Compelling Civil War artifacts are among 100 objects the Atlanta History Center is highlighting to mark its centennial. Among them: USCT flag, ammo crate, a girl's diary, Sherman calling card, Cleburne sword, a Union map and a revolver

Solomon Luckie, Union map of Atlanta, 127th USCT flag, sketch for Cyclorama (Courtesy AHC)

Through items big (the locomotive Texas weighing in at 53,000 pound) and small (less than an ounce for Gen. William T. Sherman’s calling card), nearly 20 Civil War-related artifacts are featured in “Atlanta in 100 Objects,” a book and accompanying exhibition that opens Friday at the Atlanta History Center.

The AHC, celebrating its 100 anniversary this year, is inviting visitors to examine artifacts in galleries, rooms and exhibits across its 33 acres. There is a big variety, from a disco ball and Peachtree Street sign (below right, AHC) to a letter from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and an Atlanta Crackers baseball jersey.

While many of the Civil War items, including the calling card and a map used by Sherman’s troops, are now on display, others (a diary by a 10-year old Atlana girl and the fascinating flag of an African-American regiment) won’t debut or return until the July opening of “More Perfect Union: The American Civil War Era.”

Officials say visitors will see photographs of the Civil War objects being unveiled during the summer. That exhibition will feature breathtaking artifacts and a broader discussion of issues that engage the republic to this day: our belief systems, victory, defeat, reconciliation and the evolving meaning of freedom.

If you can’t travel to the history center to see the 100 objects, the $24.95 coffee table book (left) features photographs and descriptions “that offer a vibrant portrait of Atlanta through the objects that define it.”

The finely produced volume offers just a snipper of what's at the history center. There are thousands of items in the history center's collection, including those pertaining to Reconstruction and civil rights.

Here’s a closer look at the “Atlanta in 100 Objects” artifacts that are directly related to the Civil War.

Much of the information is from the AHC book, while other portions are from previous Picket reporting on these artifacts, many of which have been at the museum for some time.

Adapting the first map of Atlanta for military use

You know how annoying it can be: Unfolding and folding a road map often leads to rips in the paper. Commanders in the Army of the Cumberland besieging Atlanta were issued a linen version -- preventing that problem.

British-born engineer and cartographer Edward A. Vincent made a map for the young city of Atlanta in 1853. Of course, Atlanta was a much smaller town (about 2,600 residents) and Vincent created a circle with a one-mile radius.

“Vincent beautifully illustrated the curved lines that gave Atlanta streets their unusual layout,” a caption in the book states. The Western & Atlantic’s Zero Milepost was in the center (more on that below).

Sherman’s army adapted Vincent’s creation (he also designed Union Station). The one held by the AHC was made July 25, 1864. It was drawn and printed in the field by the topographical engineer office for the Army of the Cumberland, commanded by Maj.Gen. George H. Thomas.

The other two large Federal armies in Georgia were the Army of the Ohio and the Army of the Tennessee. (Photo courtesy Atlanta History Center; click to enlarge)

Solomon and Nancy Luckie

Amid the bustle of Civil War Atlanta, 40 residents were an anomaly. Neither white nor enslaved, they were free blacks -- but they were not free in the fullest sense of the word. The residents toiled under restrictions and were always under a cloud of uncertainty.

Among them were successful barber and bathhouse owner Solomon Luckie, his wife Nancy (left, courtesy AHC) and their three children. The AHC has portraits of the couple; in his, Solomon wears a waistcoat, jacket and gold pinkie ring.

Luckie’s success story ended on Aug. 9, 1864, when one of thousands of Union artillery shells raining on besieged Atlanta hit a lamppost. Shrapnel struck the businessman, who was conversing with white businessmen at the intersection of Whitehall (Peachtree) and Alabama streets. He died hours later.

The lamppost for years was at the Underground Atlanta venue. It was moved to the AHC nearly a decade ago. It can be seen in an upstairs gallery associated with the Cyclorama.

Nancy and their children survived the war. “His descendants would live to see decades of success and struggles for Black Atlantans,” the book says of Solomon.

Zero Milepost

The granite post that marked the birth of Atlanta and survived the Civil War today sits next to the locomotive Texas at the AHC.

