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Atlanta: Then & Now.
Atlanta: Then & Now Folks often ask about locations of the various battles for Atlanta in 1864 and where this hallowed ground resides amid today’s sprawl of a major American city. Hopefully, this source will assist
in offering a visual guide for some of the more notable landmarks. But first, a brief introduction to this project. In preparation for the sesquicentennial, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution partnered with the Atlanta History Center to produce an online experience entitled ‘War in Our Backyards.’
Please visit https://battleofatlanta. ajc.com and spend some time (easily several hours) exploring this rich material. For this column, the focus turns to the previously mentioned images. Part 5 of the site, ‘Today,’ https://battleofatlanta.ajc.com/ part5.html, offers snapshots beneath a heading of ‘1864 vs. 2014.’ Researchers may wish to maximize their browsers to take advantage of this digital experience. Various photographs taken by George N. Barnard in 1864 serve as the comparison. The site developers noted, “Even the most active imagination would have trouble matching the scarred Atlanta of 1864 with today’s international city of asphalt and steel. But by using 19th-century records and 21stcentury technology, it is possible.
May 2022 Place your cursor (or finger) over the image, click and drag the slider back and forth.” Figure 1 reveals General Hood’s ordnance boxcars, which he ordered burned as Atlanta fell on September 1, 1864. With the slider visible, the second image, fig. 2, shows part of 1864 and a slice of 2014. The final shot, fig. 3, illustrates a full view of the modern-day (2014). Spend some time exploring the wealth of information available on this site, and continued good luck in researching the Civil War!
Michael K. Shaffer is a Civil War historian, author, lecturer, and instructor, who remains a member of the Society of Civil War Historians, Historians of the Civil War Western Theater, and the Georgia Association of Historians. Readers may contact him at mkscdr11@gmail.com or request speaking engagements at www.civilwarhistorian.net. Follow Michael on Facebook, www. facebook.com/michael.k.shaffer, and Twitter @michaelkshaffer.
Fig. 2. Then and now photographs with a slider in the center.
Fig. 1. Ruins of rolling mill and railroad cars destroyed by Confederates on evacuation of Atlanta, Ga. 22
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Fig. 3. “The Confederate ammunition train was blown up underneath where MARTA now runs along DeKalb Avenue, near Cabbagetown.”
May 2022