Kennesaw (Big Shanty) in the 19 Century - RCJ Books

Kennesaw (Big Shanty) in the
19th Century

Written by Robert C. Jones
Kennesaw, Georgia

Copyright 2000, 2006 by Robert C. Jones

Robert C. Jones
POB 1775

Kennesaw, Georgia 30156
[email protected]

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS..........................................................................2
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................3
TIMELINE ...........................................................................................3
CHEROKEE INDIANS ...........................................................................4
THE COMING OF THE WESTERN AND ATLANTIC RAILROAD..................6

EXCERPTS FROM THE 1837 W&A SURVEY, BY S.H. LONG CHIEF ENGINEER
WESTERN AND ATLANTIC RAILROAD OF GEORGIA...........................................8
WHAT’S IN A NAME?...............................................................................10
THE 1860 COBB COUNTY CENSUS FOR BIG SHANTY...........................11
KENNESAW AND THE CIVIL WAR ......................................................14
THE LACY HOTEL .....................................................................................15
CAMP MCDONALD/PHILLIPS LEGION .........................................................16
THE GREAT LOCOMOTIVE CHASE ...............................................................17
SHERMAN’S ATLANTA CAMPAIGN ..............................................................19
AFTERMATH ...........................................................................................23
1870-1900........................................................................................23
INCORPORATION OF KENNESAW ................................................................25
THE CENTURY TURNS .......................................................................26
POPULATION ...................................................................................27
SOURCES .........................................................................................27
ABOUT THE AUTHOR........................................................................28

2

Introduction

This brief history of Kennesaw (Big Shanty) in the 19th century will
attempt to capture major events in the city’s history – the coming of the
railroad, the Civil War, incorporation as a town – and also try to give a
flavor for what the town and it’s environs might have been like during
various points of the 19th century.

I have had the honor of being the president of the Kennesaw Historical
Society since 1993. During that time, I’ve collected most of the material
that appears in this booklet. My work doesn’t stand alone though – I
have benefited either directly or indirectly from the work of many
others, including:

 Mark Smith, who wrote a History of Kennesaw, parts of which

appeared in the Kennesaw Gazette in 1980 (parts of it remain

unpublished)
 Dr. Betty Smith of Kennesaw State University, who has done

extensive studies on the Lacy Hotel, and on local Cherokee

Indian trails
 The Kennesaw Civil War Museum (formerly Big Shanty

Museum), home of the General
 Dent Myers, noted Civil War expert

I should also point out that I have only covered the Great Locomotive
Chase somewhat briefly, as it has been well covered elsewhere. Big
Shanty’s role in Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign is covered in detail, as this
has not been well covered in other easily accessible sources.

Timeline Kennesaw in the 19th Century
Activity
Date
c. 1838/39 Railroad shanties built by spring
1838 Last Cherokees removed from Georgia
1853 First postmaster named, Wm. M. Elliot
June 11, 1861 Camp McDonald established
April 12, 1862 Great Locomotive Chase
June 6, 1864 Big Shanty falls to Union troops; used as a supply

3

Kennesaw in the 19th Century

Date Activity

base, hospital, and headquarters by the Union army

June 27, 1864 Battle of Kennesaw Mountain

October 3, 1864 Big Shanty briefly falls to Confederate troops under

John Bell Hood

November 14, The Lacy Hotel burned to the ground by Union

1864 troops

September 21, City of Kennesaw is incorporated

1887

c. 1890s  Sole City income was from the "street tax" -

$.50 for the head of every household
 Scarlet fever epidemic; smallpox scare (affected

houses marked with red flannel flags)

1891  First Mayor, J .S. Reynolds
 City Council of Kennesaw shows a balance in the

city coffers of $3.69

Cherokee Indians

1830 map of the Cherokee Nation in Georgia (Anthony Finley Co.)
4

In the early 1800s, Northwestern Georgia was home to over 20,000
Cherokee Indians. Unlike other tribes, the Cherokees made a significant
effort to adopt white ways. They created a form of government based
on the U.S. Constitution, created a capitol city in New Echota, GA in
1825, and published their own newspaper. Christian missionaries,
including the Moravians, were welcomed in Cherokee territory.

Although the territorial rights of the Cherokees were upheld by two
Supreme Court decisions in 1831/32, events conspired against them.
Gold was discovered in the North Georgia Mountains in 1828, and
Georgia slowly passed laws denying the rights of the Cherokees. In
1828, Georgia passed an act that placed the parts of the Cherokee
Nation in Georgia under Georgia law. In 1831, Georgia began the
process of surveying the Cherokee Nation to be divided up into 40 acre
(in the gold region) and 160-acre lots, to be raffled off in a land lottery.
Seeing no other options, the Cherokees signed the Treaty of New
Echota in 1835, surrendering claim to their homeland in “exchange for
$5,000,000, seven million acres in Oklahoma and an agreement to
remove within two years”.1

By 1838, almost all of the Cherokees had been driven out of Georgia,
under the watchful eye of 7,000 troops commanded by General
Winfield Scott. On the “Trail of Tears” to Oklahoma, up to 4,000
Cherokees died.

