Gen. Jacob D. Cox’s Army of the Ohio - were still twice as strong as Hood’s, with 80,000 men in six corps of nine divisions.


More on the Battle of Lovejoy Station.

By remaining in Atlanta, however, Sherman left Hood free to strike at his long supply line. The Union armies around Atlanta were sustained by the single-track Atlantic & Western Railroad, extending 130 miles back to Chattanooga, Tenn. Fully aware of the importance of this line, Sherman had taken precautions to protect the railroad by posting strong detachments from Marietta, Ga., to Chattanooga, Tenn. “All the important bridges were likewise protected by good block-houses, admirably constructed, and capable of a strong defense against cavalry or infantry,” Sherman wrote.


Kilpatrick Charge Memorial

Sherman wasn’t concerned with attacks on the railroad by Confederate cavalry led by Maj. Gen. Joseph “Fighting Joe” Wheeler, he wrote, “for they rarely made a break which could not be repaired in a few hours.” He was more concerned with the Army of Tennessee’s infantry: If Hood’s troops captured a section of the tracks, they could choke off his army. “It was absolutely essential to keep General Hood’s infantry off of our main route of communication,” Sherman said.


Wheeler Wheeling.

Without the strength to confront Sherman, and nowhere to fall back to, Hood decided on a bold gamble: He would attack the Union supply line and force Sherman to come out of Atlanta. To accomplish this, Hood would recross the Chattahoochee River with his entire army and cut the railroad. Sherman would follow to protect his line of communication, giving the Confederates a chance to defeat him. By seizing the initiative, Hood hoped to restore his army’s morale and nullify Sherman’s advantages. “He was sure that an offensive would be a tonic for his soldiers, infusing them with renewed fighting spirit,” Nevin wrote. However risky the plan, Hood believed now was the time to act: “Sherman is weaker now than he will be in the future, and I am as strong as I can expect to be.”


Marker and Monument Palmetto Georgia.

Four days after Hood’s completed movement to Palmetto Station, Confederate President Jefferson Davis arrived for a council of war with Hood and his corps commanders. The president approved the plan to attack Sherman. After two days of reviewing the troops and revising Hood’s plan, Davis left Palmetto Station on September 27.


Marker inscription.

“Our cause is not lost,” he declared in a speech at Macon, Ga., the next day. “Sherman cannot keep up his long line of communications; retreat sooner or later he must.… When that day comes, the fate that befell the army of the French in its retreat from Moscow will be reenacted.…”

Jefferson Davis’s indiscreet speech was reprinted in several Georgia newspapers, which Sherman obtained through Union spies. “He made no concealment of these vainglorious boasts,” Sherman recalled, “and thus gave us the key to his future designs.… To be forewarned was to be forearmed.”

Confederate Generals.
Davis chose Hood over Johnston because Hood always stood behind Davis.

He did not have long to wait. On the afternoon of September 29, Hood’s Army, now numbering 44,403 men, crossed the Chattahoochee River below Campbelltown, Ga., and headed north at a steady pace, covering 12 to 18 miles a day. By October 2, 1864 the Army of Tennessee was on Sherman’s supply line. Hood ordered Lt. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart’s Corps to strike the railroad; Lt. Gen. Stephen D. Lee’s Corps would cover their movement from Lost Mountain, while Lt. Gen. Benjamin Franklin Cheatham’s Corps continued toward Marietta.


Heading other way across the "Hooch" away from Sherman.

The next morning, October 3, Stewart’s three divisions, covered by Brig. Gen. Frank Armstrong’s Cavalry Brigade, attacked the garrisons guarding the railroad. Major General William W. Loring’s Division attacked the railroad hamlet of Acworth, capturing a hundred Union troops; Maj. Gen. Edward C. Walthal’s Division struck Moon’s Station; and Maj. Gen. Samuel G. French’s Division took Big Shanty. Stewart’s Corps captured 600 Union prisoners, losing, Stewart reported, “not more than 12 or 15, mostly wounded.”


Big Shanty.

