Georgia Natural Wonder #265 - Battle of Atlanta in Fulton County, July 22, 1864

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Georgia Natural Wonder #265 - Battle of Atlanta in Fulton County July 22, 1864

We continue our more Historical than Natural series of post concerning Civil War battles in Fulton County. Now the battlefields all have park like features that justify mention in a Natural Wonder Forum, but this post is about the Civil War battle. Our last post featured beautiful Tanyard Branch Creek in the Battle of Peachtree Creek. (GNW #264). The military action in Atlanta shifted to the east after 7/20/1864, as we outlined in Georgia Natural Wonder #259 - The Battle of Atlanta in DeKalb County. 


The focal point of the Cyclorama, the counter attack at the Troup Hurt House.

Atlanta was in chaos as the Yankees were being attacked twice in three days under new General Hood.

 

Atlanta, such as it was in 1864, NOT the capital of Georgia.


We got a message too large while working on that 259 post, so we broke it off at the Battle for Leggett's Hill. That was mostly on the east side of Moreland Avenue, which we have established divides Fulton County from DeKalb County.


Leggett's Hill is at 19 in the map. See how the action North of there is all on the left side of Moreland Avenue, Fulton County.


Rebel works SE Atlanta.
 
Leaving Leggett's Hill in DeKalb County, you proceed north on Moreland Avenue across I-20 then take a left on Memorial Drive within .01 mile. Almost immediately take a right on Stovall Street. 


Attack from the West Marker is at the intersection of Memorial Drive (Georgia Route 154) and Stovall Street, on the right when traveling east on Memorial Drive. 


Attack from the West Marker, view east Marker in front of bush across Memorial Drive where Union lines where formed. Second image is view to the west down Memorial Drive towards Oakland Cemetery and downtown Atlanta where the Confederate attack came from.

                
Mortimer Dormer Leggett                                                  Giles Alexander Smith

                
Patrick Ronayne Cleburne                                                 George Earl Maney
 
                
Benjamin Franklin Cheatham                                            Carter Littlepage Stevenson Jr.



Keep going Stovall Street North, right at dead end on Kirkwood. Left Walthall.

 
Benton's & Coltart's Brigades Marker is at the intersection of Boulevard Street and Walthall Street on Boulevard Street.  Brown went on to be 19th Governor of Tennessee. Benton County, Mississippi, established in 1870, was named for Samuel Benton.

Rebel leaders mentioned.
  
John Calvin Brown                                            Samuel Benton                                               John Gordon Coltart

During the Battle of Atlanta on July 22, the Coltart brigade advanced south of the Georgia Railroad around 3:30 p.m. Driving off the Union pickets, the brigade lost its alignment with Manigault's brigade and ended up attacking farther south against the relatively weak positions of Williams' brigade at 4:15 p.m. Despite this advantage, Coltart's troops were repulsed twice and only prevailed when Sharp's brigade broke through to the north and fired into the rear of the Union troops. The Confederate gains proved temporary, as twenty minutes later Coltart's brigade was driven back by the counterattack of Oliver's brigade.

Yankee Leaders referenced.

William Harrow                                                Alpheus Starkey Williams                                   John Morrison Oliver

Right on Boulevard. 


Harrow's Div., 15th A.C. Marker is on Boulevard Drive 0 miles west of Moreland Avenue (U.S. 23), on the right when traveling west.


Harrow’s Div., 15th A.C. Marker. Looking west on Boulevard Drive toward Walthall Street, location of the Georgia Historical Marker for "Benton's & Coltart's Brigades."


Battlefield of Atlanta.

Left or north on Moreland, good place for lunch or visit in Little Five Points. After Lunch go north Moreland and left Freedom Parkway to Jimmy Carter Library. Left into Library through circle out to south side then several markers on south side parking lot. 


Augustus Hurt House marker can be reached from the intersection of East Freedom Parkway and Carter Center Entrance.

 
William Tecumseh Sherman             Oliver Otis Howard                          John McAllister Schofield                   John Bell Hood  

 
James Birdseye McPherson shot south of here this date as posted in (GNW # 259).


This marker is located in the parking lot of the Carter Presidential Center near the rose garden.


Augustus Hurt Plantation marker is in same parking lot.

