Unknown Hero of Allatoona Pass - Bartow County, Georgia

Unknown Hero of Allatoona Pass

Just a few yards from the railroad tracks near the historic "Deep Cut" of Allatoona Pass in North Georgia can be found the simple grave of an unknown Confederate hero.

Usually labeled the Unknown Hero of Allatoona Pass, the soldier buried in the grave is thought to have been a Confederate killed in the battle that took place for control of the vital railroad cut on October 5, 1864. Please click here to learn more about the battle itself.

It took the Union soldiers who manned the forts of the pass nearly three weeks to bury the dead from the battle. Others died from their wounds in the days and weeks that followed and also had to be buried. It was in this process of caring for the dead that the story of the hero - or heroes - of Allatoona Pass developed.

There are, in fact, two graves of unknown heroes at Allatoona Pass. One is unmarked and near the southern entrance to the Deep Cut. The other was the individual originally buried at the north end of the cut, but whose grave was moved in 1950 to its current location by the tracks.

Truth be told, there may be many more than that, as numbers of Confederate soldiers likely rest in unmarked and forgotten graves near the places they fell on the slopes of the ridge. When the Southern forces withdrew from the battle, they left their dead and mortally wounded on the field. Union soldiers then buried them, either singly or in groups, near the spots where they fell. How many might still rest there, no one can really say.

The Solitary Grave by the Tracks

The most logical story behind the grave by the tracks is that the individual buried there fell near the tracks at the northern end of the cut during the 1864 battle and was buried where he was found. In around 1880, the grave was marked with a simple stone. The tracks of the Western & Atlantic Railroad still passed through the cut in those days and employees of the railroad took interest in the solitary grave they saw as their trains passed in and out of the cut. They began to care for the grave of a man they knew only as an unknown hero.

In 1950, the grave was moved from its location just a few feet from the tracks to its current site beyond the other end of the pass. It was enclosed with an ornamental iron fence and marked by a simple railroad sign that says only "Unknown Hero." The other unknown hero, who was found in a coffin on a train that pulled into Allatoona Station after the battle, still rests in his unmarked grave at the pass.

To learn more about this fascinating story and to read one theory as to the true identity of the unknown hero, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/allatoona3.

The Battle of Allatoona Pass - Bartow County, Georgia

Star Fort at Allatoona Pass

Just outside Cartersville, a small parking lot serves as the trailhead for one of the most remarkable historic sites in Georgia - the Allatoona Pass Battlefield.

Developed by the Etowah Valley Historical Society and now maintained by Red Top Mountain State Park, the battlefield is open daily during daylight hours. It preserves the scene of the bloody fight for possession of the "Deep Cut" at Allatoona Pass during the opening days of the Franklin & Nashville Campaign.

Sherman had taken Atlanta after months of marching and fighting on September 2, 1864. Confederate General John Bell Hood, now commanding the Army of Tennesee, decided that instead of continuing to oppose Sherman's larger army around Atlanta he would turn west and then north to invade Tennessee and strike Nashville before Union reinforcements could be moved to the vital city.

Railroad Cut at Allatoona Pass

As the first step in this campaign, he sent General Samuel G. French to seize the Union forts at Allatoona Pass and fill the 175-foot deep railroad cut. French was then to fall back a short distance to the Etowah River and destroy the bridge there, before turning back to reunite with Hood's main army at New Hope Church. Unfortunately for French, Hood gave him only his own 3,276 man division and two days to accomplish this herculean task.

True to his orders, though, French marched immediately on Allatoona. Learning of his movement, General Sherman had messages sent to the post using signal flags waved from a tower on the top of Kennesaw Mountain.  These messages, which urged the Federal troops at Allatoona Pass to hold on until reinforcements could reach them, later inspired the Christian hymn "Hold the Fort."

Infantry Trench at Allatoona Pass

The Battle of Allatoona Pass opened on the morning of October 5, 1864, when French attached the strongly built Union defenses from the north and west. Although he was able to overrun an advanced position, at no point were his hard-fighting men able to break the Federal lines.  They charged the key Star Fort four times over open ground, but could not take the fiercely defended position. 