The 1830s survey maps for the land lottery still exist, and show that
there were some Cherokee structures located approximately at the
intersection of Route 41 and Highway 293 in modern day Kennesaw
(land lot 138, on the 1832 survey map). The Cherokees were
undoubtedly attracted to the more than 12 springs in the Kennesaw
area. The largest, Equa Ganuga Gr Ama – “The Big Spring of Water”, is
located behind City Hall in Kennesaw. Parts of modern day Route 293
were built on top of the Cherokee Peachtree Trail (or “Standing
Peachtree Trail” in some sources.)

1 Cherokee History: Part Two, Lee Sultzman
5

Equa Ganuga Gr Ama

The coming of the Western and Atlantic Railroad

An early Kennesaw railroad building. (Mark Smith identifies this as an 1880
photo). The person standing (4th from the left) is Agent G.L. Howell.

On Dec. 21, 1836, the Georgia legislature authorized the building of a
railroad – the Western and Atlantic - that would eventually stretch from
the Mile 0 marker in Atlanta to Chattanooga. The Western & Atlantic
was one of several Georgia railroads built in the mid-1800s, including
the Rome Railroad, the Georgia Railroad, the Macon & Western, and the
Montgomery & West Point. It was somewhat unique, as it was owned
and operated by the State of Georgia, which still owns the right of way
(some Union Civil War dispatches actually refer to the W&A as the
“Georgia State Railroad”).
After the difficult route was surveyed in 1837 by S.H. Long, “Chief
Engineer of the Western and Atlantic Railroad of Georgia”, construction
started in 1838. Small towns sprung up along the Western & Atlantic
right-of-way as track laying progressed north, including Vinings, Smyrna,

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Big Shanty and Acworth. Big Shanty sat at the highest point of the line
between the Chattahoochee and Etowah Rivers. A collection of railroad
shanties built near a spring by laborers on the W&A Railroad grew up at
this spot. This was the beginning of Kennesaw.

Thus, Kennesaw was founded as a railroad town, and the railroad would

continue to be an important part of life in Kennesaw throughout the
19th century, as these examples show:

 In the 1860 census, over 12% of the population of the

unincorporated area known as Big Shanty was employed by the

W&A
 In 1862 (April 12), one of the most famous incidences of the

Civil War started at Big Shanty – the Andrews Raid
 In June of 1864, fighting erupted around Big Shanty as William

Tecumseh Sherman followed the W&A southward towards

Atlanta

The Coming of the Western and Atlantic Railroad

Date Activity

Dec. 21, 1836 The Georgia legislature authorizes the building of a

state-owned railroad from Chattanooga to

Terminus, Georgia (now Atlanta)

1837 Surveying (S.H. Long Chief Engineer Western and

Atlantic Railroad of Georgia)

1838/40 Over 500 men (including some Cherokee Indians)

work on grading, road bed, and trestles

1845 First 20 miles of track in operation

1850 The last section (Tunnel Hill) of the 138-mile W&A

was completed on May 9, 1850. Total cost for the

line was $4,087,925.50.

April 12, 1862 W&A is sabotaged by Union Raiders

1870  Georgia legislature passes law requiring W&A

to be leased (not run by State)
 W&A is leased for 20 years to a group headed

by former GA Governor Joseph E. Brown

1890 W&A leased for 29 years by Nashville, Chattanooga

& St. Louis Railroad

7

Two c. 1870 railroad shanties, destroyed in 1994

Excerpts from the 1837 W&A Survey, by S.H. Long Chief
Engineer Western and Atlantic Railroad of Georgia

"The difficult and arduous task of discovering and choosing the most
favorable route for a railroad, leading from a point in the Tennessee
line, "at or near Rossville," to some point on the Chattahoochee
between Winn's Ferry and Campbellton, separated from each other by
a distance of seventy miles, has, by law, devolved upon me, as Chief
Engineer of the Western and Atlantic railroad of the State of Georgia.
Deeply impressed with the high responsibilities thus imposed, I
embarked, as early as practicable, in a careful and thorough
examination of the country, with a view to the effectual discharge of
the duties of my appointment."

