Greater Atlanta Area

Last Update: 15/JANUARY/2024

Compiled by Pete Payette - Š2024 American Forts Network

Lovejoy's Station Fort
(1864), Lovejoy
Temporary CSA fortifications were built north and west of town in anticipation of General Sherman's advance after the Battle of Jonesboro (September 1864). The Union army did not attack here, but instead withdrew north to occupy Atlanta which was then being evacuated by the remaining Confederate forces. Extant works are located north of town at McDonough and Freeman Roads (public access restricted).

Jonesboro Earthworks
(1864), Jonesboro
Confederate trenchworks were located north of town, and west along the railroad south to the Fayetteville Road. Opposing Union works were located along both sides of present-day GA 138 on the east-side of the Flint River. The Battle of Jonesboro was fought September 1, 1864.

Morrow's Station Fort
(1864), Morrow
Confederate defenses were built here to protect the railroad between Jonesboro and East Point.

Fort McPherson
(McPherson Implementing Local Redevelopment Authority)
(1867 - 1881, 1885 - 2011), Atlanta FORT WIKI
Originally established in December 1867 as a ten-company post McPherson Barracks, covering 53 acres on the grounds of present-day Spelman College (1881), the site of the former CSA Ordnance Laboratory (see below), bounded by present-day Lee Street, Westview Drive, Chapel Street, Spelman Lane, and Greens Ferry Ave.. This location was previously used as a state militia training ground and encampment beginning in 1835. A racetrack was also located here until 1848. State militia barracks were built here during the Civil War, adjacent to the arsenal, and both were burned during the Confederate evacuation of the city in late August 1864. The Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary was established in December 1881 in the former post hospital, which became "Union Hall". This later became the nucleus of the renamed Spelman College.

The post was re-established and relocated in 1885 to its current location, and renamed in 1889. Several units of the 4th Artillery were the first troops to garrison the post, soon replaced by the 3rd Artillery, and then the 5th Infantry. During the Spanish-American War, Fort McPherson became an Army General Hospital, a recruit concentration point for the Regular Army, and prison for 20 captured Spanish troops. Typhoid fever in 1898 forced the relocation of the recruits to other camps across the state. Several different troop units were garrisoned here between 1899 and the arrival of the 17th Infantry in 1905. An Army Ground School was located here in 1917. The post became Army General Hospital #6 in 1917-19. About 1400 German POWs were also held on post at the War Prison Barracks in 1917-19, including 411 German naval POWs interred since the start of the war when their ships were caught in U.S. harbors. The POW camp was located on 34 acres of leased land on the north side of Campbellton Road, across from the National Guard Target Range, between Utoy Road (Venetian Drive), Alma Street and Willowbrook Drive. Many of the concrete slabs that supported the temporary prison barracks are said to still exist under several private homes. The original Fort McPherson Military Reservation was 236 acres by 1886. Camp Jesup was established nearby on 137 acres in 1918 as a motor vehicle general depot, under separate command by the Motor Transportation Corps of the Quartermaster Dept., and was closed in 1927, thus becoming part of the Fort McPherson reservation (now 373 acres). Only one original building (Building 363) of Camp Jesup still remains today. The Atlanta National Guard Target Range (134 acres) was acquired by the Army in 1910, and became part of the Fort McPherson military reservation in 1941 (now 505 acres after minor boundary adjustments with the city), although it had been used as the post golf course since 1938. Between WWI and WWII the post was home to the 22nd Infantry Regiment and the 8th Infantry Brigade. After WWII Fort McPherson became the headquarters post of the U.S. Third Army (now U.S. Army Central), the U.S. Army Forces Command (1973), and the U.S. Army Reserve Command (1991). The post was closed in September 2011 (currently 487 acres) and will be redeveloped as the Georgia Science and Technology Park, among other commercial ventures. About 150 acres of green space will remain set aside. The Tyler Perry Studios bought 330 acres in 2015, including the central 34-acre Fort McPherson Historic District (Officers' Row and Parade Ground).

An unnamed temporary summer encampment for Florida troops was established in June 1883 to December 1883, located about one mile south of the city near the railroad shops. Camp Mitchell (1), a temporary encampment for the garrison of Fort Barrancas, Florida, during the 1884 Yellow Fever season (September-December), was located somewhere near the city. Another Camp Mitchell (2) (or same ?) was re-established by Florida troops in July 1885 three miles south of the city, and closed in October 1885. Camp Hancock (1) was a fourth summer camp established in 1886, located three miles from the city.

