Following the fall of Atlanta on September 2, 1864, Confederate General John Bell Hood, Commander of the Army of Tennessee, began a series of maneuvers against the Union line of supply running from Atlanta through Northwest Georgia, North Alabama, . . . — — Map (db m28208) HM
Decatur had close to 800 residents in 1860, not many more than the 606 persons counted in the 1850 census. Included in the 1860 census were 267 white males, 206 white females, three free blacks including two males and one female, and 130 slaves of . . . — — Map (db m28209) HM
Decatur played a key role in the Federal defenses of the vital rail lines in North Alabama. These defenses were configured in a three-tiered system. First, a number of lightly armored gunboats, constructed on the Tennessee River and nicknamed . . . — — Map (db m86476) HM
As Hood’s Army of Tennessee encircled Decatur, sharpshooters advanced upon the Union defenses. Colonel Doolittle’s men responded with heavy artillery and musket fire. During the early afternoon of October 27, the Confederates approached the Federal . . . — — Map (db m28241) HM
The oldest home in Decatur still standing, this Early Classical Revival mansion was built by Frank Dancy and was a private residence until 1872, when it became a boarding house and hotel. During the Civil War, the home belonged to Dancy’s daughter, . . . — — Map (db m28243) HM
This Greek Revival mansion belonged to Dr. Aaron Adair Burleson and his wife, Janet, during the Civil War. Part of an original 778-acre land grant, the brick home covered by Flemish bond, features 18-inch thick walls and contains one of the . . . — — Map (db m28245) HM
The Decatur crossing of the Tennessee River was used extensively by Union forces. In the Fall of 1863, elements of Major General William T. Sherman’s Army of the Tennessee passed through Decatur on their way from Vicksburg to Chattanooga. Union . . . — — Map (db m86477) HM
In 1860, the Memphis and Charleston Railroad was the only east-west route through the United States south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Maintaining control of this rail line was essential to Confederate strategy. Union Brigadier General Ormsby Mitchell . . . — — Map (db m28262) HM
You are facing the site of the McCartney Hotel, where Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston established his headquarters while reorganizing the Confederate Army of the West in March, 1862. Johnston spent almost two weeks here after he was . . . — — Map (db m28263) HM
As sharpshooting and artillery fire continued throughout the morning of October 28, Granger and Doolittle determined to launch an attack upon the Confederate battery at the edge of the Tennessee River, whose fire threatened the critical pontoon . . . — — Map (db m86478) HM