The land where the Carter Center sits today was the site of the Augustus Hurt house, which served as General Sherman's temporary headquarters during the Battle of Atlanta. 


That pivotal encounter (July 22, 1864) is captured in the Cyclorama painting, which is located at the Atlanta History Center.

The Augustus Hurt house can be seen in Cyclorama photo above and below. 


If you look closely you can also see General Sherman (on his horse) watching the battle unfold in front of him. If you look very closely (behind the house) you can also see the "ambulance" that delivered General James B. McPherson's body to Sherman, after he was shot and killed in what is now East Atlanta Village.


Other images of Augustus Hurt House and General Sherman.

The fierce battle scenes depicted in the Cyclorama painting occurred less than one mile south of the Carter Center where the Inman Park MARTA station is today.

 
The Battles for Atlanta marker can be reached from Carter Center South Parking Lot, 0 miles north of Freedom Parkway Eastbound (Connector Georgia Route 42 Connector Road). The marker is located at the edge of the Carter Center parking lot, off eastbound Freedom Parkway, near the walkway to the Carter Center.


The marker after its dedication. The marker after its dedication on October 22, 2010; left to right are Barry Brown, author of Crossroads of Conflict, A Guide to Civil War Sites in Georgia, Dr. W Todd Groce, President/CEO, Georgia Historical Society, Charlie Crawford, Georgia Battlefields Association, and Heidi Green, Director, Georgia Dept. of Economic Development.

You leave the Carter Center Parking lot going back west on John Lewis Freedom Parkway. You take a right on Highland Avenue until you get to Elizabeth Street to the left up hill. You take a right on Waverly and we come to the Natural Wonder for today's post, Springvale Park.  


Baker's Brigade Marker is on Waverly Way 0.1 miles north of Edgewood Avenue, on the right when traveling north. Baker's Brigade Marker in Springvale Park.



Alpheus Baker                                                  John Hunt Higley                                             Henry DeLamar Clayton, Sr.  


 
Morgan Lewis Smith                                          Charles Robert Woods


A photograph of Springvale Park in the early 1890s. Hurt’s Cottage is visible on the horizon at upper left.

TRD Visit Springvale Park






Springvale Park counts as today's Georgia Natural Wonder.




Looked all over for the Baker's Brigade Markers but it was missing.




Locals Chairs.




Cypress Stumps.


Stone Bridge.


Hurricane Helene took down some trees. Long set of stone steps, Springvale Park.

Keep going up the hill on Waverly and you take a right on Euclid Avenue. You come to the next marker in the park off Edgewood where Euclid and Edgewood all come together at the world's smallest drunk box.

 
The neighborhood watch would hang out here during Prohibition and days of the Teetotalers and wait for the ner do wells and drunks to come in from Underground area of Atlanta and lock them in the Drunk Box and turn on the light so the police knew to get someone out of the Drunk Box. My daily tour bus driver, Pam, models the Drunk Box even though she is NOT a drinker. Can see marker in rear of Drunk Box with Halloween and Christmas Skeleton.


Brown's & Clayton's Divs. Marker is at the intersection of Delta Place and Edgewood Avenue, on the left when traveling north on Delta Place.

   
Jacob Hunter Sharp                          Marcellus Augustus Stovall              Randall Lee Gibson                         James Thadeus Holtzclaw


Victorian Homes of Inman Park.


Asa Griggs Candler Sr. Home (2nd owner Coca Cola - 41st Mayor of Atlanta) Callan Castle. 2nd image is Home used in Dolly Parton Netflix series "Christmas On The Square"

From here you go East or left on Edgewood Avenue.


Springvale Park Marker is at the intersection of Waverly Way and Edgewood Avenue, on the left when traveling east on Edgewood. Park on Edgewood at Waverly Way. The marker is below street level in the park, and can be difficult to see from the street. Steps lead from the Edgewood Avenue/Waverly Way intersection to the marker. 


In Springvale Park. Waverly Way (street level) can just be seen up to the left. The trail on the right leads down to the ravine.


Brig. Gen. A. M. Manigault's Brigade (Rock) -  Erected by the Old Guard of Atlanta -- 1934 Dedicated by Camp Gordon S.C.V.  Can see in front of Springvale marker.


