Holly Wait led the National Civil War Naval Museum for 10 years. Her 'transformative' leadership, grit and humor will be remembered Thursday at celebration of life

Holly Wait lifts ribbon-cutting scissors and a glass after CSS Chattahoochee work (Terra Mare Conservation)

Holly Beasley Wait’s friendliness, good cheer and distinctive laugh were her calling cards, whether when talking to a stranger or working with colleagues at the National Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus, Ga.

When challenges came along, the museum’s executive director exhibited another side of her character: determination.

Such was the case when tragedy struck in June 2020. An arson fire roared through an outside storage area, severely damaging a unique component of the CSS Jackson and scorching the engines of the CSS Chattahoochee, the other key attraction at the museum in the river city.

Former curator Jeff Seymour remembers feeling devastated. But Wait’s mettle and leadership came to the fore, he recalls.

“She brought the team together and said, ‘We are going to get through this and go to the next step.’”

Wait, who was always thinking of the next step in improving the museum’s collection and outreach to the community, died Feb. 19 at a local hospital. Her unexpected passing has jolted the institution’s staff.

The museum at 1002 Victory Drive will host a celebration of Wait’s life at 6 p.m. ET Thursday (March 6). The funeral for the public historian, who was 64, is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday (March 8) at Miles-Odum Funeral Home Chapel in her native Waycross, Ga.

Wait was at the helm of the National Civil War Naval Museum for nearly 10 years.

“Holly's leadership … has been transformative,” the museum says. “She successfully navigated the institution through financial challenges and expanded its national reach. The National Civil War Naval Museum survived the pandemic because of her leadership. The museum's visitation numbers have reached their highest levels under her leadership. Her innovative programming and vision have broadened the museum's appeal, welcoming diverse audiences to engage with and learn from its exhibits.”

Wait worked with the Navy to create an exhibit displaying artifacts from the CSS Georgia, a floating battery that defended Savannah during the Civil War (Propeller in photo, left). The museum acquired letters written by a Federal engineer describing the blockade of Charleston, S.C.

The executive director and staff organized countless lectures and a 2016 symposium, “Wrecks, Recovery & Conservation.” The speakers featured preeminent conservation experts who have been tasked with helping bring the stories of the CSS Georgia, USS Monitor and the submarine H.L. Hunley to the public.

Among them was renowned conservator Paul Mardikian, who has worked on numerous projects, including the Hunley and CSS Alabama.

Mardikian and Claudia Chemello, who formed Terra Mare Conservation, cleaned and treated the Chattahoochee’s engines and the Jackson’s fantail after the fire.

“Claudia and I remember Holly for her wonderful spirit, great sense of humor and infectious laugh,” Mardikian wrote the Picket in an email. “She was never fazed by a challenge and was a true advocate for conservation. Both she and … Jeff Seymour showed remarkable strength and resolve after the devastating fire that destroyed much of the CSS Jackson's fantail.”

Wait (center), Paul Mardikian (second from left), Claudia Chemello and Jeff Seymour, to Wait's left, during discussion about the CSS Jackson's fantail (Terra Mare Conservation)

The engines are now on display next to the hybrid Confederate gunboat.

The giant remains of the CSS Jackson, also constructed in the Chattahoochee River, are the star attraction of the museum.

Portions of the surviving fantail wood and armor plates are stacked below, awaiting possible recreation of the section of armor plating that protected the rudder and propellers of the ironclad. An engineer created a digital record that will guide a possible reconstruction. Funding has not been procured.

Wait helped ensure the success of the annual RiverBlast Festival, which features firing of a 7-inch Brooke rifle, and a host of events -- including car shows, barbecue tastings and paranormal tours -- that broadened the museum’s mission.

In recent years, the venue expanded its support of more voices in its lecture lineup, ensuring the service of African-Americans during the Civil War received its due.

Seymour, now curator at the Erie Maritime Museum in Pennsylvania, said Wait’s deep experience in nonprofits and museum led efforts to build attendance and financial stability, especially when the local government reduced funding.

“She would work diligently to make sure the books were balanced. We looked at new ways to fund exhibits,” he said. “Anything to become more visible.”

Wait relied heavily on her staff, according to Seymour. “She did not make decisions out of the blue, and we discussed things at length before anything moved.”

Among the initiatives Wait championed are two social media fixtures: “Curator’s Corner” and another YouTube channel focusing on Navy lingo over the years.

“The museum thrived under her leadership, but Holly was so much more. Holly was the kind of person everyone instantly loved,” her obituary says.

“I don’t think the next person will be able to fill her shoes,” says Seymour.

CSS Jackson fantail (left) before the fire, which charred historic and modern vessels (Picket photos)

The museum has not announced an interim director as it navigates the days ahead.

“Her leadership has yielded many benefits already, but the greatest rewards are yet to be seen, as she has initiated numerous projects that are still developing and expanding,” it said of Wait.

Wait had degrees from Valdosta State University and Florida State University and served at institutions in Georgia and Florida for more than three decades, including the Jekyll Island Museum, the Museum of Florida History, the Heritage Museum of Northwest Florida, Okefenokee Heritage Center and Beaches Area Historical Society.

