Update: Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park

Hello Junior Rangers! Today I was very surprised with a large FedEx envelope from the people over at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. I am excited about it because it is a reply to the package I sent them a few weeks prior, and come on, getting packages in the mail is fun. :)

So first, the backstory:

Junior Ranger Package from Kennesaw
Mountain National Battlefield Park

About a week and a half ago, I posted that I mailed out a ton of completed Junior Ranger books that I either got online or from my road trip in April (You can read about that here.) Kennesaw Mountain was one of those and now they sent a return package. There was a lot more in the package than just the badge and my returned book; there’s a whole bunch of goodies inside. :D. Unfortunately there was no letter from Ranger(?) Gilliard II (the person whose name is on the return address, and who I assume is a Ranger?). But I’ll take the goodies. :D

Rack Card for the Junior Civil War Historian Patch at KennesawMountain Battlefield Park

Rack Card for the Junior Civil War Historian Patch – kind of like Traveling Clara Barton, you’re supposed to get this Rack Card signed by three participating parks. I will just be mailing all three to the final park to get the patch (like I did with my Traveling Clara Barton package.)

NPS Trading Cards from Kennesaw Mountain NBP

NPS Trading Cards for Kennesaw Mountain NBP – I kindly asked for them in my letter and Ranger Gilliard II was nice enough to send them to me. I know some parks don’t do that so I am very appreciative that he did that. :)

Bumper Sticker from Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park

Kennesaw Mountain Junior Ranger Bumper Sticker – This is random but hilarious. It is a bumper sticker that says “My Kid is a Kennesaw Mountain National Junior Ranger. Is Yours?” I see it and think of all those competing kid bumper stickers out there. Bwahaha.

Kennesaw Mountain NBP Bison Toy So squeezable! XD

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park Bison Toy – So....yeah. This is VERY RANDOM, but so cute! It’s a little bison stress toy.  He’s so adorable you just want to squeeze him—har, har...lol. It was very nice of him to send this too. Very unexpected and appreciated. :D

And that’s it! It was a very, very nice reward for completing the book. Please read about the park, which I have posted below, and check it out the next time you’re in Georgia. But in the meantime…

Explore On, Junior Ranger! :)

Want your own Kennesaw Mountain NBP Junior Ranger badge? Download the activity book online, complete the requisite activities and mail it back to the park (Kennesaw Mountain NBP, Attn: Junior Ranger Program, 900 Kennesaw Mountain Drive, Kennesaw, Georgia 30152). You’ll get a badge and maybe they’ll send you some cool swag too. :)

---

About Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park

Things to Do

Kennesaw Mountain NBP Visitor Center
Photo Courtesy kennesaw.com

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield is located in Kennesaw, Georgia, which is about 25 miles northwest of Atlanta. Once you arrive at the battlefield, be sure to start your visit at the Visitor Center. There is a museum with exhibits of Civil War artifacts and displays that tell the story of the military, civilian, medical and communication aspects of the Atlanta Campaign. There is also an orientation film about the Atlanta Campaign and the Battle of Kennesaw.

Map of Kennesaw Mountain NBP
Image Courtesy nps.gov

Once you finish getting to know the battlefield’s history through the exhibits and film, you are ready to embark on the Park Tour. Before you leave the center, be sure to grab the Park Tour brochure (and your Junior Ranger book!). The Park Tour is a self-guided driving tour, which includes parking and wayside exhibits at each stop. There are also short interpretive walking trails at the mountaintop, Pigeon Hill, and Cheatham Hill.

During the week, you can drive to the top of the mountain yourself; but on weekends, a shuttle bus is available to take you to the mountaintop. In addition, the Park offers a self-guided cell phone audio tour. You can obtain the instructional brochure for the audio tour at the Visitor Center.

Stops on the tour include Kennesaw Mountain, 24-Gun Battery, Wallis House, Pigeon Hill, Cheatham Hill, Sherman/Thomas Headquarters and Kolb’s Farm.

