By Will Bryant
Thanks to all who participated in this year’s BATL event, we had a fantastic Sesquicentennial Commemoration of the historic Battle of Atlanta. Even the all night rainstorms that turned our Frontlines Experience breastworks into a mudpit for the soldiers who spent the night in Kirkwood, could not dampen the spirits of those who were manning the fort and those who came to see them. We had about 60 people stand in the rain with their umbrellas for the wreath laying ceremony at the Walker Monument. After all, 150 years only comes around once in a lifetime. Luckily the rain stopped just before the McPherson wreath ceremony, and the weather cleared throughout the day.
This may be the last year for a while for the big commemoration BATL event, but the organization still has work to do and will be continuing through the year to tell the story of our neighborhood’s battlefield. September brings the surrender of Atlanta on September 2, Sherman didn’t leave town until November, and the war was not over at Appomattox until after the first of the year. The BATL organization will be organizing tours for many of the coming months. If you missed the walking tour of the frontlines in July, you’ll get another chance on September 20. Chip Miller and Liz Stockdale, neighbors from Candler Park, will be leading tours on that day at 9:00am and 11:00am. There will also be a Battle of Atlanta Running Tour on October 5 at 9:00am. Tours will cost $15 with reservations required. For more information or reservations, call 404-377-6148, or email info@batlevent.org. Spaces on the tours will be limited.
Proceeds from the tours will go to the battlefield monument restoration fund. BATL has been raising money to restore the two battlefield monuments for a little over a year, and they are approximately halfway to the $191,000 goal that was estimated in the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Historic Preservation Division Assessment.
The Walker Monument, one of the monuments to be restored, is located at the edge of East Atlanta at Glenwood Avenue near I-20. It sits at the site where General Walker was killed in the opening moments of the Battle of Atlanta. It was first placed over a hundred years ago as a tourist attraction. The Union sharpshooters who shot Walker from his horse as he crossed Sugar Creek, were positioned on the hill where Crim High School is now located. The other monument is to General McPherson who died in the battle nearby. BATL, a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization, would like to thank the Kirkwood Neighbor’s Organization for their donation to the restoration fund and invites all neighbors to go to www.BATLevent.org to donate to restore the Monuments and preserve this history.
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