Before moving to Columbus, Wait was director of the Pearce Museum, a Civil War and Western art museum at Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas. She published four volumes of original Civil War letters.

“Notably at every museum she has dramatically improved both visitation and revenue, as well as upgrading their collections and facilities,” reads her obituary.            

Wait is survived by her husband John Wait, a brother and a stepson and stepdaughter.

Holly Wait takes a chisel to the CSS Chattahoochee engines after fire (Terra Mare Conservation)

Here’s what others who knew Wait and participated in programs at the naval museum said about her contributions. Some responses have been edited for brevity:

LAURA DAVIS, assistant professor of history at Columbus (Ga.) State University

Holly Wait was a dedicated and passionate public historian who not only helped guide the National Civil War Naval Museum through COVID-19 and other trying times but was the beating heart of the institution. She helped expand the museum's collection and programming, educating visitors on the importance of naval history. My students always loved visiting with her and I will forever be grateful for the warm welcome she provided me when I first moved to Columbus and shortly thereafter joined the board. Her spirt, determination and energy will be missed.

WILL HOFFMAN, director of conservation and chief conservator at The Mariners’ Museum and Park, which houses USS Monitor

I met Holly in 2016, when she organized the “Wrecks, Recovery & Conservation” symposium at the National Civil War Naval Museum. From my interactions with her over the years, it was clear that she was passionate about her work, museum and goal of ensuring that the stories of Civil War naval sailors will continue to be told. (Picket photo at 2016 program, left)

JAMES WELLBORN, associate professor of history, Georgia College and State University

I only recently had the pleasure of meeting Holly, when she invited me to give a summer lecture in August 2024. Throughout that process and in attending several summer lectures beforehand, Holly was incredibly welcoming and gracious with her time and incredible historical insights and perspectives. Such collegiality and congeniality is the mark of a truly genuine soul. She was a true champion of public history and will be sorely missed, not only at the National Civil War Naval Museum where she did such incredible work but in the broader field of public history. 

MICHAEL K. SHAFFER, Civil War historian and author

Since she joined the museum, I had the privilege of collaborating with her on several lectures I delivered there in Columbus. As a fellow author, Holly shared several valuable resources with me, which I incorporated into my writing. I will deeply miss her. Rest in peace, my dear friend!

The museum has established the Holly B. Wait Endowment Fund to support its mission. You can learn more here.

'Lady Victory' may have lost the battle with the wind, but the toppled statue won the war. Now she's back where she belongs in Mercer, Pa. -- standing tall

Two fallen figures, bent flagpole, broken musket, return of Lady Victory last week (Courtesy of Mercer County)

For about 125 years, motorists, shoppers and those doing business at the Mercer County courthouse in Pennsylvania have been greeted by “Lady Victory,” a statue of a woman solemnly placing a wreath on a kneeling soldier.

All was well until March 2023, when calamity struck.

Sixty mph-winds rushing through Western Pennsylvania toppled the Civil War statue dedicated in 1897, causing damage that reads like something from an NFL injured reserve list:

-- Soldier’s left knee blown out and he is bent backward; his right foot is separated from base plate;

-- Weapon broke off at soldier’s wrist, and butt stock of weapon is broken off base plate.

-- Lady Victory is bent backward and her feet suffered separation from base plate; (photo left, courtesy Mercer County)

-- Flag bent toward the front of the statue; eagle at the top of flagpole twisted to nearly a 90-degree angle;

-- Base bent and mangled and two side plates are broken loose;

Nearly two years after the top of the Civil War monument on the Mercer County courthouse square was knocked to the sidewalk, a crane late last week lifted the repaired statue back in place. (photo below, courtesy Mercer County)

The formal name of the monument, “Victory Crowning the Returned Soldier,” seemed especially appropriate for such an occasion.

“I know it’s kind of an iconic thing, that people were very upset when it was gone. We just had that pillar there for the last couple years,” Grace Reiter, executive director of the Mercer Area Chamber of Commerce, told TV station WKBN.

The return of Lady Victory is being welcomed in a county with significant history related to the Civil War.

There was strong abolitionist sentiment in the first half of the 19^th century, including support of the Underground Railroad, which spirited escaped and freed enslaved people to safety.

“Mercer became a significant stopping point for the slaves,” said the Grove City Area Historical Society. “The Pew family farm was a ‘station’ on the railway. It is believed Joseph Newton Pew and his siblings were personally involved in moving the escaped slaves.”

Numerous regiments drew from the area. That includes the 10^th Reserves, 57^th, 100^th, 140^th and the 145^th Pennsylvania infantry. 

“These regiments fought in the Eastern Theater, with the exception of the 100^th that fought in both Eastern and Western Theaters with the 9^th Corps,” said Chris Conti, senior planner with the Mercer County Regional Planning Commission.    

Among the town’s Civil War heroes was Medal of Honor recipient Lewis Brest, (below) who captured a Confederate flag near war’s end at Sailor’s Creek, Va.