Nearby in Forest Park, Fort Gillem (established in 1941 as the Atlanta Army Depot) was a support post of Fort McPherson. It later became the headquarters of the U.S. Second Army in 1983, then the U.S. First Army in 1995, and the GA National Guard. It was also scheduled for closure and redevelopment in 2011, remaining the HQ of the GA National Guard and other smaller tenent commands, including the U.S. Military Entrance Processing Center and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory. It is now a subpost of Fort Gordon, GA (renamed Fort Eisenhower in 2023). See also Federal Office of Economic Adjustment

Utoy Creek Earthworks
(1864), Atlanta
Part of the expanded western CSA lines around the city towards East Point. The Battles of Ezra Church (July 1864) and Utoy Creek (August 1864) occurred in this area. The original Ezra Church was located in present-day Mozley Park on Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive SW. Extant Union trenchworks are located in nearby Westview Cemetery. Extant CSA trenchworks are located near the still-standing Utoy Church (1828) at present-day Venetian and Cahaba Drives SW in the Cascade Heights area. Extant CSA trenchworks are also located in Cascade Springs Nature Preserve on Cascade Road SW. A state marker at the nearby Adams Park golf course (17th tee) locates an extant CSA gun pit.

Civil War Defenses of Atlanta
(1863 - 1864), Atlanta
Confederate defenders built a 12-mile defensive ring around the city in late 1863, about one to one and one-half miles from the city center, at approximately the city limits of the time (today's modern downtown district), with 25 named and/or lettered redoubts/forts (A - Z omitting J) according to an April 1864 CSA map; and with seven lettered redoubts/forts (A - G in reverse sequence), and numerous undesignated positions according to a September 1864 Union map. In the summer of 1864 the ring was expanded to the north and west, with additional trenchworks extended southwest along Utoy Creek to East Point (see above), upon the advance of the Union army under General Sherman. The lines were again further expanded southward towards Mt. Gilead Church and Morrow's Mill at the head of the Flint River in present-day Forest Park. The Union army lay seige to the city July - August 1864. The Confederates evacuated the city on September 1 after their defeat at Jonesboro, and the Union entered the city the next day.

Fort Walker (2), at the southeast salient of the defense line. The last surviving major CSA position left in the city, the remnants are located in the southeast corner of Grant Park, at Atlanta Ave. SE and Boulevard SE. The Atlanta Cyclorama and Civil War Museum is nearby, also in Grant Park. FORT WIKI
Fort Hood (2) (aka Fort X), at the northwest salient of the defense line. Site marked by plaque on the Wells Fargo Building at 793 Marietta Street NW near junction with Northside Drive NW and Fort Hood Place.
Fort D, site on Fair Street SW at Joseph E. Lowery Blvd. NW.
Fort E, (see Union Fort #7 below).
Whitehall Fort (aka Fort A / G), site on Whitehall Street SW near Adair Park North.
Traces of trenchworks can be seen on the campus of Georgia Tech.
Locations of other CSA positions are undetermined at this time.
CSA Exterior Line state marker at Cascade Ave. and Martin Luther King Dr.

Union seige lines (July - August 1864) were located mostly less than one mile west, north, and east of the Confederate defense line.
West Side Seige Line state marker on Chappell Rd. just south of Simpson Rd..
Sector of Seige Line state marker on Eighth St. just east of Penn Ave..
After the city fell, the occupying Union army built 22 redoubts in a ring around the central city, well within the original CSA inner defense line, including several former CSA positions on the northwest perimeter that were reworked but not designated by letter or number (September 1864 map). Present-day map locations given are approximate and may not be exact.
Fort #1, at the present state capitol complex, at the junction of Capitol Ave. SW, Piedmont Ave. SE, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive SW-SE. During the war, this was the location of the old city hall and courthouse. The new state capitol was built later in 1884 - 1889.
Fort #2, at Trinity Ave. SW and Capitol Place SW.
Fort #3, near the junction of Washington Street SW and the I-20/75/85 interchange.
Fort #4, at Pryor Street SW and Memorial Drive SW.
Fort #5, at Pryor Street SW and Alice Street SW.
Fort #6, at Eugenia and Cooper Streets SW.
Fort #7, formerly CSA Fort E, on the grounds of present-day Morris Brown College of Atlanta University, bounded by Hunter, Tatnall, Walnut, and Beckwith Streets SW.
Fort #8, at Fair and Walnut Streets SW.
Fort #9, on Larkin Street SW between Walnut Street SW and Northside Drive SW.
Fort #10, on Whitehall Street SW between McDaniel Street SW and Peachtree Street SW.
Fort #11, at Fulton and McDaniel Streets SW.
Fort #12, at Glenn and Cooper Streets SW.
Fort #13, on Washington Street SW at the Fulton County Stadium complex.
Fort #14, on Capitol Ave. SW (Hank Aaron Drive SW) at the Fulton County Stadium complex.
Fort #15, on Capitol Ave. SW and Fulton Street SE.
Fort #16, at Solomon and Martin Streets SE.
Fort #17, on Kelly Street SE near the junction with I-20.
Fort #18, at Harden Street SE and Memorial Drive SE.
Fort #19, at Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive SE and Fort Street SE.
Fort #20, at Decatur and Hilliard Streets SE.
Fort #21, at Hilliard Street SE and Pitman Place SE.
Fort #22, bounded by Jesse Hill, Jr. Drive SE, Edgewood Ave. SE, Bell Street SE, and Boaz Street SE.

