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Civil War

Battle of Kolb's Farm

Cobb County, Cobb County, Georgia

Marker Inscription

Battle of Kolb's Farm June 22, 1864. Hascall's (2d) Div., 23d A.C., via Manning's Mill, reached Kolb's schoolhouse (site of Mt. Zion Ch.) 2 p.m. & joined its left to right of Williams' (1st) Div., 20th A.C. [US] at the McAdoo-Oatman house on Powder Springs Rd. Hascall placed 3 brigades on high ground S. E. of the road. Skirmishers, supported by the 14th Ky., [US] seized a ridge E. of the Valentine Kolb house and stubbornly held it until forced to withdraw. The left of Stevenson's Div., Confederate, after dislodging 14th Ky., advanced toward Hascall's line but were driven back. 033-11 GEORGIA HISTORICAL COMMISSION 1952

Erected by Georgia Historical Commission

The Story

On June 22, 1864, Union divisions of the 23rd and 20th Corps linked up near Kolb's farm on the Powder Springs Road as Sherman probed the Confederate left. Federal skirmishers, backed by the 14th Kentucky, seized a ridge and held it stubbornly, and when Stevenson's Confederate division advanced against the main line it was driven back.

Why it matters

Kolb's Farm was part of the grinding maneuver-and-entrench warfare of the Atlanta Campaign, where repeated Confederate counterthrusts failed to halt Sherman's relentless flanking advance.

The story behind this marker

AI context

The era

In the early summer of 1864, the war in Georgia had settled into a grinding, methodical struggle. Since early May, Union armies had been advancing through the northern part of the state, and the Confederates had been trading ground for time, falling back from one strong position to the next. By late June, the fighting had reached the wooded ridges and country roads of Cobb County, northwest of Atlanta.

This was terrain that rewarded the defender. Low ridges, creek bottoms, and thick woods gave troops natural walls to fight behind, and both armies had learned to dig in quickly, turning any good rise of ground into a fortified line within hours. A schoolhouse, a farm road, a family's home — these were the reference points by which soldiers and commanders described a landscape they were learning at gunpoint.

The larger contest was a war of maneuver. Rather than smash head-on into fortified lines again and again, the Union strategy leaned on reaching around the enemy's flank, forcing the defenders to abandon strong positions or risk being outflanked. Kolb's Farm belongs to that patient, dangerous chess match.

People & events

On June 22, 1864, Union forces converged near Kolb's farm along the Powder Springs Road. A division under Milo Hascall, part of the Twenty-third Corps, moved up in the early afternoon and linked its line to the division of Alpheus Williams of the Twentieth Corps. Joining two commands' lines together like this was delicate work — the seam where two units meet can be a weak point if it isn't tied together carefully.

Hascall placed several brigades on high ground southeast of the road, the sort of position that lets defenders see and sweep the approaches. Out ahead of the main line, Federal skirmishers — supported by the 14th Kentucky — pushed onto a ridge to the east and held it stubbornly before finally being forced to give it up. Skirmishers work in loose, forward lines; their job is to feel out the enemy, slow him down, and buy time for the main body behind them.

Then came the Confederate effort. The left of Carter Stevenson's division advanced, dislodged the 14th Kentucky, and pressed on toward Hascall's main line — only to be driven back. What looked like an opening did not become a breakthrough.

Its place in the American story

Kolb's Farm matters less as a single dramatic victory than as a clear window into how the road to Atlanta was actually won. Again and again that summer, defenders launched counterthrusts to blunt the Union advance, and again and again those thrusts ran up against prepared positions, alert skirmishers, and disciplined firepower — and were turned away.

This was the character of the whole campaign: maneuver, entrench, probe, repeat. Ground was measured in ridges and farm lots, and progress was steady rather than sudden. Each time a Confederate counterattack failed to halt the Federal push, the larger flanking movement toward Atlanta continued, mile by careful mile.

That slow, relentless pressure had consequences far beyond any one field. The campaign it belonged to would ultimately decide the fate of a vital Southern city, with effects that reached into Northern politics and public morale in a pivotal year. Small actions like this one were the individual stitches in that much larger seam.

If you visit

Come here thinking about high ground and lines of sight. The marker points you toward ridges, a road, and the sites of long-vanished buildings — read them as a soldier would have, asking which rise you would want to hold and which open ground you would dread crossing.

The country here has changed, as country does, but the shape of the land still tells part of the story. Notice how modest a ridge needs to be to matter in a fight, and picture skirmishers pushing forward through the trees ahead of the main line, holding a piece of ground until they simply couldn't hold it any longer.

Cobb County lies within easy reach of Atlanta, and Kolb's Farm fits well into a day spent tracing the 1864 campaign across the area. Walk slowly, let the marker set the scene, and give this quiet ground credit for the hard, methodical fighting it once absorbed.

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

  • · Milo Hascall
  • · Alpheus Williams
  • · Carter Stevenson

Related events

  • · Battle of Kolb's Farm
  • · Atlanta Campaign

Themes & tags

Civil WarBattlefield

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Battle of Kolb's Farm

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