Once all three towns were secured, Stewart’s men, like Sherman’s a few months earlier, began tearing up the railroad. “ track was torn up and huge fires built from the ties until the rails, laid across the fire, became red hot at their center and were grasped by the cooler ends, carried to trees, and bent until the ends met,” Gottschalk wrote. Captain James Boyce of French’s Division recalled his fellow soldiers enjoying wrecking the tracks, because “to destroy is a soldier’s joy.” Despite heavy rain, they worked far into the night. “By 3:00 pm of the 4th,” Stewart wrote, “the railroad was effectively torn up, the ties burned, and the rails bent for a distance of ten or twelve miles.”


Stewart's Neckties

On the morning of October 4, while Stewart’s Corps demolished the railroad, Cheatham and Lee’s Corps headed for New Hope Church, where Hood had set up headquarters. From there at 7:30 that morning, Hood, unaware of Sherman’s advance or the situation in his area, ordered Stewart to send a division to the railroad town of Allatoona Station, 12 miles north of Acworth, thence to “destroy the bridge over the Etowah River” and “take possession of the place.”


This Etowah Bridge is big part of next GNW #156 - Etowah River Gorge.

Seeing no danger in letting French’s Division attack Allatoona alone, Stewart with Loring and Walthal’s divisions rejoined Hood’s Army at New Hope Church. French was left advancing “all alone into the land occupied by the enemy, and Gen. Hood moved farther and farther away, leaving me isolated beyond all support or assistance.” As they marched, French’s men suspected where they were going. “Nearly all of us are satisfied that our destination is Allatoona,” Lieutenant George Warren of Cockrell’s Brigade wrote, “and the surprise of that stronghold the object of our expedition.”



While French’s Division moved toward Allatoona, the Union vanguard, with Sherman riding near the front, recrossed the Chattahoochee River and rendezvoused at the old Smyrna Camp battlefield. Moving quickly, Sherman’s troops crossed into the Georgia hills and entered Marietta later that day. Once there, Sherman learned that the telegraph had been cut above Marietta and the railroad had been torn up. The Union flag signal station on Kennesaw Mountain, under Lieutenant Charles H. Fish, reported “heavy masses of infantry, artillery and cavalry” marching north. Learning this, Sherman determined that the Confederates were after Allatoona.



Unable to move his troops there by rail because of the break in the tracks at Big Shanty, and concerned the Confederate force heading for Allatoona was large enough to smash the small Union garrison, Sherman sent a message, via signal flag from Kennesaw Mountain to Allatoona and from there by telegraph, to General Corse in Rome, Ga.: “General Sherman directs you to move forward with your entire command to Allatoona….”



Corse, a flamboyant 29-year-old ex-West Pointer, and one of Sherman’s favorite brigadiers, received Sherman’s relayed order at noon on October 4 and, he reported, “immediately got ready to move to Allatoona with the division as soon as the cars should arrive from Kingston.” A train was quickly dispatched from Kingston, Ga., but was delayed when its cars derailed. Getting them back on the tracks again took most of the afternoon and the 20-car train didn’t arrive in Rome until 7 pm.

A Train Loaded with 1,054 Soldiers and 165,000 Rounds of Ammo

“This was not enough to haul a brigade, much less a division,” Evans wrote, “but Corse could not wait any longer.” He hurried Colonel Richard Rowett’s Third Brigade, eight companies of the 39th Iowa and 50th Illinois Regiments, nine companies from the 7th Illinois Regiment, two companies of the 17th Illinois, and a detachment from the 12th Illinois - 1,054 officers and men - plus 165,000 rounds of ammunition, onto the train. Loading was complete by 8:30, and the train set off for Allatoona.



Unaware that Union reinforcements were on their way there, French reached Acworth, six miles northwest of Big Shanty, at sunset, where he waited for rations to show up. Because he knew nothing about the roads, the terrain around Allatoona, or the fortifications, French wrote, “it was important to procure a guide.”



Eventually, French located 18-year-old Tom Moore, member of a local Confederate cavalry company, who agreed to be his guide.


Mara Moore was my guide.

