On July 20, 1864, Federals and Confederates clashed at this point along Peachtree Creek because of its topographical significance as the last major barrier between the Federals and downtown Atlanta. By July of 1864, General William T. Sherman had repeatedly outflanked Confederates from Chattanooga to Kennesaw. As Sherman’s Union troops marched into the South in 1864 during the Civil War, Confederates desperately defended Atlanta, a railroad hub and a safe haven for Southerners escaping destruction elsewhere. For the Union and Abraham Lincoln, the capture of Atlanta represented a victory that would revitalize morale and to help his reelection.

About 4 miles northwest of present-day downtown, the Battle of Peachtree Creek resulted in 4,500 deaths and a Union victory.“I think I will get well entirely and get fat again,” Captain Evan Park Howell of Georgia’s 54th Artillery, and a combatant in the Battle of Peachtree Creek, wrote to his wife. Before E. P. Howell was called to service in the “Washington Rifles,” part of the First Georgia Regiment in Virginia, he had built a successful law practice. Howell declined more than $10,000 in gold from his Union-sympathizing uncle and chose to defend his state. Howell rose to the rank of captain and fought valiantly during the Atlanta campaign. Much of the Battle of Peachtree Creek was fought on his family’s land. Because of his service, the United Confederate Veterans chapter of Georgia was later named in his honor, and in 1941, 75 years after the battle, the surviving members commemorated Howell’s birth.

After the fighting ended at Peachtree Creek, the Union threat to downtown Atlanta felt all the more real. Sally Garrison, a resident, described it as follows:

"The First Shell fell inside the citty [sic] limits, at the intersection of East Elis and Ive [Ivy] Streets [now Ellis St NE and Peachtree Center Ave, respectively] killing a little child in the presents [sic] of its Mother. From this time on the Federals Bombarded the citty almost continuously for Six weeks day and night."

The Union victory at Peachtree Creek removed the last barriers to Atlanta. Within a year after the battle, Atlanta fell, Lincoln won re-election, and the war ended.

Credits and Sources:

Researched and written by Robert Durfee, Jabari Booker, and Cage Reeder, students at the Westminster Schools.

Barnard, George N. View of battlefield. Peach Tree Creek, Ga. Photograph. LOT 4167, no. 42 [P&P]. Civil War Glass Negatives and Related Prints. Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

"Battle of Peachtree Creek." Stack 1. Battle of Peachtree Creek (Subject File). Kenan Research Center, Atlanta, GA.

Evan Park Howell. Photograph. 1890.

Garrison, Sally. Letter, 1864. MSS173f. Atlanta History Center, Atlanta, GA.

Howell, Evan Park. Letter, July 28, 1864. MSS 169f. Archives of the Atlanta History Center. Atlanta History Center, Atlanta, GA.

———. Letter, "Evan Park Howell's Letters to His Wife," August 4, 1864. MSS 169f. Archives of the Atlanta History Center. Atlanta History Center, Atlanta, GA.

Howell's Mill Covered Bridge over Peachtree Creek. Photograph. 1880.

Johnson, Marion. "Captain Howell Is Paid Tribute by Vet Chapter." Atlanta Journal Constitution (Atlanta, GA), December 11, 1941.

Kaufman, David R. Peachtree Creek a Natural and Unnatural History of Atlanta's Watershed. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2007.

Kurtz, Wilbur. Howell's Mill on Peachtree. Illustration. 1860.

"The Battle of Peachtree Creek Overlaid onto Modern Streets in Atlanta." Map. 1940. Evan Park Howell (Personality File) (Stacks 1). Evan Park Howell Personality File. Atlanta History Center, Atlanta, GA.

"Union troop positions at Peach Tree Creek, Georgia, July 20, 1864." Map. 1864.

G3924.A8S5 1864 .U52. Library of Congress Geography and Map Division, Washington, D.C. 20540-4650 USA dcu. Library of Congress, Washington, DC.