Visiting Kennesaw Mountain Civil War Battlefield outside Atlanta, Georgia by Ruth Paget
The Kennesaw Mountain Civil War Battlefield is located about half an hour north of Atlanta, Georgia off I-75.
Kennesaw Mountain has become a “swords into ploughshares” recreation area in the modern day. If you do not arrive early on the weekend (around 7:30 am), you most probably will have to park ½ mile to a mile away from the base of the mountain to access the hiking and biking trail. The track team from nearby Kennesaw State University runs easily up and down the mountain, making you feel really old.
Before Kennesaw Mountain became a favorite wooded refuge for Atlanta dwellers, it was the site of highly contested battle between the Confederacy’s General Joseph E. Johnson and the Union’s William Tecumseh Sherman on June 27, 1864. The Union suffered losses of 3,000 troops and the Confederacy suffered losses of 1,000 troops on that day.
The decisive moment in the battle came when General George Stoneman’s cavalry division put Union troops close to the Chattahoochee River that protected the city of Atlanta. Breaching that river would make it easy to enter Atlanta.
Kennesaw Mountain has become such a nice park that it is difficult to imagine war there, but it is worth noting that it is still one of Atlanta’s natural defenses to this day as one of several hills surrounding Atlanta along with the Chattahoochee River.
Locals would also say that the kudzu plant, which can take over buildings in the South’s sweltering heat, is also a natural defense. Kudzu had not been introduced from Japan yet during the time of the Civil War. Today, this plant with its glossy leaves would be slick to deal with in the rain for hill and mountain fighting and might even change battle outcomes.
This is speculation, of course, but it does explain why battle re-enactments are an educational exercise worth doing due to new environmental conditions and technological advances particularly in communication.
The battle re-enactments need analysis and knowledge management to make sure war outcomes remain the same.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
