Kennesaw's Wallis house and Civil War signal station: Georgia Tech student creates 3D drawings to help in new interpretation of field hospital, HQ site

The side and front of the closed Wallis house (Picket photos) and Union Maj, Gen. O.O. Howard

Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard made a wise choice by picking the Josiah Wallis house for his headquarters during the Union advance on Kennesaw Mountain in Georgia. Rising near the circa 1853 dwelling is Harriston Hill, which was a perfect spot for a signal station because of its sweeping view of the valley leading to the Confederate lines atop the mountain.

The Wallis House, which served as a field hospital for both sides in June 1864, survives today. though it is in pretty rough condition. Harriston Hill, also known as Signal Hill, includes remnants of Confederate earthworks. Now part of Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, the two sites – separated by a subdivision -- await new use. The park says they can add a largely missing element: interpreting to visitors the Federal strategy at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.

There’s a lot of work being conducted before that goal is accomplished.

A master of architecture candidate at Georgia Tech in Atlanta has used LiDar (remote sensing technology) and a drone to create a model of the Wallis House for the National Park Service, which operates the park. He is wrapping up drawings for use in a historic structure report (HSR) that will be completed by the park next spring and used as a launching point on recommendations for use of the properties.

The two marked park parcels at left, features of the Wallis house at right (NPS, click to enlarge)

“Any time you have a chance to get to know a building is exciting, to understand it’s story a little more,” said Danielle Willkens, an associate professor of architecture at Georgia Tech. “You are on hallowed ground and that is palpable. There is another level of responsibility attached to the site.”

Willkens and student Thomas Bordeaux have been working with Suzanne Roche, the park’s first archaeologist. She told the Picket officials would like to see the two-bedroom Wallis house available to park visitors at some point, but it will require repairs and upgrades.

“Everyone is excited about having this house,” Roche said during a recent phone call. “They (park rangers) have been incorporating some interpretive information in their talks.”

It took years to protect and transfer site to park service

The Georgia Tech survey and a November 2021 NPS cultural landscape report on the Wallis farm and Signal Hill have brought new energy to the site, which has largely been out of the headlines in recent years.

The Wallis house was in “imminent danger” of being demolished, according to an NPS official who provided a statement to Congress in June 2010 in support of enlarging the park to include the sites. A developer had purchased 27 acres, including Harriston Hill and the Wallis homestead, in 2002, according to the official. 

Charlie Crawford, president emeritus of the Georgia Battlefields Association, recalls arguing against a rezoning for much of Signal Hill. “Although the Wallis house parcel was not part of the rezoning application, I said that the house and Signal Hill were both parts of a whole, both contributing to the site’s significant history.”

Working with the Cobb Land Trust, the Cobb County government acquired seven acres from the developer, including the farm and hill. About 43 homes are in the subdivision.

The land was donated to the federal park years later, in 2019, after Congress finally permitted expansion of the boundaries. (At left, entrance to the subdivision, Picket photo). The Covid crisis slowed action in 2020.

“I certainly agree this has been a long struggle,” Crawford told the Picket in an email.

“The inherent problem is making the building safe to visit (and up to code on electric, plumbing, HVAC) while still restoring its historical appearance.”

The house is off-limits, but that may change one day

Today, the setting is hardly bucolic. Cars whizz by on two busy highways – Burnt Hickory Road and Ernest W. Barrett Parkway – and the 41-home subdivision separates the Wallis house and Signal Hill. The park has no trespassing signs around the house, which is largely obscured by trees and vegetation. It allows no visitors to the property, citing safety and security concerns. Walking along Burnt Hickory is not recommended.

The 2021 cultural landscape report details ways to interpret the sites. At Signal Hill, some of the trees could be thinned so that visitors could get a view of Big and Little Kennesaw mountains. A trail to the entrenchments, which need to be stabilized, and other features could be built, along with interpretive markers. The Wallis farm could feature an outdoor education area, parking, restroom and signs.

The clash at Kennesaw Mountain was a costly, but brief setback during the Federal advance on Atlanta. Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, commander of Union forces, was at the Wallis house during the Battle of Kolb’s Farm to the south.

Park and local officials are hoping the home can tell several stories, possibly featuring an exhibit on the role of African-American soldiers and civilians during the Civil War.

“General Howard is an important historical figure because of his successful leadership on the battlefield and his post-Civil War support of former slaves as head of the Freedmen's Bureau and founder of Howard University,” says the NPS.

His grandpa got tired of relic collectors

The Wallis house has been vacant for more than two decades. The site includes the home, original well and remains of two chicken coops and a smokehouse.

Commentary on a Historical Marker Database page about the dwelling includes a description by a Georgia man who said his grandfather acquired the land in the 1940s or 1950s.