While his men rested, waiting for their rations to arrive, French spoke to two local girls who had visited Allatoona earlier that day, learning about the garrison and its fortifications, including a blockhouse near the Allatoona Creek Bridge, held by 80 Union soldiers commanded by Captain Peter McIntyre, which could stall his advance. After waiting at Acworth for five hours, French resumed his advance at 11 pm over the narrow country roads. “The night was dark and the roads bad,” French recalled. He pushed his division across Allatoona Creek, halfway between Acworth and Allatoona, at midnight, October 5, 1864. Leaving Colonel Thomas Adaire’s 4th Mississippi Regiment to attack the blockhouse, French moved the rest of his division toward the town. The blockhouse held out until the Confederates withdrew from Allatoona.



Inside Allatoona, the Union garrison commander, Lt. Col. John E. Tourtelotte, having been alerted to the threat by a flag message from Sherman, strengthened his guard, barricaded all roads to the south, and prepared to set fire to a building in case of a night attack, “so my men could see even in the night, to a considerable extent, any approach of the enemy,” Tourtelotte wrote.


Famous photo from inside Star Fort.

If the Confederates attacked Allatoona that night, Tourtelotte hoped to hold them at least until daylight when, he wrote, “We should have the full advantage of our superior position.” To hold the town, Tourtelotte had the 4th Minnesota and 93rd Illinois Regiments, seven companies of the 18th Minnesota Regiment, and the 12th Wisconsin Battery of four 10-pound Rodman rifled cannon and two 12-pound brass howitzers - 976 men in all. Outnumbered by the approaching Confederates, Tourtelotte was also hoping for reinforcements to arrive, as promised by Sherman in a message he had received at 8:30 the previous evening: “General Sherman says hold fast. We are coming.”

A Night Before the Battle and the Soldiers Cannot Rest

There was no sign of the promised reinforcements when, shortly after midnight, Federal pickets near flat-topped Moore’s Hill, 1,100 yards south of town, encountered French’s vanguard. Within minutes, while skirmishers on both sides traded shots, Tourtelotte had his entire command under arms. At 1 o’clock in the morning, with sporadic firing still going on, the train with Corse and Rowett’s Brigade on board pulled into Allatoona and began unloading the troops and ammunition. After this was complete, Corse sent the train back to Rome to bring back the rest of Rowett’s Brigade and Lt. Col. Roger Martin’s First Brigade. But the train derailed after leaving Allatoona: No further reinforcements would arrive until after the battle was over.


My daughters try to recreate that image.

After meeting with Colonel Tourtelotte and familiarizing himself with the fortifications, Corse ordered his men to stack arms and get some sleep. “But it is a night before the battle and the soldiers cannot rest,” Daniel Lieb Ambrose of the 7th Illinois wrote. “Men are hurrying to and fro: their voices are hushed, for thought is busy with them all; they are thinking of the coming strife.”



Moving as best they could through the dark wood, steep hills, and deep valleys, the Confederates crossed the railroad near Allatoona around 3 am. “They saw only one or two twinkling lights and heard nothing except occasional shots by their skirmishers and enemy outposts,” Gottschalk wrote. Ordering Major Myrick to place his guns on Moore’s Hill, from which they could sweep the area, and leaving the 39th North Carolina Infantry and 32nd Texas Cavalry (dismounted) to protect them, French continued his advance.



“But without roads or paths it was like the blind leading the blind,” one author wrote. After floundering around in the darkness for over an hour, French’s men found themselves in front of the Union defenses instead of on the main ridge. With Tom Moore acknowledging they were lost and that he could not find the way, French halted until daybreak.


My kids coming down the Tennessee Road.

“Although the rest would be a short one, weary soldiers were grateful,” Gottschalk said. “They had gotten little sleep during the night’s downpour and marched most of the previous 12 hours since leaving Big Shanty after a hard labor destroying track.”



At Allatoona, while French’s men rested, Corse positioned his troops for battle. The 7th Illinois, 39th Iowa, and a battalion of the 93rd Illinois were deployed in line of battle facing west. The 4th Minnesota, 12th, 50th Illinois, and 18th Wisconsin were positioned on the eastern hill, with the rest on the outpost and skirmish lines. Corse commanded the troops on the western redoubt, and Tourtelotte led those in the eastern redoubt. By sunrise, with sporadic firing going on between the skirmishers, every Union soldier in Allatoona who could carry a rifle - 2,137 men in all - was on the firing line.



