Mike's Corner

We live roughly 4 miles from Kennesaw Mountain. Shannon and I decided to visit the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park today (along with about two thousand other people). I had no idea there was so much history here:

On June 22, 1864, and again on June 27, 1864, major battles in The War Between The States (American Civil War) were fought just west of downtown Marietta. Under William Tecumseh Sherman in the Spring of 1864, the 100,000 man Union Army had marched from Chattanooga to Marietta, following the Western and Atlantic Railroad for most of the journey.

Opposing him was Joseph E. Johnston, who felt he could best succeed by forcing Sherman to attack a strong line. Kennesaw Mountain gave him that opportunity.

Spreading south just west of the ridge, Union General John Schofield's Army of the Ohio tried to turn the southern end of the Confederate's Kennesaw Mountain line, as Sherman had done at Resaca and Dalton. General John Bell Hood

attacked without orders to prevent the flanking movement. The Battle of Kolb's Farm resulted on June 22.

Five days later Sherman launched a series of unsuccessful attacks along a five-mile front, with the heaviest fighting occurring in the vicinity of Cheatham Hill.

By the end of the day more than 8,000 soldiers lay dead or wounded as a result of the attack, the worst Union loss during the Atlanta Campaign.

Within days Sherman succeeded in displacing Johnston by outflanking him, and the Confederates surrendered Marietta as they had so many other cities. In less than a year the Confederate States of America ceased to exist.

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park is one of the most popular in the National Park System. It commemorates the battles fought within its boundaries.

(Please notice the sharp-looking sports coat I'm wearing in the photo, my Valentine's Day gift from Shannon. Feel free to click on the photo for a close-up. Trust me, it's not easy being this good-looking! Mike)

# posted by Mike @ 9:37 PM