Existing comment:
The sign in the foreground says:
Embattled Earthworks
These shallow ditches were once formidable earthen and log defenses. Confederate soldiers also felled trees and installed other barriers in front of the trenches to slow Union attackers.
The 3rd & 5th Consolidated Missouri Regiment, CSA, built and defended the earthworks here on Pigeon Hill. On June 27, the 6th Missouri Regiment, USA, took part in the Union assault on Pigeon Hill. Ironically, Confederate Missourians battled Union Missourians as Federal forces fought uphill to within 25 yards of these earthworks and took cover behind the boulders just ahead.
By the time they retreated from this hill, 154 Federals of Brig Gen Giles Smith's brigade lay dead, 10 of those from Missouri; the Confederate Missourians suffered 9 killed and 27 wounded.
Another sign in the area says:
Assault on Pigeon Hill
Union attackers failed to split the Confederate army here.
On the morning of June 27, 1864, three brigades totalling 5,500 soldiers from Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois charged toward Pigeon Hill. Advancing in battle lines astride Burnt Hickory Road, one Union brigade overran the Georgian-held rifle pits near this location with two other brigades crossed Old Mountain Road.
Once beyond the road, the attack ran into felled trees and other Confederate-built obstacles on Pigeon Hill. As the Federals struggled over the obstructions and rough terrain, the well-entrenched Southerners opened fire with musketry and cannon, some Confederates on Little Kennesaw even heaved boulders. The Union troops sought cover as the assault crumbled. ...
By noon the Union forces had withdrawn to Old Mountain Road and after dark they returned to their lines. The assault cost the Federals more than 850 killed, wounded, or missing soldiers; the Confederate casualties numbered about 250. |