Resuming his march at first light, French’s men struggled up and down hills until they reached the high ground 600 yards west of the fortifications at 6:30 am and saw them for the first time. “The whole formed a mountain fortress,” French wrote, “with immense entanglements of abatis, stockades, stores, etc, to check any assault on the works.’’


Peak of Star Fort Hill Geological Marker and steep down hill that Rebels tried to climb.

“As I looked across the intervening space to the bristling forts and viewed the rugged Mountainside with the interminable abatis that lay between, and then cast my eyes along our slender line,” Lieutenant Warren recalled, “I thought to myself there will be hot work here if these regiments are made of resolute men.”

Surrender Allatoona!

As Major Myrick’s guns opened fire on the Union defenses at 7 am, French issued his battle orders: Sears’ Brigade would outflank the defenses from the north and attack their rear, while Cockrell and Young’s Brigades attacked eastward down the ridge. Knowing it would be an hour before his troops were in position, after consulting his brigade commanders French decided to try and persuade the Federals holding Allatoona to surrender.



After a few minutes searching for a white cloth to use as a flag of truce, French sent his adjutant, Major David R. Sanders and Lieutenant E.T. Freeman, escorted by 16 men from the 29th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, toward the Union lines with his message. Reaching the picket line, Sanders delivered the note to Lieutenant William C. Kinney of Company E, 93rd Illinois Infantry, saying he would wait 15 minutes for a reply.



French’s message was first taken to Colonel Rowett, who delivered it to General Corse near the western redoubt. Corse opened the note and read: “Sir, I have placed the forces under my command in such positions that you are now surrounded, and, to avoid a needless effusion of blood, I call upon you to surrender your forces at once and unconditionally. Five minutes will be allowed you to decide. Should you accede to this, you will be treated in the most honorable manner as prisoners of war.”


View from Star Fort down on Rebels.

“General French must either be a fool, or else he thinks somebody else is one,” Corse said. Taking a notebook out of his pocket, Corse wrote: “Your communication I acknowledge receipt of, and would respectfully reply that we are prepared for the needless effusion of blood whenever it is agreeable to you.” Tearing the reply out of his notebook, Corse handed it to an aide. “They will be upon us now,” he informed Colonel Tourtelotte.

Surrender or Fight?

By now, Major Sanders had been waiting for 16 minutes. “The time limited in the instructions to await an answer having expired, and it appearing quite evident that no reply would be sent,” Sanders wrote, “the flag of truce was declared at an end.” While returning to French’s headquarters, Sanders rode past Cockrell’s Brigade which was deployed to attack. A Missourian called out, “Is it surrender or fight, Major?” “Fight,” Sanders replied.



After hearing of Sanders’ rebuff, French received a dispatch from Sears telling him that his brigade was held up by high water from a mill dam on Allatoona Creek, which would take an hour for them to go around. Impatient at the delay, French immediately ordered Young and Cockrell’s Brigades to attack.



The quiet, hazy Indian summer day was shattered by rifle and cannon fire at 9 am, as Cockrell and Young’s Brigades advanced. “The regiment moved forward in fine order,” Major James H. McReynolds, 9th Texas Infantry, reported, “considering the great obstacles, such as fallen trees, brush, rugged ground, &c.” Advancing along the ridge which, French wrote, “barely admitted a company front,” with three companies in advance as skirmishers, the Confederates drove through the woods, chased off Union skirmishers, and pressed forward under heavy fire toward the western redoubt through tangles of abatis.



On the other side, the 7th Illinois and 39th Iowa Regiments, reinforced by a battalion from the 93rd Illinois Regiment, led by Colonel Rowett, waited for them in the western redoubt‘s trenches and rifle pits. As the Confederates emerged from the woods both regiments opened fire; the 7th Illinois with their 16-shot Henry repeating rifles and the 39th Iowa with muzzle-loading Springfield rifles.




I could not even aim a camera coming up this hill, much less a gun.

