Of the many battles of the American Civil War, Resaca remains one of those little-known today. The battle accounted for the second highest casualty number during the entire Atlanta Campaign – May-September 1864. The 5,500 number, only surpassed by the Battle of Atlanta – 20 July, rated significantly higher than Kennesaw Mountain, the only Federally protected site of the entire campaign. Resaca was the only time in the entire campaign, also, where the full complement of Federal and Confederate units faced off and took part in the fighting during the campaign.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
“This is not a huge battle and therefore a lot of effort was not put into making it an elaborate production with Visitor’s Center, film, etc. However, it is nicely done with some signage along the walking trails, and it does a justice to those who fought and died here. At worst you can take in nature and go for a stroll while you learn.” There is a visitor’s impression of the battlefield today and the battle itself. As a battle, it simply is not remembered by many except the enthusiasts.
Looking at a map of the battlefield, it resembles Gettysburg in reverse. The Confederate Army of Tennessee, commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston occupied an entrenched line resembling a fishhook. While he utilized high grounds, his flanks were based on rivers – the Conasauga on his right (north) flank and the Oostanaula on his left (south). Here, for the most part, it was Federals doing the attacking instead of the other way around at Gettysburg.
LEAD UP
The Army of Tennessee organized a formidable line atop Rocky Face Ridge on the west side of Dalton, Georgia during the winter and early spring of 1864. That line did not tempt Federal commander William T. Sherman into attempting a full-scale assault knowing well what results he could expect. He had a different plan. He would send troops to test the Confederate defenses, though more to keep the defenders in place while the 23,000 men of Major General James B. McPherson would lead his men through the Snake Creek Gap, a pass which circumvented the ridges to the west and south. Coming out from the Gap, his men could then cut the railroad leading north from Atlanta to Dalton upon which the supplies for Johnston’s army lived off.
For reasons still hazy, there were no defenders in the Gap on 8 May when the Federal column pushed off. Confederate cavalry pickets did detect their presence, but Johnston, busy with the Federal demonstrations along Rocky Face and Crow Creek Valley, thought the movement was towards Rome, Georgia to the west. He ordered the division of Wiliam W. Loring to march towards Rome from Alabama where they were marching now through coming over from Mississippi along with the cavalry of William T. Martin. James Cantey’s brigade from Mobile, Alabama stopped at Resaca when Johnston had second thoughts about bringing them all the way into Dalton. From Resaca, they could go onto Rome or up to Dalton wherever the need was greatest.
“i’ve got joe johnston dead!”
Federals of Thomas W. Sweeny’s 16th Corps division passed through the Snake Creek Gap on 9 May following a twenty-mile march. The other division of the 16th – James C. Veatch – along with two 15th Corps divisions reached the north end of the gap by the end of the day. With the news of Federals pushing through the Gap, Johnston sent J. Warren Grigsby’s cavalry brigade to intercept. They met up with the forward units of McPherson’s Army of the Tennessee by the middle of the morning of 10 May. Two 16th Corps divisions reached a road intersection – where Georgia Highway 136 intersects the Hill City Road today – only two miles west of the rail line at Resaca. Receiving a report from McPherson as to the Union progress, Sherman exclaimed “I’ve got Joe Johnston dead!”
16th Corps commander Grenville Dodge left the division of Veatch behind to watch out the road leading north – Hill City Road – and pushed on with the division of Sweeny. At this point about 4,000 Confederate defenders dug in in front of Resaca. Later in the afternoon, John Logan’s 15th Corps divisions reached the road intersection and Veatch’s men went forward on Sweeny’s left to approach the railroad. They got to 200 yards of the line before McPherson recalled his men, fearful that he might be walking into a trap.
opportunity lost
Many, including Sherman, believed McPherson gave up a great opportunity to cut Johnston’s supply line. McPherson, however, did not know how many Confederates actually were in Resaca. With several roads coming down from the north, he was wary of an attack from the direction of Dalton. Additionally, there were more Confederates on their way onto the scene. On the evening of 9 May, Johnston sent the divisions of W. H. T. Walker and Thomas C. Hindman south to Resaca from Rocky Face along with a couple brigades from Patrick Cleburne’s division all under the command of John Hood.