Arthur Middleton Manigault Has his own Historical marker in South Carolina.


Thomas Carmichael Hindman Jr.  - Mentioned on the marker. Oh man this guy had a long Wikipedia Biography. Hindman angered the political elite of Arkansas. Planters objected when Hindman ordered cotton burned to prevent Union forces from capturing it, or when he impressed slaves for military construction projects. On the night of September 27, 1868, while sitting in his home with his children, Hindman was shot through a window of his home. He was hit in the neck and jaw, and his windpipe was severed. His wife carried him onto the porch, and neighbors gathered around. Hindman suggested that the shooting was politically motivated, and asked a relative of his wife to take care of his family. He died early the next morning.

TRD Explores Another Atlanta Civil War Ravine


Big Ole House right here at marker. Modern Tour Guide Street Car hearkens back to when this was a Street Car 1st suburb of Atlanta.


Down the stone steps and past the Historical Markers.


Off in the Ravine where Southern Troops mustered and had breakfast before the attack to the east.


Deeper into the ravine past old growth forest.


Creek at bottom of ravine.


Creek runs under Euclid Ave to park with lake on other side as viewed earlier in post.


Trees tall and toppled.


This part of Springvale Park is more natural like it would have been at time of Civil War.


TRD panoramic, hey I am getting better at these.

Go East on Edgewood to the Inman Park MARTA Station 2 Markers on left. 


The Railroad Cut It was at the intersection of DeKalb Avenue NE and Battery Place NE, on the left when traveling east on DeKalb Avenue NE.


The marker has been moved to be with the Pope House marker across from the Inman Park MARTA Station.


This view is east along DeKalb Avenue towards the 15th Corps Sector 50 yards away and right next to the Site - the Pope House markers.

 
Site: The Pope House It is in Reynoldstown. It is at the intersection of Dekalb Avenue NE and Battery Place NE, on the right when traveling west on Dekalb Avenue NE. 

Lieutenant Edmund Nutt of the 20th Ohio Infantry was eating breakfast when the unexpected Confederate attack struck his position.

"It was a hot day.  The men were playing cards and lounging in the shade, and the camp was quiet as the calm before a storm when "Whang!" went a musket shot, apparently about a quarter of a mile south and east....

"The men rushed to and fro...grasping muskets and forming in line...ping! whing! thud! from left and rear, striking our line on the end...Those not killed or wounded were falling back, loading and firing in retreat.  Their position between us and the advancing foe prevented me from firing...we were compelled to stand and wait the coming storm."


This marker is located in front of and to the east of the Inman Park MARTA station. Featured marker is on the left.


View toward Atlanta. The Railroad Cut and the Pope House. 


Same view today.


Park by this mural on Battery Avenue.

After viewing the two markers right across from the MARTA Station, walk east on DeKalb Avenue and the next marker is about 20 yards on left.


The 15th Corps Sector marker is on DeKalb Avenue NE, 0.1 miles east of Battery Place NE, on the right when traveling west. This marker is located on DeKalb Ave between Battery Place and Degress Ave.


Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn                     James Stewart Martin

Although the marker is on the side of the road in public green-space, the marker tends to become over grown and is easy to miss unless you are on foot. View of the overgrown public domain. The marker was relocated 100 yds southwest of its original location.


Can see the other two markers in the distance looking east on DeKalb Avenue. The marker is located at the approximate placement of Lightburn's brigade, west of the Hurt house between Battery Place and Degress Avenue. Martin's brigade would have been located south, across the present day MARTA and railroad tracks. Martin was born in Virginia but fought for Union, and was a congressman from Illinois in 1873.

Get back in your car and go east on DeKalb Avenue to take a left on Degress Ave.  Here we present our TRD scrolling Nugget. DeGress was a German officer and John Kay from Steppenwolf was born in Germany (Joachim Fritz Krauledat) with this song about The Grass.



First marker is in a yard on the left.


Manigault's Brigade is in Inman Park. It was on DeKalb Avenue in the bushes as shown. But it is now on DeGress Avenue, on the left when traveling north on DeGress Avenue.


Can see the Troup Hurt House marker on right side of DeGress Avenue.

Go to end of road turn around.  This road is the culmination of all the battles and markers leading up to this spot this July 22nd day of 1864.