"The Western and Atlantic railroad, when viewed in its relations to the
natural and artificial channels of trade and intercourse above
considered, is to be regarded as the main connecting link of a chain or
system of internal improvements, more splendid and imposing than
any other that has ever been devised in this or any other country. In
contemplating the widely extended and incalculable benefits, in a civil
or military, moral or commercial, and even religious point of view, that
must undoubtedly result from its consummation, we are
overwhelmed with the flood of magnificent results that breaks upon
us. Among these, we venture to advert to one of the innumerable
advantages hereafter to result from the sources above contemplated,
in relation to which the south is most deeply interested, viz: the
repopulation and reclamation of the worn out and deserted fields
every where to be met with, in other parts of all the Southern States,

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by industrious white inhabitants, who will "replenish the waste
places", and restore fertility to the exhausted glebe."
"Commencing on the Chattahoochee near Montgomery's ferry, the
road crosses the Chattahoochee, and ascends to Marietta, the seat of
justice for Cobb county. It there crosses the Kennesaw summit, on the
north side of the mountain of the same name, and descends towards
the Etowah, passing through the village of Allatoona..."
"The 2d section, passing through the village of Marietta, is eight and
half miles in length, and terminates at the point where the Kennesaw
mountain intersects the ridge upon which its whole distance is
coursed. By examining the profile, this will be found to be the most
elevated summit between the Chattahoochee and Etowah rivers, 437
feet above the former, and 482 feet above the latter." (emphasis
added)

Part of an 1887 W&A map showing how the railroad is routed between
Marietta and Big Shanty (reprinted by Cobb Landmarks and Historical

Association)

9

What’s in a Name?

At the time of the Civil War, what is modern day Kennesaw was named
Big Shanty, ostensibly after the group of railroad shanties built near a
spring by the W&A railroad. But was Big Shanty the first name given to
this settlement? According to the Civil Archives Division of the National
Archives, it is possible that Big Shanty was actually the third name given
to the settlement – Kennesaw (1853), Moons (1854), Big Shanty (1859) -
as this list of 19th century postmasters indicates:

Kennesaw (8/8/1853)

1853 – 1854 Wm. M. Elliot

Moons (6/6/1854)

1854 – 1855 Wm. L Croft
1855 Sylvanus Baldwin
1855 – 1856 Abel Willis
1856 Wm. L Croft

Big Shanty (4/30/1859)

1856 – 1865 Lemuel Kendrick
1865 – 1868 G. T. Carrie

Kennesaw (1/25/1869)

1868 – 1872 Nelson Timleck
1872 – 1889 James Hughes
1889 – 1895 C. N. Price
1895 S. J. Baldwin
1895 – 1899 Chas. H. Fields
1899 – 1911 Thomas J. Hardage

An 1851 W&A timetable (pictured below) adds an additional bit of
information to the discussion. Note that the town listed between
Marietta and Acworth is…Moons. (Of course, the date doesn’t match
up exactly with the postmaster list). And where was Moons? Is this
referring to the location of modern day Kennesaw, or was the post

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office at one time located further north down the track at Moons
Station (a Civil War-era W&A map lists the stop immediately above Big
Shanty as “Moons”)? So, what was the first name of the settlement? It
would be ironic if it were as the postmaster list indicates – Kennesaw!

The 1860 Cobb County census for Big Shanty

The Cobb County census of 1860 gives us an interesting view of Big
Shanty on the eve of the Civil War. Of course, “Big Shanty” was never
an incorporated city – it described an area, probably larger than the
1887 incorporated City of Kennesaw. This section analyzes the 1860
Cobb County census entries for Big Shanty.

Population of Big Shanty, 1860 718 -
Male Residents 370 51.5%
Female Residents 348 48.5%
Residents Who Could Not Read or 119 16.5%

11

Write 66 9%
Residents That Attended School 0 0
Number of Freed Blacks

An examination of professions in 1860 Big Shanty shows a largely
agrarian society, with over 63% of the Heads of Household holding
farm-related jobs. The next most important employer was the railroad,
with 12.3%. The following tables list the occupations for (first) Heads of
Household, and (second) for non-Heads of Household:

Occupations of Heads of Household - Big Shanty, 1860

Profession Number Percentage
Farmer 61 53.5%
Railroad 14 12.3%
Hand/Watchman/Contractor
Farm Laborer 11 9.6%
Physician 2 1.7%
Blacksmith 2 1.7%
Waggoner (or Wagon Maker) 2 1.7%
Merchant 1 < 1%
Carpenter 1 < 1%
Ditsher (Ditch Digger?) 1 < 1%
114
Total Heads of Household
Reporting an Occupation

Occupations of Non-Heads of Household - Big Shanty,
1860

Profession Number Percentage
Farmer Laborer 26 35.6%
House Work 22 30.1%
Day Laborer 13 17.8%
School Teacher 3 4.1%
Railroad Conductor/Hand 3 4.1%
Carpenter 2 2.7%

12

Grocery Keeper 1 1.4%
Physician 1 1.4%
Cooper 1 1.4%
Serving (?) 1 1.4%
73
Total Non-Heads of Household
Reporting an Occupation

The 1860 census also listed the Place of Birth of all of the residents. In
Big Shanty, the resident who was born the furthest away from Georgia
was one John Clark, who hailed from England. The distribution is
indicated below:

Place of Birth for Big Shanty Residents – 1860

State Number Percentage
Georgia 501 70%
South Carolina 180 25%
North Carolina 21 2.9%
Alabama 6 < 1%
Other 10 1.3%
718 -
Total Population of Big Shanty

One item of curiosity in the 1860 Cobb County Census was the listing of
the value of Real Estate and Personal Estate of individuals listed on the
census. The top five richest people living in Big Shanty in 1860 are listed
below, showing first the "Personal Estate", and then the "Real Estate"
value.