Hood reported back the situation in front of Resaca was under control on 10 May. Still not sure of what Sherman was up to, Johnston halted the two divisions at Tilton, the rail station just to the north of Resaca. Cleburne’s men were to return to Dalton for the moment.
THE GATHERING
When Sherman learned McPherson had pulled back, he sent Joseph Hooker’s 20th Corps south to join McPherson. Over the next couple of days, the rest of the Union army disengaged from Rocky Face Ridge following McPherson through Snake Creek Gap. The 4th Corps under command of O. O. Howard stayed behind to cover the former Federal lines.
By that time, most of the rest of the men from Leonidas Polk’s – division of Loring – had reached Cantey’s men in Resaca and Johnston’s army marched south from Dalton. Sherman met up with McPherson on 12 May telling him, “Well, Mac, you have missed the opportunity of a lifetime”.
Over the 11th and 12th of May, Confederate forces began to work hard at fortifying an entrenched line on the hill line just east of Camp Creek. Trees to the front were cut down to give better visibility as the main part of Sherman’s army began massing at the mouth of the Gap on the morning of 13 May. Thomas’ Army of the Cumberland formed to the left of McPherson and Schofield’s Army of the Ohio – a single corps – came onto the left of Thomas.
PRELIMINARY DUEL
McPherson’s men came forward again on 13 May pushing defenders sent out to delay them back slowly. They reached a wooded ridge 400 yards to the west of Camp Creek where they encountered the main Confederate line, by now well entrenched and festooned with artillery. Much of the afternoon settled into an artillery duel with Federal guns reaching out for trains slowly moving south over the Oostanaula River.
Howard notified Sherman; Johnston’s men had left Dalton. His corps marched south in pursuit; a chase checked by Confederate cavalry giving those in Resaca more time to fortify their new line. Polk’s men anchored the left from the riverbank north covering the direct approach to Resaca. William J. Hardee’s corps (Johnston’s force at Rocky Face comprised of two corps with Polk’s men arriving later to make up a third corps) formed on the north of Polk along the east side of Camp Creek. They took up a front of about one mile before the line bent back to the east where Hood’s corps came in extending the line all the way to the Conasauga River protecting the Confederate right. Walker’s division went south of the Oostanaula in anticipation of another possible flanking march from Sherman’s men against the Confederate left.
Sherman anticipated Johnston to either fight or retreat. In case of a retreat, he brought up pontoon bridges to be laid across the Oostanaula at Lay’s Ferry at the mouth of Snake Creek, several miles to the west and south of Resaca and only two miles west of Calhoun.
BATTLE ENGAGES
With the morning of 14 May, 150,000 men had gathered around Resaca. Both sides entrenched their lines – Hood’s men on the north end of Johnston’s line were not as well fortified as the rest having reached the field latest. Skirmishing began early with daylight, but it was not until 1300 before the first significant Federal push got underway. Schofield’s men – divisions of Jacob D. Cox and Henry M. Judah – along with John Palmer’s 14th Corps lending support to the right flank attacked across the Camp Creek valley.
Confusion in command and because of different terrain encountered, the attack went in disjointedly. Judah’s men could not make headway as they charged across the open valley with the hip deep creek and bogs to cross. They could not get up from the east bank of the creek and ended up withdrawing after suffering 30% losses.
henry judah
This was Henry Judah’s last chance at command. A classmate of Grant from West Point, he, like Grant, had a history replete with alcoholism made worse by long years spent on the far western frontiers – his wife died in 1852 where he became stationed before service in the Mexican War.