Zero Milepost (Picket photo, right) was placed in the 1850s at the southeastern terminus of the Western & Atlantic Railroad in what is now downtown Atlanta, near Georgia State University. “It was this railroad that provided the impetus for the beginning and subsequent growth of the city of Atlanta and marks the center of the city from which the Atlanta city limits were measured,” says the National Park Service.

The Western & Atlantic was vital for the Confederacy, sending both supplies and troops to the front.

For 70 years, the marker sat in the open, but the growth of the city’s viaduct system led to the Central Avenue Bridge above it and the feature was enclosed in a building in the 1980s. With the exception of a few groups, the marker had not been visible to the public since 1994.

In 2018, the milepost was moved to the history center, sparking criticism by preservation and civic groups. A replica was left in the remote site. The museum and state officials said the original needed protection from planned construction work

At the time, an official with the Atlanta Preservation Center said news of the move was a dark day for preservation. “It is always better to leave things in their original location,” said David Mitchell

Battle of Atlanta revolver

In 2006, descendants of Union artillery Capt. Francis DeGress discovered a small pocket revolver (Picket photo, below) that their great-grandfather carried into the Battle of Atlanta on July 22, 1864.

In the Cyclorama painting, galloping furiously to the rescue of Union troops who were briefly overrun at the Troup Hurt house is Maj. Gen. John A. “Black Jack” Logan, head of the Army of the Tennessee. Behind him is a revolver-toting DeGress.

DeGress, already a respected veteran, is about to become a folk hero to the Northern cause. He retakes the four 20-pounder Parrott guns and turns them on the retreating Confederates.

“He is an example of the sort of mid-level officer who was a natural leader, on whom the troops really came to depend. On whom the battle depended,” said AHC senior military historian and curator Gordon Jones.

The 1863 weapon was made by L.W. Pond Machine & Foundry Company in Worcester, Mass. It has been on display with other artifacts in the Cyclorama galleries.

According to “100 Objects,” descendants found a letter by artist Theodore Davis, a witness to the battle, friend of DeGress and a historical adviser to the Cyclorama painters. “The letter revealed that it was Davis who recommended DeGress’s dramatic pose with this revolver.”

Capt. Francis DeGress gallops behind Maj. Gen. Logan (Picket photo)

Battle of Atlanta Cyclorama painting and sketch

There’s a lot that can be said of the immense painting, which was made in the 1880s by mostly German artists with the American Panorama Company. Photos are helpful, but you really have to see this depiction in person to appreciate the artistry and chaos of battle.

Visitors at the AHC today stand or sit on a viewing platform and enjoy a powerful presentation projected onto the painting (Picket photo, right).

The book includes a foldout, 360-degree view of the painting and a preliminary sketch of the focal point – the furious fighting at the Troup Hurt house.

The Cyclorama, which was painted in Milwaukee to show a Union victory, was later modified and misinterpreted in Atlanta as showing a Southern triumph – however brief.

“Through the Cyclorama (visitors) can explore the larger question of how our memory and knowledge about the past can be shaped or mis-shaped, in the convergence of history, art, entertainment and myth,” says the book.

Patrick Cleburne’s presentation sword

One of the most compelling items in the former “Turning Point” exhibit was a sword presented by Rebel troops to Irish-born Confederate Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne. It is expected to come back on view.

An unknown maker produced the sword in Solingen, Prussia, circa 1864. Hammond Marshall of Atlanta, a dentist and jewelry maker, engraved the weapon.

(Photo courtesy Atlanta History Center)

Soldiers of the 15^th Arkansas Infantry – Cleburne’s adopted state -- presented him the sword on April 18, 1864. The scabbard features an Irish harp and the state seal of Arkansas is on the blade.

Cleburne was among six Confederate generals killed later that year at Franklin, Tenn. Before he set out, the officer uttered, “Well if we are to die, let us die like men.”

The “100 Objects” book features this postscript:

“Cleburne staff sent the sword to his fiancée, Susan Tarleton, in Alabama. It remained in the Tarleton family until 1944. It was discovered in an umbrellas stand in a New England antique store in the 1950s, after which it was purchased and donated to Atlanta History Center.”