“The enemy fought like men and when within 20 yards of the entrenchments so deadly was their fire that our lines halted and the contest seemed doubtful,” James Bradley, K Company, 3-5th Missouri, remembered. The Missourians took cover and began clearing paths through the obstacles in front of them, while others searched for a way to outflank Rowett’s line.



For more than an hour, while Young’s Brigade reorganized itself, Cockrell’s men worked their way through the abatis. Young’s men quickly moved up behind Cockrell’s and, at 10:20, once the obstacles were cleared, the Missourians and Texans rose, leveled their bayonets, and charged, screaming the rebel yell. “We then pushed forward under a very destructive fire,” Major McReynolds recalled, “every man striving for who would be first to mount the enemy’s works.”

A “Sublime Spectacle” of Battle

“Solid shot and shells, grape and canister from double shotted cannon and a hailstorm of bullets were rapidly and accurately poured into the ranks of the Confederates as they recklessly advanced,” Lieutenant Harvey Trimble, 93rd Illinois Infantry, remembered. “And yet, not withstanding their fearful losses at every step, they still advanced.… The spectacle was sublime.”



The Federals in the redoubt stood their ground, laying a murderous fire upon the advancing Confederates. General Young was wounded and five Confederate color bearers cut down as the Missourians and Texans swarmed over the parapets. “Here sabers crashed, bayonets crossed, and clubs and rocks were hurled back and forth,” Bradley wrote. A desperate struggle broke out around the 39th Iowa’s regimental flag as Confederates grabbed the colors and the 39th’s color guard clutched the staff. The struggle continued until Sergeant John M. Ragland, lst-4th Missouri, tore the flag from the breastworks and carried it away. For his bravery, Ragland was later promoted to lieutenant.



While Cockrell and Young’s men attacked the west redoubt, Sears’ Brigade, after an hour of going around the dam, formed a line of battle on both sides of the railroad north of Rowett’s position, facing south. With Sears leading, the Mississippians swept down on the Federals “like a wintry blast from the north,” Union cavalry officer Mortimer Flint recalled. Attacked by front and flank, Union troops began falling back to Corse’s fort, covered by companies E, G, and K of the 39th Iowa, led by Lt. Col. James Rodfield, holding the trenches north of the Cartersville Road. Redfield was struck in the foot while encouraging his men; getting back up, another shot broke his leg. Despite his wounds Redfield continued leading his men until he was killed by a bullet in his heart.


Trench's on the other side of the Pass.

The Iowans stubbornly held off Sears’, Young’s, and Cockrell’s Brigades, disregarding their own heavy losses, allowing the remaining 7th and 93rd Illinois troops to slip back to Corse’s fort. Once they had withdrawn, the 39th Iowa, after losing 94 men killed or wounded, also fell back. The Confederates, bloody and weary after capturing the outer defenses, paused to regroup.



Hurrying into the fort, the surviving Federals were heartened to see fresh bluecoats approaching. During the fighting, Corse ordered Lt. Col. William Hanna’s 50th Illinois, along with the 12th Illinois and 18th Wisconsin, to reinforce the west fort. Quickly obeying Corse’s order, Hanna double - quicked his men down the hill, over the tracks, across a footbridge spanning the railroad cut, and back up the hill into the fort. The reinforcements crowded into the trenches while the rest of Rowett’s men stampeded into the fort. “Men standing on the embrasure, over the cannon and on the parapet, seized the extended hands of those on the outside,” Trimble wrote, “and with the aid of those in the rifle pit at the base of the wall, literally lifted them into the fort.” By 11 am, with the exception of the 4th Minnesota in the east fort, Corse’s force was concentrated behind the west fort’s wall or in the trenches around it.



Outside the fort, French’s men regrouped and pressed in for the kill, but were driven back by heavy fire. The Confederates fell back, rallied, and came on again; Cockrell and Young’s Brigades charged the fort four times, without success.