The DeGress Battery Marker is in the yard of the last house on DeGress Avenue on the left when traveling north on DeGress Avenue.

Rebels take DeGress Battery. The rebels came charging through the railroad cut to the left of the battery. The supports gave way. De Gress saw at once that his guns were gone. He directly ordered his guns pointed left-oblique, and gave the charging rebels double canister, at the rate of four rounds per minute. Soon he had two of his guns spiked, and ordered his men to get away, remaining himself with one sergeant (Peter Wyman), using one gun as rapidly as possible. Still the enemy came on, and when within less than twenty steps an officer called to him to surrender. De Gress, who stood with the lanyard of either gun in his hands, shouted, "Certainly, come on!" at the same moment discharging his two guns, and called to Wyman, who stood with pincers and spikes, to spike under cover of the smoke and get away. De Gress saw the spike driven into the last gun, and as he started a storm of shot was sent after him. The sergeant was killed, but De Gress escaped uninjured.


Francis DeGress was from Germany. You see, it was this battery of cannons who fired upon Atlanta and a shot from here killed Solomon Luckie.


Lamp post was above ground and was considered the eternal flame of the Confederacy.


During the World premiere of Gone With The Wind, there was a big re-dedication moving the post to Underground Atlanta with Vivian Leigh at the ceremony. You could see the Five Points MARTA Station in rear, and you could see where the cannon Ball struck the lamp post. It is now at the Atlanta History Center.

TRD was out here poking around (Probably trespassing) because years ago you could see Atlanta in the distance about 2 miles away. I wanted to recapture that image but the trees have grown up too much. Anyway, a gorgeous gal came out of the house asking if she could help me and I explained the TRD Georgia Natural Wonders Forum and struck up a real nice few minutes conversation as I regaled her with too much Civil War history and got all emotional about how her house stood at the Crossroads of American History and was the climax of the Battle of Atlanta and the Cyclorama and how all the local Historical Markers all led up to the action at her house. She said she had something to show me and went back inside to retrieve this exploded cannon ball they had dug up in the backyard.

 
Firing on Luckie almost two miles away. I know this is a picture violation not supporting how gorgeous she was, and I did not get her name, as we don't need all you guys hound dogging her. But this was damn cool and exclusive to the HOTD, a Yankee cannon ball fragment from the DeGress Battery (Holy Cow).

Now I leave my driving tour in recounting these next two markers, they should probably go last in a strictly driving tour. The Troup Hurt House is only 100 yards away and that is the central focus on the Cyclorama painting. That battle was part of the counter attack by Union Forces. We built up the the markers leading to the capture of the DeGress Battery by the Confederates. We bust out of Fulton County as we go North or left on DeKalb Avenue. You cross over Moreland Avenue into DeKalb County and find these next two markers on the left. Go to farthest just past Candler Street at the Fire Station, and work your way back west like the Union troops did on their way to the battle at the Troup Hurt House.


Logan's 15th A.C. Line Marker is on DeKalb Avenue 0.1 miles east of Candler Street, on the right. This marker is located in front of the Atlanta Fire Department Station.


John Alexander Logan  - Logan was good at the counter attack. The Rebels overran the picket line, and captured three guns from the 1st Iowa Battery at the Battle of Dallas Georgia (GNW #192).  They penetrated a gap in the defenses, but Logan galloped up, bringing reinforcements and shouting, "Give them hell boys!" A counterattack by the 6th Iowa Infantry Regiment threw back Armstrong's men and recaptured the guns at Dallas. Here he is galloping up again recapturing guns at Dallas.


Restoring the Line Marker is at the intersection of DeKalb Avenue and Elmira Place, on the right when traveling west on DeKalb Avenue. This view is towards the Federal Signal Tower and DeGress Battery Markers, as well as the sites of the Troup Hurt and Pope Houses. Mersy mentioned was also from Germany.

 
August Mersy and Union troops in Confederate works after capture of Atlanta.

Now we cross back over Moreland and take a right on DeGress back the the Troup Hurt House.




Troup House Marker is in Inman Park, on Degress Avenue NE 0.1 miles north of Dekalb Avenue NE, on the right when traveling north. 


