Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park expands by 21 acres with the help of the Trust for Public Land and the National Park Foundation

Kennesaw and Little Kennesaw mountain rise behind the 21 acres (TPL)

A 21.4-acre tract on which Union troops advanced upon Little Kennesaw Mountain has been added to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, a victory amid the continued threat of residential development, the Trust for Public Land says.

The national nonprofit recently announced it had closed on the property that belonged to the Hensley family of Marietta, Ga., which previously sold 34 acres to the National Park Service in 2008.

George Dusenbury, Georgia director for the TPL, said the NPS paid the fair market value of $2.58 million using funds from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. The parcel is north of Burnt Hickory Road.

“TPL worked in partnership with NPS to complete the necessary property due diligence and secure the federal funding needed for the acquisition,” he told the Picket.

The property is largely meadow with some woods. A stream that flows through the property was dammed in the 1950s to form a small pond; it will remain as a fire suppression resource. The property is surrounded on three sides by land already owned by the NPS.

The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain occurred on June, 27, 1864.

Union troops that moved through the parcel were part of the extreme left of Logan’s XV Corps, said Ray Hamel, park ranger and chief of interpretation at Kennesaw Mountain. Troops serving under brigadier generals Harrow, Williams and Fuller and the 64^th Illinois skirmish line were among those present. (See Logan's, Harrow's and others' names at left, map courtesy American Battlefield Trust)

“Troops here did not take part in the assault on Pigeon Hill,” said Hamel. “Confederate defenses were east of the property. Nearest was a skirmish line of the 9^th Texas."

The TPL said “The newly acquired property, now under National Park Service ownership, safeguards not only the rural, open character of the area but also any Civil War-related archaeological resources that may lie beneath its surface."

The park said the acquisition "furthers the preservation of historically significant sections of the original battlefield from modern development."

The Picket reached out to the Hensley family for comment but has not yet received answers to questions about the transaction.

The National Park Foundation provided funding to assist with associated costs, such as the demolition of an old barn, said Dusenbury.

The park -- the most-heavily visited national battlefield in the country -- recently commemorated the 161^st anniversary of the Atlanta Campaign battle in Cobb County.

Click to enlarge to see details of newly acquired tract in orange; park boundaries in green (TPL)

Charlie Crawford, president emeritus of the Georgia Battlefields Association, told the Picket, “We appreciate landowners who are committed to preservation and will wait on the slow federal government process for acquiring additional land for the National Park Service.”

The TPL said is goal is to help create a cohesive park that “supports public exploration and learning.”

“This acquisition isn’t just about adding acreage -- it’s about preventing the fragmentation of this irreplaceable landscape and keeping it from being lost to suburban development,” Dusenbury said in the announcement.

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield spans 2,923 acres, including three battlefield areas and 11 miles of preserved Civil War earthworks.

The TPL said its land additions to the park include:

Early 2000s: Approximately 50 acres to expand park access and continuity.

2008: Acquisition of 34 acres from the Hensley family, featuring forests, fields and a lake.

2013: Addition of the 42-acre Hays farm, home to Nodine’s Hill, with remnant Union entrenchments, rifle pits and cannon placements.

Another view of the 21 acres recently added to the NPS park (TPL)

Sam Hensley, a former Georgia legislator, once owned the land involved in both family transactions. The property includes trenches built by Federal Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s forces in June 1864.

“Our parents never let us forget that we stand on hallowed ground. They always told us that it was never going to be developed and that we would never see rooftops on this property,” said Sam Hensley Jr. during a ceremony in 2008 concerning the 34 acres. (Sam's brother Shuler is a notable Tony Award-winning actor and singer.)

“That became a very difficult thing to accomplish over the years. There was not a week that went by that my father did not have an unsolicited call from a developer or somebody that wanted to build a subdivision out here.”

Kennesaw Mountain park in Georgia gets back Civil War artillery shell that was taken away by bomb squad after its discovery

Bomb squad members gingerly removed this round from the battlefield (NPS photos)

Months after a firestorm erupted when the possibility arose of it being destroyed by a bomb squad, a Civil War artillery shell found on the Kennesaw Mountain battlefield in Georgia has been returned to the federal agency that administers the park.

