"Fall at the Mountain" by Tom Wilson , public domain
Kennesaw MountainNational Battlefield Park - Georgia |
Kennesaw Battlefield Park preserves a Civil War battleground of the Atlanta Campaign, and also contains Kennesaw Mountain. It is located at 905 Kennesaw Mountain Drive, between Marietta and Kennesaw, Georgia. The name "Kennesaw" derives from the Cherokee Indian "Gah-nee-sah" meaning "cemetery" or burial ground.
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Official Visitor Map of Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park (NBP) in Georgia. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
Map of the U.S. National Park System. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
Map of the U.S. National Park System with DOI's Unified Regions. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
Map of the U.S. National Heritage Areas. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
Statewide Bike Map of Georgia. Published by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT).
brochures
Official Brochure of Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park (NBP) in Georgia. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
https://www.nps.gov/kemo/index.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennesaw_Mountain_National_Battlefield_Park
Kennesaw Battlefield Park preserves a Civil War battleground of the Atlanta Campaign, and also contains Kennesaw Mountain. It is located at 905 Kennesaw Mountain Drive, between Marietta and Kennesaw, Georgia. The name "Kennesaw" derives from the Cherokee Indian "Gah-nee-sah" meaning "cemetery" or burial ground.
Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park is a 2,965 acre National Battlefield that preserves a Civil War battleground of the Atlanta Campaign. Opposing forces maneuvered and fought here from June 19, 1864 until July 2, 1864. Although most famous as a Civil War battlefield, Kennesaw Mountain has a much richer story.
Kennesaw Mountain NBP is fairly spread out with multiple parking lots. Many visitors begin their visit at the Visitor Center located at 900 Kennesaw Mountain Dr. and orient themselves to the park with Ranger or Volunteer. For more detailed directions, please see link below.
Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park Visitor Center
The Visitor Center at Kennesaw Mountain is located at 900 Kennesaw Mountain Dr. and is open Monday - Sunday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm except on major holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years).
Kennesaw Mountain NBP is fairly spread out with several sections and parking lots. We suggest that most visitors begin their visit at the Visitor Center and get oriented with either a Ranger or Volunteer. The Visitor Center is located at 900 Kennesaw Mountain Dr. For more detailed directions, follow link below.
Fall at Kennesaw Mountain
Cannon with front field and Visitor Center in background.
Cannon with front field and Visitor Center in background.
Sunset on the Mountain
The sun sets in the background with the exposed rock of Kennesaw Mountain in the foreground.
Kennesaw Mountain at twilight
Illinois Monument at Kennesaw Mountain
Illinois Monument at Kennesaw Mountain.
Illinois Monument at Kennesaw Mountain.
Infantry Demonstration at Kennesaw Mountain
Infantry Demonstration at Kennesaw Mountain.
Infantry Demonstration at Kennesaw Mountain.
Kolb Farmhouse at Kennesaw Mountain
Kolb Farmhouse at Kennesaw Mountain.
Kolb Farmhouse at Kennesaw Mountain.
2014 Recipients: George and Helen Hartzog Awards for Outstanding Volunteer Service
Discover the inspirational stories and amazing dedication of volunteers honored with the 2014 Hartzog Award.
Volunteer Thelma Johnson standing with her cooking equipment
2016 Freeman Tilden Award Recipients
In 2016, six rangers were awarded a national or regional Freeman Tilden Award for excellence in interpretation. Learn more about their amazing programs!
Lynette Weber
NPS Geodiversity Atlas—Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, Georgia
Each park-specific page in the NPS Geodiversity Atlas provides basic information on the significant geologic features and processes occurring in the park.
cannon in field with mountain in background
National Park Getaway: Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park
As you sit on the mountain top and enjoy the tranquil scenery, you might wonder what previous visitors to Kennesaw Mountain may have seen or experienced. A rustle in the wood line interrupts your reverie and leaves you curious: Was this sound one that some long past visitor might have heard? When you journey through these woods you follow in the footsteps of many who lived, fought, and died on this land.
red berries on a green tree
National Park Service Commemoration of the 19th Amendment
In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the passing of the 19th Amendment the National Park Service has developed a number of special programs. This includes online content, exhibits, and special events. The National Park Service’s Cultural Resources Geographic Information Systems (CRGIS) announces the release of a story map that highlights some of these programs and provides information for the public to locate and participate.
