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| Confederate States in the American Civil War |
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| Border states |
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On January 18, 1861, Georgia seceded from the Union during the American Civil War but kept the name "State of Georgia", and joined the newly formed Confederacy in February. During the war, Georgia sent nearly 100,000 soldiers to battle, mostly to the armies in Virginia. The state switched from cotton to food production, but severe transportation difficulties eventually restricted supplies. Early in the war, the state's 1,400 miles of railroad tracks provided a frequently used means of moving supplies and men but, by the middle of 1864, much of these lay in ruins or in Union hands.
The Georgia legislature voted $100,000 to be sent to South Carolina for the relief of Charlestonians who suffered a disastrous fire in December 1861.
Thinking the state safe from invasion, the Confederates built several small munitions factories in Georgia, as well as housing tens of thousands of Union prisoners. Their largest prisoner of war camp, at Andersonville, proved a death camp because of severe lack of supplies, food, water, and medicine.
Battles in Georgia
Georgia was relatively free from war until late 1863. A total of nearly 550 battles and skirmishes occurred within the state, with the vast majority in the last two years of the conflict. The first major battle in Georgia was a Confederate victory at the Battle of Chickamauga in 1863—it was the last major Confederate victory in the west. In 1864 William T. Sherman's armies invaded Georgia as part of the Atlanta Campaign. Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston fought a series of delaying battles, the largest being the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, trying to delay Union armies for as long as possible as he retreated toward Atlanta. Johnston's replacement, Gen. John Bell Hood, attempted several unsuccessful counterattacks at the Battle of Peachtree Creek and the Battle of Atlanta, but Sherman captured Atlanta on September 2, 1864.
After burning Atlanta to the ground, Sherman embarked on his March to the Sea on November 15, en route to Milledgeville, the state capital, which he reached on November 23, and the port city of Savannah, which he entered on December 22. A swath of land about 60 miles across was destroyed in this campaign, somewhat less than 10% of the state. Once Sherman's army had passed through the Confederates regained control. The March is a major part of the state's folk history, and is the setting for Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind and subsequent 1939 film.
In December 1864 Sherman captured Savannah before leaving Georgia in January 1865 to begin his Carolinas Campaign. However, there were still several small fights in Georgia after his departure. One of the last land battles of the Civil War, the Battle of Columbus, was fought on the Georgia-Alabama border.
List of battles fought in Georgia
Battle of Adairsville
Battle of Allatoona
Battle of Atlanta
Battle of Brown's Mill
Battle of Buck Head Creek
Battle of Chickamauga
Battle of Dallas
Battle of Dalton I
Battle of Dalton II
Battle of Davis' Cross Roads
Battle of Ezra Church
Battle of Fort McAllister (1863)
Battle of Fort McAllister (1864)
Battle of Fort Pulaski
Battle of Griswoldville
Battle of Jonesborough
Battle of Kennesaw Mountain
Battle of Kolb's Farm
Battle of Lovejoy's Station
Battle of Marietta
Battle of New Hope Church
Battle of Peachtree Creek
Battle of Pickett's Mill
Battle of Resaca
Battle of Ringgold Gap
Battle of Rocky Face Ridge
Battle of Utoy Creek
Battle of Waynesboro
Re-entry to the Union
The war left parts of Georgia devastated and the state's economy in shambles. Reconstruction activities started immediately after the hostilities ceased, but lingering effects of the bitter strife stayed until well into the 20th century. Georgia did not re-enter the Union until June 15, 1870, more than two years after South Carolina was readmitted. Georgia was the last of the Confederate States to re-enter the Union.
Civil War sites in Georgia
Today, many of Georgia's Civil War battlefields, particularly those around Atlanta, have been lost to modern urban development. However, a number of sites have been well preserved, including Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park and Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. Other Civil War related sites include Stone Mountain, Fort Pulaski, and the Atlanta Cyclorama, as well as Confederate Memorial Park.
A number of antebellum mansions and plantations in Georgia are preserved and open to the public, particularly around Atlanta and Savannah.
Portions of the Civil War-era Western & Atlantic Railroad have historical markers commemorating events during the war, including several sites associated with the Andrews Raid.
Another great area (near Atlanta) to experience Civil War History is in the SweetWater Creek State Park in Douglas County, Georgia. At this location is one of the last standing buildings burned by General Sherman's army... New Manchester Mill. http://www.gastateparks.org/SweetwaterCreek
See also
- Confederate States of America - animated map of state secession and confederacy
References
- Jones, Charles Edgeworth (1909). Georgia in the War: 1861-1865. Augusta, Georgia: Foote and Davies.
Additional Reference Material
- “Rebel Yell: The Civil War Diary of John Thomas Whatley, CSA”, edited by John Wilson Cowart, is the diary of a confederate soldier whose work included preparing for the defense of Savannah, Georgia. The diary documents his life from March 2, 1862, till November 27, 1864.
External links
- Declaration of Causes of Seceding States - Ordinances of Secession of Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas
- University of Georgia website for Georgia in the Civil War
- National Park Service map of Civil War sites in Georgia
- Civil War Sites in Georgia
- This Week in Georgia Civil War History Site from GeorgiaInfo
- Cobb County Civil War historical markers on a map.
- http://portcolumbus.org/
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