Five Richest People in Big Shanty - Personal Estate
Value

Resident's Name Profession Personal Estate
Value
Willis Roberts Farmer $44,000
John Roberts Farmer $39,550
George Roberts Farmer $26,880
Lemuel Kendrick Railroad $19,731
13

A. A. Winn Contractor $14,000
Farmer

Five Richest People in Big Shanty - Real Estate Value

Resident's Name Profession Real Estate
Value
Lemuel Kendrick Railroad $27,825
Contractor
John Roberts $13,000
George Roberts Farmer $10,800
A. A. Winn Farmer $6,500
Wm Gresham Farmer $6,000
Farmer

As can be seen from the table above, Lemuel
Kendrick had the largest land holdings in Big Shanty
prior to the Civil War. He also served as the Big
Shanty postmaster from 1856-1865. The photo to
the right shows Lemuel Kendrick and his wife in an
1860s tintype photograph. (Ed Kendrick Collection;
courtesy Southern Museum of Civil War and
Locomotive History Archives and Library)

Kennesaw and the Civil War

Big Shanty on June 10, 1864 (Harper’s Weekly, July 9, 1864)
14

Kennesaw (Big Shanty) played multiple roles in the Civil War. It was the
site of a training camp for Georgia volunteers (Camp McDonald), the
site of the beginning of the Great Locomotive Chase, the site of several
skirmishes during the Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign, and it also served as
a field hospital for the Union Army. But before we examine these
events, we’ll take a brief look at the center of activity in Big Shanty
during the War years – the Lacy Hotel.

The Lacy Hotel

The Lacy Hotel seemed to figure prominently in all of the Civil War-era
events in Big Shanty. It was the site where the Great Locomotive Chase
started, it was a popular breakfast stop on the W&A passenger runs
from Atlanta, it served the recruits of Camp McDonald, and it served as
a headquarters and hospital during Sherman’s occupation in 1864.
Mark Smith describes its creation in his History of Kennesaw:

“In the late 1850s the W&A Railroad acquired from Gaspard Carrie and
Lemuel Kendrick a plot of land on the east side of the [Big Shanty]
tracks ‘for the purpose of erecting a depot and an eating house for the
convenience of the traveling public’, which deed also contained a
clause that no spirituous liquors would be sold on the premises. This
eating place became the famous Lacy House, and was operated by Mr.
And Mrs. George Lacy.”

A letter from a Union soldier, dated June 12, 1864 from Big Shanty,
Georgia, describes what is assumedly the Lacy Hotel:

“We left Cartersville this morning at 7 o’clock, came down two miles
to the new bridge across the Etowah river…we passed over all night
and soon it [rain] cleared off and we came through here safe.
Expecting to have to put up tents but were happily disappointed, we
found one large house close to the RR track so that it was convenient
for us as it was used for a railroad eating house, when our men first
came here some of the reb officers were dining, our men strayed a
shell and it went in at one side of the house and out of the other so
Johnies got up and left. There is one room that was furnished with
sofa bottomed chairs and sofa and splendid Piano and wardrobe…”

15

The Hotel (which is referred to as the “Big Shanty Hotel” by Sherman in
one of his dispatches) was burned to the ground by Sherman’s troops
on November 14, 1864. Its exact location has been lost, but Dr. Betty
Smith of Kennesaw State University conducted an archaeological survey
of the general site in the late 1990s, and surmised that the hotel was
located under the present day parking lot of the Big Shanty Depot.

Local lore says that this Civil War-era house at Allatoona Pass (which served as
a hospital during the Battle of Allatoona Pass in 1864) was built on the same

plan as the Lacy Hotel.

Camp McDonald/Phillips Legion

On June 11, 1861, Governor Joseph E. Brown established a training
camp for Georgian volunteers in Big Shanty named Camp McDonald
(after former Governor and Marietta resident Charles C. McDonald).
The Camp included 60 acres of land west of the W&A railroad tracks.
The Camp was commanded by Georgia Militia Brigadier General (and
Confederate Army Colonel) William Phillips. Cadets from the Georgia
Military Institute served as instructors.

