Our parents were soooo right... time does go by more quickly as we get older. As a matter of fact, it flies... As of the 24th, Tracy and I have been married for 16 years. When did that happen? So in an attempt to slow down our busy lives somewhat, we wanted to get away for our anniversary. We had originally wanted to go to Hilton Head, but between finding termites and having the house treated and the a/c going out on my car and having it repaired... well, Hilton Head was a little above our range!!
So Tracy came up with the idea of going up into North Georgia. Not just to the mountains, though we did see mountains, but to visit some of the Civil War sites up I-75. May sound boring to some, but history is right up my alley...
We left mid-morning on Friday, the 24th, and after running a couple of quick errands, we were on our way. We drove to Kennesaw and our first stop was the Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield. It is a beautiful place... and very busy. We could tell that the locals use it as a great place to walk, jog, or hike. We went into the visitor's center first thing and had fun shopping in the gift shop! I got some Confederate flag pins, patch, and an artillery symbol hat tac, all for my scrapbooking, along with a Kennesaw Mountain patch. I also got a magnet. We took a driving tour up the mountain and took some great pictures of the view.
We figured out quickly that all these battlefield sites had lots of cannons on display... after awhile, just how many pictures of cannons do we need??? Here is some info about this Civil War battle:
"In June of 1864, Union General William T. Sherman's advance toward Atlanta was delayed for two weeks at Kennesaw Mountain by Confederates under General Joseph E. Johnston. Since early May, Sherman had been moving south through northwest Georgia. On the night of June 18-19, General Johnston withdrew his army to a line that included Kennesaw Mountain, blocking Union movement. This entrenched arc-shaped line protected various approaches as well as the Western & Atlantic Railroad, the Federals' supply link to Atlanta. On the morning of June 27, Sherman ordered his troops forward following an artillery bombardment. Attacking the well-entrenched enemy proved futile. The unsuccessful assault resulted in 3,000 Union casualties, primarily at Cheatham Hill. Heavy losses there led the Union soldiers to call this the "Dead Angle." An estimated 800 Confederate lives were lost."
- From the Kennesaw Mountain Historical AssociationIt is amazing that the earthworks the Confederates dug over 100 years ago are still there. At Cheatham Hill, we saw a tree stump with a sign explaining that when the dead oak was cut down, several bullets from the battle that raged there were found in the tree trunk. There are also about a half dozen other trees from that time still there...
After leaving Kennesaw mountain, we made our way through traffic to the Gilgal Church Battle Site. "During the Atlanta campaign, Patrick Cleburne's division, Hardee's Corps, Army of Tennessee was holding this crossroads. Attacked by Hooker's XX Corps on the afternoon of June 15. At the end of the day, the Confederates still held the crossroads, however, commanding general Joseph Johnston ordered a withdrawal to the Lost/Pine/Bushy Mountain line a mile or two to the east during the night." The earthworks and bracing timbers were still at this location.
Then we drove across Kennesaw again to the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History. The locomotive, General, stolen by Union spy James Andrews in the Great Locomotive Chase is located here. I had actually been here before, but Tracy wanted to see the General and the refresher course on the story was good.
It was late getting late, with lots of traffic in Kennesaw, so we decided to call it a day and head to our motel in Calhoun. We did some shopping at the outlet mall in Calhoun also. Whew! We were tired that night!
We got going on Saturday morning, and after returning some not-so-flattering or fitting purchases at the outlet mall, we headed north toward Dalton. Our first stop was the Resaca Confederate Cemetery located between Resaca and Dalton. It is the final resting place of over 400 Confederate soldiers who fought in the Battle of Resaca which took place May 14 and 15, 1864. Many of the soldiers were identified but there are still 424 graves marked 'unknown'. The lady (Mary Green) who made it her life's mission to give these soldier's a proper
burial in a proper cemetery deserves all the
accolades she has gotten. The cemetery is built in a circular pattern with most of the unknowns in the middle and known soldiers buried around the outside, grouped by state. It was a beautiful, peaceful place. Very moving. Especially all the "Unknown Confederate Soldier" graves. All I could think of was there had been mothers somewhere who only knew their son was not coming home from the war; they never knew where their child's body lay; they never had a chance to bury their child and grieve at their graveside. Unimaginable.
After leaving here, we headed to Dalton and visited the Confederate Cemetery there.
The cemetery contains 421 Confederate and four unknown Union soldiers. The recently discovered names of the Confederates are engraved on a Memorial Wall.
Dalton's historic downtown is really large and nice. We visited the statue of General Joseph E. Johnston, who commanded the Army of Tennessee during the Atlanta Campaign December 1863 - July 1864.
We took a break and went shopping at the Dalton outlet stores and had lunch at Schlotzky's Deli! YUM! We don't have any of these left near us, and I love them!!
After lunch, we made our way further north to Tunnel Hill. Located here is a Western and Atlantic Railroad tunnel through the Chetoogeta Mountain which was built to connect the Port of Augusta to the Tennessee River Valley. Construction began on the tunnel in 1848, during which the city of Tunnel Hill sprung up from people moving there to supply accommodations to the railway workers. The tunnel is 1,477 feet long and was dug through the base of the mountain. The first Western and Atlantic train passed through the mountain tunnel in 1850, and the new town of Atlanta became one of the railway's major hubs. The tunnel became part of several historical events during the Civil War, including the Great Locomotive Chase. Larger train cars led to the building of a larger parallel tunnel, ending the use of this tunnel in 1928. It was opened to the public in 2000, after extensive restoration. There is a visitor's center here with a small museum and gift shop. The gentlemen running the visitor's center was very nice and full of information about the area. Tracy and I walked the length of the tunnel... it was very cool (as in temperature) and kind of dark and scary. I think it would make a perfect Halloween haunted house!
Next door to the tunnel is the Clisby Austin House, used at different times by the Union forces their headquarters and the Confederates as a hospital. A lady actually lives in the house - alone! Not sure I could do that...
Very near the house is the grave of General John Bell Hood's leg... yes, that's right... his leg. During the fighting Hood was shot in the leg. Moved to a nearby field hospital, his leg was amputated. So badly wounded was the general that his leg accompanied him on a short journey to the Clisby-Austin house so that they could be buried together. However, General Hood survived, so his leg was buried there next to the Clisby Austin House. It has a marker and everything! Believe me, I took a picture!
By the time we finished here, it was 4 pm! We decided to press on to Chickamauga National Military Park, having no idea how HUGE it is. There are HUNDRED of monuments there. No way we could see them all before dark. So we did the driving tour; I took most of the pictures from the car; and we resolved to come back when we are in shape and can hike through the area! It was a great place, but we were tired, so we didn't appreciate it as much as we probably should. We'll do it more justice next time!
We had already decided at lunch that we would return home last night. So we headed back south and got home about 9:30 pm. It was a good trip, and it's always good to come home.
Now I've got to upload the probably 100's of pictures I took! And I looked at a brochure today that I picked up somewhere along the way and found that we barely scratched the surface of the historical sites in the areas we visited! So we have to go back sometime.
