Georgia Battlefields Association meets at 'Great Locomotive Chase' depot in Dalton. Nonprofit based there will showcase its importance to commerce, culture and history

Iconic Western & Atlantic Railroad depot in downtown Dalton (Picket photo) and locomotive General in town in early 1960s for the Civil War centennial (Courtesy Bandy Heritage Center for Northwest Georgia)

Three dozen members of the Georgia Battlefields Association recently enjoyed dinner in Dalton, Ga., and received an update on the group’s preservation efforts, which began in March 1995.

Fittingly, the gathering occurred at the old Western & Atlantic train depot, itself the beneficiary of a commitment to honoring the past while looking to the future. The recently restored depot was one stop along the legendary “Great Locomotive Chase” of April 1862.

The Community Foundation of Northwest Georgia hosted the event during the GBA’s annual tour of sites, which this year focused on Union army preparations for the spring 1864 Atlanta Campaign and actions through the Battle of Resaca on May 15, 1864.

GBA president Joe Trahan said the nonprofit gave $150,000 last year toward Civil War battlefield preservation efforts. Joe Gaskin, who leads fundraising efforts, said several people have increased their membership levels and donations to the GBA’s “Limber Chest” fund.

Members of the Georgia Battlefields Association at the Dalton Depot (Courtesy CFNWG)

The foundation last year moved into the depot. One half of the restored building is leased by the philanthropic group; the other side currently is being converted into an English pub.

The foundation’s community gathering space features 25-foot ceilings, charming brick and Civil War-era architectural features. But it is a very up-to-date environment -- from modern furniture to TV monitors that are designed to prompt collaboration in today’s world.

The foundation is working with the Bandy Heritage Center for Northwest Georgia, part of Dalton State College, to develop a presentation or two in the building to provide context to visitors about the role of the depot in the city’s history and economy.

Andrews Raiders and pursuers rushed by in 1862

The Western and Atlantic Railroad line from Atlanta to Chattanooga, Tenn., was completed in the early 1850s and the Dalton depot opened in 1852 to provide passenger and freight service.

Union raiders on the General set fire to a river crossing in North Georgia (Wikipedia)

The depot was the hub for commercial growth in the Dalton area and the point of origin for surveys and maps.

The 12,100-square-foot brick building is “a pretty high-style example of Georgia depot architecture” and has Greek Revival features, with stone lintels, brick pilasters and door entablatures. (Picket photo, below)

The building had its moment of fame on April 12, 1862, when Northern raiders (the South labeled them spies) commandeered the locomotive General in Big Shanty. They chugged toward Chattanooga, intent on destroying parts of the railroad.

The pursuing locomotive Texas picked up a 17-year-old telegraph operator who rushed to the Dalton depot and wired Confederate troops to the north.

Although not all his message got through, Edward Henderson’s alarm sent troops toward the track. The Andrews Raiders were captured near Ringgold when the General ran out of steam. They had accomplished little. Many were hanged while others escaped. Several were the first to receive the Medal of Honor.

The depot remained in use as a rail stop for more than a century.

Center will help depot showcase area history

Foundation president David Aft (At left, with one of his painting, Picket photo) has communicated with Bandy Heritage Center director Matthew Gramling about ways to convey the depot’s vital role in the development of Dalton.

The focus will be on the cultural and economic networks the Western & Atlantic Railroad facilitated for Northwest Georgia.

Depot and other downtown buildings in 1932 (Courtesy of Bandy Heritage Center for Northwest Georgia)

“I am still in discussion with David regarding the exact display medium he wishes to use in different areas within the depot,” Gramling said in an email. “We will be providing him with local historical images on a jump drive for slide displays on a flat screen television in the main meeting area within the foundation.”

Among those images are a bank note issued during the Civil War, an old aerial shot and another of the locomotive General as it visited Dalton during the Civil War centennial. It is now housed at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw, Ga., while its pursuer Texas is featured at the Atlanta History Center.

Bob Jenkins, a local attorney active in Civil War land preservation and head of Save the Dalton Battlefields, said he is impressed with the renovation work on the long building in the heart of downtown on Depot Street. (Picket photo of depot interior, right)

“For the first 100 years of Dalton‘s existence, the depot was the entry point for those traveling here as they would have disembarked a passenger train at the depot and gone through it prior to entering the streets into Dalton for the first time. Today, most travelers enter Dalton via one of the interstate exits from I-75 and are graded by a multilane road with multiple fast-food restaurants, gas stations and strip malls,” he wrote in an email.

