The Battle at Kennesaw Mountain (north of Atlanta) was fought beginning June 27, 1864. More than 3,000 soldiers were killed during the next few days, most of them Federal. Speaking of the skirmish at Kennesaw's Dead Angle (pictured below), Corporal Benjamin F. McGee, 72nd Indiana Infantry, described the scene as such:

"Every mountain and hill, in front and far away to the right, fairly bristled with artillery and swarmed with Rebels. Never before had we seen so many Rebels at one time."

"Next day, General Johnson sent a flag of truce to Sherman in order to give him time to carry off the wounded and bury the dead, who were festering in front of their line." (on the slopes of the Dead Angle)

-Capt. David P. Conyngham, Volunteer Aide-de-Camp, Federal Staff, 1864.

"...A solid line of fire right from the muzzles of the Yankee guns, the hot blood of our dead and wounded spurting on us, the blinding smoke and stifling atmosphere filling our eyes and mouths...afterward, I heard a soldier saying that he thought 'Hell had broke loose in Georgia, sure enough'."

-Private Sam R. Watkins, 1st Tennessee Infantry, Maney's Brigade, at Kennesaw's Dead Angle, June 1864

Below: a comparison by date of photographs taken on May 2, 1998 and June 27th 1998, respectively. (The latter date is the battle's 134th anniversary date). We successfully duplicated our results.

Each of the photos below were taken after the photos above (date corresponding).

"The Rebel musketry fire was terrific; to stand still was death."

-Private S. M. Canterbury, 86th Illinois Infantry, Daniel McCook's Brigade, speaking of his personal experience during the battle at the Dead Angle.

Stories of Civil War ghosts abound at the Old Kolb Farm near Kennesaw Mountain. New subdivisions, such as the one going up on the cleared land in the photo above (background), are built directly on battlefield sites.

Page contents (c) Cheri Mohr Drake, 1997-2001. All rights reserved. Individuals retain photo copyrights.