Like Grant, Judah found himself stationed in northern California after the excitement of the war. Like Grant, alone and bored, Judah turned to drink.
judah in california
We get Judah’s Californian experiences through George Crook’s autobiography mainly. Crook was not Judah fan. Judah, a captain, was the commanding officer at a small fort – Fort Jones – in northern California, not far from today’s town of Yreka. Crook and Judah shared a common history from their time at West Point. Both graduated near the bottom of their classes.
Judah gained two brevets during his time in Mexico. Crook, graduating in 1852, was too young for that conflict. Shortly into Crook’s long military career, he came west with the 4th US Infantry Regiment. He found himself a commissary officer for Fort Jones. The company he served in – under Judah’s command – Crook nicknamed the “Forty Thieves”. Crook was appalled at Judah’s constant drunkenness and lack of discipline – later in the Civil War, men serving under Judah complained he was a martinet. “There was not the best of terms between us,” Crook later admitted, “for I had seen enough of him to realize fully what an unmitigated fraud he was.”
crook and judah
On an expedition against local Native Americans in 1854, Crook declared Judah too besotted to lead his company in an attack on a group of Indians hiding in a cave. Judah stayed with the pack train straggling far behind the column. Lt. Crook later wrote, “It seemed that the rear guard had gotten some whiskey, and were all drunk, and scattered for at least 10 miles back. Judah was so drunk that be had to be lifted from his horse when the rear guard straggled into camp. The next day he was sick all day with the delirium tremens.”
Judah became the Colonel of the 4th California Volunteers stationed at Fort Yuma near the Mexican border on the Colorado River. Realizing California was a backwater to the Civil War, he went east becoming a brigadier general of volunteers in March 1862 after serving sometime in the defenses of Washington. He went on to become the inspector general for Grant’s forces at Shiloh.
Judah with the army of the ohio
Schofield already disciplined his division commander for earlier poor performance and alcohol abuse. Lack of reconnoitering the battlefield prior to his attack and failure to use his artillery made things worse for the men in their attack. Judah found himself relieved from command after the battle spending the rest of the war in administrative duties. Judah died in 1866 from a “heart attack” at the age of only 45, no doubt brought on quicker by his condition though effects of typhoid fever suffered from time spent in Georgia also played a role. He lies buried in a communal grave in Westport, Connecticut.
judah at resaca
Brigadier General Richard W. Johnson noted the ground as his division of Palmer’s corps went forward further to the south of Judah’s men, “The general course of this creek in front of my line was nearly parallel to the enemy’s works; the bottom was in some places miry with a considerable depth of water-in others quite the reverse, its crooked channel filled in some places with a dense underbrush in others obstructed by fallen trees and drift. If afforded a serious obstacle to the advance of troops in line, as the result proved, as the land rose immediately from the creek in an abrupt bluff of nearly the same height as the enemy’s position beyond …”
He then described the attack made by one of his two brigades, “General Carlin, who lay very near the creek mentioned, threw forward his skirmishers, driving those of the enemy within their works, and moved forward his lines across the creek. No sooner had his first line emerged from the cover of the woods than the enemy–infantry and artillery–opened upon it with terrible effect. Notwithstanding this, however, Carlin pushed forward both lines beyond the creek and nearly halfway across the open field.
Judah’s problem
The passage of the creek had, however, sadly disordered Carlin’s lines, and finding it impossible to reform them while advancing so rapidly as the emergency of occasion required, hopeless, moreover, of holding his position even if the assault should succeed, Carlin fell back to the cover of the creek, the eastern bank of which offered in some places all the protection of a well-constructed fortification. Here he remained, by my direction, all day, keeping up a desultory but effective fire in reply to the enemy’s.”
Judah’s men already were entangled. He told brigade commander Nathaniel McLean to simply march through any Union troops in their front, advance and problems be damned.
