Lawmakers hope fourth time a charm in bid to expand Kennesaw battlefield, add house

The Wallis House about 13 years ago (Georgia Battlefields Association)

Federal lawmakers from Georgia are trying again to get Congress to add eight acres containing one of the oldest remaining buildings on the Kennesaw Mountain battlefield to the Civil War park.

U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson and others announced Thursday they have launched the fourth legislative effort  to enlarge Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park near Atlanta.

“Expanding the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park to include the Wallis House and Harriston Hill will add to the historical significance of the park by giving visitors an opportunity to experience key strategies and positions of troops during the Civil War,” Isakson said in a statement. “I hope both the House and Senate will act quickly to allow this expansion.”

(Courtesy of Georgia Battlefields Association)

Park and local officials are hoping the Wallis home, a dilapidated 1853 farmhouse that at one point was in imminent danger of being demolished, will eventually be used to more fully tell the story of Union strategy in the battle and perhaps the role of African-Americans in the war. The clash was a costly, but brief setback during the Federal advance on Atlanta.

The two-bedroom home, built by Josiah Wallis, had several uses during the Kennesaw campaign in June 1864. It was first used as a Confederate hospital, then was the headquarters for Union Maj. Gen. O.O. Howard. His boss, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, was at the house during the Battle of Kolb’s Farm to the south.

“Adjacent to the Wallis house is Harriston Hill, which offers a sweeping vista of the valley leading to the Confederate line atop Kennesaw Mountain,” a National Park Service official said in 2010. “From this position, it is clear why General Howard picked this site for his headquarters and signaling position.” 

Amanda Maddox, communications director for Isakson, told the Marietta Daily Journal this week that the National Park Service would need to spend about $1 million to restore the house and $1 million over the next five years for upkeep. Maddox said lawmakers hope that $2 million will be raised by the community. She told the newspaper that the spending bill has come close to passing in previous congressional sessions.

The campaign to save the house, give it permanent protection and have it help tell the story of the battle during the Atlanta Campaign is a long one.

O.O. Howard

Cobb County, just northwest of Atlanta, for years saw an incredible housing boom and development. While that was a boon for newcomers, preservationists and historians decried the loss of Civil War sites or land to development.

The county, working with the Georgia Civil War Commission and the Cobb Land Trust, spent $320,000 to buy the property in early 2004 so that 43 homes could not be built on it and adjoining parcels, park Superintendent Nancy Walther told the Picket in 2016.

The park needs congressional approval in order to expand its boundaries and accept the donation of the house and hill from the county.

Several years ago, then-Superintendent Stanley Bond helped lead a community effort to recommend ways to increase African-American visitation to the park – and tell the story of slaves, freed individuals, U.S. Colored Troops and more.

Bond told the Picket in February 2011 that he hoped the Wallis House could house an expanded exhibit on African-American soldiers and civilians. There’s a direct connection, because of the home’s association with Gen. Howard.

Howard University, a historically black school in Washington, D.C., was named for the white officer, founder of the university and commissioner of the Freedman’s Bureau.

In 2016, Walther said while there were no formal plans for interpretation of the Wallis House,  the park wanted to widen interpretation of what happened on and near the battlefield.