Allatoona Pass Battlefield
Old Allatoona Road
Cartersville, Georgia
Despite Atlanta’s sprawl and the construction of the nearby I-75 corridor, Allatoona Pass Battlefield remains as one of the most pristine battlefields in the country. Located about a mile and a half from bustling I-75, the battlefield seems remote and almost lost in time. The village of Allatoona that existed in 1864 is mostly gone, replaced instead by the Lake Allatoona reservoir and a few buildings of more recent vintage. Even the railroad has abandoned the area, having been rerouted with the building of the reservoir.



At the time of the Civil War, the Western & Atlantic Railroad provided the vital link between Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tennessee which found itself very close to Union territory following the Confederate defeat at Shiloh. This somewhat mountainous region provided one of the first obstacles as the railroad made its way north. Just north of the tiny village of Allatoona slave labor was used to dig a cut through the Allatoona Mountains allowing trains to move easily towards Chattanooga. The village at the south end of the cut mostly consisted of a depot, some warehouses and an odd assortment of houses and shops. After the pass was captured by Federal forces in June of 1864, Sherman ordered that the pass be heavily fortified and three star-shaped earthen forts were constructed to stand guard.


In a last-ditch attempt by the Confederates to capture and destroy Sherman’s supply line to federally held Atlanta, they attacked these forts on October 5th. Under the command of Major General Samuel G. French, the Point Coupee Artillery from Louisiana poured shells onto the well-entrenched units from Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota under the command of Brigadier General John M. Corse. After two hours, French sent an order for Corse to surrender, which was refused.

Legends at this site date to not long after the war when a Confederate soldier (believed to be the spirit of an unknown soldier buried next to the tracks) was seen. More recently, the sounds of battle, cries of the wounded, spectral soldiers and an overpowering sense of dread have been reported here.
Sources
- Battle of Allatoona. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 15 April 2011.
- Lake Allatoona. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 8 April 2011.
- Scaife, William R. Allatoona Pass Battlefield: The Official Website. 2000.
- Underwood, Corinna. Haunted History: Atlanta and North Georgia. Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 2008.
this is really interesting post
Regards
Aana
My GF and I rode our horses to Allatoona Pass in 2017. As we approached from the South crossing the current Railroad Tracks our horses began to snort and reir up. We could tell they were sensing something they did not like. We walked them back towards the barn turning them constantly to get them a few feet, this continued until we got about a 1/4 mile from the barn when my horse broke free and ran home. We managed to walk the other horse the rest of the way home. Not sure what they sensed but I believe there are spirits still lingering. But who knows. FYI I was 58 yrs old at the time. The horses had never acted this way before or since. No way would I take them back.
I do not know how many times I went through this pass, and I never felt spooked or even uneasy. The one thing about this pass was it would block our radio, AM or FM. There is iron ore all over this part of the state, which I assume is the reason the radios would fuzz out. This is the first I ever heard of this place being haunted, and I grew up in this area. One of my grandparents fought Sherman’s Army at the Battle of Cooper’s Iron Works, (which is not far from Allatoona Pass), so obviously the story should have been told. There is a wonderful rumor of a Confederate Army payroll hidden somewhere around Allatoona Pass; it was gold coin and not paper so it could still be there. (If anyone who reads this finds the gold, please remember to give me 10%!)