HistoricSiteMarkers
Civil War

Augustus Hurt House

Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia

Marker Inscription

Augustus Hurt House. 200 yds. N.E. stood the plantation residence of Augustus F. Hurt (1830-1921), built 1858 and razed by Federal forces, 1864; erroneously cited in Official Records as the Howard house. July 22, 1864. 4th & 23d A.C. troops, in line with Federal advances on Atlanta, occupied this hill, having marched via old Williams Mill Rd. Sherman, together with Howard & Schofield, maintained command posts here during the afternoon while McPherson's Army of the Tennessee fought defensively at & S. of the Ga. R.R. where two of Hood's corps [CSA] attacked it. Here, McPherson's body was brought from battlefield enroute to burial at Clyde, Ohio. 060-79 GEORGIA HISTORICAL COMMISSION 1956

Erected by Georgia Historical Commission

The Story

During the Atlanta Campaign of 1864, the hilltop plantation of Augustus F. Hurt became a nerve center of the Union advance. On July 22, as McPherson's Army of the Tennessee fought off a fierce Confederate assault to the south, Sherman himself directed the fighting from command posts on this rise. The Hurt house — mistakenly recorded in the Official Records as the Howard house — was torn down by Federal forces, and it was here that the body of the slain Gen. McPherson was carried from the field.

Why it matters

This hill anchors the story of the Battle of Atlanta, one of the pivotal engagements whose outcome helped secure Lincoln's reelection and doom the Confederacy.

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Related people

  • · Augustus F. Hurt
  • · William T. Sherman
  • · Oliver O. Howard
  • · John Schofield
  • · James B. McPherson

Related events

  • · Battle of Atlanta

Themes & tags

Civil WarLandmark

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Augustus Hurt Plantation

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This hill overlooking the Augustus Hurt plantation was a hinge of the Union lines outside Atlanta in July and August 1864. After Confederate defenders abandoned the outer defense works on its eastern slope, Schofield's 23rd Corps marched in via the Williams Mill Road and entrenched, supporting the right of the Army of the Tennessee during the Battle of Atlanta. As Sherman shifted forces around the city, this position swung from the far right to the far left of the Federal line.

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