4th Minnesota Regimental Headquarters

A wood frame "dog-trot" style house on this site served as the regimental headquarters for the 4th Minnesota Regiment, the permanent Federal garrison at Allatoona under Lieutenant Colonel John E. Tourtellotte. Here Tourtellotte most likely received two historic dispatches concerning General John Corse's movements. The first, received at 2:00 p.m. October 4, read, "Sherman is moving in force. Hold out." That same evening, he was again encouraged by the words, "General Sherman says hold fast. We are coming." Dog-trot style houses were common in the South, with an open central hallway that allowed air to flow through the house and often provided a cool breeze on a hot summer day. Many early Georgians built dog-trots of log, and later covered the logs with clapboard siding. A photograph of John E. Tourtellotte was most likely made after the Civil War, when he served as aide-de-camp to General Sherman from 1871 to 1884, by which time he had reached the rank of colonel.

Georgia · United States