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Civil War

Benton's & Coltart's Brigades

Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia

Marker Inscription

Benton's & Coltart's Brigades. July 22, 1864. When Brown's (formerly Hindman's) div., Cheatham's A.C. [Confed.] attacked the Fed. line E. of here, Benton's Mississippi & Coltart's Alabama brigades struck Harrow's div. of the 15th A.C. [Union], dislodging Williams' & Oliver's brigades. Simultaneously, Manigault seized Martin's & Lightburn's line astride the Ga. R.R. northward - a combined action that displaced four Federal brigades on a half-mile front which they later recovered by reinforced counter-assaults. Col. Samuel Benton, wounded in the battle, was carried to the rear and later removed to a hospital at Griffin, Ga., where he died. 060-103 GEORGIA HISTORIC MARKER 1984

Erected by Georgia Historical Commission

The Story

On July 22, 1864, during the Battle of Atlanta, Benton's Mississippi and Coltart's Alabama brigades of Cheatham's corps struck the Federal line east of here, dislodging Union brigades and briefly seizing ground astride the Georgia Railroad before reinforced counterattacks recovered it. Colonel Samuel Benton was mortally wounded in the fighting and died days later at a hospital in Griffin.

Why it matters

This action was one thread in the ferocious Battle of Atlanta, the pivotal engagement whose outcome sealed the city's fate and reverberated through the 1864 presidential election and the course of the war.

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  • · Col. Samuel Benton

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  • · Battle of Atlanta

Themes & tags

Civil WarBattlefield

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