For four hours the fighting raged. “Every Union soldier was his own commander,” Trimble recalled. “There was not even a lull in the musketry firing from the beginning to the end of it.” French’s men made no further frontal attacks, but kept firing from every house and hillside in the area, working their way closer and closer to the western redoubt. They took advantage of the “rough ground surrounding the fort,” Corse reported, “filling every hole and ditch, seeking shelter behind every stump and log that lay within musket range … completely enfilading our ditches and rendering it impossible for a man to expose his person above the parapet.” Slowly French’s men closed around the fort, filling it with dead and wounded.



At 1 in the afternoon, Corse was struck in the face by a spent minié ball, which severed a vein, nicked his ear, and knocked him cold. Rowett took command while Corse was taken below the parapet, where his wound was bandaged.

Union Troops Preferred Death Over Surrender

With ammunition running low, Rowett, hoping to conserve the supply, ordered a cease-fire. Many Union soldiers, thinking Rowett wanted to surrender, cried out, “Never,” and “Die first.” The words brought Corse out of his stupor, and he jumped up, cursing angrily: “No surrender, by God! Hold Allatoona!”



A few moments later, Rowett was struck by a shell fragment and carried off the parapet. Despite the heavy Confederate fire, Captain Robert Koehler, 12th Illinois Regiment, recalled, “The men fought with veteran coolness, bravery and determination without deserting their perilous position.” But as time wore on, Corse’s position became worse; bursting shells set cotton bales on fire, but there was no water; the artillery was silent for lack of ammunition. The crowded redoubt, Union officer William Ludlow wrote, was “as bloody as a slaughter pen.… And the same unuttered prayer hung on every parched, powder blackened lip, ‘Oh! That Sherman or night would come!’”



Outside the fort, French prepared his troops for another assault. “The Federal forces were now confined to one redoubt,” he reported, “and we occupied the ditch and almost entirely silenced their fire, and were preparing for the final attack.” Once he was ready, French was certain his men would finally overcome the last Union resistance in the fort, and capture Allatoona.



But it was not to be. Earlier that morning, French received a dispatch from Frank Armstrong warning that Union troops were moving up the railroad. Then, at 12:15, he received another dispatch (later proven false) reporting enemy forces were “entering Big Shanty” and moving to cut off his retreat from Allatoona.



“This changed the whole condition of affairs,” French recalled. Convinced his escape route would be cut off, French decided to withdraw, “however depressing the idea of not capturing the place after so many had fallen, and when in all probability we could force a surrender by night.” He ordered Cockrell, Young, and Sears to withdraw their brigades; Major Myrick’s artillery to pull back from Moore’s Hill; and Colonel Adaire’s regiment to burn the Allatoona Creek bridge, then rejoin the division. Cockrell and Young both protested, saying their men “wanted to remain and capture the place.” But French refused. “I deemed it of more importance not to permit the enemy to cut my division off from the army.”



Sears began pulling his regiments back at 12:30, Cockrell and Young’s brigades following at 1:30. As they pulled back, Union soldiers in the fort believed they were massing for a charge.



“Hold your fire for orders and aim low,” Corse told his men. “Officers, draw your revolvers. No Libby Prison for us.” Preparing for a last stand, 7th Illinois infantrymen drew their last Henry rifle cartridges while other regiments fixed bayonets. In his official report, Corse claimed that his men repelled the final Confederate assault with “such a heavy and continuous musket fire” that it “was impossible for the enemy to rally.”

An End to the Bloody Battle of Allatoona

In reality, French’s men quietly withdrew from their positions in front of the fort and, he said, “reformed on the original ground west of the works,” waiting for Sears’ Brigade. At 3:30, after Sears arrived, French’s troops formed up and marched southward to the Allatoona Creek Bridge. After Adaire’s men, assisted by Cockrell’s Brigade, finally captured the stubborn Union blockhouse, they burned the bridge and rejoined French south of the town. With that, the Battle of Allatoona ended.



French’s exhausted and riddled brigades sloshed along in the rain and darkness of October 5 to catch up with Stewart’s Corps at New Hope Church, 12 miles away. French reported his losses at 122 killed, 443 wounded, and 234 missing, or 799 total. Reaching New Hope Church before dawn on October 6, the morale of French’s men hit bottom. “Not only did the men who had fought so gallantly turn away sadly,” Bradley recalled, “but the failure cast a gloom over the whole Confederate army.”