Opening slide of the 19th Amendment NPS Commemoration Story Map
The Precambrian
The Precambrian was the "Age of Early Life." During the Precambrian, continents formed and our modern atmosphere developed, while early life evolved and flourished. Soft-bodied creatures like worms and jellyfish lived in the world's oceans, but the land remained barren. Common Precambrian fossils include stromatolites and similar structures, which are traces of mats of algae-like microorganisms, and microfossils of other microorganisms.
fossil stromatolites in a cliff face
"You cannot remain where you are now": Cherokee Resistance and Relocation in the 1830s
The Cherokee Nation tried to hold on to their ancestral lands, but in the 1830s gold and a new U.S. president made this impossible. Cherokee leaders John Ross and Major Ridge fought for their tribe from different perspectives. The Indian Removal Act and the Treaty of New Echota allowed Federal troops to force thousands of Cherokee to take the Trail of Tears to new land in the West.
Chief John Ross Protests the Treaty of New Echota
In the 1830s, the Cherokee were divided on the issue of adopting aspects of white, European-American culture or maintaining an indigenous culture and identity. Several incidents occurred after the passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 that prompted several members of the Cherokee Nation to sign the Treaty of Echota. This treaty eventually led to the Trail of Tears. Cherokee Chief John Ross opposes the treaty in this letter to the U.S Senate and House of Representatives.
Cherokee Council Meetings from 1829; Chief Womankiller
Since the early 1800s, the Cherokee Nation tried to protect their lands by assimilating into the European-American culture as much as possible. However, when Andrew Jackson became president in 1828, that tactic rapidly changed. Gold was found so people desperately wanted Cherokee lands. Chief Womankiller speaks at a Cherokee Council meeting in favor of enacting a bill to prevent this rush on their land.
Preludes to the Trail of Tears
Sections of primary documents detailing events that led to the Trail of Tears: Dahlonega Gold Rush; Indian Removal Act; Cherokee Nation v Georgia; Worcester v Georgia; Treaty of Echota.
The Cherokee Nation in the 1820s
Cherokee culture thrived for thousands of years in the southeastern United States before European contact. In the 1800s, when the Europeans settlers arrived, members of the Cherokee Nation tried to assimilate European-American culture. Cherokee leaders such as Major Ridge and Chief John Ross believed this was the best way to hold onto their Cherokee lifeways.
The Civil War's Impact on Schools for the Deaf and the Blind in the South
Schools for the Deaf and the Blind were profoundly affected by the Civil War, and in very different ways between schools in the North and the South. In the North, schools continued their terms, with the battles being taught as "current events." In the South, students were sent home as their schools were taken over as field hospitals or severely damaged in battles.
Metal sign on a vertical post in front of a 2-story, red-brick building with 2 rows of windows.
Causes of Deafness During the Civil War
Civil War soldiers faced death on a daily basis. However, they also faced going home with various disabilities. One such disability was partial or complete deafness. Many soldiers were accustomed to temporary deafness from the constant artillery fire in the field. However, illness, the environment, and even the medicine the doctors used on patients could cause a much more permanent hearing loss.
102 Cases of Deafness.Prepared 4 Consideration of senate & house of reps. by Wallace E. Foster.
The Resource Stewardship Scout Ranger Program Brings BSA Scouts and National Parks Together
To connect more youth to their local communities, NPS created the Resource Stewardship Scout Ranger Program in partnership with the Boy Scouts of America, which welcomes boys, girls, and young adults to participate. Through this program, BSA Scouts and Cub Scouts can earn award certificates and may also receive a patch. Learn more in this article.
William Kai, a Cub Scout, holds up his Resource Stewardship Scout Ranger Certificate Award
Series: Geologic Time—Major Divisions and NPS Fossils
The National Park System contains a magnificent record of geologic time because rocks from each period of the geologic time scale are preserved in park landscapes. The geologic time scale is divided into four large periods of time—the Cenozoic Era, Mesozoic Era, Paleozoic Era, and The Precambrian.
photo of desert landscape with a petrified wood log on the surface
National Park Service HBCU Interns Present Projects, Network, and Bond at the Greening Youth Foundation’s Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia
In July 2022, 40 interns gathered in-person at the Greening Youth Foundation’s annual conference in Atlanta, Georgia, for the first time since 2019. Over the five-day conference, the group listened to several career spotlights and student presentations; networked with fellow interns and speakers; and visited Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield and Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park.
Group of Greening Youth Foundation interns posed around big letters "HBCUI"
My Park Story: Sylvia Touchstone
Meet Sylvia, a Mosaics in Science intern at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Read her park story to learn how visiting parks with her family led to her to researching woody debris in the Cuyahoga River.
A woman kayaking on a lake.
Updated Species Database Will Help Boost Amphibian Conservation Across the National Park System
To steward amphibians effectively, managers need basic information about which species live in parks. But species lists need constant maintenance to remain accurate. Due to recent efforts, the National Park Service now has an up-to-date amphibian species checklist for almost 300 parks. This information can serve as the basis for innumerable conservation efforts across the nation.
A toad sits on red sand, looking into the camera.
Project Profile: A Strategic Approach to Building Forest Resiliency in Southeast Parks
The National Park Service is addressing the climate change vulnerability of southeast park ecosystems.
