The Extended Siege Lines

The Extended Siege Lines. Confederate and Federal Entrenchments. This area contains some of the few Civil War entrenchments still visible in Atlanta. Confederate soldiers and African-American slaves dug them during the summer of 1864 as part of an approximate eight-mile fortified line running generally southwest from the main defensive earthworks surrounding Atlanta. This area of the new entrenchments was subsequently manned by Confederate Brigadier General Marcellus A. Stovall's brigade., In late July, after the Battle of Atlanta was fought east of downtown, Union Major General William T. Sherman shifted a portion of his forces to the west of Atlanta. His desire was to destroy the two railroads re-supplying Confederate-held Atlanta from Montgomery and Macon, respectively. At the Battle of Ezra Church, fought on July 28th three miles north, Confederates attacked but failed to prevent Sherman's movement. Therefore, the Confederates began digging an extended siege line to protect the railroads. The fortifications were strengthened and extended over several weeks., "All the entrenching tools that could be procured were put in the hands of the troops," wrote Confederate Major General J. Patton Anderson, whose men began the digging the night of July 28th. “The work of entrenching was pushed with vigor, night and day, till a feeling of security, and even defiance, pervaded the whole line.", African-American slaves contributed much to the construction of the extended line. General John B. Hood, in command of the Confederate army defending Atlanta, telegraphed across the state seeking more laborers. Typical was his message sent on August 7th to Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown, “I have great need for about two thousand Negroes to complete our works. How can I get them most speedily?”, Observing these works, a Federal officer in the 23rd Corps (Army of the Ohio) wrote, “In our front here...there is a regular bastioned fort...and carefully-constructed earthworks, capable of offering the most serious resistance to an assault. The rebels can be seen from our lines still at work completing them...there is nothing which will avail against them but a regular siege.", General Sherman never fully tested the Confederate extended siege line with an all-out assault. Instead he gradually extended his own siege line. In one extension Union Major General John M. Schofield's 23rd Corps shifted further west then marched south, attempting to reach the railroads. Sharp skirmishes occurred in early August, initiated by units in the Federal 14th and 23rd Corps. When Schofield's corps came upon additional entrenched Confederates on August 6th the principal Battle of Utoy Creek occurred., Photo captions: , Left top- Confederate Brigadier General Marcellus A. Stovall , Left bottom- Slave Labor Constructing an Entrenchment , Left middle- Confederate Major General J. Patton Anderson , Right middle top- Confederate General John B. Hood , General Hood was seriously wounded in his left arm on July 2, 1863 at Gettysburg, which left him unable to use it for the rest of his life. After returning to duty he was struck in his right femur on September 20, 1863 at Chickamauga, requiring the amputation of his right leg. Following a near miraculous recovery and return to duty in early 1864 he wore a prosthetic leg made from cork and was strapped onto his horse each day during the Atlanta Campaign , Right middle- Union Major General John M. Schofield , Right bottom- Remains for two parts of the Confederate extended siege line running through the western wooded portions of John A. White Park , (Photos by Clint Brownlee © 2014) , This series of trenches extended generally southwest from Atlanta's inner defensive perimeter approximately eight miles to East Point in order to protect the city's railroad “supply lines from Macon and Montgomery. They were constructed in early August 1864 by both soldiers and impressed slave labor.