The orphans
On the other side, the Confederates defended from the divisions of Cleburne and William B. Bate. Bate’s men had the more difficult time defending as they were at the turn of the Confederate line as it angled off to the east from Camp Creek. Both the Federals of Judah and Cox attacked here. At the point, the Orphan Brigade from Kentucky defended,” Some of the enemy got within seventy-five yards of their line before (the brigade) opened up. ‘It was harvest time with the Orphan Brigade,’ said one, ‘and every available contrivance was used for reaping the field before us. The fighting became so intense that when John Gordon of Company D, 4th Kentucky, fell dead, his comrades spent the rest of the day stepping over him in the melee.
Orphan demise
Only with nightfall could someone find time to take him from his place in the line. The new corps of sharpshooters operated…somewhat in advance. ‘Their terrible rifles soon attracted the fury of the Federal artillerymen,’ wrote an Orphan of the 4th. Before the day was out, half of the elite marksmen lay dead or wounded. Yet others, in the midst of this terrible holocaust, found time to admire pityingly a little kitten caught between the battle lines and crying in its terror. Finally, (a gunner) jumped the earthworks and ran forward to grasp the cat and return it safely. Thereafter the tortoise tabby became a familiar sight perched on his friend the gunner’s shoulder or astride a caisson. In honor of the occasion the Orphans named it ‘Resaca’.”
Cox’s attack started later because Howard’s corps was late in getting ready to come up in support. Cox’s men went after men of both Bate’s and Hindman’s divisions. With Judah and Palmer already repulsed, the Confederate fire concentrated on Cox. He wrote in his after-battle report, “No artillery had been able to accompany the division in its advance to attack, the broken nature of the ground and the physical obstacles of the creeks and thickets entirely preventing. The continuous heavy fire of the enemy caused, however, a considerable loss in both the One hundred and third Ohio and Fifth Tennessee while advancing to their position.”
day one losses
Federal losses in the afternoon action amounted to more than 1,300 casualties during the two-hour fight. Johnston felt the time ripe for a counterattack and sent Hood’s men – divisions of Carter Stevenson and A. P. Stewart into action. Stewart’s men, facing rough terrain, never made contact with the enemy. Stevenson’s two brigades came in on Sherman’s exposed left flank putting to flight the brigade of David Stanley. The left was saved by the canister fire from Captain Peter Simonson’s 5th Indiana Battery on the right side of Stanley’s brigade. Just as some of the Confederates re-organized advanced portions of Hooker’s 20th Corps – James Robinson’s brigade of Alpheus Williams’ division – came onto to the scene to support the battery with a timely volley discouraging further advance from Stevenson’s men.
Hooker was ordered out of the position his corps held on the right – south – of Palmer. Sherman realized his left flank became exposed. The 20th Corps struggled across over a mile of rugged terrain arriving in the nick of time to save the flank.
On the Union right, McPherson attacked Polk’s men near the river. Men from the brigades of Charles R. Woods and Mogan L. Smith pushed the Confederates back to the edge of Resaca allowing Federal artillery to command the railroad bridge. Confederate counterattacks were unable to regain any of the lost ground. With the day ending non-decisively, Johnston and Hood looked forward to resuming the attack on the next day.
LAY’S FERRY
Actions at Lay’s Ferry somewhat explained on a tablet weathering quickly along the road in Camp Creek valley.
Lay’s Ferry lay about five miles downstream from Resaca on the Oostanaula. Thomas W. Sweeny’s division became detached from the Army of the Tennessee by Sherman with orders to cross the river at the ferry in order to threaten Johnston’s hold on the rail line. Sweeny got the brigade of Elliott W. Rice across the river before Sweeny became aware of a possible pontoon bridge under construction by the Confederates between Lay’s Ferry and Resaca – they were building a bridge, but it was actually upstream from Resaca. Not wanting to become isolated on the south bank, he recalled his men.
