Battle of Kennesaw Mountain

In June of 1864 in Cobb County, Georgia Gen. Joseph E. Johnson withdrew his army to a new defensive position astride Kennesaw Mountain during the Civil War.

This location was just north and west of Marietta. Johnson chose this position to protect his main supply line to Atlanta--the Western & Atlantic Railroad.

Confederate earthworks on Kennesaw Mountain

Before taking this position Johnson wisely had pioneers working through the night digging trenches and erecting fortifications, which turned Kennesaw into a formable fortress.

Meanwhile, the Union commander, William T. Sherman had defeated Gen. John B. Hood’s troops at Kolb’s Farm on the 22^nd nearby felt Johnson had stretched his line too thin.

So Sherman decided a frontal attack was the best course of action against the Confederate bastion.

After an intense artillery bombardment, Sherman sent his troops forward at 9:00 a.m. on June 27^th.

Determined Union troops came within yards of the Confederate trenches but were unable to break the Southern line. By 11:30 a.m. the frontal attack had failed.

Sherman who later called Kennesaw “the hardest fight of the campaign to date,” lost 3,000 men. The Confederates lost close to 1,000.

Almost as soon as this battle was over the ghost stories began.

People who traveled through the area reported seeing soldiers on the battlefield and hearing the sounds of gunshots and cannon fire.

Reenactors at Kennesaw

Recently, whole groups of people have seen groups of Civil War soldiers and thought they were watching a Civil War reenactment only to discover no such event was taking place.

On the anniversary of this battle, many have reported seeing smoke over the various battlefields.

Often the smell of death and blood is noted.

Housing subdivisions have been built on part of this battlefield. People have reported seeing Civil War soldiers in their houses and yards. In another post, a vivid account of an active ghost in one of these homes entitled The Tatum Haunting can be found here.

Today the area is Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. A ghostly sighting in the area happened to a father and teenage son who were driving through this park.

They received the fright of their lives when a man in uniform riding a horse suddenly crossed in front of their car. The two realized what they were seeing was not a man but a ghost.

The father hit the brakes as the apparition continued to move toward them. The image of the soldier was so clear that the father and son were able to make out the Union uniform he wore and the saber he carried.

After the soldier crossed the road, he just vanished through a fence.

The father shared this story with Kevin Fike, a ghost hunter. He told the father it was most likely a residual haunting. Residual hauntings often occur on battlefields--due to the fact strong emotions linger at these locations.

As mentioned in other posts on this blog a residual haunting is when the activity does not interact with the living. This kind of ghost is actually unaware of the living. Instead, these scenes play out over and over again as if they are on a film loop.