Georgia Battlefields Association

March 13-16, 2008/b>
We were pleased to have Ed Bearss healthy and back with us for the 2008 tour. On Friday, March 14, we covered the Battle of Atlanta while we endured occasional rain. The touring concluded at Oakland Cemetery, which was hit hard by a tornado six hours after our visit. Dinner that night was at the Atlanta Cyclorama, and we got a good view of the tornado that passed to the north, even driving through the debris on the return to the hotel. On Saturday, March 15, we covered the city defense line, the Battles of Ezra Church and Utoy Creek, and the trench digging contest of August 1864. Our Sunday excursion was a walking tour of downtown Atlanta, seeing the sites of many of the George Barnard photos of September 1864. Viewing the damage from Friday night’s tornado added to the tour. Click here to see some photos from the 2008 tour.

14 March: At the Walker monument, Bill Jarrett and Jack Keller listen to Ed's evocative description of the death of Major General W.H.T. Walker at the opening of the 22 July 1864 Battle of Atlanta. Photo courtesy of Cindy Wentworth.

14 March: Where Bate's Confederate division opened the assault during the 22 July 1864 Battle of Atlanta. L to R: John Francis, Ed Bearss, Larry Miller, Vince Dooley, Charlie Crawford, Gene Murphy, and Paul Whitlock. Photo courtesy of Cindy Wentworth.

14 March: At the McPherson monument, Ed Bearss tells the story of the 22 July 1864 death of Major General James McPherson during the Battle of Atlanta. Photo courtesy of Cindy Wentworth.

Ms. Lenora Scott, who lives near the McPherson monument and tends to the site using her own funds. Photo courtesy of Cindy Wentworth.

14 March: Ed Bearss explains the 22 July 1864 fight for the Bald Hill.

14 March: Ed Bearss and Charlie Crawford explain how to spike a gun at the site of the deGress Battery, which figured prominently in the 22 July 1864 Battle of Atlanta. At the left of the photo, the videographer captures action. Photo courtesy of Henry Howell.

14 March: Charlie Crawford and Ed Bearss at Oakland Cemetery on Friday afternoon. Six hours later, a tornado splintered and toppled many trees in the cemetery, including several of those shown in the photo. Photo courtesy of Henry Howell.

A tree downed by the 14 March tornado lies among the Confederate graves in Oakland Cemetery. Photo courtesy of Mary-Elizabeth Ellard.

14 March: Page & Russ Aylor with our great bus driver, Milton Jarrell, enjoying Friday's dinner at the Cyclorama. While waiting to board the bus after dinner, we watched a tornado roll through downtown Atlanta to our north, but we didn't even get wet. The debris on the roads gave us some indication how severe the storm had been.

15 March: Ed Bearss lectures at the site of the Ponder House and Fort Hood, the northwest bastion of Atlanta's city defense line.

15 March: Ed Bearss conjures up the first attack during the 28 July 1864 Battle of Ezra Church.

15 March: Ed uses the Centennial Commission plaques, installed after forty years in storage, to explain the 28 July 1864 fighting around Ezra Church.

15 March: Grady Ireland, Vince Dooley, Ed Bearss, and Charlie Crawford at the site of XIV Corps Headquarters during the early August 1864 disagreements among Federal commanders. Photo courtesy of Cindy Wentworth.

15 March: Ed Bearss describes the attack of Cox's Federal Division during the 6 August 1864 Battle of Utoy Creek.

15 March: Mary Ann Peckham, former superintendent of Stone's River National Battlefield Park and now executive director of the Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association, joined her old mentor Ed Bearss for dinner at The Carter Center on Saturday might. Photo courtesy of Cindy Wentworth

16 March: The Sunday morning tour of downtown Atlanta began with Charlie Crawford discussing the site of Andrews' hanging.

16 March: Broken glass from Friday evening's tornado was on many sidewalks during our Sunday morning walking tour of downtown Atlanta. Photo courtesy of Cindy Wentworth.

16 March: Charlie Crawford points out the site of the city garrison in downtown Atlanta, while Jim Langford, Ed Bearss, and Vince Dooley consult their maps. Photo courtesy of Cindy Wentworth.