BGuthrie Photos: GA -- Allatoona Pass Battlefield

GA -- Allatoona Pass Battlefield:

Bruce Guthrie Photos Home Page: [Click here] to go to Bruce Guthrie Photos home page.

Recognize anyone? If you recognize specific folks (or other stuff) and I haven't labeled them, please identify them for the world. Click the little pencil icon

underneath the file name (just above the picture). Spammers need not apply.

Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

Accessing as Spider: The system has identified your IP as being a spider.
IP Address: 3.149.230.44 -- Domain: Amazon Technologies
I love well-behaved spiders! They are, in fact, how most people find my site. Unfortunately, my network has a limited bandwidth and pictures take up bandwidth. Spiders ask for lots and lots of pages and chew up lots and lots of bandwidth which slows things down considerably for regular folk. To counter this, you'll see all the text on the page but the images are being suppressed. Also, some system options like merges are being blocked for you.
Note: Permission is NOT granted for spiders, robots, etc to use the site for AI-generation purposes. I'm sure you're thrilled by your ability to make revenue from my work but there's nothing in that for my human users or for me.
If you are in fact human, please email me at guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can check if your designation was made in error. Given your number of hits, that's unlikely but what the hell.

Help? The Medium (Email) links are for screen viewing and emailing. You'll want bigger sizes for printing. [Click here for additional help]

