The Allatoona Mountain Range

The Allatoona Mountain range, the southernmost spur of the Appalachian Mountains, offered a formidable military defense that William T. Sherman understood from his earlier surveying work there for the U.S. Army. In May 1864, as the Union Army advanced toward Atlanta, Sherman chose not to attack Confederates holding defensive positions in the pass, deciding instead to bypass the range by more difficult natural roads that offered more equal terms if the enemy chose to engage. After the Confederates withdrew from the area and retreated south, Sherman ordered Allatoona Pass fortified to protect the Western & Atlantic Railroad, which would supply his army as it continued toward Atlanta. Designed by his Chief of Engineers, Orlando M. Poe, the defenses included large earth forts on both sides of the railroad cut along with connecting trenches and redoubts.

Georgia · United States