“At the time of the purchase there were still doors inside the home with damage from a small skirmish fought on the property and within the home itself. Many floor boards were missing, and the house was in a general state of disrepair,” wrote Martin Jordan.

“It was not uncommon at all during the ‘60s and on for my grandfather to have to chase off relic seekers from the property surrounding the house, which was lined with trenches and earthworks,” Jordan added.

They don't build 'em like they used to

Willkens, the Georgia Tech professor, said the project has provided an ideal way for students to engage in preservation work. Bordeaux spent several days scanning the site, which was “very difficult” because of tree cover. The lack of other historic buildings nearby provided challenges on context.

Willkens (right) describes the house as a standard vernacular cottage, though its construction is a bit of a mystery. She thought at first it may have been a gable and saltbox style, but that is not the case. “It has some atypical arrangements.”

For some reason, the builders did not remove a massive tree stump before construction, she said.

The team took paint samples, ascertaining the original colors and is working with experts at the Smithsonian Institution to learn more about wood used in the dilapidated building.

“That house was probably built a lot better than something built five years ago,” said Willkens. “They have old growth trees, some additional redundancy in the structure.”

Postwar additions include a kitchen, laundry room, bathroom and back porch. Roche said no decision has been made about their fate, though the 2021 report suggests removing modern features.

The park would not provide photos of the home’s interior or Georgia Tech’s model and drawings, saying it wants to be careful in disseminating information and to safeguard the integrity of the site. Roche would not speak to the condition of the house. “You can walk inside it.”

The archaeologist and Willkens believe the structure can be saved.

Next steps in making the idea a reality

As stated earlier, the effort to save the house, give it permanent protection and have it help tell the story of the Atlanta Campaign is a long one.

A 1953 Wallis house marker along busy Burnt Hickory Road (Picket photo)

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

Now there’s an opportunity to offer something new in the telling of the battle.

“We are excited things are going on at the house,” said Roche. NPS historians visited the site just last week.

Much remains to be done. An engineer will need to study the feasibility of making repairs and restoring the Wallis house to its wartime appearance.

Thousands of cars travel past the house each day (Picket photo)

And officials will need to consider the cost of the project, its risks (concerns about vandalism) and rewards (enhanced interpretation). Major improvements on both sites could run into the millions of dollars. One feature now in place is a parking lot at the entrance of the subdivision allowing access to Signal Hill.

All of this will go in to the historic structure report (HSR), which is an involved process involving a lot of back and forth. “When we receive the recommendations from the HSR on how to proceed with either rehabilitation or restoration of the house, we will release the plans to the public for comment,” said Roche.

The archaeologist said acquiring such a historical treasure this many years later is not common, “which is why it is exciting.”

“We are really excited about hopefully being able to interpret this to the public,” said Roche.

Kennesaw battlefield a step closer to expanding, adding historic Wallis House

The Wallis House about 10 years ago (Georgia Battlefields Association)

A dilapidated 1853 farmhouse that at one point was in imminent danger of being demolished may soon became part of Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, which could use it to more fully tell the story of Union strategy in the battle and the role of African-Americans in the Civil War.

Efforts to have eight acres containing the Wallis House and Harriston Hill added to the park in north Georgia have been more than a decade in the making. The U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 24 voted in favor, with a similar bill to be considered next by the Senate.

“It is very exciting for us. We know that once this happens this is just a first step,” said park Superintendent Nancy Walther. “We are really thrilled about the opportunity and it is nice to ride the surf in.”

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

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

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

(Courtesy of GBA)

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

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

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

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

O.O. Howard

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

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

Walther said while there currently are no formal plans for interpretation at the Wallis House, she cited Bond’s efforts to more fully tell the stories of African-Americans and people who lived near Kennesaw Mountain. “We want to tell the whole story,” she said.

The Wallis House, near a subdivision, is just west of the main park on Burnt Hickory Road near Barrett Parkway. A paved parking lot and a sidewalk leading up to the property line were put in several years ago.

Vegetation has grown up around the house and while relatively structurally sound, the residence would need a lot of work before opening. People in the community have wanted the park to clean it up, but that could not be done because the land was in a holding pattern until congressional action.

The superintendent said she has been inside the structure.

“When it was still inhabited it was a nice enough home. It’s not large, maybe 1,200 to 1,500 square feet. There are outbuildings. It has been vacant for so long it is very dilapidated. We want to take it back to the original structure. Part of the house is (postwar) additions. We would be ripping those out.”

The cost of restoration and other aspects of the project could be about $1 million, said Walther. “There is a lot of support to help with the renovation of the house.”

That’s considerably less than a previous $5 million estimate.

It could be five years or more before the Wallis House is open for interpretation.

First will come the submission for federal funding, which could take two to three years. “The first matter is to formulate a plan of action,” Walther said. “Funding will be the backbone of everything that will happen.”