Mercer-born soldier Martin J. Hawkins entered service in Ohio and received the medal for exhibiting great courage during the Andrews Raid in Georgia in 1862. He was among two dozen men who commandeered a Southern train.

Like hundreds of other communities – North and South – Mercer County erected its monument in the late 19^th century. (The county, between Pittsburgh and Erie, Pa., is on the border with Ohio. Youngstown is the closest large city.)

Brian Gruber, facility director for the county, told the Picket on Monday statues of two soldiers representing the cavalry and artillery were not damaged by the windstorm. They stand in the middle of the monument.

The memorial is called “Victory Crowning the Returned Soldier” but for short it is called “Lady Victory.” All three statues on the monument were built by W. H. Mullins of Salem, Ohio, said Gruber.

They were fashioned from stamped copper and bronze. 

McKay Lodge Art Conservation Laboratory of Oberlin, Ohio, performed the repairs and Alex Restoration and Masonry Repairs out of New Castle, Pa., placed the repaired status atop the base.

Early photos of the courthouse monument in the W.H. Mullins catalog

The cost was covered by insurance, Gruber told the Picket.

An August 2024 storm damaged a clock on the west side of the courthouse. "We had a severe storm roll through and the high winds snapped the clock in half, imploding it into the inside of the building," said Gruber. A replacement will be installed March 12.

About 110,000 people live in Mercer County, which has the active historical society.

“As far as our economy, similar to all counties in Western Pennsylvania, we have gone from rural/agricultural to industrial to ‘Rust Belt’ to attempting to diversify and redevelop,” said Conti. One of the largest outlet malls in the nation is located on Interstate 79 in southern Mercer County.

Outsiders, including those in the Pittsburgh area, come to Pymatuning Lake and Goddard state parks and the Shenango reservoir. Other attractions include Keystone Safari and the Avenue of 444 Flags (photo right, Wikipedia).

Reiter, with the Chamber of Commerce, said Mercer – which has about 2,000 residents – is loaded with small-town charm.

“We cherish the moments that give us that classic ‘Hallmark movie’ feeling, and lately, there's been a renewed energy -- a spark of rejuvenation and a strong desire to create meaningful community events and lasting memories,” she wrote to the Picket in an email.

“Our town has a unique character due to its proximity to the courthouse, which brings a strong presence of nonprofits and government-related businesses. However, there's also been an exciting wave of growth, with new retail shops opening on the square and businesses growing.” 

S. Carolina's governor fled to this house in Union as Sherman's men arrived. Here's the latest on efforts (and a donation) to repair building. Will staircase return?

Stabilization of ceiling, exterior, crawl space (Preservation South Carolina); Gov. Andrew Magrath

An ambitious project restoring a weathered South Carolina home at the center of an interesting chapter in Civil War history is being compared to taking a patient from critical condition to full recovery.

The nonprofit Preservation South Carolina this month began Phase 1 of its plans to turn the Judge Thomas Dawkins House to an alumni center for the University of South Carolina-Union. The home in Union briefly served as the Confederate state’s capitol during the waning weeks of the war in 1865.

The current stabilization work – funded mostly by $300,000 in state money -- began in early February and is expected to be completed around June 1.

Bill Comer, a Union native and head of the PSC’s Dawkins rehab project, recently brought the Picket up to date on where things stand.

“The Phase 1 work to date is essentially securing, strengthening and shoring up the structure to prevent its ‘falling in and/or falling out,’ similar to resuscitating and stabilizing a dying patient that has been badly injured in an automobile accident,” wrote Comer, a retired health care and finance executive.

The ambitious effort was buoyed recently by a $50,000 donation from philanthropist Barbara Harter Rippy (left), who also has contributed to local and university projects, including scholarships, the USC-Union nursing program and the Bantam athletic program.

Amid its 60 birthday, USC-Union recently launched a new alumni association. About 1,400 students attend the school; the deteriorated, long-vacant dwelling is on the edge of campus.

“Officials hope that the restored and functional Dawkins House as the Alumni Center for USC- U in downtown Union will provide an economic boost for the City and County of Union, which is home to 27,000 people,” PSC said in a news release. “About 21% of residents are in poverty, according to the Census Bureau. The median household income lags well below the state average.”

The house is supported by chiseled granite foundation blocks and once had a spiral staircase in the main hall.

Supporters hope the staircase (circa 1970 photos below) -- built by Dawkins in 1845 -- can be reborn.

“We have learned of a home in Union built in the same period that has a similar staircase that could used for duplicative construction drawings,” said Comer. It will not be a part of Phase 2 stabilization unless an adequate amount of funds have been secured to cover the cost, he said.

Rebel leaders reportedly torched papers in home

The Dawkins House, on North Church Street, is best known for several weeks in spring 1865. It was nicknamed “The Shrubs” and was occupied by Judge Thomas Dawkins and his English-born wife Mary Poulton Dawkins. 

Gov. Andrew Magrath, before fleeing Columbia as Federal troops closed in, got in touch with college chum Dawkins (below) about using the home and others nearby to conduct business amid the chaos.