The greatest moment in the history of the Camp occurred on July 31,
1861, when a Grand Review was held – some sources indicate that as
many as 2500 men passed in review before Governor Brown. In the
next several days, most of these troops marched off to Virginia, as this
excerpt from Mark Smith’s History of Kennesaw indicates:

“The first contingent left for Virginia on August 2nd and 3rd, the second
left on the 5th and 6th, and the remainder followed on the 12th. A few
days later two regiments of eight hundred men each came in to camp,
but I can’t find out what their regimental number was. They stayed a
few months and then the camp was empty until February of 1862,
when the 39th, 40th, 41st, 42nd, and 52nd regiments came in…”

16

Members of “Phillips Legion” fought in many battles, including Bull Run,
Fredericksburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, and Cold Harbor. After
the war, several reunions were held by Camp McDonald alumni by the spring
behind the modern day City Hall.

There are no remains of Camp McDonald today, as the camp was made
up primarily of tents and parade grounds.

The Great Locomotive Chase

“Capture of the train in an enemy’s camp” drawing from Daring and Suffering:
A History of the Andrews Railroad Raid by William Pittenger, 1887

One of the most famous events of the Civil War began within a hundred
yards of the modern day Kennesaw Civil War Museum. On April 12,
1862, 20 Union Spies, led by civilian James J. Andrews seized a
Confederate locomotive named the General at Big Shanty, Georgia (now
Kennesaw). The train was stopped for a 20-minute breakfast break at
the Lacy Hotel, described elsewhere in this booklet.
The objective of the raid was to steam the train to Chattanooga, burning
bridges, tearing up track, and cutting telegraph wires along the way.
The raid entered into legend because the conductor of the train,
William A. Fuller, and Western & Atlantic RR Superintendent of Motive
Power Anthony Murphy pursued the stolen train for 87 miles, by foot,
hand car, and three different locomotives, until the train was finally
abandoned two miles north of Ringgold, Georgia.

17

All of the raiders were captured, with the following results:

 8 were hung, including James J. Andrews
 8 escaped, and made it back to Union lines
 6 were involved in a prisoner exchange

Twenty of the 22 original military members of the raid received the
Congressional Medal of Honor. As a civilian, Andrews did not receive
the award.

The Great Locomotive Chase has been commemorated in numerous
books, and at least two major Hollywood Movies, including the 1926
The General, starring Buster Keaton, and the 1956 Walt Disney movie
The Great Locomotive Chase starring Fess Parker.

So, what part did Big Shanty play in the Chase, and why was it chosen as
the starting point? Big Shanty was probably chosen for two reasons.
First, the northbound train typically stopped here for a 20 minute
breakfast stop. Second, there was no telegraph service from Big Shanty,
which would prevent anyone from broadcasting the news of the raid to
points north of the raiders.

The General arrived in Big Shanty at about 6:00 a.m. Most of the
passengers (and all of the crew) left the train and headed to the Lacy
Hotel. It was at this moment that Andrews and his raiders struck. After
uncoupling the passenger cars from the rest of the train, the three
raider locomotive engineers and Andrews jumped in the cab, while the
rest of the 16 raiders piled into the boxcars still coupled to the train.
The General headed north, under the hand of Engineer William J.
Knight. Within seconds, Fuller, Murphy, and engineer Jeff Cain began
the chase on foot. All in all, the
General was in Big Shanty for perhaps
10 minutes, but it was enough to
enshrine the little town in history!

In 1972, the General went on permanent
display in the Kennesaw Civil War Museum
(now the Southern Museum of Civil War
and Locomotive History). The General was returned to Kennesaw in 1972, after
sitting at Union Station in Chattanooga for many years.

18

c. 1910 postcard of the General at Union Station in Chattanooga, TN (Detroit
Publishing Company)

Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign

On May 6, 1864, an army of 100,000+ men marched
south out of Ringgold, Georgia under the command
of William Tecumseh Sherman. His goal – capture
or destroy Atlanta, the supply and railroad hub of
the deep South. As Sherman made his way south,
generally following his supply line – the W&A - Big
Shanty was directly in his path. This section will
examine Big Shanty’s roles in the Atlanta Campaign.
All of the quotes below are taken from War of the
Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies,
published in 1891, unless otherwise noted. (Photo source: National
Archives)

Battles

Sherman’s troops had advanced into the Big Shanty/Acworth area by
the beginning of June, 1864. The following dispatch sets the stage for
what might be called the first Battle of Big Shanty:

HDQRS. FIRST CAV. DIV., DEPT. ON THE CUMBERLAND,

In the Field, June 4, 1864-6.30 p. m.

I have the honor to inform you that part of my forces were in Acworth
this morning, and drove a small party of fifteen rebels from the town.
They could not ascertain the precise location of their picket post,

19

supposed to be a strong one about two miles from the town. Their
main cavalry force is at Big Shanty. I respectfully ask permission to
move my command to Acworth tomorrow, as I can command this
country as well from there as from my present position. I also ask
permission to attack General Williams in the morning at Big Shanty.