Walther said the staff is excited about the opportunity to provide students and others more education. That can be done through Kennesaw Mountain’s natural and manmade features – and the Wallis House.

“When you can touch history, it can have a lasting impression on you.”

Scene of wild fight in Georgia to mark 150th

Living history event (Georgia DNR)

American literary giant Ambrose Bierce called it "The Crime at Pickett's Mill." The topographical engineer in the Union army wrote about the carnage suffered by comrades who never received reinforcements in their bid to "accomplish the impossible."

That desperate day is being remembered as the state of Georgia ramps up activities related to the 150th commemoration of the battle, which resulted in a bloody, if brief, setback for Federal forces moving on Atlanta.

Brad Butkovich, author of "The Battle of Pickett's Mill: Along the Dead-Line" will give a 10 a.m. lecture on Feb. 8 before a guided interpretive tour in the historic site, located in Paulding County.

At 10 a.m. on March 8, Michael K. Shaffer of Kennesaw State University’s Civil War Center will discuss Camp McDonald, a Confederate training center in Cobb County. On April 12, visitors can learn about camp life in the vicinity of Pickett's Mill.

The signature event is set for May 31. Details have not been finalized, but the park website has this description: "Come watch real-time troop movements, infantry and artillery firing demonstrations, and see what life was like on the line. See how civilians survived as the Civil War came to Pickett's Mill."

The programs will have fees ranging from $2 to $4.

Union Gen. William T. Sherman learned some tough lessons when he tried to flank and push back the enemy at Pickett’s Mill on May 27, 1864. Troops under Gen. O.O. Howard clashed with those of Gen. Patrick Cleburne.

"The Confederates were ready for the attack, which did not unfold as planned because supporting troops never appeared," says the National Park Service battle summary.

The Federals charged down ravines and uphill against the Confederates, fighting at extremely close quarters. At least 700 of the men in blue died and the advance on Atlanta was delayed a week. The Union suffered about 1,600 total casualties, compared to the foe's 500. Sherman continued maneuvering and attacked Confederate lines at Kennesaw Mountain about a month later.

Bierce remained bitter about the doomed attack at Pickett's Mill. His short story included these lines:

"Most of our men fought kneeling as they fired, many of them behind trees, stones and whatever cover they could get, but there were considerable groups that stood. Occasionally one of these groups, which had endured the storm of missiles for moments without perceptible reduction, would push forward, moved by a common despair, and wholly detach itself from the line. In a second every man of the group would be down. There had been no visible movement of the enemy, no audible change in the awful, even roar of the firing — yet all were down. Frequently the dim figure of an individual soldier would be seen to spring away from his comrades, advancing alone toward that fateful interspace, with leveled bayonet. He got no farther than the farthest of his predecessors."

North Carolina Civil War atlas will use technology to help tell the story

The Union brass thought Fort Fisher well worth the blood shed in several assaults and the time and logistics necessary to launch one of the largest amphibious assaults in U.S. history.

And when the prize near Wilmington, N.C., fell in January 1865, the writing on the wall for the Confederacy became even clearer.

Gen. Robert E. Lee’s last major supply line was gone.

“Without that lifeline, he would have been done a lot sooner,” says Mark A. Moore a research historian and IT specialist with the state Department of Cultural Resources.

Moore, a whiz in GIS and other mapping technologies, produced a painstakingly accurate map of the Jan. 15, 1865, assault on the doomed fortifications.

The Fort Fisher map and others from North Carolina’s approximate 435 engagements will be the cornerstone of a coffee table book meant to provide a comprehensive view of the Tar Heel State and the Civil War.

The book also will feature articles, essays and illustrations.

Timed to be released during the Civil War sesquicentennial, the book, with a working title of “The North Carolina Civil War Atlas,” will break ground in many ways, said Moore and Josh Howard, a research historian with the state archives.

“The audience will be popular and scholarly,” Moore (right) told the Picket recently. “Serious research is going into these maps.”

The authors are particularly excited about county maps and charts that will provide data on a range of subjects: Population, 1860 election results, enlistment, casualties, deaths, desertions and more.

The atlas will look at a state that provided nearly 135,000 troops to the Confederacy and lost perhaps 34,000 citizens in combat. An extensive collection of unit rosters has assisted the researchers.

It will also tell the African-American story, including data on slave ownership by county and the service of men in the Federal army’s U.S. Colored Troops (USCT).

According to Howard, 25 percent of the state’s population had slaves -- perhaps only one or two -- at the outbreak of the war.

“We’re not talking about a huge plantation economy,” said Howard.

And it wasn’t as if the Unionists were progressive on racial attitudes, Moore added.

Letters from Confederate soldiers indicate fighting so that others could keep their slaves was not a priority.

