Cheatham Hill Walk

In my post of 20-May 2009, regarding the Pickett’s Mill Battlefield site, I explained that after all the years of living close to historical sites we decided to explore those in our neighborhood. Some of the blogs I read are located close to the beach, or beautiful gardens or lakes, or vibrant cities, but we live surrounded by Civil War history – or as it is called in the South, the War between the States. Just down our road is Kennesaw National Battlefield Park with 2,882 acres and 16 miles of hiking trails. On the main road to town, a bit south of us, is another historical site called Cheatham Hill. I drove by the side of it every day for decades coming back from work and finally last June my husband and I decided to walk the trails where a fierce battle took place.

I drove in front of this clearing for years –


We first drove to Kolb’s Farm, about 2 miles south of Cheatham Hill, where on 22 June 1864 a costly Confederate attack stopped the Union army (the Union army lost 350 men and the Confederates 1,000.) This farm house was built by Peter Valentine Kolb in 1836. In 1964 the National Park Service restored it to its 1864 condition. This farm house cannot be visited, but there are interpretative markers near the graves of the Kolb family. (Click on photos to enlarge them.)


We drove back and parked close to the Cheatham Hill trails. Here on 27 June 1864 a terrible battle took place when General Sherman decided to change his tactics and made a direct assault on General Johnston’s line. If this assault had been successful it would have resulted in a great victory.

We started walking down the trail –


We kept walking down to a creek, then the trail started to climb up toward a wooded ridge and hill top where the Confederate troops had been dug in. This was a formidable position with solid earthworks of banked dirt.



General Sherman had decided to send 8000 soldiers up this hill toward two of General Johnston’s finest commanders. Defending this sector where two of the toughest Rebels in the whole Confederacy, Maj. Gens. Patrick R. Cleburne and Benjamin F. Cheatham. Originally a farmer, Cheatham was a very capable commander in the Confederate Army of Tennessee. He was a hard-fighting, hard-swearing and hard-drinking leader who inspired his tough Tennesseans. The hill where this assault took place would later be known as Cheatham Hill.

Portrait of Benjamin F. Cheatham (1820-1886.)



One of the Union brigades planned to assault the Confederate stronghold was the 52nd Ohio headed by Colonel Daniel McCook. To inspire his men before the attack, he calmly began to recite verses from Thomas Macauley’s 1842 poem on the Roman warrior Horatius as he faced a battle:

Then out spake brave Horatius,

The Captain of the Gate:

To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late,
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers
And the temples of his gods.

We arrived upon an open field and walked up the ridge which is where the bloody battle took place. An interpretative marker explains this battle – the blue designates the Union troops and the red the Confederates. (Click on pictures to enlarge them.)

Wave after wave of Union troops charged the hill and were repulsed by the Confederate defenders. Cannons which had been masked by them started to fire at point-blank range breaking line after line of the assault. William J. Worsham of the 19th Tennessee related: “The cannons bellowed like so many mad bulls, sent shot and shell plowing the ground, scattering rocks, dirt and everything moveable, cutting down trees and felling limbs…The air was so full of sulphurous smoke we could not see, and the roar of musketry so continuous we could not distinguish our guns…” Later both sides would refer to this entrenchment as “The Dead Angle.”



Union Col. Dan McCook slashing his dress sword at Confederates trying to bayonet him bellowed “Forward the Flag!” but a few seconds later was felled with a bullet in his chest. Another Union commander, Brig. Gen. Charles J. Harker fell from his horse, mortally wounded. Here are the two markers on these men.





As we came closer to the hill, we saw a small tunnel. It has been dug feverishly by the Union men with sticks, sword points, bayonets and even tin cups and plates. They were trying to tunnel under the Confederates’ position intending to blow it up.



As the Union troops disengaged and headed toward the rear they left many dead and injured men. A fire started in the woods and threatened to burn alive the many wounded. A Confederate colonel, Arkansas Lt. Col. William Martin shouted for his regiment to stop fighting and the two enemies, side by side, went out to drag their wounded and dead out of the fire. See the marker below.


The Confederate Army had won the battle of Cheatham Hill. There were 3,000 Union soldiers’ casualties and 800 Confederates in addition to uncounted wounded men. We continued up the hill and came upon a large monument. On 27 June 1914, Union veterans and the State of Illinois had unveiled a marble statue in observance of the 50th anniversary of the battle. The unveiling was attended by the Governor of Illinois and many survivors of the battle.



This morning I drove back to Cheatham Hill but entered from the main road entrance.



I discovered two more cannons which I have never seen from the road. They were silent with flowers growing next to them.


The area was peaceful with no one around – or was no one around?



There have been many reports of psychic phenomena as well as ghost sightings and unusual sounds close to the battlefield area. I walked to the monument. Everything was quiet. Then I went down the trail for a while and sat on a bench to reflect. Then I left.