HistoricSiteMarkers
Civil War

Battle of Kolb's Farm

Cobb County, Cobb County, Georgia

Marker Inscription

Battle of Kolb's Farm June 22, 1864. The extension of the right wing of Federal forces S. of the Dallas Rd. threatening to outflank him, Johnston sent Hood's Corps [CS] from the right (E. of Kennesaw) to this, the extreme left, with directions to stop further Federal advances. Hood sent Stevenson's 4 brigades [CS] -- 2 astride the road, and 2 N. of it, against the 20th and 23d corps troops [US] posted astride the road to the W. This, and later attempts failed to check the Federal extensions southward. 033-13 GEORGIA HISTORIC MARKER 1984

Erected by Georgia Historical Commission

The Story

On June 22, 1864, as the Union right threatened to outflank the Confederate line, Gen. Joseph Johnston sent Hood's corps to his far left near Kolb's farm to stop the advance. Hood ordered Stevenson's four brigades against the 20th and 23rd Corps posted astride the Powder Springs Road, but this and later attempts failed to check the Federal push southward.

Why it matters

The failed Confederate counterattack at Kolb's Farm typified how Sherman's steady southward flanking maneuvers repeatedly outreached the defenders during the Atlanta Campaign.

The story behind this marker

AI context

The era

By June of 1864, the campaign in north Georgia had become a contest of edges — specifically, of which army's line reached farther. Union forces had been advancing toward Atlanta since early May, and the Confederates had been maneuvering to keep their line intact and their flanks protected. The fighting around Cobb County that month was shaped by this constant sidling motion, each army feeling for the end of the other's line.

The ground here — ridges, roads, and farmland northwest of Atlanta — was well suited to defense, and both sides had grown expert at fortifying quickly. But fortifications only help where the line actually runs. The moment an enemy stretches past your flank, the strongest trench in the world can be turned useless, because the danger comes from the side or the rear rather than the front.

That is the anxiety that hangs over the events at Kolb's Farm. This was a moment when the Confederate command saw its left — the far end of its line — threatened, and had to react before a threat became a disaster.

People & events

On June 22, 1864, the extension of the Union right, south of the Dallas Road, raised exactly that alarm. If the Federals kept reaching southward, they might get around the end of the Confederate position entirely. To prevent it, Joseph E. Johnston shifted John Bell Hood's corps from the army's right — over near Kennesaw — all the way across to this far left, with orders to stop the Federal advance.

Moving a whole corps from one end of an army to the other is a major decision, and it tells you how seriously the threat was taken. Once in position, Hood sent forward the four brigades of Carter Stevenson's division: two astride the road and two north of it, driving against Union troops of the Twentieth and Twenty-third Corps posted to the west.

The attack did not achieve its purpose. This assault, and further attempts that followed, failed to check the Federal extension southward. The Confederates had reacted with force and urgency, yet the Union line kept creeping around toward the flank all the same.

Its place in the American story

The episode captures the central problem the Confederates faced throughout the drive on Atlanta. Time and again, Union commanders used their reach — extending lines, sliding around flanks — to make strong defensive positions untenable without a costly fight to hold them. Counterattacks meant to stop that reach, even ones delivered with real weight, tended to come up short.

That pattern is why the campaign moved the way it did: not through single decisive collisions, but through a steady southward pressure that the defenders could slow but not stop. Each failed effort to pin the Union advance in place meant the larger maneuver continued, and the strategically vital city to the south drew closer to the fighting.

The outcome of that long process would echo well beyond the battlefield, influencing Northern morale and politics during a year when the war's direction was very much in question. A hard-fought but unsuccessful counterattack on the army's far left was one link in that longer chain.

If you visit

To feel this place, think about direction and reach. The marker describes an army's far left flank and a Federal line stretching to get around it — so as you stand here, try to sense which way the danger was coming from and why commanders were willing to shuffle an entire corps across the field to meet it.

The roads and rises named on the marker are your guide. Picture brigades forming up astride and beside a road, then advancing westward against a waiting line — and then picture that effort falling short while the enemy's line kept sliding southward past the flank.

This site sits in Cobb County, an easy addition to a day spent following the 1864 campaign around greater Atlanta. Take a moment with the marker's account of the maneuvering; the story here is less about a charge than about the relentless geometry of flanks, and that geometry is best appreciated slowly, on the ground where it played out.

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

  • · Joseph E. Johnston
  • · John Bell Hood
  • · 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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On June 22, 1864, the 14th Kentucky and 123rd New York were posted as skirmishers east of the Kolb farmstead during the Battle of Kolb's Farm. Their stubborn resistance, together with Federal artillery fire, disrupted and delayed Stevenson's Confederate assault on the main Union line along the Powder Springs Road, helping to halt the attack short of its objective.

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Battle of Kolb's Farm

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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.

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