This view is facing North East and shows both the marker in the foreground and the stone former church, now a private residence, in the distance. The stone former Church is the site of the unfinished Troup House mentioned in the Pope House Marker. The house was not finished and no longer stands.


Fighting at Troup Hurt House as depicted in the Cyclorama.


Looking at marker and house to south. Stone Mountain Granite today.


No site in Atlanta more worthy of a church. Wonder what room lies behind this stained glass window.


A place of reflection at the Battle that saved the Union. Lincoln was losing in the polls for the November reelection. Everybody had a brother, husband, father, uncle, nephew, son, friend who had died in this war. This was a year after Gettysburg. But when Sherman captured Atlanta, it gave every one a revival and Lincoln won by a landslide. Logan's counter attack here at the Troup Hurt House.

DeGress Battery Again


Don't think we forgot the Union counter attack at the DeGress Battery with the Troup Hurt House in the background as Union troops retake the DeGress Battery. 

The Cyclorama painting also depicts the death of horses that pulled guns, caissons and limbers for Company H.



You are seeing in the painting the Confederates are killing the horses because they are about to be overrun. But there’s a chance that DeGress ordered some of them be shot before his retreat. It was not unusual occurrence, because armies did not want their own guns used against them. Perhaps the mostly skillfully rendered figures in the painting are the horses. The closest the artists got to real horror, they are showing them writhing in agony. Among the German and Austrian artists who created the cyclorama in 1886 was Albert Richter. He painted the horses based on sketches made at a Milwaukee slaughterhouse, where he apparently paid to use dying horses as models.


Portion of Cyclorama painting with of recapture DeGress Battery.

The Union counterattack this day, was personally led by "Black Jack" Logan, who had assumed command of the Army of the Tennessee on McPherson's death. It drove the Confederates back and restored the XV Corps' front. This is the image captured in the Cyclorama painting. After all he commissioned the painting for his political campaign. He was an an 11 year congressman and a 16 year Senator from Illinois. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Vice President s James G. Blaine's running mate in the election of 1884. He died in 1886 and the City of Atlanta was gifted this masterpiece.




One whole side of the Cyclorama was Logan riding to the rescue.


That was DeGress riding behind Logan in the Cyclorama painting.


Love the diorama leading up to painting. That's Clarke Gable lying in front of the fence.


Clark Gable, who starred in Gone With the Wind, visited the Cyclorama in Atlanta, Georgia and joked that a statue of himself would improve the exhibit. The Cyclorama features a soldier in the diorama that was modeled after Gable.


Use to have to sit in rotating Grandstand at Zoo, now your able to walk around on your own at Atlanta History Center.

One marker hidden in bushes back up on DeKalb Avenue  just before Moreland Avenue, so this is still in Fulton County.


Federal Signal Station Marker is on DeKalb Avenue where it crosses Moreland Avenue and cannot be seen from Moreland Avenue. Marker is at the intersection of Dekalb Avenue and Moreland Avenue, on the right when traveling west on Dekalb Avenue. Located behind the chain link fence of the automobile repair yard.


View from Marker towards Candler Street. View from Marker towards DeGress Avenue and also, the site of the Pope house and the Troup Hurt House.


Painting the Cyclorama from this spot.


This is from the Union vantage looking west on DeKalb Avenue.

Night ended what would be called the Battle of Atlanta, the largest engagement of the Atlanta campaign, one that cost the Confederates about 5,500 casualties and the Federals 3,641 casualties, including Maj. Gen. McPherson. A large proportion of that figure was prisoners from the XVII Corps. This was a devastating loss for the already reduced Confederate Army, but they still held the city. Again Hood failed in an attempt to smash a wing of Sherman's army, a failure he attributed to Hardee for allegedly not carrying out orders to strike the Union rear but which in truth was caused by the semifortuitous presence of the XVI Corps in position to protect that rear and the steady fortitude of the soldiers of the XVII Corps. On the other hand, Sherman deserved little credit for the Federal victory, a victory which probably would have been a defeat had not McPherson persuaded Sherman to modify his orders regarding the XVI Corps. Moreover, during Cheatham's attack on the XV Corps, Sherman rejected proposals from Schofield and Howard that their corps strike Cheatham's exposed left flank, a move that almost surely would have led to the rout of two-thirds of Hood's army.

