Kennesaw Mountain is a 'leadership laboratory' for future Georgia National Guard officers. A cadet's coat helps further their training

Officer candidates in 2016 reenact Federal charge at Kennesaw Mountain (GMI photo)

Georgia Military Institute, which provided cadets for Confederate service and was burned by Sherman’s troops in 1864, lives on today as the Georgia National Guard’s officer candidate school – located about two miles from the original campus. 

The Clay National Guard Center near Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta recently acquired on loan the GMI coat of Pierce M.B. Young, who went on to attend West Point in 1857 (where he was a roommate of George Armstrong Custer) and join the Confederate army before graduation in 1861.

Josh Headlee, curator/preservation specialist with Georgia State Parks, said Young’s cadet coat is the earliest one known to still exist. Young, a native of South Carolina who moved to Cartersville, Ga, at a young age, was a major general for the South, serving under Wade Hampton and J.E.B. Stuart. He later served in Congress and as a diplomat. Young died in 1896.

Young’s coat is on a three-year loan. Maj. William Carraway, historian with the Georgia Army National Guard, told the Picket that items such as Young’s and staff rides (which combine study and tours of battlefields) provide valuable insight and training for OCS students.

Pierce Young's GMI coat and as he appeared during, after Civil War

Carraway responded to the Picket’s questions about the training and museum exhibits:

Q. What do staff rides to Atlanta area Civil War sites accomplish? What can the war teach today's soldiers? 

A. A key component of the staff ride is participant research. This element of research is what differentiates a staff ride from a battlefield tour. The best staff rides therefore are tailor-made to the unit in question and its mission; therefore, the staff ride begins months in advance by identifying the training objectives of the unit and assigning research questions for individuals to study and brief on site. The staff ride is less of a lecture by a historian and more of a discussion facilitated by the historian based on the input provided by participating soldiers, their research and the insight they bring from their backgrounds and careers.  

The officer candidates of our current GMI consider Kennesaw Mountain in particular and the Atlanta Campaign in general as a leadership laboratory to examine the decisions made by commanders and how those decisions were influenced by terrain, weather and larger strategic considerations. The officer candidates examine the battle of Kennesaw Mountain from the perspective of staff functions – personnel, logistics, signal, medical, command, etc. and consider how they would make decisions based on the information gathered.

Maj. Carraway describes artillery action at Kennesaw Mountain (GARNG)

What options are available for the Federal and Confederate commanders? How are those options influenced by logistics? What is the enemy trying to do and how can a commander discern the enemy commander’s intent? What reconnaissance objectives should be designated to determine the enemy’s intent? How does the commander prevent the enemy commander from discerning his intent, composition and strength? All of these questions and others can be explored on ground on which past engagements were fought to inform the decision making process of current and future leaders. 

Q. When it comes to staff rides and other activities, what specifically does the Atlanta Campaign teach guard members? 

A. The U.S. Army and National Guard conduct staff rides to convey lessons of the past that apply to modern-day military problems and challenge Army leadership. The Atlanta Campaign specifically is replete with lessons for modern day logisticians, maneuver leaders, military intelligence and reconnaissance. Staff rides may be conducted for entry-level soldiers all the way to senior leaders. Many of the problems faced by commanders and staff officers of the American Civil War resonate today. Sherman’s logistical planning for the Atlanta Campaign has direct implications for modern commanders planning sustainment of short and long-term operations in the field. Commander’s selection of terrain similarly resonates to the modern soldier. 

A view of the GMI campus during the Civil War, as drawn by a Union officer

Q. How do you plan to interpret the Young coat? Is it specifically there because he attended GMI? 

A. The uniform provides an unparalleled opportunity to acquaint officer candidates of the current Georgia Military Institute with the full extent of the institute’s heritage and history. In addition to the American Civil War, graduates of GMI have served overseas during the Spanish American War, World War I, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Georgia Military Institute graduates have served at the highest levels of the Georgia National Guard to include commanders of the Georgia Army National Guard and the adjutant general. 

Uniforms on exhibit at Clay Center (Georgia Army National Guard)

Q. I understand the coat is on exhibit at the headquarters building. With what other items?

A. The exhibit displays uniforms, artifacts and imagery reflective of the history of the Georgia National Guard. This presently includes uniforms from the Spanish-American War era, WWI, WWII and modern uniform articles. The GMI uniform of Cadet Young anchors a portion of the exhibit dedicated to the history of the Georgia Military Institute and its more than 2,500 graduates who have gone on to serve in the Georgia National Guard and U.S. Army. 

Q. How did the loan come about? 

A. Michael Hitt, historian at GMI, discovered that the uniform was in the holdings of the state. We began an inquiry and confirmed that our display location could meet the security and environmental control requirements for the proper display of the uniform. The loan allows the Georgia National Guard to display the uniform as part of its historic uniform exhibit at the Clay National Guard Center in Marietta. 

Gordon Jones of Atlanta History Center displays Civil War coats (GARNG)

Q. Is the exhibit available to the public? 

A. The uniform is on display at the Clay National Guard Center in Marietta, which is co-located with Dobbins Air Reserve Base. While the military bases have restricted access, members of the public may contact the Georgia National Guard history office to inquire about viewing the uniform and other holdings of the Georgia National Guard archives. 

Q. I know the officer school is named for GMI. How does the guard interpret the grounds' history? 

A. The first iteration of the Georgia Military Institute was located approximately 2.5 miles northwest of the Clay National Guard Center. The historian of GMI is very active in researching and interpreting the history of the original GMI as well as the second iteration of the institute which operated from 1891-1898 in Atlanta. Research is ongoing to identify graduates that served in our nation’s wars such as Maj. William Kendrick, a GMI instructor who served during the Spanish American War, and 1st Lt. Homer Ashford of GMI, who mobilized to the Mexican Border in 1916 and subsequently deployed to France with the 31st Division in 1918. Graduates of the current iteration of the Georgia Military Institute were among the first mobilized for the Berlin Crisis of 1961 and served during the Vietnam War. 

Officer candidates do survey of the 1864 fighting at Kennesaw (GARNG)

Q. What is the mission of the 161st Military History Detachment? Is it based at the Clay Center? Is there a Civil War-related aspect? 

The 161st MHD is based at the Clay National Guard Center. Military History Detachments are staffed and equipped to deploy overseas and stateside to collect vital documents and interviews for major operations. The MHD is vital to how we will tell the history of current operations in the future. While there is no direct Civil War link to the MHD mission, it is valuable for an MHD commander to consider how future historians will regard current operations, and examining how past campaigns were documented and remembered provides insight into how the MHD conducts its mission. The MHD must anticipate the questions future historians will have about current operations and strive to collect the materials, artifacts and interviews to answer those future inquiries.