The atlas will include data and text on the 5,000-6,000 African-Americans from North Carolina who fought with the USCT.

“For some [black North Carolinians], the first time their ancestor is in the records with a last name is with the UCT,” Howard told the Picket.

Howard and Moore are working with the UNC Press on the atlas, which will likely have an online companion. They expect it will be published between 2013 and 2015.

“We will have groundbreaking information and visuals,” said Moore. “I’ve studied this for years.”

Campaign roads and battles will be shown in new ways, he said, making a specific reference to Union Gen. William T. Sherman’s march through North Carolina and the battles of Goldsboro and Bentonville.

“We will have the context for North Carolina in the larger picture” of the war, Moore said.

North Carolina sent most of its sons to fight in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Although it will have a military bent, the atlas will delve into the homefront and features excerpts from noted diarist Catherine Edmonston.

North Carolina was a relative latecomer to secession, but it paid a heavy price.

“Once they were in, they were in,” said Moore.

Howard (right) insists the atlas and sesquicentennial will be a time for the state to provide its most accurate account to date of the war’s impact.

“It’s a commemoration, not a celebration,” he said.

Fort Fisher map excerpt is from the North Carolina Civil War Sesquicentennial website. USCT image is from the Florida State Archives Photographic Collection

Close to official: 34,000 from North Carolina died serving Confederacy

Slow to secede, North Carolina eventually sent nearly 135,000 men in gray to Civil War battlefields across the land.

For years, many in the state boasted that at 40,000, the Tar Heel state lost more men than any other Confederate state. (Click image at left)

Two recent studies -- one by the state, and the other by a camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans – have found that the 40,000 figure bandied about for generations is too high.

Josh Howard, a research historian for the North Carolina Office of Archives and History, told the Picket that the North Carolina Civil War Death Study is almost complete.

Howard and Purser estimate that 34,000 Rebel troops from the Tar Heel State perished.

“It’s still a horrible figure and it still ranks as the highest toll for any Southern state,” said Howard, placing Virginia (24,000-25,000) and South Carolina (about 18,000) in second and third places.

Charles Purser of the SCV camp in Garner, N.C., has led the chapter’s own research and came up with similar figures.

Driving Howard’s research is an upcoming Civil War atlas, a map-driven project that will look at all kinds of North Carolina demographics by county. He expects the book to be published by 2013 or 2014.

Howard's research includes newspaper accounts, cemetery searches and, primarily, a 17-volume set of rosters, based on National Archives records.

“North Carolina records are pretty complete for most of our regiments, mostly in Lee’s army,” said the military historian (right), who is the co-author of two books about the Revolutionary War.

“We won’t know everyone who died,” Purser said, including he has looked at unit records from more than 70 regiments and is down to three.

Howard explains in detail on the state’s Civil War sesquicentennial website why he is completing the project. Mostly, it’s about the integrity of the record.

“North Carolina is stepping and looking at our figures and are making sure we have done as good as we can,” he tells the Picket.

Howard estimates perhaps 2,000 to 3,000 North Carolinians who served in the Union died, but he is still researching the number. Purser’s estimate is lower, at perhaps a few hundred.

Researchers are still finding North Carolina troops who died in the Civil War.

“I hope it opens the eyes of people of the sacrifices,” Purser says of the death counts. “It [the war] affected every family.”

The retiree has used grave records, ancestor.com, rosters and other sources to count the Tar Heel dead.

“My and his [Howard’s] thinking were kind of on the same line,” Purser said. “He wants to do the statistics. We want the names.”

The SCV honors those who served and died across the South.

Purser estimates 2,400 North Carolinians died in the Gettysburg campaign and about 6,000 succumbed as POWs or “under Union control.”

The SCV Garner Camp a few years ago researched 1,400 Confederate dead in Raleigh’s Oakwood Cemetery.

They found the graves of two Union soldiers wrongly identified as Confederate.

Upon finding the second grave, Purser contacted friend Bob Farrell of the John A. Logan Camp #4 of the Sons of Union Veterans in Raleigh.

“’You’re never going to guess what I found,’” Farrell says Purser told him. “’I found another Yankee on the hill.’ ”

Separate ceremonies were held for the pair of Union soldiers and their graves received appropriate new headstones.

Like Purser, Farrell said the SUV has an important mission.

“The purpose is to honor and respect your descendants.”

Farrell, a New York transplant, said seven North Carolina regiments, three of them African-American, served the Union.

“You had a huge portion that was against secession and was pro-Union,” he says of the state’s wartime population.

Estimates of men serving in blue range from 5,000 to 7,000.

Farrell, who founded a Civil War roundtable in Raleigh, said about 80 percent of its 160 members have Confederate ancestors.

“There is no harsh conversation on North vs. South,” Farrell said. “The same rain falls on friend and foe.”