The Chattanooga Civil War Round Table will hold its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, August 17, 2010. The meeting is at 7 PM and will be held in the Millis-Evans Room of Caldwell Hall on the campus of the McCallie School on Historic Missionary Ridge (enter off Dodds Avenue and follow the signs to the Academic Quadrangle).
Historian, Author, and Professor Dr. Keith Bohannon is the speaker. Dr. Bohannan will deliver an address entitled "SHOUPADES, STOCKADES, AND ARTILLERY FORTS: APPRECIATING JOE JOHNSTON'S CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER LINE." The meeting is free and open to the public.
A second month of the Atlanta Campaign was drawing to a close; Sherman's army had relentlessly pressed Joe Johnston back from Dalton to Resaca to Adairsville to Cassville to New Hope Church and Dallas to Lost Mountain and now to the Kennesaw Mountain line. The last seemingly major geographic barrier between the enemy and the "Gate City," the Chattahoochee River lay not that far to the south. Could it be used to stop the advancing blue army? Could the Federal crossing of that river perhaps be or be made to be difficult enough that an opportunity to strike at Sherman be found as he attempted to cross? The Army of Tennessee's Chief of Artillery, Brigadier General Francis Asbury Shoup thought there might be an opportunity, certainly if a little work was done to help better that opportunity. Shoup proposed creating a gigantic tete de pont along the river that could be used to potentially divide the enemy as they struggled to cross the Chattahoochee. Thus was born the River Line.
Today, just as in 1864, Joe Johnston's or Shoup's Chattahoochee River Line is not well appreciated. Often it has been written off as just a series of unique, even silly, little forts commonly called Shoupades. But there was more, and less, to the whole River Line and the concepts that it reflected. The lack of appreciation also comes from the fact that today most of the line and its works have not withstood the assault of metro Atlanta. But, while true overall, it is not entirely true. A portion of the southern end of the line survives and is now on land that is and will be a Cobb County park. Our speaker tonight, a Historian familiar to many of you all because of his previous appearances before the Round Table and because of his former residence here, Dr. Keith Bohannon, is part of a team that is working for Cobb County to help the county plan for that "River Line Park." Dr. Bohannon has been pushing the extent of the previous research on the subject to learn more to then help develop the interpretation at the site. At the meeting this month, Keith will relate what he's been learning while at the same time relate the story of another "what if" of the Atlanta Campaign.
Dr. Keith S. Bohannon is a Cobb County, Georgia, native. A graduate of the University of Georgia, he holds a ph.d. in History from Pennsylvania State University. The author of numerous articles and editor of several volumes, Keith is fine battlefield tour guide as well as an Associate Professor of History at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton.
The Chattanooga Civil War Round Table is a group of area citizens interested in the study of the American Civil War. The Round Table meets on the third Tuesday of each month, normally in the Millis-Evans Room of Caldwell Hall on the campus of The McCallie School on Missionary Ridge (enter off Dodds Avenue at Union Street).
At each month’s meeting, a historian or author from the region or from across the nation, or a member, makes a presentation on some aspect of the conflict. The meetings are free and open to the public and membership in the Round Table is open to all with an interest in the era of the War Between the States.