From about Feb. 15, 1865, until sometime in March or April, Magrath (right) ran the state from the Dawkins House as Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman sacked Columbia and moved on other cities, bent on destruction and submission of Rebel troops. Magrath apparently worked from an informal library near the drawing room.

According to histories and local legend, Magrath and his subordinates burned possibly incriminating documents and correspondence in the home’s fireplaces. (The building served as South Carolina's capitol while the city was briefly is capital.) Magrath had to flee Union and was captured soon after.

Confederates burned documents for myriad reasons, said USC-Union assistant history professor Andrew Kettler.

“Generally, burning would be to avoid military secrets getting into the enemies hands,” the professor said. “But, at the late stages of the war, such secrets may have become secondary as Confederates may have also wanted to hide evidence of the original treason of the Confederacy in the first place, and any other actions that could have led to prosecutions and trials after the war.”

One of the surviving fireplaces on the first floor of the home (Preservation South Carolina)

Here's what has been done in February

Tarps have covered the roof and a portion of the two-story clapboard house for some time; it has not been occupied for years. The outside appearance doesn’t signal the charm inside, even if much of it has crumbled.

The house has exposed beams with carved end fittings, and many rooms are brightly colored. It still has quality features including, beaded and dovetail wood, joints and beams. (At left, Mary Poulton Dawkins)

Portions of the house date back to the 1790s, making it one of Union's oldest surviving homes, existing during the time of George Washington’s and John Adams’ presidencies. So the Civil War is a relatively short period in its 200-plus years.

The 1850 Federal slave schedule indicates Thomas Dawkins owned about 30 enslaved persons before the war. It is unclear whether they were on more than one property.

Comer provided a synopsis of what’s been thus far:

-- Pickets on the front porch railing were removed and numbered for replacement to their exact position
-- Exterior bracing at front porch and side annex wall are complete.
-- Crawl space shoring with the metal jack posts.
-- Crawl space bracing walls are installed.
-- Plywood sheathing placed on the areas where the floors are weak.
-- Plaster removal has been completed where interior bracing walls will be erected.
-- First floor bracing walls are installed. Sheathing will be installed on these walls.
-- Bricks are being removed from chimneys down second-floor window seals, cement scraped off and stored for replacement.

Recent bracing in the front of the vacant dwelling (Preservation South Carolina)

Huss Construction of Charleston is leading the restoration work.

“Phase 1 will facilitate a subsequent Phase 2 stabilization to make the house strong and structurally sound so that the walls and floors can carry the weight loads required of their anticipated uses and to install the final, long-term roof. (Since the patient has been stabilized via Phase 1, we can perform precision surgery via Phase 2 to strengthen bones so that the patient can walk and run again.),” said Comer.

“Once Phase 2 has been completed, customization construction can begin to put the house in exactly the floor plans needed for its intended use (room design, and installation of bathrooms, HVAC, plumbing, electrical wiring, etc.).”

The first floor of the house will hold larger alumni and campus events. Between four and eight people will be able to work upstairs, officials said.  

William Waud depiction of the capture of Columbia, S.C., in 1865 (Library of Congress)

What lies ahead when funding arrives

PSC initially had $300,000 in state money and $10,000 each from Union and Union County to hire and engineering firm and do the stabilization.

But it will need between $800,000 and $1 million for Phase 2. Comer says the organization is trying to secure that funding. It is likely work will halt after stabilization until a substantial portion of that money is obtained from private and public sources.

“Phase 2 Stabilization will stabilize the House’s structure to the extent that the foundation is solid, floors are appropriately weight-bearing for their anticipated operating purposes, walls are tight and load bearing, and the roof is in its final long-term condition,” said PSC.

Once that is over, ownership will be turned over – perhaps in summer or fall 2026 -- to USC-Union, which will need to find the money to complete the restoration and customization of the space before opening it as the alumni center.

People in the community say the Dawkins House is an important landmark. “It anchors one end of Main Street and the courthouse anchors the other end,” said Comer.

Union County has a rich black history and has seen reconciliation after decades of racial violence during and following the Civil War. 

Comer believes the community is all in for restoring the home. 

Established in 1990, PSC is South Carolina’s only statewide, nonprofit organization dedicated to historic preservation

McAfee House outside Atlanta is sold for $1 to couple who own a wedding venue. They will move Civil War site to Cherokee County and make it a private residence

The McAfee house was built around 1840, when Cobb County was mostly farms (Cobb Landmarks)

An Atlanta-area home that was caught in the middle of Civil War cavalry clashes and briefly served as headquarters for a Union general has been sold for $1 and stipulations to a couple who will relocate the residence to a neighboring county.

Lee and Brittani Lusk, who operate The Wheeler House wedding and events venue, purchased the 1840s Robert McAfee House -- situated in a congested corridor -- for $1 from Cobb Landmarks

The nonprofit group had long worked with the owner of the historic house and developers to save it from the wrecking ball, but things did not work out until now.

While Cobb Landmarks had hoped the McAfee House would stay in Cobb County, the proposal put forward by the Lusks -- who live in Ball Ground in Cherokee County -- was a clear choice for a committee looking at nearly 40 proposals to relocate the empty dwelling.