Local bank note issued during the Civil War (Courtesy of Bandy Heritage Center for Northwest Georgia)

Between the 1840s and 1940s, the Dalton Depot was a gathering place as well as a place of exchanging of information, goods and services, Jenkins said. “(The foundation) recaptures that opportunity for the exchanging of information, goods and services for the greater good for our community and her people,” he added.

Choo-choos add character to meeting spaces

The building’s future was very uncertain just a few years ago.

Locals remember Dalton Depot, a longtime restaurant and club which operated in the brick building until about 10 years ago. 

The depot fell into hard times after the restaurant closed. The city contracted with the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation to market the vacant and deteriorated building. Officials wanted $500,000, but eventually sold it to local Barrett Properties in 2018 for $300,000. It took another seven years before the renovation and reopening occurred.

The foundation’s five employees work in an office nearly twice as big as its longtime more traditional offices across town. They facilitate meetings in a glass-lined board room and smaller “collaboration zones.” (At left David Aft with one of his paintings, Picket photo)

Working with charitable givers, the nonprofit provides grants and funding for organizations in the area. Some of the endeavors involve mental health programs, historic preservation, neighborhood revitalization and other civic projects. It also provides space for outside groups to hold meetings.

Affordable housing is a problem in Dalton and Whitfield County. That has an impact on charitable giving. “People give where they live,” said Aft.

Northern half of depot is being developed as an English-style pub (Picket photo)

Last month, I stopped by the depot. People marvel at the renovated space, Aft said. A large weight scale in the lobby area is a reminder of the depot’s role in commerce, he said.

I asked him whether the building has some particular characteristics because of its history and proximity to busy CSX and Norfolk Southern rail lines.

Heating the building on cold days is a challenge, he said.

Employees have gotten used to the train traffic and say it is not distracting. Aft noted empty trains are louder because they bounce on the tracks and send out a clickety clack signal.

“It adds novelty to the space,” said Aft.

Central meeting area in the refurbished Dalton Depot (Picket photo)

From boarded up to reborn: This 1852 Western & Atlantic depot had a role in 'Great Locomotive Chase;' now it's reopened as a philanthropy center in NW Georgia

A nook overlooking rail line, the large boardroom and depot exterior work this week (Photos courtesy CFNW)

The old Western & Atlantic train depot has reopened in Dalton, Georgia, as a community gathering space where philanthropy aimed at solving 21^st century challenges can gain steam in a 170-year-old building integral to the town’s identity.

The Community Foundation of Northwest Georgia earlier this month moved a mile to a building that features 25-foot ceilings, charming brick and Civil War-era architectural features. But make no mistake, this will a very up-to-date environment -- from modern furniture to TV monitors that will prompt collaboration in today’s world.

“It’s been wonderful. It is beautiful office space,” foundation president David Aft told the Picket in a phone call this week. “It is a really neat place to work, and I have heard my whole life space has a huge impact on people’s creativity and the ease to get things done.”

A kitchen will provide refreshments for meetings (Community Foundation of NW Georgia)

The oldest commercial structure in the northwest Georgia city best known for its carpet industry is studied by Civil War enthusiasts for its brief part in the “Great Locomotive Chase.” Federal raiders commandeered a locomotive above Atlanta and raced north, bent on destroying sections of the railroad. Confederates pursued them through several cities, including Dalton

Locals tend to think more about the Dalton Depot, a longtime restaurant and club which operated in the long brick building until about 10 years ago. Trains still roll by regularly.

Aft said visitors and those attending foundation meetings in the depot appreciate its homage to the station’s history (it last had passenger service in about 1971) and its compelling design and architecture.

The foundation’s five employees are working in an office nearly twice as big as its longtime more traditional offices across town. They will facilitate meetings in a glass-lined board room and smaller “collaboration zones.”

A large freight scale (above) and telegraph window greet visitors in the open center of the depot. The foundation resides in the south end of the structure.

The depot fell into hard times after the restaurant closed. The city contracted with the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation to market the vacant and deteriorated building. Officials wanted $500,000, but eventually sold it to local Barrett Properties in 2018 for $300,000. 

The community foundation, which is leasing its space, occupies the former nightclub area. Barrett Properties is still marketing the other side, which still has remnants of dining booths.

Officials think a new restaurant might be a good fit.

Working with charitable givers, the nonprofit provides grants and funding for organizations in the area. Some of the endeavors involve mental health programs, historic preservation, neighborhood revitalization and other civic projects.

For now, the foundation is settling in as improvements to the brick exterior continue. Wood trim is being replaced and an old awning is coming down. (Above, the point of origin for surveys in Dalton)

He had to get a message through -- quickly

The Western and Atlantic Railroad line from Atlanta to Chattanooga, Tenn., was completed in the early 1850s and the Dalton depot opened in 1852 to provide passenger and freight service.