Share: Facebook Twitter Digg
[1] ALLAT_061011_001.JPG	[2] ALLAT_061011_008.JPG	[3] ALLAT_061011_012.JPG
[4] ALLAT_061011_014.JPG	[5] ALLAT_061011_018.JPG	[6] ALLAT_061011_022.JPG
[7] ALLAT_061011_025.JPG	[8] ALLAT_061011_028.JPG	[9] ALLAT_061011_032.JPG
[10] ALLAT_061011_035.JPG	[11] ALLAT_061011_039.JPG	[12] ALLAT_061011_042.JPG
[13] ALLAT_061011_046.JPG	[14] ALLAT_061011_053.JPG	[15] ALLAT_061011_058.JPG
[16] ALLAT_061011_062.JPG	[17] ALLAT_061011_068.JPG	[18] ALLAT_061011_071.JPG
[19] ALLAT_061011_075.JPG	[20] ALLAT_061011_085.JPG	[21] ALLAT_061011_087.JPG
[22] ALLAT_061011_093.JPG	[23] ALLAT_061011_098.JPG	[24] ALLAT_061011_102.JPG
[25] ALLAT_061011_107.JPG	[26] ALLAT_061011_112.JPG	[27] ALLAT_061011_116.JPG
[28] ALLAT_061011_118.JPG	[29] ALLAT_061011_131.JPG	[30] ALLAT_061011_137.JPG
[31] ALLAT_061011_138.JPG	[32] ALLAT_061011_149.JPG	[33] ALLAT_061011_154.JPG
[34] ALLAT_061011_160.JPG	[35] ALLAT_061011_165.JPG	[36] ALLAT_061011_174.JPG
[37] ALLAT_061011_175.JPG	[38] ALLAT_061011_186.JPG	[39] ALLAT_061011_194.JPG
[40] ALLAT_061011_204.JPG	[41] ALLAT_061011_208.JPG	[42] ALLAT_061011_217.JPG
[43] ALLAT_061011_228.JPG	[44] ALLAT_061011_232.JPG	[45] ALLAT_061011_238.JPG
[46] ALLAT_061011_244.JPG	[47] ALLAT_061011_248.JPG	[48] ALLAT_061011_257.JPG
[49] ALLAT_061011_265.JPG	[50] ALLAT_061011_273.JPG	[51] ALLAT_061011_277.JPG
[52] ALLAT_061011_281.JPG	[53] ALLAT_061011_285.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. ALLAT_061011_001.JPG: War Time Allatoona: Photographer George N. Barnard accompanied General William T. Sherman's army during his campaigns in Georgia and took this photograph, looking north from approximately the same camera position as this marker. The war time Western & Atlantic Railroad from Chattanooga to Atlanta penetrated the Allatoona Mountain Range at this point through a 180 foot deep by 360 foot long cut known as Allatoona Pass. The residence on the left is the still well-preserved John Clayton (now Mooney) House, and the white structure in the center of the photograph, just to the left and west of the railroad tracks is the Railroad Depot. Directly across the tracks are the warehouses or storage sheds in which large quantities of Federal supplies were stored. The Star Fort is on the eminence to the left and west of the deep cut, and the house on the extreme right and east of the deep cut served as headquarters for the 4th Minnesota Infantry Regiment, garrisoned at Allatoona. The Field of Fire seen in the photograph was cleared for some distance in front of the fortifications in all directions to deprive an approaching enemy force of cover, but in the years since the war, a heavy growth of timber and underbrush has covered the entire area.
2. ALLAT_061011_008.JPG: Clayton House
3. ALLAT_061011_014.JPG: Allatoona Pass: Allatoona was in pioneer days a travel hub, because ridges from east and south met here where it was fairly easy to cross the Allatoona Mountain range by winding over a low ridge, or pass. The Sandtown or Tennessee Road from the south, and the Old Alabama Road from the east, joined here to cross the pass, then separated, the Sandtown to cross the Etowah and aim for Tennessee, and the Alabama Road to run west on the south side of the Etowah.
4. ALLAT_061011_018.JPG: Battle of Allatoona: October 5, 1864: After artillery firing and repeated assaults by French's troops (CSA), the Federals made a final stand in the star fort west of rock cut. Failing to dislodge the defenders, French retreated to New Hope Church in Paulding County. French's Division consisted of Young's, Cockrell's, and Sear's Brigades (CSA) 3,276; losses 799. Corse's command: Alexander's and Rowett's Brigades, (USA) 2,137; losses, 706. This battle inspired the gospel hymn: "Hold the fort for I am coming."
5. ALLAT_061011_032.JPG: Battle of Allatoona: On the morning of October 5, 1864, Confederate Major General Samuel G. French's division of 3,276 men attacked the Federal garrison at Allatoona with orders to fill up the railroad cut and disrupt the flow of supplies to William T. Sherman's army to the south of Atlanta, then march northward to the Etowah River and burn the railroad bridge there. French was opposed at Allatoona by a Federal force of 2,025 men under the command of Major General John M. Corse. Corse occupied a heavily fortified position, anchored by two large earth forts, the Star Fort on the west and eastern redoubt east of the cut. Many of the Federal troops, including the entire 7th Illinois Regiment, were armed with Henry repeating rifles, which probably gave them equal, if not superior, firepower. By noon, most of the Federal troops had been driven back into their main or Star Fort, and its capture seemed eminent, but French received a false report from his cavalry that a large Federal force was coming up the railroad from the south. Fearing his division would be cut off from the main Confederate army, French withdrew, leaving Allatoona in Federal hands. The Federals lost 706 men and the Confederates 897, in what was one of the most bloody and stubbornly contested battles of the entire war.
6. ALLAT_061011_039.JPG: Demand for Surrender: On the morning of October 5, 1864, following a two-hour bombardment from Major John D. Myrick's Confederate artillery on Moore's Hill, 1200 yards to the south, Confederate Major General Samuel G. French sent the following message to the Federal commander at Allatoona by his Adjutant Major David W. Sanders, under a flag of truce: Commanding Officer U.S. Forces, Allatoona Sir: I have the forces under my command in such positions that you are surrounded and, in order to avoid a needless effusion of blood, I call upon you to surrender your forces at once, and unconditionally. Five minutes swill be allowed you to decide. Should you accede to this, you will be treated in the most honorable manner as prisoners of war. Samuel G. French, Major General, CSA After waiting over fifteen minutes without a response, Saunders called off the truce, and an immediate assault was ordered by General French.