“There were a couple (proposals) from Cobb (but) they were not fleshed-out applications,” Cobb Landmarks executive director Trevor Beemon told the Picket. “We needed to get to someone who already knows what they are doing.” The house must be removed by May 15 to Ball Ground, about 25 miles to the north.

Click to enlarge map of several Civil War clashes in Cobb County (ABPP)

The Robert and Eliza McAfee House served a few weeks in June and early July 1864 as the headquarters for Brig. Gen. Kenner Garrard and his three brigades during the Atlanta Campaign. The Federal troopers clashed almost daily near Noonday Creek with Confederates led by Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler. The house is said also to have been used as a field hospital.

Cobb County was the scene of significant combat action and troop movement as the Confederates tried to stall Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s relentless campaign on Atlanta, which began in May 1864 in North Georgia.

After the seizure of Big Shanty (Kennesaw) by Federal forces on June 9, Garrard’s cavalry division was posted on the left flank during operations on the Kennesaw Mountain front. While there were some small towns, including Marietta and Big Shanty, most citizens lived on farms. The farm was believed to have been occupied by Confederates, too, during the action around Kennesaw Mountain.

Buyers reportedly renovated many historic structures

The Wheeler House website says CEO and owner Lee Lusk, a native of Canton in Cherokee County, purchased and renovated his first home at age 18. “Since, he has remodeled multiple historic homes in the North GA. He has also bought, sold and developed land in Cobb and Cherokee counties.”

His wife Brittani Lusk serves as operations and marketing director at The Wheeler House, which was built in 1906 by a local lumber businessman.

The Lusks told the Picket they will move the McAfee House to a lot near their home in Ball Ground. They had not decided whether it will be used as a house or museum for the community.

No one has lived in the home for more than a decade (Photos, Cobb Landmarks)

Lee Lusk said they expect to have the house out by the end of April.

“They are anxious to get in there," Beemon said. “They are excited about it.”

The couple have moved a couple properties in the past and have the knowledge and wherewithal to make the deal happen, Beemon said. It could cost up to $150,000 to move the dwelling up Highway 5 and another $200,000-$250,000 for renovations.

Lee Lusk said in a 2021 interview he was 25 when he bought The Wheeler House. The couple built a barn for events a couple years later, in 2012. He recalls finding two old photos in a hidden compartment in the house.

This old house was well-built but needed protection

A deal to turn the McAfee House property at Bells Ferry Road and Barrett Parkway into a car wash (even if the house stayed) fell apart in 2023. Preservationists used the time to come up with something else with the property owner, who decided to donate the home to Cobb Landmarks so it could be moved and make way for a commercial venture.

The developer purchasing the land lived in the home as a child and is expected to build a multi-tenant development, Beemon said.

The home and outbuildings were vulnerable to development because the property owner did not seek historic protection from Cobb County. Beemon said the Lusks will be required to obtain a preservation easement and adhere to Department of the Interior standards for the home exterior while they may renovate the interior as they please.

This state marker did not provide protection (Photo by Michael Cruce / HMdb.org)

The house is built of pine timbers joined with wooden pegs. It has original heart pine floors (currently under carpet) and plank walls and ceilings beneath modern additions. The residence features a central hallway. It has not been occupied for many years, said Beemon.

“When you walk through it the floorboards don’t creak. The timbers are two feet thick under this thing. It is sitting on stone piers. It is really a solid structure.”

The couple may have to separate the structure into two or three pieces for the move.

“As serial restorers, they are putting a lot of passion into these things,” said Beemon.

The home is the last remaining pre-Civil War structure in the busy Town Center corridor of the county. Cobb Landmarks has worked for about five years to save it. Previous plans and deals fell through, Beemon told the Picket.

“I won’t believe it until it is up on a trailer. It has been such a roller coaster over the years," he said.

Carol Brown, co-founder of Canton Road Neighbors, a nonprofit that keeps a close eye on zoning issues in the area, told the Picket she had hoped the house would have remained in Cobb County. “But I am glad the house will be preserved.”

“I wish that Cobb County could have recognized the value to the community by acquiring the two-acre historic property and restoring the house onsite," Brown said Thursday. “It presented a unique opportunity, now lost in an area that becomes more impervious, less livable and less pedestrian friendly every year.”

Beemon said the cost for the three acres in a highly desirable area was likely too expensive for the county.

Wrecking the railroads in Atlanta: What's going on this fascinating Barnard photo showing Sherman's men at work? Experts weigh in on this, other images

Barnard's fascinating photograph showing Union engineers (Library of Congress)

I’m a fan of Garry Adelman’s Civil War Page on Facebook. The director of history and education for the American Battlefield Trust regularly posts photographs from the collection of the Library of Congress and other sources.

I love his descriptions of Federal soldiers posing for the camera. Among them:

“Blue-eyed dandy”

“Jaunty caps”

“Photobomber”

“A dude checking his iPad”

You get the idea. But an image he posted on January 4 of soldiers destroying Atlanta railroad in November 1864 especially got my attention. George Barnard, a contractor for the U.S. Army, took many photographs of the fallen city after he arrived two months earlier, but I had never seen this one, for some reason. While most of these fellas were just standing around, others were engaged in a flurry of activity before the end of occupation and the commencement of the March to the Sea.

