Resaca Dodges Power Line Threat
By Joe Kirby
June 2005
RESACA, Ga. – The Resaca battlefield – the integrity of which was badly undermined in the early 1970s when Interstate 75 was routed through its heart – narrowly dodged another modern-day infringement early this year when the Tennessee Valley Authority agreed to route a major power transmission line along the edge of the hallowed ground, rather than directly through it.
Preservationists were highly alarmed late last fall when it was learned the TVA planned to build its line through this northwest Georgia battlefield. The towers would have been part of a 15.2-mile power line running in the I-75 corridor from the Dalton area to the Calhoun area. The line will feature 80-foot-tall steel poles in a 150-foot-wide clear-cut right-of-way.
But thanks to complaints from the Friends of Resaca Battlefield Inc., and other preservation-minded citizens, the giant utility agreed to back away from its original plans. The TVA also hired historical consultants to study the area in question and they confirmed its special nature. A TVA spokesman told local media that he had received e-mails from around the country complaining about the original plan.
The TVA’s change of heart was welcome news to preservationists. A posting on the Friends of Resaca Battlefield’s Web site was upbeat, though it noted that the latest route might still impair the view somewhat from the Chitwood Farm area, scene of one of the largest battle reenactments in the Southeast each year.
"It might be possible to see the power lines if you look eastward from the farm. This was an important, but secondary, concern for the Friends of Resaca. The primary objective has always been to keep the development off the battlefield entirely. This final route proposal by TVA seems to do that," said the group, which is headed by president Keith Beason.
"Our thanks obviously go out to the hundreds and hundreds of concerned persons from all over the world that expressed their thoughts to TVA in the past few months. We believe this had a positive impact and motivated TVA to work with the Friends of Resaca, allowing us to educate them as to the historic importance of the property.”
The TVA had been studying a variety of possible routes through the battlefield. One would have run roughly parallel to the Western & Atlantic Railroad line (now used by CSX). The other would have passed through a forest alongside the state-maintained Confederate Cemetery on the outskirts of Resaca, where more than 400 Confederate dead are buried.
Though no park has been developed yet at Resaca, the state of Georgia intends to do so at some point. It acquired more than 500 acres of the battlefield several years ago at a cost of more than $2 million. Plans to add another 700 acres fell through because of various delays. The state’s plans to build a visitors’ center and museum and create a park were put on the back burner because of the budget crunch of the past few years.
The Battle of Resaca took place from May 13-15, 1864, at the outset of Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign. After Sherman outflanked Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston from Rocky Face Ridge, Johnston was forced to fall back along the line of the Western & Atlantic Railroad to the rugged hills around Resaca, where the Conassauga and Oostanaula rivers come together. Sharp fighting took place all along the line but the battle proved inconclusive until Sherman outflanked Johnston again to the south by sending a force across the Oostanaula at Lay’s Ferry. The Union suffered 2,747 casualties and the South 2,800, which did little to slow Sherman’s advance