When the smoke cleared, the Confederate general had sustained higher than 30 percent casualties. The 2,000 or so Union soldiers defending the forts on the high ridge at Allatoona Pass were also badly bloodied. In fact, it would take nearly three weeks to locate and bury all of the dead from both sides.

To learn more about the battle and view a new online tour of the battlefield, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/allatoonapass.

Robert C. Tyler - Last General Killed in the Civil War

In the southwest corner of Pinewood Cemetery in West Point, Georgia, a small plot of ground has been set aside to provide a resting place for Confederate soldiers who died in the town.

Known as the Fort Tyler Cemetery, it notably contains the remains of Southern soldiers who fell in the defense of Fort Tyler on April 16, 1865. It was on that day, one week after General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, that Brigadier General Robert C. Tyler fell in action at the Battle of West Point, Georgia.

He was the last general officer of either side killed in action in the Civil War.

A remarkable individual who grew up in Tennessee and Maryland, Robert C. Tyler was part of William Walker's filibustering expedition to Nicaragua in 1856. He was among the men who returned to New York at the end of that armed incursion as a mere skeleton.

Grave of Gen. Robert C. Tyler

In 1861, then a resident of Memphis, Tyler enlisted as a private in Company D, 15th Tennessee Infantry. He quickly rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and commanded his regiment at the Battle of Belmont, Missouri, while fighting against the forces of General Ulysses S. Grant.

Tyler fought against Grant's men again at the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee. He had three horses killed from under him in that battle and was severely wounded. Due to his wounds he served in a staff capacity during Braxton Bragg's Kentucky Campaign, but was back in the field by 1863 when he fought at the brutal battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga. He lost a leg in that campaign, but was also credited with heroism on the field.

Fort Tyler in West Point, Georgia

By early 1865, Tyler had been promoted to brigadier general and was commanding the small force posted to defend the Chattahoochee River railroad bridge at West Point, Georgia. When news reached the town that a large Union force was approaching, he assembled what men he could and took up a position in Fort Tyler. The earthwork redoubt overlooked both the bridge and the town, the approaches to which it commanded with its three pieces of artillery.

Local legend in West Point holds that General Tyler was presented with a flag by the ladies of the community prior to the battle. He supposedly remarked that he would stand beneath the flag with honor and either prove victorious or die in the attempt.

Despite the small size of his own force and the overwhelming size of the attacking Federal command, Tyler held out courageously in Fort Tyler. With Union soldiers moving on his defenses from all four sides and the battle clearly lost, Tyler is said to have recklessly exposed himself to enemy fire.

Along with his aide, Captain Celestine Gonzales of Florida, he was shot down in the final moments of the battle. The two men are buried side by side at Fort Tyler Cemetery.

To learn more about Tyler's grave, Fort Tyler and the Battle of West Point, please visit the following:

• Fort Tyler Cemetery
• Fort Tyler in West Point, Georgia
• Battle of West Point, Georgia

Old Governor's Mansion - Milledgeville, Georgia

Old Governor's Mansion

One of the finest examples of Greek revival architecture in the nation, Georgia's historic Old Governor's Mansion has been a landmark of Milledgeville for 175 years.

Built of brick faced with stucco, the magnificent old mansion was designed and constructed in the days when Milledgeville was still the "new" capital of Georgia. The Old Capitol Building stands just up the street and the landscape of the charming historic city is dotted with other reminders of its days as capital of the state.

The home was built in 1836-1839 and first occupied by Governor George Gilmer, who moved in as the mansion was completed in 1839.  Other occupants over the years included Governor (and later Confederate general) Howell Cobb and Georgia's noted Confederate governor, Joseph Brown.

Old Governor's Mansion

A less popular temporary resident - General William Tecumseh Sherman - occupied the house for a night during his infamous March to the Sea. Union troops camped in the yards after their occupation of Milledgeville.

The house remained the home of the state's governor until the Reconstruction era when the post-war legislature voted to relocate the capitol to Atlanta. It later served as a barracks for cadets of what is now the Georgia Military College and as the resident for the president of today's Georgia College and State University.

Now a museum, the Old Governor's Mansion has been beautifully restored. Learn more by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com/gaoldmansion.