The Union garrison, and all outposts, were completely withdrawn in November 1864 upon the start of Sherman's "March to the Sea" to Savannah.

Atlanta CSA Arsenal and Ordnance Depot
(1862 - 1864), Atlanta
A CSA Arsenal / Laboratory was located where present-day Spelman College is now located, on Lee Street just north of present-day I-20. A CSA Ordnance Depot / Machine Works / Armory was located near the junction of present-day Decatur Street SE with I-75/85. The Arsenal was transferred to Columbus in the spring of 1864 before the Union advance under General Sherman in June. The Arsenal site was later the location of McPherson Barracks in 1867 (see above), and then became the site of the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary in 1882 (later Spelman College).

Camp Emory
(1865 - 1869), Atlanta
A Federal Reconstruction cavalry camp. Exact location undetermined. Part of the post-war Post of Atlanta, which included an infantry camp (or camps ?) and a nearby otherwise unnamed Artillery Camp. Closed in February 1869 with all troops transferred to McPherson Barracks.

Camp Atkinson (2)
(1898), Atlanta
A Spanish-American War muster-out camp for the Georgia Volunteer Infantry. Located at Piedmont Park.

Peach Tree Fort
(Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area - Peachtree Creek Unit)
(1814, 1864), near Bolton FORT WIKI
A GA state militia stockaded fort located on the north-side of the mouth of Peachtree Creek at the Chattahoochee River, at the Creek Indian village of Standing Peach Tree. Also known as Fort Gilmer (1). It had two blockhouses and six cabins, and a storehouse. Site later in use by the Confederates in 1864 as the western anchor of the Peachtree Creek Line (see below). The wooden stockaded post has been reconstructed. A state marker is located near the Atlanta Water Works off Ridgewood Road NW.

Bolton Fort
(1864), Bolton
A Union blockhouse on the south bank of the Chattahoochee River protected the railroad bridge near old Defoor's Ferry. Previously here were two small CSA redoubts.

Pace's Ferry Earthworks
(1864), near Vinings
CSA trenchworks were located on the south (or east) bank of the Chattahoochee River opposite town.

Peachtree Creek Earthworks
(1864), Atlanta
A long line of CSA trenchworks running east-west on the south side of Peachtree Creek, from the railroad near Bolton to near the modern Midtown area. The Battle of Peachtree Creek was July 1864. The line was evacuated the day after the battle. A portion of the battlefield is preserved at Tanyard Creek Park on Collier Road NW, near Piedmont Hospital. Markers are also located in Atlanta Memorial Park and Peachtree Battle Park. Stone monuments are located at the intersection of Peachtree Road NW and Peachtree Battle Ave. NW; in front of Piedmont Hospital on Peachtree Road NW; at Peachtree Street NW and Spring Street NW (with extant trenches ?); and at Peachtree Street NW and Palisades Road NE.
Atlanta Outer Defense Line state marker at Crestlawn Cemetery.
Atlanta Outer Defense Line state marker at White Street and Howell Mill Road.
Cheatham's Salient state marker at North Highland and Zimmer Dr. NE.

Decatur Earthworks
(1864), Decatur
Confederates hastily built trenchworks on the north side of town in July 1864 to thwart the Union from flanking the Peachtree Creek Line north of Atlanta, and to protect the railroad. These works were rendered useless by the subsequent abandonment of the Peachtree Creek Line. The town was afterwards occupied by the Union. The Battle of Atlanta (July 1864) was fought mainly southwest of town in the East Atlanta area along Sugar Creek. A stone monument marking part of the battle is located on the grounds of Agnes Scott College on West College Ave..

Camp Gordon (2)
(1917 - 1920), Chamblee
A National Army cantonment for the 82nd Division, later used for infantry training and replacement, and a demobilization center. All buildings removed in 1920, and sold off in 1921. A local municipal airport was built on site in 1940, which became a Naval Air Station in 1941. Became DeKalb Peachtree Airport in 1960. Four Navy hangars still remain. A marker on site explains history.
(NOTE: not to be confused with Camp (Fort) Gordon (3) (1941 - present) near Augusta, which was renamed Fort Eisenhower in 2023.)

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