Allatoona Pass

Allatoona Pass. Formidable. The Western and Atlantic Railroad, running from Chattanooga to Atlanta, “winds Southeasterly among the hills, and...penetrates a minor ridge and emerges from a cut” recalled a Federal officer. The ruggedness of Allatoona Pass made it an important location during three episodes of the Civil War.

The first episode happened on Saturday, April 12, 1862. Federal soldiers, dressed as civilians and led by civilian James Andrews, stole a locomotive, the “General," at Big Shanty (present-day Kennesaw), Georgia, and drove it toward Chattanooga. Known as “Andrews' Raid,” or “The Great Locomotive Chase." the “raiders” endeavored to pull-up rails, burn bridges and disrupt Confederate telegraph communications as they continued north. At Allatoona another railroad crew, stopped with their train on a sidetrack, looked-on suspiciously as the “General" passed-by. Unaware of what was happening they did not try to stop the raiders. Hotly pursued by other Confederates, Andrews' raiders were captured just north of Ringgold.

Two years later, on Friday, May 20, 1864, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston's army was retreating south roughly parallel to the railroad, preparing to defend Allatoona Pass. Johnston hoped Union Major General William T. Sherman's armies would attack his army in this stronghold. Yet Sherman, who had worked in the region as a young army lieutenant twenty years earlier, knew about the pass. “I therefore knew that the Allatoona Pass was very strong, would be hard to force, and resolved not even to attempt it,” Sherman wrote in his memoirs. He decided “to turn the position, by moving from Kingston to Marietta via Dallas.” The flanking of Allatoona Pass to Dallas, about fifteen miles southwest, is what Colonel Robert N. Adams, 81st Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment, considered "one of the most adroit and daring movements of the [Atlanta] campaign.” During the fighting around Dallas, Federal cavalry captured Allatoona Pass unopposed on June 1st. Johnston's army eventually retreated east from Dallas toward Marietta. Sherman's armies returned to their railroad "lifeline” and Allatoona Pass became their fortified forward supply base.

After Atlanta was captured in September 1864 the Confederate army moved north, hoping their actions against General Sherman's railroad lifeline would force him to abandon Atlanta. On Wednesday, October 5th at Allatoona Pass, Confederate Major General Samuel G. French urged the Federal garrison commander to surrender, Brigadier General John M. Corse. Determined to hold his fortifications, two redoubts encircling a “star” fort on a 175-foot-high embankment, Corse refused. Over 3,200 Confederates attacked, driving about 2,000 Federals into the star fort, but no further. French soon retreated, suffering 897 casualties versus 706 Federal losses. Union Second Lieutenant J. Q. Adams, a signal officer during the battle, wrote “the loss of the million and a half of rations...would have been a great disaster.” Allatoona Pass, which Sherman called “one of those formidable (places), which give an army on the defensive so much advantage” remained under Federal control. The railroad was relocated in the 1940s prior to the creation of Lake Allatoona.