7. ALLAT_061011_042.JPG: Allatoona Pass or the Deep Cut: The war time Western and Atlantic Railroad passed through the Allatoona Mountain Range by means of this deep cut, penetrating some 95 feet of solid rock plus another 85 feet of earth for a total depth of approximately 180 feet, and was some 360 feet in length. The railroad was moved some distance to the west when Allatoona dam and reservoir were constructed in the late 1940s, but the cut is otherwise little changed since the time of the war.
8. ALLAT_061011_053.JPG: Memorial Site: This site is dedicated to both Union and Confederate forces that fought here October 5, 1864. Soldiers representing five Union states and six Confederate states were present.
9. ALLAT_061011_068.JPG: Memorial Site
10. ALLAT_061011_071.JPG: War Time Tennessee Wagon Road: This is the old wagon road which passed over the Allatoona Mountain Range and ran northward to Chattanooga, Tennessee. South of Allatoona Pass, the wagon road became known as the Sandtown Road and led to the community of Sandtown on the Chattahoochee River, west of Atlanta.
11. ALLAT_061011_075.JPG: Wartime Tennessee Wagon Road
12. ALLAT_061011_087.JPG: The Allatoona Mountain Range: Across the ravine to your front lies the Allatoona Mountain Range, the southernmost spur of the Appalachian Mountain. After passing through the area in May of 1864,Sherman ordered the position fortified to protect the Western and Atlantic Railroad, which would supply his army as it advanced southward on Atlanta. Designed by his Chief of Engineers, Orlando M. Poe, the fortifications consisted of large earth forts on either side of the railroad cut and an elaborate set of connecting trenches and redoubts. On the horizon to the right of the ridge is a large earthwork fort, known as the Eastern Redoubt. During the Battle of Allatoona, the redoubt was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John E. Tourtellotte who was wounded during the battle, and the artillery in the fort was commanded by Lieutenant Marcus Amaden, who was also wounded in the knee and later died from complications.
13. ALLAT_061011_102.JPG: Military Service Road: At the time of the Battle of Allatoona, a military service road crossed the Tennessee Wagon Road at this point and ran westward to your left to a frame residence which served as headquarters for the 4th Minnesota Infantry Regiment, garrisoned at Allatoona. The service road proceeded eastward and to your right past the artillery stables to the eastern fort or redoubt.
14. ALLAT_061011_107.JPG: Eastern Redoubt
15. ALLAT_061011_116.JPG: The Crow's Nest: At this approximate location stood the Crow's Nest, a sixth foot tall Georgia Pine surmounted by a signal platform. Before and after the Battle of Allatoona, signal flag communications were maintained with the signal station on Kennesaw Mountain, some 18 miles to the south. The tree became diseased after the war and was ordered cut down by Georgia's Governor Joseph M. Brown. Souvenir cigar boxes and gavels were made from the tree trunk and sent to Generals Joseph E. Johnston, Samuel G. French, and John M. Corse, as well as to Allatoona Station Master Sam W. Wilkes, the YMCA in Boston, Massachusetts, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.
16. ALLAT_061011_118.JPG: Crow's Nest location
17. ALLAT_061011_137.JPG: The Eastern Redoubt: The eastern redoubt was constructed with six foot high earth parapets and a six foot deep ditch or moat surrounding the fort on all sides. It was manned by the 4th Minnesota Regiment, two companies of the 57th Illinois Regiment, a detachment of 15 men from the 5th Ohio Cavalry and two 3-inch Ordnance Rifles and one Napoleon cannon from the 12th Wisconsin Artillery Battery. The redoubt was commanded during the Battle of Allatoona by Lieutenant Colonel John E. Tourtellotte who was wounded during the battle, and the artillery was commanded by Lieutenant Marcus Amsden, who was wounded in the knee and later died from complications.
18. ALLAT_061011_138.JPG: Artillery Stables: On this site stood the artillery stables for the horses and mules used to transport the guns and ammunition limbers of the 12th Wisconsin Artillery Battery.
19. ALLAT_061011_149.JPG: Federal Trenches
20. ALLAT_061011_160.JPG: 4th Minnesota Regimental Headquarters The 4th Minnesota was the permanent Federal garrison regiment at Allatoona Pass under the command of Lt. Colonel John E. Tourtellette, until Brigadier General John M. Corse arrived with reinforcements from Rome on October 5 and assumed command only a few hours before the battle began. The 4th Minnesota's headquarters was in a wood frame house which stood on this site and was seen in the above war time photograph taken by Sherman's photographer, George N. Barnard.
21. ALLAT_061011_165.JPG: The Deep Cut: The intermediate level directly below is a berm or shoulder excavated to prevent earth from falling into the cut and blocking the tracks, and corresponds to the top of the rock strata. The deeper and more distant cut contained the railroad which was some 180 feet below the level of this marker. The Western or Star Fort lies directly across the cut from this point.
