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Atlanta.
Atlanta is the largest city of the Deep South and the 9th largest city in the USA with a metro population of about 5.5 million people. The Jackson Atlanta airport is the world’s busiest in terms of landings and take-offs. Atlanta is the largest city in the state of Georgia. Since the 1996 Olympic Games Atlanta has grown even more and its economy is mixed and dynamic. It is the headquarters of the multinational Coca Cola, Delta Airlines and CNN (cable network news). Just 150 years ago Atlanta had a population of about 10,000 people. Today over half the population is Black or Black American with around 20% living below the poverty line but Atlanta also has the second most affluent black county district in America- DeKalb County (Decatur City) with almost 700,000 people. Not all residents are black in DeKalb County but the blacks there have a family income of over ,000. Atlanta has the third largest black population in America after New York and Chicago. During the Civil Rights period it was known as “the city too busy to hate.” Despite its racial problems it elected the first black Mayor in 1973- Maynard Jackson. It desegregated quickly as black business support was always crucial to white Atlanta businessmen. But Atlanta’s history is far from perfect- it had segregated blacks quickly in the 1880s and it had experienced a devastating race riot in 1906.
Atlanta was established as a small village in 1837 the same time that Adelaide was founded. Atlanta’s origins go back to the fact that two rail lines crossed there. (Adelaide did not get its first railway line until 1857.) Atlanta grew on the back of transportation, rather than sheep or even cotton. This led to its nemesis during the Civil War as it was a prime target for the Union forces of the North. Slowly the destroyed city was rebuilt after the Civil War and it again rose to prominence as a transportation centre. In 1868 it became the state capital when Milledgeville, which we visit later in the tour, lost its role as capital of Georgia. The first capital city of Georgia was Savannah on the coast which was established in 1733 and remained the state capital until 1778 when the capital moved to Augusta because the British had captured Savannah. This capture was during the War of Independence- 1776 to 1783 against the British.
Atlanta and the Civil War.
You probably all remember those scenes from Gone with the Wind when Atlanta is burning and chaos reigns supreme. Well that particular episode in history was undoubtedly the nadir of Atlanta. The devastation caused by the Civil War was almost complete. But remember that at that time Atlanta only had a population of about 10,000 people. In 1864 General William Tecumseh Sherman directed the Battle of Atlanta (May to September) and finally captured the city for the Union/Northern forces. Sherman then devised a plan to march to the sea- Savannah – and move up the coast through South and North Carolina to attack General Robert E Lee and the Confederate forces at Petersburg in northern Virginia. Because he would be deep in Confederate territory with no backup he proposed that his troops would “live off the land.” President Lincoln and Commander General Ulysses S Grant had grave reservations about the plan but agreed to it. Lincoln was going through the last stages of the Presidential election campaign for November 1864. He needed the prospect of a decisive and outstanding victory against the South. The march to the sea, a distance of 300 miles (480 kms) began in mid November, just after the presidential election. By Christmas General Sherman telegraphed Lincoln and said he was offering him the city of Savannah as a Christmas present! In the meantime his “scorched earth” policy of destroying Southern infrastructure as he advanced so that there was no food or supplies for Confederate troops to come along behind him, worked. He destroyed railways and often tied twisted rails around tree trucks; they were known as Sherman’s neckties. He set fire to crops, burnt cotton gins (factories) and bales of cotton and he commandeered 5,000 horses and 4,000 mules. He blew up bridges, cut telegraph lines, and razed many buildings. Sherman himself estimated that his march to the sea inflicted about .4 billion dollars worth of damage on Georgia. Along the way Sherman’s troops confiscated all the food they could find leaving a civilian population, already short of food, even hungrier. No wonder the South cannot forget the Civil War. Its relatively small population (5.6 million whites) witnessed the loss of 260,000 young men and many had been seriously wounded and maimed by the Civil War. An outcome of Sherman’s March to the Sea was the popular song Marching Through Georgia. It was written in 1865 after the Civil War. Sherman’s soldiers certainly never sang this song but marching troops often did sing ditties. Sherman hated the song as he never rejoiced over any defeated opponent or his devastation of Georgia. Below are some of the words.
Bring the good old bugle, boys, we’ll sing another song
Sing it with a spirit that will start the world along
Sing it as we used to sing it, 50,000 strong
While we were marching through Georgia.Early 20th century postcard shown above.
Hurrah! Hurrah! we bring the jubilee!
Hurrah! Hurrah! the flag that makes you free!
So we sang the chorus from Atlanta to the sea
While we were marching through Georgia.
Atlanta and Georgia.
Georgia is one of the original 13 US colonies. It was founded in 1732. It has around 10 million people with over half in the Atlanta region. Settlement was slow to spread away from the coast until the 1830s. Most of Georgia had been inhabited by the Cherokee Nation. In 1830 President Andrew Jackson sent the Cherokees and other east coast Indian tribes to reservations in what is now Oklahoma to increase white settlement inland. When Georgia seceded from the Union in January 1861 to join the Confederacy it had about 500,000 whites and 500,000 blacks. Major Civil War battles were Chickamauga (we go there later), Kennesaw Mountain and Atlanta. One in five Georgians who enlisted was killed during the Civil War. It is known as the Peach State. Major river is the Chattahoochee which rises in the Appalachians and flows down through Florida. It is part of the Bible Belt and church attendance is high especially with Southern Baptist and United Methodist churches. Macon is the 4th largest city of Georgia.
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