Some Civil War Trenches At Kennesaw Are Saved
By Joe Kirby
December 2004

MARIETTA, GA. - Significant portions of two trench systems constructed in connection with the Atlanta Campaign near Kennesaw Mountain have been preserved, but a third section is soon to be destroyed.

The most crucial acre in the Brushy Mountain Line known variously as "French's Salient" and "Hardee's Salient" has been deeded by a developer to the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The acre includes the actual pivot point at which the Brushy Mountain and Mud Creek lines joined, creating the salient.

Also being preserved are seven acres of Union trenches that faced what is now known as "Johnston's River Line."

Unfortunately, the news was not so good for a third portion of trenchworks, this one part of Johnston's River Line itself just off Oakdale and Turner roads in the city of Smyrna. They occupy part of a 19-acre site on which Atlanta-based PCH Development Inc. plans to develop 58 homes. PCH agreed to pay for a formal archaeological study of the property and two sections of trenches will be preserved and donated to the City of Smyrna.

Brushy Mountain Line

The Brushy Mountain Line ran from Brushy Mountain a mile or so northeast of Kennesaw Mountain due west about 11 miles to Lost Mountain and was occupied by Confederate Gen. Joe Johnston's Army of Tennessee from June 9-18, 1864. The line also was anchored on Pine Mountain, atop which Gen. Leonidas Polk was killed on June 14.

Johnston ultimately decided the line was too long to be held by his army and withdrew the western half of the line to a shorter line anchored along Mud Creek. The point at which the two lines came together about a mile due north of Kennesaw Mountain was exposed to enfilading Union artillery fire and later was described by Maj. Gen. Samuel French as the "hottest" point held by his unit during the entire war.

It was so exposed, in fact, that Johnston pulled his army back on June 18 to another trench line anchored on Kennesaw Mountain itself. The "salient" area was occupied by French's troops from June 16-18.

The area that includes French's Salient was developed into the upscale Barrett Green subdivision off New Salem Road in the late1990s, but the developers, Jim Willoughby and Joe Sewell of nearby Acworth, were sensitive to the historic nature of the property. They designed the subdivision so that virtually no trenches were destroyed. Rather, they used them as greenbelt buffers between adjoining properties. They are protected by covenants as well.

"The developers were eager to work with us," said Jeffrey Wright, chaplain of the SCV's Camp McDonald Camp 1146 in Kennesaw. "They also agreed to name all the streets in the subdivision after Matthew Ector and Francis Cockrell, at our request."

The two commanded brigades in French's division.

"We wish that they had been able to set aside 20 or 30 acres, but we went hat in hand," Wright said. "They and the homeowners were great to work with."

A ceremony was held Oct. 16 at the site to dedicate a historic marker. Author Bill Scaife, an authority on the Atlanta Campaign, was guest speaker.

The acre deeded to the SCV includes not only the pivot point, but a couple of artillery positions still visible. French had crowded his entire artillery battalion in the salient, some 12 pieces, according to Scaife. That encompassed Guibor's Battery, Ward's Alabama Battery and Hoskin's Mississippi Battery, Wright said. All three batteries were under the command of Maj. George S. Storr, who commanded all of French's artillery, which had a complement of 10 Napoleons and a pair of 3-inch rifled cannons, according to Wright.

Johnston's River Line

Johnston's River Line was constructed by Johnston to guard the crossings of the Chattahoochee River and was the most menacing of any dug during the campaign - so impregnable, in fact, that Sherman chose to outflank them and cross upstream, thereby soon precipitating Confederate President Jefferson Davis's decision to fire Johnston and replace him with the impetuous John Bell Hood.

The seven acres of Union trenches are on the opposite side of the Nickajack Creek valley from the Confederate trenches. The trench line runs the length of the heavily wooded property and then connects with a four-gun artillery fort behind a residence in the Inverness Ridge Subdivision.

Cobb County purchased the land in June for $105,929 with money provided by Georgia's Greenspace Program, which provides state funds that must be used to purchase and preserve open land.

The county does not have plans as yet for the land acquired. It already owns a well-preserved portion of Johnston's River Line.