22. ALLAT_061011_174.JPG: Federal Trenches: During the Battle of Allatoona, these trenches were manned by troops of the 4th Minnesota Infantry Regiment who repulsed Confederate troops of the 35th and 39th Mississippi regiments of Cluadius [sic] Sears' Brigade. Small contingents of the 35th and 39th Mississippi regiments took refuge in a gully on the slope below, where they were neither able to advance up the steep slope nor retreat for fear of being shot in the back. There they remained until the battle had ended, then surrendered -- some 80 men, including Colonel R.J. Durr, commander of the 39th Mississippi Infantry Regiment.
23. ALLAT_061011_186.JPG: The Deep Cut. To the right is where the Star Fort was. To the left is where the Eastern Redoubt was. The railroad ran down the middle of this.
24. ALLAT_061011_208.JPG: Rowett's Redoubt
25. ALLAT_061011_217.JPG: The Confederate Withdrawal: As noon approached on October 5, 1864, Confederate troops had advanced to within 100 yards of the Star Fort on three sides. The Federal defenders could scarcely expose themselves to return fire over the parapets, and artillerist in the fort were being hit with alarming frequency by Confederate sharpshooters. They were out of water, their supply of ammunition was nearly exhausted, and their capitulation seemed imminent. But at noon, General French received a message from cavalry General Frank C. Armstrong, informing him that Federal troops were entering Big Shanty and advancing up the railroad toward Allatoona from the south. French's ammunition was also nearly exhausted, and fresh supplies would have to be hauled up the steep slopes before another assault could be attempted. He therefore reluctantly elected to withdraw and by 3:30pm was on the march to join the main Confederate army near New Hope Church, leaving Allatoona in Federal hands.
26. ALLAT_061011_228.JPG: The Star Fort: The western of Star Fort was constructed of 6 foot high earthworks or parapets, with a 6 foot deep trench or moat completely surrounding the fort. The earthworks were surmounted by interlacing railroad cross ties forming a multi-pointed star, and led to the designation Star Fort. The above George N. Barnard photograph was taken from the same camera position as this marker, and shows the sally port, the only opening in the earthworks through artillery and supplies could pass. As the Battle of Allatoona drew to a close on October 5, 1864, most of the Federal troops defending Allatoona, some 700 men, had taken refuge in this fort. Brigadier General John M. Corse, commander of the Federal troops of Allatoona, was wounded about midday on October 5, 1864, while peering over the parapet ... to observe Confederate sharpshooters firing from a small house about 100 yards to the south.
27. ALLAT_061011_248.JPG: Footbridge Over Cut: At this point a crude wooden footbridge spanned the cut about 90 feet above the railroad tracks. It was constructed by felling two tall pine trees across the cut, planking over them and adding a handrail. During the battle, Private Edwin R. Fullington of the 12nd Wisconsin Battery crossed the footbridge 3 times with grape shot and canister to replenish the Federal ammunition supply in the Star Fort.
28. ALLAT_061011_285.JPG: Battle of Allatoona October 5, 1864 After artillery firing and repeated assaults by French�s troops, [CS] the Federals made a final stand in the star fort W. of rock cut. Failing to dislodge the defenders, French retreated to New Hope Church in Paulding County. French�s division consisted of Young�s, Cockrell�s, & Sear�s Brigades, [CS] 3,276; losses 799. Corse�s command: Alexander�s & Rowett�s Brigades, [US] 2137; losses, 706. This battle inspired the gospel hymn, "Hold the fort for I am coming".
Wikipedia Description: Battle of Allatoona
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Battle of Allatoona, also known as Allatoona Pass, was fought October 5, 1864, as part of the Franklin-Nashville Campaign of the American Civil War.

After the fall of Atlanta, John Bell Hood moved the Confederate Army of Tennessee northward to threaten the Western and Atlantic Railroad, William T. Sherman's supply line. Along the way he attacked a number of minor garrisons and damaged track during October 2–October 4. Sherman sent a reinforcement brigade to Allatoona commanded by General John M. Corse before the southern army arrived. The saying "hold the fort" originated from Sherman's instructions to General Corse prior to the battle.

Major General Samuel G. French's Confederate division arrived near Allatoona at sunrise on October 5. After demanding a surrender and receiving a negative reply, French attacked. The Union line survived a sustained two and a half hour attack, but then fell back and regrouped in an earthen star fort on top of Allatoona Pass. General French repeatedly attacked the position, but the fort held. The Rebels began to run low on ammunition, and reports of arriving Union reinforcements influenced them to move off and rejoin Hood’s force.
Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.) I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
Connection Not Secure messages? Those warnings you get from your browser about this site not having secure connections worry some people. This means this site does not have SSL installed (the link is http:, not https:). That's bad if you're entering credit card numbers, passwords, or other personal information. But this site doesn't collect any personal information so SSL is not necessary. Life's good!
Photo Contact: [Email Bruce Guthrie].