Pickett’s Mill Battlefield State Historic Site

In the spirit of finding interesting places to explore close by, my husband, Jim, and I checked our local map and realized that a very important historical Civil War Battlefield was located only 8 miles from our home, and we had never been aware of it. We always drive toward Atlanta , and this site is behind us, near a small town called New Hope, Georgia . The state of Georgia had bought the land and in 1990 opened the park in time for the 125th anniversary of the Battle of Pickett's Mill. Click on any picture if you'd like to enlarge it.




The park includes 765 acres, a visitor center with a film, a museum with artifacts and interpretive exhibits. A complete trail guide is provided with extensive notes on the major areas of engagement. This is one of the best preserved Civil War battlefields in the nation. The battle was fought from May 25 to May 28, 1864. The 9,600 Confederate troops held their line against the 14,000 Federal troops attempting to outflank them. The Federals lost about 1700 men, the Confederates about 500 men. This was a clear victory for the Confederate side, but a minor loss for the Federals in their advance toward Atlanta - it only delayed them. General William T. Sherman, in charge of the Federal side, did not even mention this defeat in his memoirs.





This postcard, taken by Steve and Daniel Yost, shows the battle reenactment which happens each year close to the battle dates, usually the 27th May.




A cabin, built in the 1850s, located a few miles away from the park has been moved to the site. Once a month, it is used for demonstrations of candle making, cooking, sewing, etc., as it would have been done by a civilian family before the war.




The land was originally occupied by the Cherokee Indians, but when gold was discovered in North Georgia, it brought many greedy settlers who pushed the state of Georgia to remove the Cherokees to lands in the west (this removal became known as The Trail of Tears). The land was subdivided into 40 to 60 acre lots and distributed to white settlers through a Lottery. The Pickett family received one of these lots of land, built a cabin on it and operated a grist mill close to the creek on that property.

The brochure with maps and information on the trails indicates that the terrain has not changed very much since 1864. One walks on roads used by both the Confederate and Federal troops, hikes up and down the same ravines where many died and can observe the earthworks built by the fighting men. Click on The Battle of Pickett's Mill here if you'd like to read more details on this battle.





We walked on the trails of the battlefield on a sunny day in mid-week. There was no one ahead or behind us and when we arrived at the corn field, site of a furious fight between the two sides, we could well imagine how bloody the battle must have been.




One would not know that such a terrible battle occurred here as it is so peaceful now.

The South is a land that has known sorrow;
it is a land that has broken the ashen crust and moistened it with its tears;
a land scarred and riven by the plowshare of war and billowed with the grave of her dead;
but a land of legend, a land of song, a land of hallowed and heroic memories.
- Edward Ward Carmack (1858-1908)