Sherman’s photographer George N. Barnard

The AHC in 2024 purchased a rare copy of George N. Barnard’s “Photographic Views of Sherman’s Campaign,” thought to belong to Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman and signed in 1886 by his son Philemon.

Barnard traveled twice in 1864 to Atlanta following the Confederate surrender. The volume -- featuring 10 x 13 inches images -- includes scenes of the occupation of Nashville, the 1864 battles around Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain, the Atlanta Campaign, Savannah, Ga., and South Carolina. In May 1866, Barnard traced the route of Sherman's North Georgia campaign, taking pictures at Resaca and elsewhere.

(Photo courtesy Atlanta History Center)

Keith F. Davis, the leading authority on Barnard, said the photographer ranks among the top echelon of Civil War photographers – Gardner, O’Sullivan, Cook, Rees, Reekie, Gibson and Brady. “None of them surpassed Barnard in terms of technical or creative skill,” says Davis, a photography curator, author and collector. “It’s hard to say that any one of them was 'the best' but Barnard was second to none.” 

Charlie Crawford, president emeritus of the Georgia Battlefields Association, said Barnard's contract with the Army called for him to principally take photos of fortifications, and he took many.

“We're lucky that he had time to take photos of the Ponder house, car shed, etc.” says Crawford, who has led many tours of  key sites in Civil War Atlanta.

The “100 Objects” book includes this summary of the difficult work:

“Working with glass negatives, Barnard required a portable field darkroom and time to set up, chemically prepare the plates, expose the image, and develop the negative – all performed on site. Transported in wagons over dirt roads, the glass negatives were always at risk for breakage. His photographs are not enlargements, they are the same size as the glass negative, some as large as 12-by-15 images.”

Civil War diary – Carrie Berry

“We were fritened almost to death last night. Some mean soldiers set several houses on fire in different parts of the town. I could not go to sleep for fear that they would set our house on fire. We all dred the next few days to come for they said that they would set the last house on fire if they had to leave this place.”

Thus read the Nov. 12, 1864, journal entry of Carrie Berry, a 10-year-old girl living in Atlanta during the fall and occupation of the city. Hers is a very personal account of the shelling of her neighborhood, hiding in the family cellar and taking care of younger siblings.

(Photo courtesy Atlanta History Center)

In between were the seemingly mundane tasks of sewing and ironing. Carrie kept this diary from  August 1864 to January 1865.

The Berry family lived on Harris Street about a mile from the heart of downtown.

“Berry records her desires, reminding us that she is still a child,” according to the book.

In August 1864, she writes, ‘How I wish the federals would quit shelling us so that we could get out and get some fresh air. “Days earlier, she shared that it was her birthday, “But I did not have a cake – times were too hard so I celebrated with ironing.’”

Berry, who later married and had three children, died in 1921. She is buried at Oakland Cemetery, the resting place for Civil War soldiers and civilians alike.

The diary will go on display in July when “More Perfect Union” opens.

Confederate ammunition crate

(Photo courtesey Atlanta History Center)

On Aug. 20, 1960, construction workers digging the roadbed for interstate highways I-75 and I-85 near downtown Atlanta uncovered one of the largest assortments of Confederate artifacts in Atlanta’s history.

According to the history center, the find is known in local tradition as the “Expressway Cache.” (I was unfamiliar with the term). It was at a site that was near four railroad lines during the Civil War. Buried in the mud of a collapsed underground timber and earth supply depot were hundreds of muskets, projectile, railroad tools and other supplies.

The Atlanta Journal said “a mad scramble” of workers, highway department employees and onlookers looted the site.

This well-preserved crate, likely made in 1864, has a shipping address on one side: “To Gen’l Johnston / Atalanta (sic) / GA.”.

Locomotive Texas

A line of text in “100 Objects” makes a pretty grand assertion:

“Given Atlanta’s establishment as a railroad hub, the 1856 locomotive Texas is perhaps the most significant object in the city.”

The Texas is lit up at night and is visible from the road (Civil War Picket photo)

The Texas, saved from destruction years after its prominent role in “The Great Locomotive Chase,” can be seen through an AHC window along West Paces Ferry Road.

While it is most famous for the Andrews Raid in 1862, the steam locomotive – which was at Grant Park before it was restored in 2017 and relocated to the AHC – symbolizes something else about the city.

