Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Pigeon Hill

With so many locations in connection with the battlefield at Kennesaw Mountain, I am going to make several more post over the next few days with more images.  There were just too many to include in yesterdays post.  Today’s images will focus on Pigeon Hill.

On the morning of June 27th, Federals under the command of General McPherson attacked the Confederate line in the area of Pigeon Hill and Little Kennesaw north east of Cheatham’s Hill.  The Federals quickly overran some Confederate pickets and rifle pits located ahead of the main line, but were quickly stalled by the well entrenched Confederates of French’s Division, which held Little Kennesaw and Pigeon Hill.  The Confederates well entrenched with plenty of large boulders and rocks used as cover in their earthworks.  At one point the Confederates were even rolling boulders and large down on the attacking Federals.  French’s Division also held the advantage of the higher ground thus forcing the Federals to attack up steep inclines that had been heavily covered with entanglements by the men of French’s Division.  The attacking Federals were repulsed and forced to retreat to low valley between Little Kennesaw and Pigeon Hill where they were trapped by musket and cannon fire for hours.  They were finally able to retreat back to their lines after darkness fell upon the battlefield.

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A monument to fallen Federals stands in a field near starting point of the Federal assault on Pigeon Hill. 
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The hiking trail up to Pigeon Hill and Little Kennesaw follows the route that Federal soldiers took during the attack.  Look to where the trail appears to end(but really turns left).  You will the what are the remains of Confederate earthworks just as the attacking Federals would have seen.
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Remnants of Confederate Earthworks on Pigeon Hill.  These are some of the first entrenchments that were encountered by the Federal assault.
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Remains of Confederate earthworks on Pigeon Hill near the spot where George Barnard made an image of the battlefield in the fall of 1864.
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A line of Confederate works on top of Pigeon Hill near the lower portion of Little Kennesaw. Notice the large boulders further down the line and the slope as goes do to the right where the Federals were trapped until nightfall.
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More Confederate works with large boulders included into the line.
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Looking down the slope the Federals tried to make an attack from.  During the battle the Federals were forced to retreat further down this small valley until the could make it back to their lines under the cover of darkness.
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This is a period image captured by photographer George Barnard in the early fall of 1864 as he traveled to Atlanta to photograph the campaign.
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Here is the same location photographed by George Barnard only 150 years later.  Notice the large oddly shaped stone in the foreground of each image.