Labeled “Gen. Sherman’s men destroying the Railroad, before the evacuation of Atlanta, Ga.”, the photograph was taken in downtown Atlanta not far from skyscrapers, Underground Atlanta, Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the former CNN Center. (Detail from Georgia Battlefields Association walking tour map below)

It shows two groups of men destroying railroad track and machinery, vital to Confederate transportation in the Deep South. The larger contingent gazes at what appear to be pipes or boilers. The freight depot for the Western & Atlantic Railroad is in the background.

What exactly is shown here? I decided to reach out to Barnard authority Keith Davis and  Atlanta-area experts for their thoughts: The Atlanta History Center, Civil War author Steve Davis and The Atlanta Campaign History and Discussion Group and Uncle Billy’s Boys (Western Federals), both on Facebook.

Also consulted was the Georgia Battlefields Association, which will conduct two walking tours of Civil War Downtown Atlanta in March, using Barnard photos as reference points.

Why was Barnard in Atlanta in 1864?

Barnard, a pioneer in the field, served as the official photographer of the Military Division of the Mississippi, led by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman. He wasn’t primarily a photojournalist. A number of his works were reproduced in the illustrated papers of the day, and some stereographs were sold to a popular market. 

On July 28, 1864, Capt. Orlando Poe, Sherman's talented chief engineer, wired Barnard (right), who was in Tennessee: "Hold yourself in readiness to take the field if telegraphed to that effect." A few days after Atlanta fell, on September 4, Poe telegraphed Barnard to join him, shortly after Hood’s Confederate troops, cut off from supplies, abandoned the city.

The Atlanta of the Civil War was a boom town, just beginning to acquire the muscle and mettle that one day would make it the behemoth of the South. In 1860, on the war’s eve, it had fewer than 10,000 residents, making it the fourth-largest city in Georgia, behind Savannah, Augusta and Columbus.

With its nexus of four railroad lines, Atlanta quickly showed its importance to the Confederacy and Federal forces who finally reached its outer fortifications in July 1864. The city quickly descended into chaos as Rebel troops were moved around and supply lines threatened.

Davis, author of several books on the Atlanta Campaign, including “What the Yankees Did to Us: Sherman’s Bombardment and Wrecking of Atlanta,” has written extensively about Barnard’s documentation of the Union conquest of Atlanta, with scores of scenes showing destruction, fortifications, a slave mart and Sherman himself.

In the volume “100 Significant Civil War Photographs: Atlanta Campaign,” Davis (left) said Sherman and Poe wanted their troops to destroy only manufacturing and railroading capacity, which was concentrated in the downtown business district. Federal soldiers, Davis wrote, started their own fires as early as Nov. 11, 1864.

“We are fritened (sic) almost to death last night,” young Atlanta diarist Carrie Berry wrote. “Some mean soldiers set several houses on fire in different parts of the town.”

Barnard ranks among the top echelon of Civil War photographers – Gardner, O’Sullivan, Cook, Rees, Reekie, Gibson and Brady.

The three photographs I will be discussing here – showing destruction of the city’s railroad infrastructure – were taken by Barnard in mid-November 1864. They likely were taken within a short time of each other, and may include some of the same troops.

What’s going on in this picture?

It’s hard to get a consensus because there were few detailed photo captions in those days and it’s just plain difficult to know for sure, given several pieces of iron or steel jammed together.

Poe, in his set of images, wrote of this one: “View in Atlanta just before the ‘March to the Sea’; showing manner of destroying Railroads and Machines.” 

Jackson McQuigg, vice president of properties for the Atlanta History Center, which houses the giant Cyclorama painting and Civil War exhibits, said he thinks the largest item in the foreground is a stationary steam engine (used for power generation).

“The boiler is at right, while the stack is flopped over and laying on its side on top of the engine itself,” he writes. “Even though the caption said that Sherman’s men are destroying ‘the railroad’ I see rails at left … it sure looks like that’s mostly pipe on the ground in the front. Maybe those were locomotive boiler flues?”

Charlie Crawford, president emeritus of the Georgia Battlefields Association, theorizes the foreground may depict a boiler on the right and a detached exhaust chimney (long tube) lying on a flat car. 

“It could be an exhaust chimney for any piece of machinery that creates heat by using controlled flame,” he wrote. “The boiler is the item on the right of the flat car. It still has an end cap, unlike the hollow tube. Could well be that the exhaust chimney was paired with the boiler before the machinery was disassembled.”

Commenters on Adelman’s Facebook added these guesses:

The ‘toolbox’ looks to be a toolbox on top of a steam piston from a locomotive. A boiler appears to be behind the smokestack and toolbox.....and there appears to be steam pipe fittings on the platform as well.....possibly a disassembled locomotive.

What it is resting on to the right of the picture appears to be a steam engine cylinder and valve box.

As for the rest of the photo -- the men toward the back?

