An island in Atlanta
Nestled in a wooded space, between Freedom Parkway, and paralleled by bike paths is a quiet island. In one direction is the downtown Atlanta skyline. In the other direction is Inman and Freedom Parks. The landscape is dotted with old Southern homes and the only sounds in the early morning are birds chirping and the occasional passing car. So it’s hard to believe that over 140 years ago, this was the site of a bloody Civil War battle. It was the place where the Union began to drive Old Dixie down.
About two weeks ago, I was riding my bike on a path that parallels Freedom Parkway, heading toward downtown from Little Five Points when I came upon a historical marker. Being the history geek that I am, I immediately pulled over to investigate. It read “Battle of Atlanta” on top and details what happened on July 22, 1864. From that very spot, Major General William Sherman directed Union troops against the Confederates, led by General John Hood a mile and a half southeast from where the sign stands today (As you read the sign, you are facing north. Freedom Parkway is up on the hill to your left and the battle took place over your right shoulder, down another hill).
The modern cityscape has erased much of the original battlefield and changed the shape of the land. “About North Georgia,” which I found through a Google search, uses modern landmarks to help readers understand where the battle took place: “the battle stretched from just south of the Carter Center to the intersection of Moreland Avenue and I-20. From here it formed an arc to Glenwood Avenue finally ending up in the vicinity of Memorial Drive and Clay Street, almost to the site of Jesse Clay’s house. Bald Hill is part of a ridge along which Moreland Avenue runs. The ‘hill’ portion of the ridge runs north of I-20 and a few feet east of the present-day road. As soon as the hill was taken Union soldiers renamed it Leggett’s Hill, after their commander.” Got it?
When the dust had settled, 3,641 Union and 8,499 Confederate troops lay dead. A year later, the war was over and the time for reconciliation and healing, not an easy task, had begun. A century and a half later, this same location is a peaceful place, a silent refuge from the maelstrom of everyday city life- an island in Atlanta.
A stone’s throw away stands the Jimmy Carter Museum and Library, a monument to a president who desperately wanted to cure the pains of Vietnam, erase the shame of Watergate and reconcile the differences of the Sixties. The Carter Center is dedicated to promoting human rights and peace around the world yet it rests so close to a former battlefield where another struggle for human rights took place. The close proximity serves as a reminder to all visitors that we should put the past behind us but we should not forget the lessons history can teach us.
December 9th, 2005 at 2:53 pm
3641 and 8499 are the number of *casualties,* not the number of dead. I don’t exactly know the number of dead, but the bloodiest day in American history was Antietam, at which around 3500 were killed out of 23,500 total casualties. If the percentage of dead at Atlanta was roughly the same (and the percentage in Civil War battles was usually between 10-20), that puts the dead at around 1800. Your figure would make Atlanta one of the deadliest single days in human history up to that point.
Just saying, watch your facts.
December 9th, 2005 at 4:11 pm
Then again, they’re all dead by now.