E. M. McCOOK,

Colonel, Commanding.

The actual attack on Big Shanty would occur on June 6, as this report
from a captain in the 4th Indiana Cavalry shows:

“On the 6th marched to Big Shanty, drove out a force of rebels,
captured a small amount of forage, of which we were greatly in need,
our horses having been on very short allowance for many days…”
(Report of Captain Albert J. Morley, Fourth Indiana Cavalry)

Although Big Shanty fell to Union troops on June 6, skirmishing would
continue in the area until the great battle at Kennesaw Mountain on
June 27, 1864.

What might be called the second battle of Big Shanty would occur in
October, after the fall of Atlanta, when Confederate General John Bell
Hood decided to cause havoc to Sherman’s supply line – the Western
and Atlantic Railroad. The report below is from Hood himself:

FOUR MILES SOUTHWEST OF LOST MOUNTAIN,

October 5, 1864. (Via Newnan 6th.)

General BRAXTON BRAGG:

Lieutenant-General Stewart with corps struck the Western and
Atlantic Railroad at Big Shanty on the evening of October 3, and
effectually destroyed ten miles. He captured some 350 prisoners at
Acworth and Big Shanty. Major-General French is moving to attack
Allatoona.

Sherman's army appears to be moving out of Atlanta to meet us.

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J. B. HOOD,

General.

A report from the headquarters of Stewart's Corps states that the
defending Union troops “took refuge in the depot, which was loop-
holed” during the battle.

Supply base and hospital

During June of 1864, Big Shanty served as both a supply base and
hospital for the Union Army. The type of hospital that existed in Big
Shanty is described by Surg. George E. Cooper, U. S. Army, Medical
Director:

“A large field hospital, consisting of 100 tents, with all the
appurtenances, had been organized, and was following in the rear of
the army, at a convenient distance, keeping the line of the Western
and Atlantic Railroad; into this the major portion of the wounded and
sick were received and treated, until transportation to Chattanooga
could be furnished them or their condition would permit of it…The
wounded from the various assaults and skirmishers at and about
Kenesaw [sic] were transferred from the division hospitals to Acworth
and Big Shanty and thence by rail to Chattanooga.”

An order issued by Sherman on June 12, 1864 stated that Big Shanty
would be a key supply center for the Union Army:

“During the temporary stay of the army at or near its present locality,
the Army of the Tennessee will draw their supplies from the Big
Shanty depot; the Army of the Cumberland from Acworth, and the
Army of the Ohio from Allatoona.”

We get one very specific description of supplies that were dispersed
from Big Shanty from Surg. John Moore, U. S. Army, Medical Director –
2,500 pairs of underwear – no doubt well appreciated by the troops:

“Doctor Brewer arrived at Big Shanty with a large stock of everything
in the way of supplies. These were at once issued to the surgeons in
chief of division, who receipted for them and expended them in the
division hospitals. Among these were 2,500 shirts and drawers.”

21

Union Army Headquarters

Sherman used Big Shanty as his headquarters from mid-June until the
Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. Many dispatches bearing his name were
issued from “In the Field, Big Shanty”. In one, dated June 13, he sends
“my congratulations on your nomination” [as Vice-President] to
Governor Andrew Johnson in Nashville. In another, dated June 21, he
describes the weather conditions to Major General Halleck in
Washington D.C.:

“This is the nineteenth day of rain, and the prospect of clear weather
as far off as ever. The roads are impassable, and fields and woods
become quagmires after a few wagons have crossed, yet we are at
work all the time…The enemy hold Kenesaw [sic], a conical mountain,
with Marietta behind it, and has retired his flank to cover that town
and his railroad. I am all ready to attack the moment weather and
roads will permit troops and artillery to move with anything like life.”

Sherman makes a brief reference to his headquarters in Big Shanty in
his memoirs:

“…my headquarters at Big Shanty, where I occupied an abandoned
house. In a cotton-field back of that house was our signal-station, on
the roof of an old gin-house.”2

Destruction

On November 9, as Sherman prepared to commence his March to the
Sea, he issued orders to destroy the W&A from Big Shanty to the
Chattahoochee.

“In accordance with instructions from Major-General Sherman,
commanding Military DIVISION of the Mississippi, corps commanders
will have their commands in readiness to march at a moment's notice
to commenced the complete destruction of the railroad…From Big
Shanty to a point eleven miles south will be destroyed by the

2 Memoirs of General William T. Sherman, 1875; reprinted by Da Capo Press,
1984

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Seventeenth Army Corps, and thence to the Chattahoochee bridge by
the Fifteenth Corps. The destruction will be most complete, the ties
burned, rails twisted, &c., as [has] been done heretofore.”