Johnston ordered Walker’s division out from Calhoun to counter Sweeny, but by the time they arrived, the Federals had withdrawn to the north bank. After informing Johnston, Walker sent his men back to Calhoun.
no bridge means push on
The night of 14-15 confirmed no Confederate bridge being built, so the next morning, Sweeny pushed across again setting out both pontoon bridges. His entire division then crossed before Walker attacked with one brigade in the afternoon – Johnston had sent Walker’s other men to help the rest of Polk’s corps try to hold the line at Resaca. One brigade was not enough to push Sweeny away and the Confederates were flanked on their left.
Rice wrote later, “In one hour and fifteen minutes from the commencement of the crossing my entire brigade was ferried over the Oostanaula, the bridge completed, and the brigade formed in echelon on the south bank …So speedily was the brigade thrown over, and so well concealed in the woods, that the enemy was completely surprised when my troops attacked him….The importance of this engagement cannot be measured by the enemy’s killed, captured, and wounded. The position gained placed our army on the flank of the enemy, and his communications at our mercy.”
FINAL ASSAULTS
Both Sherman and Johnston planned to attack on the north end of the lines. Hood was to go in at 1200 with an extra brigade from both Polk and Hardee. But before they could get going, Howard’s 4th Corp attacked around 1300 against Hindman’s division. Brigade commander William B. Hazen wrote, “a concentrated fire of great violence” fells 120 of his men in thirty seconds. Hazen thereafter ordered the rest to return to the Federal lines.
A massive preliminary bombardment had been ongoing throughout the morning and Hood ordered Captain Max Van Den Corput’s Cherokee Battery forward of the Confederate lines to offer some relief in the manner of counterbattery fire. General Carter Stevenson noted afterwards, “Corput’s battery was accordingly placed in position at the only available point, about eighty yards in front of General Brown’s line.
It had hardly gotten into position when the enemy hotly engaged my skirmishers, driving them in and pushing on to the assault with great impetuosity. So quickly was all this done that it was impossible to remove the artillery before the enemy had effected a lodgment in the ravine in front of it, thus placing it in such a position that while the enemy were entirely unable to remove it, we were equally so, without driving off the enemy massed in the ravine beyond it, which would have been attended with great loss of life.”
battle for the guns
Howard’s men reformed again as Hooker’s men got their attack going falling upon Stevenson’s division. Van Den Corput’s guns ended up in no-man’s land as Federals launched three separate brigades forward in an attempt to capture the four guns. One of the attacks saw the 70th Indiana led forward by Colonel Benjamin Harrison, the future president. None of the charges succeed. Stevenson: “The assaults of the enemy were in heavy force and made with the utmost impetuosity, but were met with a cool, steady fire, which each time mowed down their ranks and drove them back, leaving the ground thickly covered in places with their dead.” Harrison’s men lost 156 while Hooker’s corps ended the day losing 1,200.
A. P. Stewart’s division off on the right end of the Confederate line had a relatively quiet day so far. That changed at about 1600 when they went in trying to turn the Federal left. Just as the attack began, news came into Johnston regarding the Federal advance across the Oostanaula at Lay’s Ferry threatening to cut Johnston off from his rail life support. Stewart’s men already committed when Johnston called off the attack. They had a difficult time in withdrawing ending up losing 1,000 men with another 100 from Stevenson’s while the Federals lost 400 in their repulse.
AFTERWARDS
In the Confederate attack, Stevenson’s division pushed out against the brigade of Colonel David Ireland – John W. Geary’s division. Ireland quickly became knocked out of the fight by a shell fragment with command falling to George A. Cobham, Jr. Cobham’s men were able with shovels and drag ropes to pull the guns the Cherokee Battery that night out of their emplacements presenting them to General Geary’s headquarters with his compliments.