The states have erected monuments to their honored dead.

Back at Allatoona, Corse’s men spent October 6 strengthening their positions and gathering up the Rebel dead and wounded. Corse later reported burying “213 rebel dead, capturing 3 stand of colors and about 800 small arms,” plus 411 prisoners of war. His own losses were 143 dead, 352 wounded, 212 missing, for a total of 706. At 2 o’clock in the afternoon Corse sent Sherman a dramatic message: “I am short a cheek bone and an ear, but am able to whip hell yet.”

The Thermopylae of the Civil War

“Your head is worth more than a dozen of any I have to spare,” Sherman replied. Pleased with Corse for saving Allatoona, on October 7, in Special Order Number 86, Sherman gave the “thanks of the army” to Corse and his men for their “determined and gallant defense of Allatoona.” Catching up with Corse in Rome a week later, and finding him with only a scratch on his cheek, Sherman couldn’t resist rubbing it in. “Corse, they came damn close to missing you, didn’t they?”



Called “the Thermopylae of the Civil War” by one author,  Allatoona had a profound effect on the war in Georgia. “Had Corse lost the important supply base,” Nevin wrote, “Grant and the high command might well have dashed Sherman’s hopes for a march to the sea.”



Sherman used the fight at Allatoona as proof that a southward march to the sea was a good idea. By late October, after unsuccessfully chasing Hood into north Georgia, Sherman asked Grant’s permission to abandon Atlanta, march away from Hood’s Army, and “make Georgia howl” all the way to the sea. On November 10, 1864, Grant authorized Sherman “to move according to the plan he proposed; that is, cutting loose from his base, giving up Atlanta, and the railroad back to Chattanooga.”



Sherman’s Army left Atlanta on November 10 on their way to the sea. “Here, then, may rest the appraisal of Allatoona’s importance,” author Fred Brown wrote. “Not for the supplies stored there, but for the effect its loss would have had on Grant’s consideration of Sherman’s pet project.” While the Battle of Allatoona did not directly lead to Sherman’s march, its outcome was an important factor in making it a reality.

Harper's Weekly Account

THE DEFENSE OF ALLATOONA.

"WE illustrate on this page the attack made by General HOOD on Allatoona, October 5, 1864. After General HOOD crossed the Chattahoochee a force of five brigades and eight guns, under General FRENCH, attacked Big Shanty, on the Chattanooga Railroad, and succeeded in taking the place. They then moved on Ackworth, further north, which occupied them until evening. The next morning, October 5, they drove in the Federal pickets at Allatoona. This post was defended by Brigadier-General JOHN M. CORSE, who had abandoned Rome in order to prevent Allatoona, which was of far greater value, from falling into the hands of the enemy. General CORSE commanded a garrison of 1700 men. General FRENCH, the rebel commander, sent to CORSE a summons to surrender, "to avoid the useless effusion of blood." CORSE replied that he and his command were ready for the "use less effusion" as soon as was agreeable to General FRENCH. Leaving their artillery on the south side to shell the position, the rebels swung their infantry round to the north front, which was more practicable. The attack was violent and determined, and lasted until the middle of the afternoon, when the enemy withdrew, leaving 1300 killed and wounded on the field. Nearly 700 of CORSE'S men were killed or wounded."


GENERAL HOOD ATTACK ON THE ALLATOONA, OCTOBER 5, 1864.--[SKETCHED BY A. VAN BIBBER.]

"The rebels numbered about 7500 in all. They came provided with a wagon train to remove the rations which SHERMAN had accumulated at Allatoona, but they went away with empty wagons. The dead rebels had their haversacks full of uncooked black beans, sugar cane, etc. General CORSE was wounded in the head, but not seriously. Only four guns were mounted in the fort. If the rebels had succeeded in taking the place, they would have been able, with the rations on hand, to have held it for several weeks. General SHERMAN witnessed the action front Kenesaw Mountain. Two days afterward he issued s congratulatory order, commending General CORSE for his gallant defense, which he considered an example illustrating both the necessity and possibility of defending fortified positions to the last."