As part of this destruction, the Lacy Hotel was burned to the ground on
November 14, 1864.

Aftermath

Evidently there wasn’t much left of Big Shanty by War’s end, as this
description of Big Shanty after the War, from the letters of the Boston
Daily Evening Traveller correspondent Russell H. Conwell shows:

“All along the Railroad from Ringgold to Atlanta black ruins, old
chimneys, broken bridges, and dilapidated fences astonish the eye of
the traveler. Ruin! ruin! ruin!…

At Big Shanty, we found nothing but the old blacksmith's shop to mark
the place where such a vast army encamped, and where so many poor
fellow suffered and died in the hospital. We went upon the hill near
the railroad cut, where we last saw Mother Bickerdyke, the Florence
Nightingale of the West, caring for the sick in the
Army-of-the-Tennessee Hospital. We found there some tent pins and
the hewn tree under which so many dead were laid before burial.”3

By the 1870s, though, Big Shanty (now called Kennesaw) was beginning
to recover.

1870-1900

By the 1870s, Kennesaw was starting to recover from the ravages of the
Civil War. Agriculture (and it’s processing) was the primary means of
economic support. Crops included cotton, corn, various grains and
(curiously) grapes. The rebuilt W&A railroad continued to be an
important transportation artery for the town, and the whole
northwestern Georgia area. The First Baptist Church and the Methodist
Church were built in 1877.

3 Magnolia Journey: A Union Veteran Revisits the Former Confederate States,
Joseph Carter, University of Alabama Press, 1974

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The Kennesaw Railroad House: While the Lacy Hotel was never rebuilt, a
structure serving a similar purpose was built by the W&A after the War. The
man with the cane is Judge G.T. Carrie, manager. (From the collection of Gayle

Croft)

A prominent post-War Kennesaw citizen was Thomas Franklin Summers,
who died in 1883. He is buried in the Kennesaw City Cemetery, with the
words “An honest man, a true citizen, a devoted father, gone to rest” on
his tombstone. (Photo on the left below: From the collection of Ed
Chastain; courtesy Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive
History Archives and Library)

The residence of Thomas F. Summers (1812-1893). (From the collection of
Robert Ellison)

We have a concise description of Kennesaw in 1880 from the Sholes
Georgia State Gazetteer:

“Kennesaw. Cobb County, W & A R.R. - Deriving its name from the
mountain near which it is located, and also known as Big Shanty. Is 29

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miles from Atlanta, 111 from Chattanooga, Tenn., and 7 northwest of
Marietta, the seat of justice. It has a population of about 200, two
churches - Baptist and Methodist - and a grist mill and cotton gin
operated by steam. The Kennesaw Spring supplies the railroad
station. Office of the Western Union Telegraph. Mail daily each way."
(Sholes Georgia State Gazetteer, 1880)

Incorporation of Kennesaw

By 1887, Kennesaw was prosperous enough for the citizens to request
incorporation. The Articles of Incorporation were approved by the
General Assembly of the State of Georgia on September 21, 1887:

“An Act to incorporate the town of Kennesaw, in Cobb county, and to
provide for the election of a mayor and council, marshal and clerk, and
to define their powers and duties, and for other purposes.”

As an indication of how important railroads were in the life of 19th
century Georgia towns, the city limits were defined in relationship to
the W&A depot:

"The corporate limits of said town shall extend one half mile, north,
south, east, west from the depot of the Atlantic & Western Railroad."

Although the Acts of incorporation called for the election of a mayor
and four councilmen “within six months after the passage of this Act, or
so soon thereafter as practicable”, Kennesaw didn’t get around to
electing it’s first mayor until…1891!

19th Century Mayors of Kennesaw

1891 J .S. Reynolds
1892 A. B. Smith
1893 C. N. Price
1894 J. S. Reynolds
1895 T. J. Hardage
1896 – 1897 B. H. Carrie
1898 Geo. W. Prichard
1899 – 1900 D. B. Irby

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Mark Smith in his History of Kennesaw describes Kennesaw around the
time of incorporation:

“There were still very few business buildings of any permanence with
the exception of the John Hill (later Ben Hill store) building…There
were several small wooden buildings fronting Main Street, at one time
there was a two story wooden building on the east side of Main Street
about where the post office used to be, the lower story fronting the
street and being used as a store and the upper floor facing the railroad
track and used as a restaurant. Further south where the Texaco
station now is was a gin, operated by Mr. J.T. Hardage, who was at one
time postmaster. Mr. Gatlin owned and operated a store built on the
bank next to the present sidewalk just beyond the entrance to the
Museum. At one time there was a road running north behind the
museum building and paralleling the railroad tracks. This store
building was vacant for a good many years and was torn down in the
late forties. There also was a small wooden building where the
present three-story store stands, and around the corner up Lewis
Street was a store building…”

From city records, we know that the city was not awash in cash during
this period – in 1891, the City Council of Kennesaw showed a balance in
the city coffers of $3.69! The 1890s also produced at least two
epidemics - scarlet fever and smallpox (affected houses marked with red
flannel flags).

