The Civil War in "Mystery at the Loyd Homeplace"

In one chapter of "Mystery at the Loyd

 Homeplace" I have Professor Paul Hudson

 illustrating the march of General Sherman's army 

from Chattanooga to Atlanta in the spring and

summer of 1864.  Dr. Hudson is a real and

respected historian in Atlanta, and has written

extensively on Atlanta history.  In writing my

book I utilized other detailed local histories,

including those pictured below.

This guide to Atlanta's Cyclorama is
from the 1950's.  It portrays with both
paintings and large action figures the
drama of major occurrences in the
crucial Atlanta campaign.

This booket is filled with detailed articles
which helped me visualize the realities
of the attack on Atlanta for the residents
as well as for military strategists.

This decades-old magazine about Stone
Mountain tells all about the historic
confederate memorial carving.  The
mountain was a valued observation point
and strategic because of the nearby
Georgia Railroad.

This 1950's era magazine is about the
Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, one of the few
 southern victories during the Atlanta campaign.

This photo demonstrates a method by which both
northern and southern soldiers sought to disrupt
railroad shipments.  They would rip up rails, pile
the pine ties underneath and build a fire hot enough
to heat the iron rails until they could be twisted.
Both armies became equally efficient at repairing
damaged sections, often within a day or two.

An old lithograph of the Georgia Railroad stop
at Stone Mountain.

Long before Stone Mountain was developed as
a state park, it looked like this, with dirt roads
and no mammoth carving on its sides.  But it
was just as imposing a sight as it had been
for many centuries to all who beheld it.

Click on the map to try to identify towns,
rivers, or other geographical locations
you may have heard of.  Sherman's invasion
route roughly follows the path of modern
Interstate 75 from Atlanta to Chattanooga.

This scene from the Cyclorama depicts the destruction
of the Georgia railroad from Stone Mountain to
Decatur, with the mountain in the background.

This representation of Atlanta as it appeared in 1864
before Sherman's attack shows the city as a thriving
hub of economic activity.  Loyd Street, ending in the
area of the train depot, is one of the streets shown.

This railroad bridge over the Etowah River was a
major resource for the south, therefore, a major
target for the north.  General Sherman was familiar
with the area, called Allatoona pass, where he had
passed through years before as a young soldier.
He knew this pass would an unfavorable place to do
 battle with the rebels, and was determined to avoid it.

A black and white photo of two surviving bridge
supports have a lonely and haunting look.

The same scene viewed in color in springtime
seems to offer the hope that there is life after
war, while serving as a grim reminder of the
sacrifices of war.

Future blog posts will offer more documentation
of the destruction of Atlanta and the role of
railroads in the story.