Michael Rose, curator of decorative arts and special collections at the Atlanta History Center, said the smoke emanating from the back half of the photo (above) are three fire pits built to heat the rails. The idea was to warp and bend the rails and render them useless.

“I suspect the men are waiting for the heat to do its job so they can do theirs before moving on to more,” Adelman wrote in his Facebook post.

Later in this post, I examine two more destruction photos.

What exactly is that writing on the iron?

Zoom in on the flat car or platform and you will see a horizontal piece of iron with writing. It’s tough to make out (and for me to brighten) but here are some posts from commenters on the Adelman Facebook post.

"Laimbeer & Co. Atlantic Dock, Brooklyn, NY, 1855" which was one of the main warehouse companies located at Atlantic Dock.

“ATLANTIC DOCK BROOKLN NY 1855”

Rose said he can make out Brooklyn, N.Y.

“But not what comes before it, undoubtedly the manufacturer’s name. It does look like it includes “Atlantic” – but not in a way that look like Western & Atlantic R.R.”

Who are these soldiers?

According to Steve Davis, Sherman initially assigned three regiments of the provost guard to oversee the destruction: The 111^th Pennsylvania, 2^nd Massachusetts and the 33^rd Massachusetts.

Their task to destroy track, the roundhouse, depots, the railroad car shed and more, said Gordon Jones, senior military historian and curator at the Atlanta History Center.

The general changed his mind and brought in professionals -- Poe’s 1^st Michigan Engineers and Mechanics and the 1^st Missouri Engineers – to carry out the work. The 58^th Indiana also pitched in, according to Crawford.

Poe (right), chief engineer of the Military Division of the Mississippi, supervised demolition of the main passenger depot in downtown Atlanta and many other buildings. He is remembered as a visionary engineer, for both military and civilian service.

In his memoirs, Sherman wrote of “Poe’s special task of destruction.”

Not only did Poe carry out the order to burn Atlanta in 1864, he built the roads and bridges that made Sherman’s March to the Sea possible, according to the National Park Service. “At the end of the war, he was named brevet brigadier general. Since no system of medals existed at the time, the brevet rank, meaningless in terms of real authority, served to recognize gallant conduct or other meritorious service.”

Where was the photograph taken?

Downtown Atlanta was an extremely busy hub for railroads serving the city and much of the South. The photograph was taken fairly close to the juncture of the Western & Atlantic and Macon & Western railroads.

GBA map of downtown; W&A depot is shown at far left (Click to enlarge)

Local historian and tour guide Michael Hitt says the soldiers are on the Macon & Western railroad.

“In the background is the W&A RR depot,” says Crawford. "Depot site would now be just west of Ted Turner Drive and just northeast of “The Gulch.” Photo was taken from WNW of the depot, about where CNN Center used to be.”

The W&A roundhouse would be to the left, outside the image, said Rose.

The Barnard photo below -- taken before its destruction by Yankee troops -- shows a different angle of the depot, this time with a large roundhouse in the background. The facility was used for servicing locomotives. (Photo: Library of Congress)

Barnard, of course, wanted to make money from his work. Anthony & Co. published several of his photos. A December 2014 article in the newsletter for the Center for Civil War Photography featured the photo of the machinery among others depicting destruction in the city.

“As Yankee engineers proceed with their destructive work, smoke drifts past the ruins of a destroyed building in this original Anthony stereo view. Indeed, there was plenty to dread as night fell on Nov. 15, wrote John Kelley and Bob Zeller. “It was, (Maj. Henry) Hitchcock wrote, “the grandest and most awful scene.”

When was the photograph taken?

Regarding the shot of the men standing around the metal pieces, Steve Davis believes it was taken around Nov. 10-11, days before much of the city was torched.

Keith Davis (left), a leading expert on Barnard, told the Picket the photos of soldiers destroying railroad were likely taken on both Nov. 14 and 15. Sherman’s troops began leaving the city before noon on the 15^th to begin the march to Savannah, Ga.

“On the following morning, the general staff, Barnard, and the remainder of the Union forces marched out of the shattered city,” Davis wrote in a book about Barnard.

“So, I have to think that Barnard was extremely active on Nov. 15; thus, making it correct to date these as Nov. 14-15, rather than strictly the 14^th,” he told the Picket.

Crawford doesn’t believe the photographs could have been taken Nov. 15.

“We can date these photos because they depict activity, and we know the car shed and rail lines were destroyed on 14 November. Since the armies left town on 15 November, the photos must have been taken on the 14^th. Barnard may have taken images as the armies were leaving, but the destruction was completed on the 14^th."

The one major gap in Barnard’s Atlanta photography is that no images exist showing the vast panorama of destruction after the fires of Nov. 15 and 16, according Kelley and Zeller in the “Battlefield Photography” newsletter.

What about the two other soldier photos?

Union engineers destroying track; Western & Atlantic depot behind (Barnard, Library of Congress)

You probably are familiar with two more photographs showing groups of men heating and damaging rail so that the South cannot quickly get the trains running again after the Federal army ends its two-month occupation of Atlanta.

The first photograph described here was taken very close to the main image we have been discussing. Barnard must have moved his camera forward. If you look closely, you can see the men working amid iron rail, wooden ties and other infrastructure.