---

History of Kennesaw Mountain NBP

The 1864 Atlanta Campaign Begins

While General Grant led his army in Northern Virginia against Confederate General Robert E Lee, Major General William T Sherman moved in a slow advance from Chattanooga, TN to Atlanta, GA. Grant had ordered Sherman to “move against Johnston’s army, to break it up, and to get into the interior of the enemy’s country as far as you can, inflicting all the damage you can against their war resources.”

During this time, Atlanta was a major manufacturing city and a vital Confederate rail junction; four railroads met here, which linked the southern Atlantic seaboard states with the western Confederacy and served as a major supply route.

General William T Sherman
Image Courtesy nps.gov

Union General Sherman began his march against Atlanta on May 7. As commander of the Georgia offensive, General Sherman divided his 100,000 troops into three armies. These armies concentrated near the area of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Opposing them were the 53,000 soldiers of the Tennessee Army commanded by General Joseph Johnston along Rocky Face Ridge at Dalton, GA. It took two days for the Union army to reach General Johnston’s position at Rocky Face. At that time, he sent a column of troops through the area known as Snake Creek Gap to threaten Johnston’s supply connection with Atlanta at the Western and Atlantic Railroad. After this engagement, Johnston made his way south and established a post at Resaca, where he countered Sherman’s troops for three days (May 13-15).

General Joseph Johnston
Image Courtesy nps.gov

Sherman sent another Union column to cross the Oostanaula River to again threaten the railroad. Johnston then retreated to Adairsville, where the two forces fought on the 17th; they fell back only when darkness fell over the battlefield.

This same situation occurred again and again, with Sherman’s goal to cut off the Confederates from the Western and Atlantic Railroad and Johnston retreating to intercept these threats. In late May, he pulled back to a position in the Allatoona Mountains. Despite Sherman’s attempts to send troops wide to the southwest, Johnston was able to slow down Sherman by continuous smaller engagements over the period of four days at New Hope Church, Pickett’s Mill and Dallas (May 25-28).

The Atlanta Campaign and Kennesaw Mountain

Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield
Photo Courtesy kennesaw.com

Sherman resumed his advance on June 10, forcing Johnston to go back east; he followed the railroad so he would not get too far away from the supply line. By June 19, despite the weeks of continuous rain, Sherman’s troops forced Johnston to retreat again. He went to a prepared defensive position which was anchored by Kennesaw Mountain. This ridge had rocky slopes rising above the surrounding plains. Using slave labor, Confederate engineers had laid out a line of entrenchments which covered every approaching ravine or hollow with cannon and rifle fire.

Sherman again attempted to extend the lines south to go around the Confederate troops. Johnston again countered by moving 11,000 of his troops to meet the threat. These troops were led by General John B. Hood.  On June 22, at Kolb’s Farm, Hood savagely struck the Union troops but was unsuccessful in repelling them; he lost 1,500 men. 

Sherman suspected that, despite the strength of Johnston’s defenses, they might actually be thinly manned, and that a sharp attack might break through the line. His plan was to create a diversion attack against the Confederate left at Kennesaw, while amassing a two-pronged assault against Johnston’s then-vulnerable center.

Little Kennesaw
(view from Kennesaw Mountaintop)
Photo Courtesy kennesaw.com

On June 27, the attacking armies moved into position to enact Sherman’s plan. Both attacks were brief and bloody failures. On the one side on their way to Pigeon Hill, “sheets of fire” drove Union troops under cover; and from the other side at Little Kennesaw and Pigeon Hill, the Confederate soldiers rolled rocks down upon them. It soon became obvious the uphill attack would not succeed, and Sherman recalled his troops.

Meanwhile, 8,000 Union troops attacked two divisions of Johnston’s army at the area south of Dallas Road. Many of those troops were gunned down. Some advanced fairly close enough to engage in brutal hand-to-hand combat atop the Confederate earthworks. This place would later be nicknamed the “Dead Angle.”

Sherman resumed his flanking strategy, which forced Johnston to abandon the Kennesaw lines on July 2. Johnston retreated into Atlanta with Sherman close behind; the dance of this slow campaign continuing well into the Atlanta summer. Two months later, the Union would take Atlanta.

Sources: nps.gov, history.com