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.

After South Carolina's capital went up flames, state leaders burned papers in new capital 70 miles away. Now there is an effort to preserve that house in Union

The Thomas Dawkins House in Union dates to about 1845 (Photos: Preservation South Carolina)

It’s not every day you get an enticement this juicy while looking up a residential property on Zillow:

“In one of the home's eight fireplaces, papers were burned that would have hung many a Southerner if they had fallen into Union or Federal hands.”

The real estate overview of the Dawkins House at 117 N. Church St. in Union, S.C., included this and other nuggets about its history – notably service as the state’s capital for a few weeks toward the end of the Civil War.

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

From about Feb. 15, 1865, until sometime in early March, Magrath tried to run the state from the Dawkins House as Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman sacked Columbia and moved on other cities, bent on destruction and submission of Confederate troops.

Judge Thomas Dawkins, Mary P. Dawkins and Gov. Magrath (Preservation SC)

Nearly 160 years later, the two-story clapboard is in pretty rough shape and in need of a rescue.

That’s happening now through the nonprofit Preservation South Carolina, working with supporters and $300,000 from the Legislature

Bennett Preservation Engineering of Charleston is studying the structure and the feasibility of its restoration, says Joanna Rothell, director of outreach and preservation for Preservation South Carolina. The group acquired the long-vacant property last year.

The hope is for the home – nicknamed “The Shrubs” by Dawkins and his wife Mary -- to once again be occupied, this time as an alumni and event center for nearby University of South Carolina-Union.

A need to hide evidence from the Yankees?

Extensive repairs, upgrades are needed in structure (Preservation South Carolina)

Andrew Kettler, an assistant professor of history at the small campus, has amassed a lot of research about the town’s history and Dawkins, a prominent political figure who came from a wealthy family. While a unionist before South Carolina seceded, he came to support the Confederacy.

His old pal Magrath was elected governor by the Legislature in December 1864. Before the Civil War, Magrath had served as a federal judge, and made a ruling that certainly made him unpopular with the North, as an article about him states.

“Although opposed to the trade personally, Magrath nevertheless handed slave-trade proponents a signal victory in 1860. In a decision associated with the cases surrounding the Echo and the Wanderer, ships seized for illegally transporting African slaves, Magrath stated that the 1820 federal statute on piracy did not apply to the slave trade.”

In his brief tenure as governor, Magrath knocked heads with the main Confederate government. At the Dawkins House and other places where he fled until his arrest in May 1865, he sent and received correspondence about military and economic challenges.

The University of South Carolina Libraries has a fascinating Feb. 27, 1865, published message from Magrath to South Carolinians. It was likely composed during his time in Union. (Public domain photo, left. Click to enlarge)

The governor describes Federal troops who took Columbia as exhibiting hate and causing wanton destruction as women and children suffered. He encouraged citizens to come to the aid of those left in the ravaged city.

“They are destitute, they are in want, they need food, give what you can, sell what you cannot give. Let your succor be promptly offered, for such suffering will not brook delay.”

According to histories and local legend, Magrath and his subordinates burned possibly incriminating documents and correspondence in the Dawkins House fireplaces. (The home served as South Carolina's capitol while the city was briefly is capital.)

Kettler told the Picket in an email nothing in accounts he has seen show anything about the contents of those papers.

Confederates burned documents for a lot of reasons, he said. Many went up in flames in Richmond, Va., as President Jefferson Davis fled.

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

When asked about the significance of preservation of the Dawkins House, Kettler said such buildings are retained for their importance to historical memory. (Photo, right, taken decades ago. Courtesy: Preservation South Carolina)

“The historical memory here is about those who committed treason against the Union finding their way to an escape house as fugitives and attempting to hide their treason through burning incriminating materials,” he wrote.

“Historical memory works to honor the past and critique its most problematic histories. This site is retained for those purposes and as a clear reference point from the community of Union that existed well before the Civil War and was important well after outside of those contexts," said Kettler.

What happened to the targeted town?

William Waud's illustration of Columbia's capture (Library of Congress)

Before Magrath traveled 70 miles to Union, South Carolina was the symbol of rebellion. 

Sherman and his troops entered the state from Georgia with an eye on a full prosecution of the war. While they are behind some fires that ravaged Columbia, others were caused by other parties.

Union was a community with a business district and nearby plantations. “Many Quakers left the county in the first few decades of the nineteenth century due to their general stance against the institution of slavery,” said Kettler. Enslaved people became a majority in Union County during the 1840s. (The area became a hotbed of Ku Klux Klan activity during Reconstruction.)

It’s evident that many papers associated with Magrath were not burned in Union or elsewhere.

The Wilson Special Collections Library at the University of North Carolina contains many letters sent to Magrath at Union and elsewhere. One, dated March 16, 1865, informed him of the total loss of state ordnance in Columbia. (Image: A.G.Magrath Papers, #467-z, Wilson Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, click to enlarge)

Magrath and his staff raced away from Union as Federal troops moved in. He was eventually captured on May 25 and imprisoned at Fort Pulaski near Savannah, Ga., until release that December. (Interestingly, President Davis stopped by Union in April 1865 after he fled Richmond.)

As for the town of Union’s fate?

It was spared burning, as the story goes, because the Broad River was flooded and Sherman turned away.

Group thinks house can be 'brought back to life'

Rothell, with Preservation South Carolina, said the short-term goal is to stabilize and prevent further deterioration of the Dawkins House while assessing how much can be saved.

“This is what the $300,000 from the state legislature is geared towards, though, that funding will likely not cover stabilization plans and work,” she told the Picket.

The group is looking at other legislative funding and grants, specifically from the South Department of Archives and History. And it is likely that local sources in Union will need to help pay for refurbishment.

The home's exterior in 2011 (Preservation South Carolina)

“While it seems that the task of renovating may be daunting, we have seen buildings in far worse condition brought back to life," said Rothell.

Kettler said the foundation and standard structural integrity appear to be solid. “Some of the bones of the house date to the late eighteenth century, which is partly why it was granted National Historic Register site status in 1973.”

Mary Dawkins lived in the home until 1906, and there has been a succession of owners since, including the Faucett family for many years.

Rothell said the goal is for the Dawkins House to be preserved and used by the community

“We are currently working closely with USC-Union, the city of Union, and the County of Union in developing a plan for its future. We hope that USC-Union will purchase it from us and use it as an alumni center, but we do not have an agreement with them yet,” she said.