Campaign for Atlanta Began Here
Catoosa County, Catoosa County, Georgia
Marker Inscription
Campaign for Atlanta Began Here. The 4th A.C., marching from Cleveland, Tenn. reached Catoosa Springs May 4, 1864. The 23d A.C., via Cleveland & Red Clay, camped in this vicinity. Both corps moved S. from these positions toward Dalton, May 7. The 4th A.C. went by direct rd. to Tunnel Hill; the 23d to Crow Valley, E. of Rocky Face. The elevated ground N. is the site of the Dr. Lee house. Observing the initial troop movements from the yard of the Lee house, were officers of the Federal high command: Sherman, Thomas, Schofield, Howard, Newton, Stanley, & Cox. 023-4 GEORGIA HISTORICAL COMMISSION 1954
Erected by Georgia Historical Commission
The Story
In early May 1864, Union corps marching from Cleveland, Tennessee, converged near Catoosa Springs to open Sherman's campaign against Atlanta, moving south toward Dalton on May 7. From the yard of the nearby Dr. Lee house, the Federal high command—Sherman, Thomas, Schofield, and others—watched the first troop movements of the drive. The armies pressed on toward Tunnel Hill and Rocky Face Ridge.
Why it matters
This quiet ground marks the opening of the Atlanta Campaign, the months-long offensive that captured the city and helped secure Lincoln's reelection and the Union cause.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
By the spring of 1864, the Civil War had ground on for three long years, and the western theater had become decisive. Union armies had fought their way through Tennessee, and now the great prize lay just to the south: Atlanta, a rail and manufacturing hub whose fall would strike at the heart of the Confederacy's ability to wage war.
This corner of northwest Georgia, near Catoosa Springs, was the jumping-off point. In the first days of May 1864, Union corps came marching down from Cleveland, Tennessee, converging on the border country to begin one of the most consequential campaigns of the war.
The marker captures the campaign at its very first motion — troops reaching their staging positions, then stepping off southward. What looks today like ordinary Georgia ground was, for a few days, the coiled spring of an enormous military machine about to be released.
People & events
The marker tracks the opening moves with a map-maker's precision. The 4th Army Corps, marching from Cleveland, Tennessee, reached Catoosa Springs on May 4, 1864, while the 23rd Army Corps came by way of Cleveland and Red Clay and camped nearby. On May 7 both corps moved south toward Dalton — the 4th taking the direct road to Tunnel Hill, the 23rd swinging toward Crow Valley, east of Rocky Face.
The human drama is gathered on a piece of high ground to the north, at the site of the Dr. Lee house. From that yard, the marker tells us, the Federal high command watched the first troop movements unfold. The names it lists read like a roll call of Union leadership in the West: Sherman, Thomas, Schofield, Howard, Newton, Stanley, and Cox.
To picture those officers standing together, looking out over columns of men beginning a long march, is to catch a campaign at the instant of its birth — the commanders taking the measure of the ground and the enemy before the fighting began in earnest.
Its place in the American story
The movements marked here opened the Atlanta Campaign, the sustained Union drive that pushed deep into Georgia through the summer of 1864 and ultimately captured the city. Its importance is hard to overstate.
The fall of Atlanta did more than seize a vital Confederate stronghold. Coming when it did, it transformed the mood of the North, gave fresh proof that the war could be won, and helped secure President Lincoln's reelection that autumn — which in turn ensured the war would be carried through to Union victory rather than a negotiated settlement. The campaign that ended in Atlanta thus helped decide the outcome of the war and the future of the nation.
And it started here, with corps converging and generals watching from a hilltop. This quiet ground marks the first step of a march whose consequences reached all the way to the country's survival.
If you visit
This is a landscape that asks you to look and imagine. The marker itself directs your eye — to the elevated ground to the north where the Dr. Lee house once stood, the vantage point from which the Union high command observed the opening moves. Stand where you can take in the terrain and picture those columns starting south.
It's an ideal first stop on a Civil War road trip through northwest Georgia, because it is, quite literally, where the Atlanta Campaign began. From here the fighting moved toward Tunnel Hill, Rocky Face Ridge, and Dalton, and you can follow that same southward line the armies took, letting the campaign unfold in the order history wrote it.
The feel of the place is its quiet — rolling countryside that gives little hint of the vast machinery once gathered here. That contrast is the whole point. Read the roll of famous commanders on the marker, look toward the high ground, and let this understated spot remind you that some of history's largest turns began in the most ordinary-looking fields.
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
- · William T. Sherman
- · George Thomas
- · John Schofield
- · Oliver Howard
Related events
- · Atlanta Campaign
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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