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.

The story behind this marker

AI context

The era

By the summer of 1864, the Civil War had ground into its fourth brutal year, and the eyes of both North and South were fixed on Atlanta. The city was a vital railroad hub and manufacturing center — arguably the beating heart of the Confederacy's Deep South — and its fall or survival carried weight far beyond Georgia. In a Northern election year, with war-weariness rising, the fate of Atlanta was entangled with the fate of Lincoln's presidency itself.

The land here, a few miles from the center of Atlanta, was then a countryside of plantations and farms crossed by wagon roads and the lines of the Georgia Railroad. Augustus F. Hurt's plantation house, built in 1858, stood on a commanding hill — exactly the kind of high ground that armies fight and maneuver to control.

General William T. Sherman had spent the spring and summer pressing steadily toward the city in a campaign of flanking marches and hard fighting. By late July his armies had closed in from the north and east, and hills like this one became the platforms from which the Union high command watched and directed the battle.

People & events

On July 22, 1864, this rise became a nerve center of the Union war effort. Federal troops of the 4th and 23rd Corps, advancing along the old Williams Mill Road in line with Sherman's push on Atlanta, occupied the hill. Sherman himself, together with generals Oliver O. Howard and John Schofield, kept command posts here through the afternoon, reading the battle unfolding below.

What they watched was fierce. To the south, near the Georgia Railroad, James B. McPherson's Army of the Tennessee was fighting defensively as two Confederate corps under John Bell Hood's command hurled themselves against it in the assault remembered as the Battle of Atlanta. The fighting swirled and surged in the summer heat, some of the hardest of the entire campaign.

It was into this hill, too, that one of the war's saddest moments arrived. McPherson — young, admired across both armies, and one of the highest-ranking Union officers killed in the war — was struck down on the battlefield that day. His body was carried here from the field, beginning its long journey home to burial at Clyde, Ohio. Augustus Hurt's house did not survive the campaign; Federal forces razed the 1858 residence, and in the army's Official Records the site was mistakenly set down as the "Howard house," an error the marker takes pains to correct.

Its place in the American story

The Battle of Atlanta was one of the pivotal engagements of the Civil War. Hood's costly attacks failed to break the Union grip, and within weeks Atlanta would fall. That victory electrified the North at exactly the right moment, bolstering Lincoln's reelection and signaling that the Confederacy's heartland could not hold. What happened in fields and on hills like this one helped decide the war's outcome — and with it, the future of the nation.

The death of McPherson gave the day a personal grief that reached the highest levels of the army. He was mourned by Sherman and even respected by former West Point classmates in the Confederate ranks, a reminder that this was a war among countrymen. That his body passed through this very ground ties the sweeping strategic story to a single, human loss.

The marker's careful correction of the "Howard house" error also speaks to something larger: the difficulty of getting history exactly right. Even the army's own official records contained mistakes, and part of the work of preserving the past is patiently setting the record straight.

If you visit

Today this hill lies within the growth of modern Atlanta, and the plantation house is long gone, so come prepared to use your imagination as much as your eyes. Stand on the high ground and think about why it mattered — commanders needed to see, and from a rise like this they could read the movement of thousands of men across the countryside below.

The marker itself is precise and detailed, naming units, roads, and directions; take a moment to orient yourself with it, picturing the 4th and 23rd Corps arriving along the old Williams Mill Road and the fighting raging to the south. It is a place that rewards a reader as much as a sightseer.

This site fits naturally into a larger Atlanta Campaign road trip. The battle sprawled across what is now the eastern side of the city, and connecting the markers, overlooks, and interpretive sites lets you follow the campaign as it actually unfolded — hill by hill, road by road.

Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.

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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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