AHC officials have long stressed the engine tells a much larger story of the postwar growth of the city, and they decided to paint it in an 1886 scheme, rather than the bright colors it wore at Grant Park -- in part because its surviving parts date closer to that year than the Civil War.

Like the locomotive General, the object of the chase, the Texas was saved (in 1907) from the scrap heap. The General presides at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Marietta, Ga. The Texas and General are the sole surviving locomotives of the Western & Atlantic Railroad, which played a large part in Atlanta’s early development.

Silk regimental flag of the 127^th USCT

A prize artifact acquired in 2019 by the Atlanta History Center captures the essence of why about 180,000 African Americans volunteered in the Union army during the Civil War. It will go on display in July, officials said.

“We Will Prove Ourselves Men” reads the motto on the striking flag that belonged to the 127^th Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops, which was formed in Pennsylvania of free men and some who had escaped bondage. The reverse side features a bald eagle and the national motto, “E Pluribus Unum” –out of many, one.

(Photo courtesy Atlanta History Center)

This is one of three surviving examples of at least 12 USCT flags painted by David Bustill Bowser.

The 127^th trained at Camp William Penn near Philadelphia in 1864. It took part in combat during the siege of Petersburg and the surrender at Appomattox. USCT units -- which helped turn the tide in several campaigns and battles -- were led by white officers and it took time for soldiers to receive pay equal to their white counterparts.

They had limited opportunities and faced racism within the Union army. Some freed men captured by Confederate units were sold into slavery and in some instances, such as at Fort Pillow, black troops were victims of racially motivated atrocities.

Carpetbag

In the South, two terms of derision came to the fore in the years following the Civil War.

A scalawag was a white Southerner who did not conform to postwar expectations. They backed Reconstruction policies and, usually, the Republican Party.

Carpetbaggers were outsiders and, as the AHC says, “travelers from the North who came to the South to profit off the war; ravage local populations; and take advantage of efforts to rebuild the region’s economy, politics and social order.”

The AHC has a small carpetbag in its collection and describes such items this way:

“As the network of railways spread in the US during the prewar period, trains were connecting peoples and places quickly and efficiently. As a result, small industry developed to supply cheap travel bags. The bags were made from secondhand carpet scraps and sold for one or two dollars.”

Grand Army of the Republic reunion pot

The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a large fraternal organization made up of Civil War Union veterans.

This commemorative Boston bean pot was presented to GAR members in Savannah, Ga., by veterans from Beverly, Mass. Three sides are adorned with the coats of arms of the states of Georgia and Massachusetts, as well as that of the Grand Army of the Republic. (Photo courtesy Atlanta History Center)

According to the AHC, the pot was given in gratitude for the care of a grave of a Beverly veteran, Erastus B. Davis, who died in Georgia in 1887. Savannah veterans decorated his unmarked grave, pledging to “keep it in proper order and mount it with the flag for which he offered up his life.”

A chaplain at one graveside service for a veteran said, “The blue and the gray … now lie side by side. All strife has been ended and only the olive branch prevails.”

Gen. William T. Sherman’s calling card

In the 19^th century, these small items were the equivalent of today’s business cards, though most did not include contact information.

That’s because they were often mailed or given out at battlefields, veteran reunions and public events. Former generals dispensed them as a sign of goodwill, rather than the pursuit of business.

Such was the case in January 1879, when William T. Sherman returned to Atlanta for the first since he vanquished his foes there. Over three days, Sherman met with local and state officials and gave out cards like the one shown here. 

“Sherman received a warm welcome. Atlantans gathered at the train station to welcome the Commanding General of the United States Army, with only the occasional sly comment about fire,” says “Atlanta in 100 Objects.”

Other items with ties to the Civil War

-- Death mask of railroad engineer Lemuel P. Grant, who designed Confederate fortifications protecting Atlanta

-- Wallet, library card and driver’s license for Margaret Mitchell Marsh, author of “Gone With the Wind”

-- Wilbur Kurtz’s easel. The artist and historian (right) in the 1930s oversaw the restoration of The Battle of Atlanta Cyclorama and the addition of diorama figures.                                                

The AHC says patrons can enhance their experience through the Bloomberg Connects app, which offers additional audio and visual storytelling to enhance the “100 Objects” show.