Hood's report………………. 

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NEAR ATLANTA, July 22, 1864-10.30 p. m.
Honorable J. A. SEDDON, Richmond:

The army shifted its position last night, fronting Peach Tree Creek, and formed line of battle around the city with Stewart's and Cheatham's corps. General Hardee, with his corps, made a night march and attacked the enemy's extreme left at 1 o'clock to-day; drove him from his works, capturing 16 pieces of artillery and 5 stand of colors. Major-General Cheatham attacked the enemy at 4 p. m. with a portion of his command; drove the enemy, capturing 6 pieces of artillery. During the engagements we captured about 2,000 prisoners, but loss not fully ascertained. Major-General Walker killed; Brigadier-General Smith, Gist, and Mercer wounded. Our troops fought with great gallantry.

J. B. HOOD,General.

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 Spot where Hood watched Battle of Atlanta in present day Oakland Cemetery. General John Bell Hood watched from the second story of a residence on high ground that became part of Oakland Cemetery.

Sherman's report…………………..

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NEAR ATLANTA, GA., July 23, 1864-10.30 a. m.
Major General H. W. HALLECK, Washington, D. C.:

Yesterday morning the enemy fell back to the entrenchments proper of the city of Atlanta, which are in a general circle of a radius of one mile and a half we closed in. While we were forming our lines and selecting positions for batteries, the enemy appeared suddenly out of the dense woods in heavy masses on our extreme left, and struck the Seventeenth Corps (General Blair's) in flank, and was forcing it back, when the Sixteenth (General Dodge's) came up and checked the movement, but the enemy's cavalry got well to our rear and into Decatur, and for some hours our left was completely enveloped. The fighting that resulted was continuous until night, with heavy loss on both sides. The enemy took one of our batteries (Murray's, of the Regular Army) that was marching in its placing in column on the road unconscious of danger. About 4 p. m. the enemy sallied against the division of General Morgan L. Smith, which occupied an abandoned line of rifle-trenches near the railroad, east of the city, and forced it back some 400 yards, leaving in his hands for the time two batteries, but the ground and batteries were immediately after recovered by the same troops, re-enforced. 

I cannot well approximate our loss, which fell heaviest on the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps, but count it 3,000; but I know that, being on the defensive, we have inflicted equally heavy loss on the enemy. General McPherson, when arranging his troops, about 11 a. m., and passing from one column to another, unconsciously rode upon an ambuscade without apprehension and at some distance ahead of his staff and ordered and was shot dead. His body was sent in charge of his personal staff back to Marietta and Chattanooga. His loss at that moment was most serious, but General Logan at once arranged the troops, and had immediate direction of them during the rest of the day. Our left, though refused somewhat, is still within easy cannon-range of Atlanta. The enemy seems to man his extensive parapets and, at the same time, has to spare heavy assaulting columns; but to-day we will intrench our front lines, which will give me troops to spare to meet these assault. I cannot of the loss of more than a few wagons, taken by the enemy's cavalry his temporary pause in Decatur, whence all the trains had been securely removed to the rear of the main army, under of a brigade of infantry, commanded by Colonel Sprague. During the heavy attack on the left, the remainder of the line was not engaged.

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General.

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Inman Park  was planned in the late 1880s by Joel Hurt, a civil engineer and real-estate developer who intended to create a rural oasis connected to the city by the first of Atlanta's electric streetcar lines, along Edgewood Avenue. 


Trolley Barn.

The Atlanta Constitution in 1896 grandly described Inman Park:

    High up above the city, where the purest breezes and the brightest sunshine drove away the germs of disease, and where nature had lavished her best gifts, the gentlemen who conceived the thought of Inman Park found the locality above all others which they desired. It was to be a place of homes, of pretty homes, green lawns, and desirable inhabitants. It's the prettiest, highest, healthiest and most desirable locality I ever saw.



You can wander all day but I going to save this for another day.


One house has an antebellum theme.

 
One house always gave me a Quicksilver Messenger Service album cover experience. Have another Hit of Fresh Air.

Today's Georgia Natural Wonder Gals are rolling in the grass for the DeGress Battery.



The real GNW Gals for this post are my co-worker Pam in the drunk box and the gorgeous angel who lives in the DeGress Battery house.