The depot was the hub for commercial growth in the Dalton area and the point of origin for surveys and maps. The 12,100-square-foot brick building is “a pretty high-style example of Georgia depot architecture” and has Greek Revival features, with stone lintels, brick pilasters and door entablatures.

Union raiders on the General set fire to a river crossing in North Georgia (Wikipedia)

The building had its moment of fame on April 12, 1862, when Northern raiders (the South labeled them spies) commandeered the locomotive General in Big Shanty. They chugged toward Chattanooga, intent on destroying parts of the railroad.

The pursuing locomotive Texas picked up a 17-year-old telegraph operator who rushed to the Dalton depot and wired Confederate troops to the north.

Although not all his message got through, Edward Henderson’s alarm sent troops toward the track. The Andrews Raiders were captured near Ringgold when the General ran out of steam. They had accomplished little. Many were hanged while others escaped. Several were the first to receive the Medal of Honor.

The depot remained in use as a rail stop for more than a century.

The setting: A comfortable place to convene, create

For Aft (left), the project mixes nostalgia, history and preservation. Not everyone is interested in each of those aspects, he acknowledged. But they are interested in community needs that include mental health programs, food banks, education and other civic projects.

The area’s Latino population has grown considerably while Whitfield County’s overall population growth has remained stagnant. Housing affordability and supply are big issues.

The foundation contends it setting needs to be comfortable, with a good flow that brings people together into the central room and then into corners featuring some privacy. Large TV monitors are being built into the space, and PowerPoints and other technology will provide visual representations of projects.

The hope is for outside groups to eventually utilize the convening spaces about four times a month. The foundation, naturally, will hold meetings in the depot the rest of the time. “We understand it will take maybe 12 months to fully activate the space and to get the staff understanding how others want to use the space,” said Aft.

The nonprofit’s leader said he has already talked with groups who might choose to hold meetings at the depot.

The 173-year-old building “has its own peculiarities to it,” said Aft, who quipped no ghosts have thus far made their presence known.

What is evident is the appreciation community members for the time and care into making a charming gathering place.

Aft summarizes their thoughts: “You made something important to me – you took care of it.”

Common area (left) and work spaces at Community Foundation of Northwest Georgia

NW Georgia depot known for 'Great Locomotive Chase' will reopen by summer as a place where philanthropy gets on track. We got an inside look at the renovation

Work is in full swing at the Western & Atlantic Depot (Picket photos), a stop in the Great Locomotive Chase

The past few months have seen me move a bit from my customary “armchair blogger” status to getting out on the road (yes!) – reporting about sites rich with history but also dreamers who are turning old spaces into something useful.

Such was the case this past Friday, when I drove to Dalton, the carpet city in Northwest Georgia. I got an inside peek at the Western & Atlantic Railroad Depot, which is being repurposed as a charming community gathering place.

The site is best known to Civil War enthusiasts for its brief part in the “Great Locomotive Chase.” Locals tend to think about the Dalton Depot, a longtime restaurant and club which operated in the long brick building until about 10 years ago.

David Aft, right, showed me around the work inside depot (Picket photos)

“Everybody has a depot story,” said David Aft, president of the Community Foundation of Northwest Georgia, which will occupy half the historic site. The civic engagement facilitator, clad in a blue sports coat and jeans, occasionally stopped to talk with workers about construction details as he showed me around.

After a brief brush against one wall, I was careful to stay away from fresh paint as we moved toward a central room that will be the hub for foundation. The gathering space will feature 30-foot sliding glass doors on either side, opening to several smaller nooks in which people can continue their conversations after the leave the large room.

Aft told me he hopes his five employees of the philanthropic organization will be able to move in by the end of May. There’s still plenty to be done, and work on the exterior of the 1852 depot will begin soon, he said. Much of the wood around the brick needs to be repaired or replaced.

Why the move across town?

That’s an easy one: There will be modern furniture, more bathrooms, space to move around and idea-creation “in the center of all things Dalton.”

The depot, he previously told me, was the hub for commercial growth and the point of origin for surveys and maps in the 19^th century.

Now, its rustic exterior and historic features inside will help usher big and small ideas for the region.

A pivotal telegraph message during Andrews Raid

The Western & Atlantic Railroad line from Atlanta to Chattanooga was completed in the early 1850s; the Dalton depot opened in 1852 to provide passenger and freight service.

The large central room will be in the area with the large gray bucket (Picket photo)

The building had its moment of fame on April 12, 1862, when Northern raiders who had commandeered the locomotive General in Big Shanty, above Atlanta, were chugging toward Chattanooga, intent on destroying parts of the railroad. They were under the command of James Andrews.