Fall-colored trees on a mountain slope. A tree is in the right-side foreground.
Kennesaw Mountain
Kennesaw Mountain
National Battlefield Park
Georgia
The Road Past Kennesaw: The 1864 Atlanta Campaign
When Ulysses S. Grant assumed command of all Federal armies
in March 1864, he ordered a coordinated offensive to destroy
Confederate resistance and end the war. The major efforts
focused on eastern Virginia and northwest Georgia. Grant accom
panied Maj. Gen. George G. Meade’s Army of the Potomac in
Virginia and aimed to finally defeat Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army
of Northern Virginia. Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, in charge
of the Georgia offensive, commanded 100,000 soldiers, divided
among three armies concentrated near Chattanooga, TN.
Opposing them was the 53,000-man Army of Tennessee under
Gen. Joseph E. Johnston entrenched at Dalton, GA, along
Rocky Face Ridge. Grant ordered Sherman to “move against
Johnston’s army, to break it up, and to get into the interior of
the enemy’s country as far as you can, inflicting all the damage
you can against their war resources.”
The war-making capacity of the Confederacy remained formidable after three years of fighting. By spring 1864 the Federals
controlled the Mississippi River and the Confederates had
been expelled from most of Tennessee and much of Mississippi.
Still, the heartland of the Confederacy, stretching from
Alabama through Georgia to the Carolinas, was virtually untouched by the war. Atlanta, 125 miles southeast of Chattanooga, was a significant manufacturing city, the center of a
belt of manufacturing communities extending from Augusta,
GA, to Selma, AL.
You cannot qualify war in
harsher terms than I will.
War is cruelty and you
cannot refine it . . .
—William T. Sherman, General, US Army
Even more importantly, Atlanta was a vital Confederate rail
junction. Four railroads met here, linking the southern Atlantic
seaboard states with the western Confederacy. The Western &
Atlantic, upon which both sides depended for supplies, ran
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain,
by Thure de Thulstrup, depicts
Sherman’s feint against Confederates on Big Kennesaw on the
morning of June 27, 1864. The original painting is on display in the
Kennesaw Mountain visitor center.
NPS
northwest to Chattanooga and was the axis along which the
Atlanta Campaign was fought. The Georgia Railroad ran east
to Augusta, where it connected with lines to Charleston,
Raleigh, and Richmond, the Confederate capital. The Macon &
Western ran southeast, with connections to Savannah. Just
south of Atlanta, at East Point, the Atlanta & West Point
extended west into Alabama.
From May to September 1864, Federal and Confederate forces
fought across north Georgia from Dalton to Atlanta, with
almost daily skirmishing and frequent maneuvering for position punctuated by fierce battles. During the final seige of
Atlanta Sherman’s troops cut the city’s rail links. Confederate
troops evacuated the city on September 1; Sherman entered
the following day. Atlanta had fallen.
The Civil War in the Western Theater, 1861–1864
Southern states secede;
Fort Sumter bombarded;
war begins.
Dec. 1860–April 1861
Kentucky ends neutality,
comes under Union
control.
September 1861
Union takes Forts Henry
& Donelson, gains control of Tennessee R.
February 1862
Union takes Island No.
10, then Memphis on
Mississippi R.
February, June 1862
The Campaign Begins
Battle for Kennesaw
Sherman began his march on Atlanta on
May 7. Two days later he approached General Johnston’s position on a steep ridge
called Rocky Face. Sherman sent a column
through Snake Creek Gap to threaten the
Western & Atlantic Railroad, Johnston’s
supply connection with Atlanta. After an
engagement at Rocky Face, Johnston moved
south and dug in at Resaca, where on May
13–15 he repulsed Sherman’s attacks.
By June 19, although hampered by weeks
of continual rain, Sherman’s troops forced
Johnston to withdraw again, this time to a
prepared defensive position anchored by
Kennesaw Mountain, a lofty humped ridge
with rocky slopes rising above the surrounding plain. Confederate engineers using slave
labor had laid out a formidable line of
entrenchments covering every approaching
ravine or hollow with cannon and rifle fire.
When a Union column swung west to cross
the Oostanaula River and again threaten
the railroad, Johnston retreated to Adairsville, where the two forces skirmished on the
17th. They halted only with the approach
of darkness, when Johnston fell back.
Again Sherman extended his lines to the
south to get around the Confederate flank.
Again Johnston countered, shifting 11,000
men under Gen. John Bell Hood to meet
the threat. At Kolb’s Farm on June 22 Hood
struck savagely but unsuccessfully, his attack failing to repel the Northerners.
Time and again during Sherman’s advance
to Atlanta this situation was repeated as
the generals engaged in a tactical chess
match. When Sherman found the Confederates entrenched, he tried to hold them
with part of his force while sending anot