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Civil War

Brown's and Clayton's Divisions

Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia

Marker Inscription

Brown's and Clayton's Divs.. July 22, 1864: 3:30 P.M. Gen. Hood [Confed.] launched an attack from the east line of the city fortifications, on the 15th A.C. astride the Ga. R.R. (at DeGress Ave.) - a mass assault by two divs. of Cheatham's A.C.: Brown's & Clayton's. Brown's brigades were: Manigault's, Sharp's, Coltart's & Benton's; Clayton's brigades were: Stovall's, Baker's, Gibson's & Holtzclaw's. The impact of these eight small brigades dislodged four Federal brigades from their intrenched line at and each side of the R.R. - where the spear-head of the attack was aimed. This, the critical molment of the battle is pictured in the Cyclorama at Grant Park. 060-100B GEORGIA HISTORICAL COMMISSION 1956

Erected by Georgia Historical Commission

The Story

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.

Why it matters

The Battle of Atlanta was a decisive step toward the city's fall, a blow that helped secure Lincoln's reelection and hasten the war's end.

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  • · John Bell Hood

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  • · Battle of Atlanta

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Civil WarBattlefield

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