“It is an archeological artifact and has been turned over to the National Park Service,” Cobb County Police spokesperson Officer Shenise Barner told the Picket in a recent email.

A team working on a trail project at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park in late February found the Parrott shell during a metal detecting survey. The NPS’s Southeast Archeological Survey said it “had a percussion fuse that did not ignite when it hit the ground.”

While police and the park would not indicate whether the shell was intact when it was returned by the bomb squad, their responses to Picket questions left the impression it may have been.

“The shell was returned to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park (KEMO) as soon as the bomb squad rendered it inert and safe, which was approximately two weeks ago,” Chief Ranger Anthony P. Winegar wrote in late May.

Winegar was the trail team member who dug open the area containing the Parrott round, which was about 10 inches deep.

“No modifications were made to the shell other than what was necessary by the bomb squad to render it safe. Live munitions and explosives are rendered inert by removing all explosive compounds,” he recently wrote. “As stated before, the National Park Service (NPS) treats all munitions with extreme caution. The preservation of human life always takes precedence over the preservation of even the rarest museum objects.”

After he uncovered the ordnance, Winegar called the Cobb bomb squad, which took it away. A subsequent social media post about the find by Join Cobb Police brought a crescendo of concern about the shell’s fate, with some saying it could be easily and safely neutralized.

The page responded: "The bomb squad stated that they would love nothing more than to preserve this piece of history, however there is no way to safely render it without counter charging it. They try to use the smallest charge appropriate. This charge is very small and will perforate the case. Unfortunately, even small amount of live explosives can set the whole shell off."

Given that, it appeared the round would be destroyed in the process. In March, Barner told the Picket the ordnance was collected by the bomb squad for safe keeping.

The Picket remained in touch with the park and Barner in the past couple months. While they responded, answers were measured, possibly indicating the sensitivity of the topic.

When asked by the Picket on how the round was handled and whether it was soaked in water or its powder removed, as some experts suggested, Barner said: “We have no additional information to provide on this incident, and we can't disclose the practices and techniques to render inert any explosive compounds.”

Some historians, munition experts and others have questioned why it might be necessary to destroy or damage the item.

"Absolute travesty to destroy this historical object. These are easy to make inert," wrote one person on the Join Cobb Police Facebook page. Jack Melton, publisher of the Artilleryman Magazine, told the Washington Post that a solution was dipping the round in water.

“These shells used paper fuses and black powder, which is not unstable,” he told The Post. “Black powder becomes inert when it gets wet. Given that it was found 10 inches below the surface, it probably already is inactive. I’m sure it got wet from rainwater more than a few times in the past 157 years.”

Winegar and Cobb County police have stressed safety is the absolute priority.

“KEMO does not yet have a plan for what it will do with the shell,” the chief ranger said. “The Park has several inert Parrott shells in its museum collection, including a shell identical to the one found (Feb. 28.)”

Federal and Confederate forces tangled at Kennesaw Mountain and nearby sites from June 19 to July 2, 1864. A large frontal assault by Union Gen. William T. Sherman failed on June 27. Combat over several days produced about 4,000 casualties in the campaign to take Atlanta.

Artillery played a major role in the fighting, according to the NPS. Sherman, eliminating the element of surprise, launched a barrage from below the mountain on June 27 before the assault.

Parrott guns were a mainstay during the war; here one at Gettysburg (Wikipedia)

It had little effect on the Confederates above, who effectively used their guns to halt the subsequent Union attack.

Among the guns used at Kennesaw Mountain was the 10-pounder Parrott rifle, which had a range of nearly two miles.

When asked how the round came to be in the location, Winegar said in March: “I can only say that orientation of the artifact in situ would indicate that it came from the Confederate line towards the Union line. Based on the depth it is possible that it was fired and impacted, likely short of its intended target, and did not detonate. That, however, is speculation.”

At the time, he indicated the round would be “disrupted” – meaning it would be hit with a charge to render it safe. The park would then take custody of the remaining pieces. 

“This is common practice involving potentially unstable unexploded ordinance (UXO) that is not a rare item. Rarer pieces may be treated differently so that the intact piece is not lost. This does not appear to be a rare item.”

Subsequent responses by police and the park have not indicated the shell is now in pieces, but there was no confirmation of its current appearance.

Another view of the Parrott artillery round (NPS)