The Century Turns

As the century turned, Kennesaw was about to begin a period of
prosperity, spurred by cotton revenue, and Kennesaw’s prominence as a
shipping center. Many of the buildings that make up downtown
Kennesaw as we know it today were constructed in the period 1900-
1910. The building boom included the three-story brick building, the
Kennesaw State Bank building, and the W&A (actually, NC&StL) depot.
This wealth would eventually be wiped out by the boll weevil in the
1910s/1920s, and the depression in the 1930s.

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This c. 1908 photo shows (from left to right) a store, the N C & St. L water
tower, what appears to be the railroad shanty shown earlier, and the modern-

day depot.

Population

The population figures for early Kennesaw are somewhat elusive, but
some approximate figures would include 1860 – 718, 1880 – 200, 1900
– 320, 1908 – 500 and 1930 – 426.

Sources

 1837 W&A Survey, S.H. Long, Chief Engineer
 Big Shanty Commemoration (City of Kennesaw, 1972)
 Cherokee History: Part Two, Lee Sultzman
 Cobb County Census, 1860
 Color photos by Robert Jones
 Daring & Suffering: A History of the Andrews Railroad Raid, Third Edition, by

William Pittenger (The War Publishing Co., 1887; republished by Cumberland
House, 1999)
 Ghost Trains & Depots of Georgia (1833-1933), by Les R. Winn (1995)
 Harper’s Weekly, July 9, 1864
 History of Kennesaw, by Mark H. Smith (Kennesaw Gazette, 1980/81)
 Images of America: Kennesaw, by Joe Bozeman, Robert Jones, Sallie Loy (Arcadia,
2006)
 Magnolia Journey: A Union Veteran Revisits the Former Confederate States, Joseph
Carter, University of Alabama Press, 1974
 Marietta: The Gem City of Georgia, Copyright 1887 by Jos. M. Brown; reprinted by
Cobb Landmarks and Historical Society
 Memoirs of General William T. Sherman, 1875; reprinted by Da Capo Press, 1984
 The Great Locomotive Chase or, The Andrews Raid, by James G. Bogle (Blue & Gray
Magazine, Blue & Gray Enterprises, July, 1987)
 War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, U.S.
Government Printing Office, 1891 (CD-ROM Editon H-BAR ENTERPRISES, 1994)

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About the Author

Robert C. Jones is President of the Kennesaw Historical Society,
Director of Programs and Education for the Kennesaw Museum
Foundation, and an at-large board member of the Civil War
Round Table of Cobb County. He has written several books on
Civil War and railroad themes, including Civil War Prison Camps:
A Brief History, Famous Songs of the Civil War, Images of America: Kennesaw,
Retracing the Route of Sherman's Atlanta Campaign and March to the Sea, The
Battle of Griswoldville: An Infantry Battle on Sherman's March to the Sea, The
Fifteen Most Critical Moments of the Civil War, The Pennsylvania Railroad: An
Illustrated Timeline, The Battle of Allatoona Pass: The Forgotten Battle of
Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign, The Ten Best – and Worst – Generals of the Civil
War, The Battle of Chickamauga: A Brief History, Bleeding Kansas: The Real
Start of the Civil War, The Top 20 Civil War Spies and Secret Agents, The Top 25
Most Influential Women of the Civil War and The W&A, the General, and the
Andrews Raid: A Brief History.

Robert is an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church. He has written and
taught numerous adult Sunday School courses. He is the author of A Brief
History of Protestantism in the United States, A Brief History of the Sacraments:
Baptism and Communion, Heaven and Hell: In the Bible, the Apocrypha and the
Dead Sea Scrolls, Meet the Apostles: Biblical and Legendary Accounts, Monks
and Monasteries: A Brief History, Revelation: Background and Commentary, The
25 Most Influential Books in the Post-Apostolic Christian Church, The 25 Most
Influential People in the Post-Apostolic Christian Church, The 25 Most Important
Events in the Post-Apostolic Christian Church, The 25 People Who Most
Influenced the Music of Christianity, The Top 25 Misconceptions About
Christianity and The Crusades and the Inquisition: A Brief History.

Robert has also written several books on ghost towns and OId West themes,
including Death Valley Ghost Towns – As They Appear Today, Ghost Towns of
the Mojave National Preserve, Ghost Towns of Southern Arizona and New
Mexico, Ghost Towns of Western Nevada and The Top 10 Gunslingers and
Lawmen of the Old West.

In 2005, Robert co-authored a business-oriented book entitled Working
Virtually: The Challenges of Virtual Teams.

rcjbooks.com
[email protected]

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