Gen. Joseph E. Johnston
Dalton State College’s Bandy Heritage Center for Northwest Georgia is sponsoring a Civil War battlefield tour entitled “Trading Space for Time: General Joseph E. Johnston and the Atlanta Campaign” Saturday April 19 from 8 am to 6:30 pm. The bus tour will be conducted by historian and author Dr. Richard McMurry, and will focus on Johnston’s inability to halt the Federal advance through Northwest Georgia toward Atlanta, the campaign that sealed the fate of the Confederacy
“Despite the overwhelming interest in the Civil War’s Eastern Theater on the part of scholars and the Public, the war was won and lost in the Western Theater,” says Dr. John D. Fowler, Executive Director of the Bandy Center and B.J. and Dicksie Bandy Chair of History at Dalton State.
“Northwest Georgia witnessed the battles and maneuvers that decided the fates of two nations in the spring and summer of 1864; this battlefield tour will introduce the participants to the incredible story right in our own back yard.”
The first stop will be Poplar Springs Church in northern Whitfield County, a key element of the Confederate defenses north of Dalton. From there, the tour will follow the movements of the Union and Confederate forces through Snake Creek Gap in Resaca, then proceed to the Pickett’s Mill, New Hope Church, and Kennesaw Mountain battle sites.
Participants will have the opportunity to walk the ground of these conflicts and visit the state and national museums dedicated to the battles.
Between these stops, Dr. McMurry will provide the audience with vivid insights into the personalities and actions of the generals and common soldiers engaged in the Atlanta Campaign. Dr. McMurry is a former professor of history at North Carolina State University and Valdosta State University. He is the author of several books, including “Atlanta 1864” and “John Bell Hood and the War for Southern Independence.”
“Richard McMurry is regarded as one of the top two or three Civil War scholars in the country,” says Brian Hilliard, Project Director for the Bandy Center. “His speaking style, as evidenced from his lectures at our Civil War colloquiums, is engaging, provocative, humorous, and insightful.”
The Civil War battlefield tour will begin with breakfast at the Dalton Freight Depot at 8 am. The bus will pull out at 9 am, returning to Dalton at 6:30 pm. Cost per person is $50, not including lunch. To register for the tour or to obtain more information, contact Brian Hillard at 706-272-4452 or at bhilliar@daltonstate.edu.