The pursuing locomotive Texas picked up a 17-year-old telegraph operator who rushed to the Dalton depot and wired Confederate troops ahead in Chattanooga.

Although not all his message got through, Edward Henderson’s alarm sent troops toward the track. The Andrews Raiders were captured near Ringgold when the General ran out of steam. They had accomplished little but lore surrounding the "Great Locomotive Chase" was born.

Robert Jenkins, an attorney and preservationist of area Civil War battlefields, noted the first recipients of the Medal of Honor were the majority of of the Andrews Raiders, making the depot a significant part of U.S. history.

I asked Aft about ideas for interpreting the chase and Civil War.

“At this stage, we expect to have some historical signage and a few artifacts, but I don’t have any specifics,” he said. “There are no plans for a ‘museum’ right now and no conversations about curating a collection or anything like that.  It is a possibility in the future, but what that will look like and how comprehensive it has yet to be determined.”

According to a nomination form for the National Register of Historic Places, “the depot might have been partially destroyed when Union troops entered Dalton and set fire to several buildings in 1862. It appears that the essential structure of the depot was not damaged and the restoration was confined to roof and interior repair. Since the ornamental brackets are stylistically later than the date of the rest of the building, it is likely that they replaced others lost in the destruction.”

The 12,100-square-foot brick building is “a pretty high-style example of Georgia depot architecture” and has Greek Revival features. It features stone lintels, brick pilasters and door entablatures.

Building will be a mix of old and the very new 

The old Western & Atlantic is a fixture in Dalton, Ga. (Picket photo)

The city years ago contracted with the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation to market the vacant and deteriorated building. Officials wanted $500,000, but eventually sold it to local Barrett Properties in 2018 for $300,000. 

The community foundation will occupy the former nightclub area. Barrett Properties is marketing the other side, which still has remnants of dining booths.

The foundation is leasing its space, spending upward of $400,000 for the renovation at 110 Depot St.

During my hour-long tour, I got an occasional look at older features, including brick, telegraph window, wood flooring and a freight scale (Picket photo, left).

For Aft, the project mixes nostalgia, history and preservation. Not everyone is interested in each of those aspects, he acknowledged. But they are interested in community needs that include mental health programs, food banks, education and other civic projects. The area’s Latino population has grown considerably. Housing affordability is a big issue, said Aft.

“We partner with you to turn your dollars into impact through grants, endowments, foundations, and donor advised funds. Your passions might include your local community or a global community, and our expertise provides guidance and coordination to match your passions with real results,” the foundation says.

The foundation currently works from the top floor of a building with a more traditional setting, about a mile from the depot. The new location will allow about 40 people to comfortably gather and the foundation, when also using the large common area at the entrance, can host up to 200 people for receptions.

The trick is making up for less government funding

Officials said the reopened depot will help buttress revitalization in downtown Dalton.

They want locals to spend their dollars there, rather than nearby Chattanooga, Tenn., and to enjoy the nearby Burr Performing Arts Park, among other venues (Picket photo, right).

The foundation worked with the late philanthropist Jeanne Burr to create the venue, demonstrating arts and culture help fuel economic development.

Aft points to other attractions in the area: Retail at the Mill at Crown Garden, the Mill Line pedestrian and bicycle trail and Rocky Face Ridge Park, scene of a major Civil War battle in May 1864.

Like other nonprofits, the foundation faces challenges from reduced government spending. “We have to roll up our sleeves” to deal with what Aft called a resource scarcity crisis.

The need for nonprofits to step in to help address critical issues is especially important, given the general distrust of government in this deeply red corner of Georgia. Aft calls himself a cheerleader and facilitator.

“Charity is an act of confidence” that someone can care for their family and someone else, he said.

That concept is being challenged these days amid economic uncertainty.

Getting folks together in a pretty cool space

Norfolk Southern and CSX have tracks running through downtown Dalton, and another depot to the south serves as a tourism stop. Trains roll by regularly, so visitors will very much know the context of this gathering spot,

For Aft (left, Picket photo), the foundation is all about convening stakeholders. The setting needs to be comfortable, with a good flow that brings people together into the central room and then into corners featuring some privacy. Large TV monitors are being built into the space.

The staff will work from upstairs and lower-floor offices at the south end of the building.

They will foster engaging conversations and collaboration zones in the building. Aft figures it will take up to a year to figure out how to effectively use the space.

The key is preserving the wealth of the region while providing substantive results to individual donors and organizations and government.

The executive says his role is to support dreams, listen closely and provide reality checks on ideas.

Aft’s mantra: “Be helpful.”

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.