This is a group of four bullets recovered on private property in Bartow County, Georgia, near the site of the Battle of Allatoona that took place on 5 October, 1864. This is considered to be the first major engagement of the Franklin - Nashville Campaign. After the fall of Atlanta, Lieutenant General John Bell Hood moved the Confederate Army of Tennessee northward to threaten the Western and Atlantic Railroad, the supply line of Major General William T. Sherman. Hood's Corps, under Lieutenant General Alexander P. Stewart, attacked a number of minor garrisons and damaged track from 2 - 4 October, 1864. Hood ordered Stewart to send a division to attack the Federal supply base where the railroad ran through a deep gap in the Allatoona Mountain range and then move north to burn the bridge over the Etowah River. General hood suggested that Stewart send the division of Major General Samuel G. French, three brigades commanded by Brigadier Generals Claudius Sears, Francis M. Cockrell and William Hugh Young. The small Federal garrison, commanded by Colonel John Eaton Tourtellotte, was a partial brigade consisting of the 93 Illinois Infantry, 18th Wisconsin Infantry and the 4th Minnesota Infantry regiments. Before French's Confederates arrived, Sherman ordered reinforcements be sent from Rome, Georgia to Allatoona, under the division commander Brigadier General John M. Corse. Corse assumed command of the garrison upon arrival. The Federal troops occupied strong defensive positions in two earthen redoubts on each side of a 180 feet, 65 feet deep railroad cut. Many of the Federal troops, particularly the 7th Illinois, were armed with Henry rifles. The result of the battle was a Union victory. Casualties reported by the Union were 706 killed, wounded, captured or missing, while Confederate losses were 897 killed, wounded, captured or missing. These four bullets were all recovered on private property.

Item # AA2642

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