Cobham had previously led a brigade at Gettysburg and during the Chattanooga Campaign. He reverted to command his original 111th Pennsylvania Regiment when the 12th Corps melded together with the 11th Corps after Chattanooga to become the 20th Corps. Ireland would return to lead the brigade again 6 June. His health faltered and he died 10 September from dysentery. Cobham fell leading the 111th again at the Battle of Peachtree Creek 20 July.
problem with being outnumbered
By the time Van Den Corput’s guns were pulled away, the Army of Tennessee was already preparing to withdraw from its second strong position held within a week. Sherman had enough frontal assaults for the time being, preferring to reach for Johnston’s flank again and again. Outnumbering his Confederate counterpart by 30,000, he could fix the enemy’s main line with his main army and still have plenty of men to go off and slip around one side or the other.
The march on Atlanta proceeded, slowly, carefully, and inexorably.
THE PARK
Only one main battlefield gained preservation on a federal level from the entire Atlanta Campaign, that of Kennesaw Mountain – note, a couple thousand more casualties became suffered by the armies here at Resaca than at Kennesaw. Recent local moves in Whitfield County to the north have – with help from the American Battlefield Trust – preserved some of the battlefields around Dalton.
The State of Georgia has moved – with significant local pushes – to preserve the battlefield further south at Pickett’s Mill as well as a significant portion – 550 acres – of the battlefield here at Resaca. That move extends the previous work by Gordon County to preserve the works at nearby Fort Wayne on the opposite – east side – of Interstate 75 from the Resaca Battlefield. The park has been turned over to the county for operation.
An additional 483 acres of land also lies preserved, owned by the Trust for Public Land purchased through the American Battlefield Trust – covering ground occupied by men of Hood’s Corps – including the position of Van Den Corput’s guns – running over to the Conasauga River on the east side of I-75 and US 41.
preservation
Moves to preserve the battlefield here at Resaca got underway in 2001. It took ten years before a park finally opened. The park is open every day, but hours vary with seasons. The entrance road going up the east side of the Camp Creek valley was open on the Thursday I ventured here recently.
The battlefield sports several tablets giving information about the battle. Georgia sun and weather is very hard on those signs, however, for in just a few years, several are already difficult to make out. A 2.2-mile entrance road goes up the valley ending at a small pavilion with rest rooms and a covered area for picnickers.
Trails
There are a series of trails wandering about covering over 5.5 miles in the hills on either side of the valley – the Blue Trail runs past Federal emplacements and trenches returning on the opposite side – east – of the valley to take in some of the former Confederate defenses. The Blue Trail moves through areas included in the main fighting on the afternoon of 14 May. There is a White Trail paralleling the entrance road and a Red Battlefield Trail which stays in the woods above the east side of Camp Creek in the area defended by the division of Benjamin Cheatham.
Camp Creek is a floodplain area. The entrance road sits slightly elevated. The trails running across the valley floor lie covered with fine rock but even then, walking can be very soggy as you avoid one “lake” after another.
Monuments – 103rd Ohio
Only two monuments stand on the battlefield – one, a very small marker dedicated to the 103rd Ohio Regiment. This marker stands in the woods off the Blue Trail. The 103rd Ohio stayed close to home in Ohio and Kentucky in the beginning years of its existence. With the Army of the Ohio, they joined Sherman for the Atlanta Campaign. Many of the units of the Army of the Ohio never enjoyed the chance to put up big regimental monuments at the sites of their glory on battlefields of the war. This little monument marks their furthest advance on 14 May – though some park people question that.
“The Color Guard” of the 103rd Ohio at Resaca portrayed on the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.
The 103rd Ohio finds itself remembered in an even more glorious fashion in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The Soldiers and Sailors Monument sits in the southeast corner of the Cleveland Public Square smack in the middle of downtown Cleveland – much like the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument in Indianapolis. Four sculptural groups surround the main monument – artillery, navy, cavalry and infantry. The infantry sculptural group known as “The Color Guard” represents the color guard of the 103rd Ohio at Resaca where all became killed or wounded. The sculptor in charge of the monument served with the 103rd during the war.
