HistoricSiteMarkers
Civil War

Battle of Ezra Church: Right of 15th Corps

Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia

Marker Inscription

Battle of Ezra Church Right of 15th Corps [USA]. July 28, 1864. This marks the extreme right of Howard's Army of the Tennessee during the Battle of Ezra Church. Lightburn's brigade of H. L. Smith's div., Logan's A. C., occupied the immediate sector. From here the line ran S. E. to a salient angle (Laurel Avenue at Archer) where it turned N. E. to and beyond Ezra Church. The battle began with an assault by Brown's 4 brigades of S. D. Lee's A. C. [CSA] endeavoring to roll up the Federal rt. Failing to dislodge Logan, another attempt was made by Walthall's division of Stewart's A. C. which traversed the same area but with a like result. 060-151 GEORGIA HISTORICAL COMMISSION 1988

Erected by Georgia Historical Commission

The Story

This spot marked the extreme right of Gen. O.O. Howard's Army of the Tennessee during the Battle of Ezra Church on July 28, 1864. Lightburn's brigade of Logan's corps held the line here as Brown's four Confederate brigades tried to roll up the Federal flank, and again when Walthall's division attempted the same ground—both attacks failing to dislodge the Union defenders.

Why it matters

The Union's ability to anchor its flank at Ezra Church turned back Hood's last great sortie in the open, sealing the Confederacy's inability to lift the pressure on Atlanta.

The story behind this marker

AI context

The era

The summer of 1864 found two great armies locked around Atlanta, a city whose railroads and factories made it one of the most important places in the Confederacy. Sherman had brought his forces down through Georgia and now pressed against the city, while a newly aggressive Confederate command under John Bell Hood sought openings to strike back in the open field.

The ground here, west of the city, was where one of those strikes fell. It was a landscape of low ridges and connecting field works, the kind of terrain where the exact placement of a flank could decide a battle. This marker stands at the very end of a line, the point where an army's defenses simply stopped and the open, vulnerable air began.

That detail carried enormous weight. In the tactics of the day, the flank was the fragile hinge of any position. An attacker who could get around the end of a line could roll it up like a carpet, which is precisely what the Confederates set out to do here.

People & events

This spot marks the extreme right of General O.O. Howard's Army of the Tennessee during the battle, the outermost anchor of the whole Union position. Lightburn's brigade held the immediate sector, part of Logan's corps, and from here the Federal line ran southeast to a sharp salient angle before bending back to the northeast beyond a small country church.

The fighting opened with a hard blow aimed straight at this vulnerable end. Brown's four Confederate brigades came on trying to turn the Federal right and roll the line inward. They could not dislodge the defenders. When the first effort failed, another followed, as Walthall's division crossed the same ground in a fresh attempt, and it met the same fate.

The repetition is the heart of the story. Twice the Confederates threw their strength against this flank, and twice the Union soldiers holding it refused to give way. The line bent and held where it mattered most, at the very end, where a single yielding brigade could have unraveled everything.

Its place in the American story

Anchoring a flank sounds like a technicality. Here it was the whole game. Because the Union right held at this point, Hood's boldest attempt to fight the Federals in the open, outside Atlanta's works, came to nothing. The defenders turned back the last great sortie and kept their grip on the approaches to the city.

That outcome fed directly into the larger current of the war. Atlanta's eventual fall was among the events that steadied Northern morale in a hard election year and signaled that the Confederacy could no longer break the Union hold on its heartland. A held flank on a Georgia afternoon was one of the threads in that fabric.

It is worth honoring the plain soldier's work behind the strategy. No brilliant maneuver saved the day at this spot. It was defenders standing on the end of a line, twice, and simply not breaking, and the country's history turned in part on their refusal to run.

If you visit

The marker itself names a landmark you can find, the salient angle near Laurel Avenue at Archer, where the Federal line bent sharply back on itself. Tracing that turn on the modern streets is the closest thing the site offers to walking the actual shape of the battle line.

Think about ends and edges as you stand here. This was the outermost point of an entire army, the place with open ground beyond it and nothing to the right but risk. Feeling how exposed that position was, in what is now an ordinary Atlanta neighborhood, is the reward of the visit.

This stop belongs on any tour of the Atlanta Campaign sites laced through the western side of the city. Read it alongside the nearby markers and you can begin to reconstruct where the lines ran, how they bent, and why this quiet corner once mattered so much.

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

Plan your visit

Nearby

Make a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.

Museums & culture

Attractions

Food & drink

Places to stay

Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.

Own a business near here? Add it to the map.

Related people

  • · O.O. Howard
  • · John A. Logan
  • · S.D. Lee
  • · Edward Walthall

Related events

  • · Battle of Ezra Church
  • · Atlanta Campaign

Themes & tags

Civil WarBattlefield

Nearby & related markers

Battle of Ezra Church: Gen. Stewart Wounded

Atlanta, GA

At the Battle of Ezra Church on July 28, 1864, Confederate Gen. A.P. Stewart brought Walthall's and Loring's divisions forward to renew the assault on the Union lines west of Atlanta. Riding to this hill to assess Walthall's failed attack, Stewart was struck by a spent bullet; command passed to Walthall, who withdrew and called off further attacks. That night Hood pulled his battered troops back into Atlanta.

Civil War

Battle of Ezra Church: Brown's Division

Atlanta, GA

On July 28, 1864, during the struggle for Atlanta, the divisions of Gen. J.C. Brown of S.D. Lee's Confederate corps launched the opening assaults of the Battle of Ezra Church against the Union right flank. Brantly's Mississippians briefly carried the Federal log barricades before being thrown back by a counterattack, and a renewed effort by Walthall's division met the same fate.

Civil War

Battlefield of Peachtree Creek

Atlanta, GA

When Lt. Gen. John B. Hood took command of the Army of Tennessee on July 18, 1864, he moved quickly to strike the Federal armies closing on Atlanta. His first blow fell on July 20 against Thomas's Army of the Cumberland as it crossed Peachtree Creek, but a delay in Confederate deployment let the Federals secure ground south of the stream. The battle spread west across fields bisected by Collier Road, from Clear Creek to Howell Mill Road.

Civil War

Brown's and Clayton's Divisions

Atlanta, GA

At 3:30 on the afternoon of July 22, 1864, during the Battle of Atlanta, Confederate divisions under Gen. John Bell Hood struck the Union Fifteenth Corps astride the Georgia Railroad. The eight brigades of Brown's and Clayton's divisions smashed through four entrenched Federal brigades at the point of the assault, the battle's critical moment, later immortalized in the Atlanta Cyclorama at Grant Park.

Civil War