By Don Wesley-Brown
While working my way through the University of Chattanooga 40 years ago, one of my many jobs was delivering bread to Dalton.
Several times a month, I drove down old U.S. 41 to visit the Confederate cemetery just north of the little town of Resaca to pay homage to the unknown soldiers who fell in the Civil War battles of May 1864.
Now there is a new battle of Resaca as the state tries to buy 1,200 acres for a park to commemorate the fight.
Because of my efforts in battlefield preservation in Paulding County, House Speaker Tom Murphy (D-Bremen) appointed me to the Georgia Civil War Commission.
One of the commission meetings was in Resaca to discuss plans to preserve battlefields there. When I was shown the plans, I was distressed to see that what was envisioned was not the preservation of the battlefield, but the creation of a recreational park that had absolutely nothing to do with the preservation of history. Also, all effort was toward purchasing a property that was not the scene of the actual battles.
The so-called Weaver property, which the commission is trying to buy – and which that state may eventually obtain through its powers of eminent domain – was situated between the Union and Confederate lines. But these were primarily entrenchment lines. Only minor skirmishing took place there.
To confirm this, I asked fellow commissioners to accompany me to the little roadside park just north of Resaca on U.S. 41, which contained a bronze map of the Battle of Resaca, which had been erected by the federal government in the 1930’s.
After reviewing this map, I then asked, “does this map correspond with what the Civil War Commission is calling a battlefield?” The answer was, “No.”
The other commissioners had retired to the Flying J. Truckstop for lunch. During lunch, I told the chairman of the commission that the property they were trying to save was not the actual battlefield, and if he would go over to the park on U.S. 41, only 10 minutes away, he would see the truth of my statement. He refused to go.
Several days later, I expressed my concern to an official at the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and told him I had maps of the troops’ positions and movements to prove my contention. His reply was “You bring your maps, we will bring our.” At the next Civil War Commission meeting, I brought my maps, originals printed in 1894 by the federal government. They did not bring theirs, nor would they look at mine.
On Nov. 20, 1996, I wrote Lonice Barrett, head of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, detailing my objections, with maps and documentation.
I wrote, “As a historian, I would want the public to see where the actual fighting took place. Granted, the Weaver property is beautiful and would make a nice park, but it’s not good history to depict it as a major battlefield, when in fact it’s not. Most importantly, it’s not honest history.”
It is sad to say, the major destroyer of Civil War battlefields in the United States has been road-building programs. Resaca is a prime example of this. When I-75 was constructed, the highway completely destroyed the Confederate defense lines, which would have given any significance to the Weaver property.
However, one of the major battlefields is pretty intact: the Chitwood farm, where the Civil War reenactors hold their annual event.
For more than three years, the Department of Natural Resources and the Georgia Civil War Commission had the opportunity to simply write a check for the Weaver property. There was a ready, able and willing seller. A ready, able and willing purchaser – Scott Fletcher – came forward and wrote the check.
Now in a moment of sour grapes, some are urging the state to condemn Fletcher’s property – under the pretense it is something that it is not.
Why is there so much interest in using the power in condemnation to purchase property that had a minor significance as a Civil War battlefield? Why not purchase the Chitwood farm, with complete documentation as the site of the major battle of Resaca?
Don Wesley-Brown, a former member of the Georgia Civil War Commission and a commercial real estate broker, lives in Rockmart. He has a military history library there that is open to the public.
Copyright © 1999, The Atlanta Journal
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