The photograph with all the machinery shows a particularly tall soldier. I am trying to place him in this photo, and I wonder if he is the man wearing a hat with a round crown, his face not visible to the camera. But the hats don’t exactly match. I welcome guesses from anyone reading this. These men are believed to be from the 1^st Michigan and 1^st Missouri engineers.

The second photograph, a vintage original stereo view, depicts men heating track near the destroyed car shed, about 700 yards east-southeast from the machinery shot.

Sherman's men do their work; behind right are remnants of car shed (Barnard, Library of Congress)

Union troops used large iron bolts and others items to knock down the arch supports before setting fire to the remains. This was a devastating loss for Atlanta. The car shed was a cooperative venture of the four railroads that served the Georgia city and the Confederacy. The station had been a fixture for about 10 years.

This scene is mostly covered today by the Central Avenue overpass downtown. Smoke from burning railroad ties rises in the background, according to Kelley and Zeller, who date the photograph to Nov. 15. The view is to the west, said Crawford. (Below is a photo of the car shed before its destruction)

“This has been a dreadful day,” Carrie Berry wrote on Nov. 15. “Things have been burning all around us. We dread to night because we do not know what moment that they will burn the last house before they stop.” (Her journal is at the Atlanta History Center)

Modern view (below) is above where car shed was built (Library of Congress and Georgia Battlefields Association)

Those who visit downtown, especially around Underground Atlanta, will notice many street levels have changed in the past century.

“Present day photos are difficult because construction of the viaduct system in the 1920s put the roads 20 to 30 feet higher than the terrain shown in the 1864 photos,” said Crawford. “You can still look down from a few vantage points onto the existing freight line and the two MARTA tracks that occupy some of the space that the multiple rail lines once traversed.”

You can get an idea of the modern landscape from the photo (above) of Lot R parking area that is above where the car shed was formerly.

Sharing blame for all that destruction 

Let’s briefly step back for a little background on what’s been termed in folklore as the Burning of Atlanta. About 40 percent of the city was in ruins when Sherman began his March to the Sea. But don’t lay all the blame solely at his feet.

“It started when Confederate military planners stripped and leveled buildings and homes on the city’s outskirts to build the extensive fortifications that Sherman found impenetrable,” reads an online presentation, “War in Our Backyards,” produced by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Atlanta History Center for the 2014 Civil War Atlanta centennial.

Hood's troops blew up ammunition train before leaving (Barnard, Fleischer's Auctions)

“During the summer siege, Union artillery fire hit many of the city’s major structures, setting many afire. Miles of trenches dug by both sides scarred fields and roads. When the Confederates made their retreat, they blew up their ammunition train, damaging scores of homes, and burned the massive Atlanta Machine Works factory,” the AJC said.

Looters, arsonists and the need for material for Union forts took their toll until November 1864, when Sherman “ordered the destruction and burning of all facilities with potential military value, including ripping up rail lines and destroying Atlanta’s transportation infrastructure.” He ordered out the remaining civil population, who were offered a one-way train ride either north or south.

Steve Davis has written about how the fires spread to residences, and some Union soldiers decided to start some residential blazes of their own.

You can see sites in March walking tours

Sadly, virtually nothing from wartime downtown Atlanta remains today and only a guided tour and some imagination can provide an adequate picture.

Crawford has led the GBA walking tour for 18 years. I went on a version in 2014 with former The Atlanta Journal-Constitution editor Scott Peacocke in July 2014. I enjoyed it and wrote about the experience here. “It rained buckets,” Crawford reminded me.

Scott Peacocke, Charlie Crawford and Mary-Elizabeth Ellard in 2014 (Picket photo)

Free walks will be held on March 8 and March 22 as part of the Atlanta Preservation Center’s Phoenix Flies program of tours and other events.

Crawford works from a downtown then-and-now map and a PowerPoint presentation with Barnard photos. The slides include pointers and basic information. He then takes participants around the area to see the “now” view to correspond to the old images.

“It’s always fun to hear people say that they had seen some of Barnard’s photos and always wondered where they were taken,” he said.

Particularly popular are references to the book and movie “Gone With the Wind", including a scene in which Scarlett O’Hara approaches the car shed, which had been turned into a receiving hospital under care of Dr. Meade.

She walks through the expanse created by multiple rail lines, and hundreds of injured Confederate soldiers, some on stretchers, some on the red soil or tracks, writhe in agony or lie motionless. It is a powerful scene, punctuated by a tattered Rebel battle flag.

Crawford said he gets a variety of reactions and questions during his tours.

“Discovering that not all of Atlanta was destroyed is difficult for some to accept. Seeing that the state Capitol is now on the former City Hall site seems to give most people something they can surprise their family with.” 

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Georgia Battlefields Association will again lead free Phoenix Flies tours GBA of Civil War downtown Atlanta. Participants must preregister for the March 8 and 22 walks, which take about 2 hours and 45 minutes. The tours are limited to 25 people. Click here for more information. Registration for Phoenix Flies begins Feb. 21.