Monuments 123rd New York
A newer monument went up in 2018 memorializing the men of the 123rd New York Regiment. A unit of the 12th and then the 20th Corps, they have more contemporary monuments in place at Gettysburg and Bentonville, North Carolina. The 123rd was part of Hooker’s 20th Corps coming up in the late afternoon of 14 May to support the left flank of the Federal position. They also took part in the attack of Hooker’s corps the next day. The 123rd Monument sits just off Chitwood Road east of US 41. This area lies within the area owned by the Trust for Public Lands standing outside of the park. The monument stands in the area near where a trail leads to the Van Den Corput battery embrasures.
RESACA CONFEDERATE CEMETERY
A little over a mile north of Resaca off US Highway 41 on the east side, a sign points to “Confederate Cemetery”. This cemetery established in 1866 stands as one of the oldest Confederate cemeteries. Mary Jane Green and her family came back to their land here after the war. They became dismayed at the numerous shallow graves dug for many of the fallen. She wanted to give these men a proper burial and mounted a fund-raising drive throughout the war-torn South. Her father gave her 2.5 acres for the site and the dead with the dead exhumed and moved to the new cemetery.
The plots became arranged, so each State has her dead grouped together. In the center of the cemetery is a mass grave where the unknown dead have lain. The cemetery is one of the first exclusive Confederate cemeteries established after the war. Mary Jane Green went on to help remove the dead from the Chickamauga battlefield – those dead were reburied in the Marietta Confederate Cemetery.
FORT WAYNE
Just east of I 75 and the little town of Resaca is another small historical park Gordon County has managed to save in recent years – Fort Wayne. A mile’s worth of trails wind through the woods on a little hill overlooking the north banks of the Oostanaula River. Confederates built defenses here with a few cannons helping to provide defensive cover for the rail bridge over the river.
The fort, named in honor of the commander of the men who served in the fort, Brigadier General Henry Wayne of the Georgia State Line Troops. The State Line was a militia unit – Georgia had several types of different militia units: State militia, State Reserve, State Guards, State Line. The State Line, two regiments, originally raised by Governor Joseph Brown. One regiment became raised from northern counties near the border and the other regiment from southern counties. They were used to guard bridges and keep watch along the coasts.
Wayne was from West Point, class of 1838. After serving in the Mexican War, the then Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, sent Wayne to the Middle East to procure camels for possible use in the deserts of Texas. With the Civil War, Wayne became Inspector General for Georgia, moving over to command the State Line Troops at the governor’s request. After Johnston’s withdrawal following the battle of Resaca, the Federals vastly improved the fortifications here.
“COME AND TAKE IT”
As a fort, the site was put to the test by an assault by John Hood’s men in his series of attacks upon Sherman’s supply line following the Fall of Atlanta in the fall of 1864. Outnumbered, the strength of the position enabled the Federals to repulse Hood’s attack. The Federal commander, Colonel Clark R. Weaver, wrote in reply to Hood’s request to surrender, “Your communication of this date (12 October 1864) just received. In reply I have to state that I am somewhat surprised at the concluding paragraph, to the effect that ‘If the place is carried by assault no prisoners will be taken.’ In my opinion I can hold this post; if you want it come and take it. I am, general, very respectfully, your most obedient servant, Clark R. Weaver”.
There is another monument sitting next to the parking lot. This monument, erected by the efforts of a local re-enactor’s group, remembers Company D of the 28th Georgia Infantry. The so-called “Freeman Guards” came in part from Gordon County. Company D, along with the rest of the 28th, served in various regions during the war.
POSTSCRIPT
Federal officer Ambrose Bierce served at Resaca. He wrote this poignant story about a fellow officer who died in the carnage of the battle. Bierce became one of the more famous writers emerging from the war in later years. As with other stories he wrote, this one has a biting ending.