Aftermath

Allatoona was a relatively small, but bloody battle with high percentages of casualties: 706 Union (including about 200 prisoners) and 897 Confederate. Nonetheless, in his autobiography, General and President U.S. Grant praised the stand made by Corse and his men. French was unsuccessful in seizing the railroad cut and Federal garrison, regretting in particular that he was unable to seize the one million rations stored there, or to burn them before he retreated.



There is a persistent myth that when Gen. Sherman signaled the garrison to "hold the fort" and "I am coming" he was only bluffing and never really sent reinforcements to aid Gen. Corse in the defense of Allatoona. This myth goes further saying Gen. French relied upon false intelligence that Union reinforcements were marching toward Allatoona to cut his Confederate force off from Gen. Hood's Army of Tennessee and thus mistakenly abandoned the attack on Allatoona.



Even the most cursory review of available historical documents reveals that Gen. Sherman recalled in his memoirs that he ordered the Twenty-Third Corp commanded by Maj. Gen. Jacob D. Cox to the west toward Allatoona with instructions to burn houses and brush piles along the way to make a show of reinforcements approaching. Sherman added, "The rest of the army was directed toward Allatoona..."



Cox's force was assigned the task of cutting off Gen. French from the Confederate Army of Tennessee and although it arrived too late to assist in the defense of Allatoona or cut Gen. French off from the main Confederate army, Sherman recalled, "... still several ambulances and stragglers were picked up by this (Maj. Gen. J. D. Cox's) command on that road."



However, a closer look at the orders actually issued that day reveals that by 2 p.m., the time French was beginning his withdrawal and therefore too late to influence events, Sherman had only ordered Cox and the Twenty-Third Corps to take position to the north and east of Kennesaw Mountain. They had spent the day marching north from Atlanta.



Sherman even supplied a staff officer to guide him into position to protect the right flank of the Fourteenth Corps. By 3 p.m a signal officer reported that Cox had only just then passed through Marietta. Only on October 6, the day after the battle, did Sherman order Cox to “Have a brigade ready to go there to-morrow early.” The brigade did not leave Big Shanty until dawn on the 7th, and did not arrive at Allatoona until approximately 11 a.m., two days after the battle.



Indeed, Sherman's memory was faulty. He did order Cox to reconnoiter the Dallas-Acworth Road on the 7th, but the purpose of lighting the fires along the way was so that Sherman, atop Kennesaw Mountain, could track his progress. The closest Sherman came to ordering reinforcement to the pass on the 5th were several un - timed dispatches sent to his cavalry. Sherman ordered Brigadier General Kenner Garrard's cavalry division to Allatoona, but clearly after the battle had ended. The order was later modified, reducing the force to a single squadron after it became clear that the garrison had held.



Gen. Sherman's message to Allatoona via signal flag to "hold the fort" inspired the later popular religious hymn entitled Hold the Fort by Chicago evangelist Philip P. Bliss, which featured the chorus, "'Hold the fort, for I am coming'"



Top Row Dawg Addendum

They had to build a Levee for Lake Allatoona not to flood the Pass and Battlefield.



It is really a pleasant area deserving of a separate GNW designation.



The memorials are all down by the lake.



There is an unknown Union Soldier at the far end of the levee across the railroad tracks.



Must be a Union soldier.



I was intrigued by the story of the footbridge across the steepest part of the pass.



A crude wooden bridge spanned the cut about 90 feet above the railroad tracks. It was constructed by felling two pine trees across the cut, planking over them and adding a hand rail. During the battle, Private Edwin R. Fullington of the 12th Wisconsin Artillery crossed the bridge three times with grapeshot and canister to replenish the federal ammunition supply in the Star Fort.



No Medal of Honor, they would not even give the man a pension.



Not a lot of Post Civil War history about Allatoona Pass except the Greatest Fiddle player we uncovered Clayton McMichen in our post on Red Top Mountain. We did find this image of the Pass back in the late 1800's.



Today's Georgia Natural Wonder Gals were actually walking the Levee and I called out to them as they all turned with a "What the Hell do you want Mister" look?