The 24-Gun Battery

Verdant Cannon

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Location:

Trail head located at Gilbert Road/Or off of Environmental Trail

Significance:

Major Union artillery position

Designation:

National Battlefield Park

Amenities

3 listed

Cellular Signal, Parking - Auto, Trailhead

 Located on a small, wooded rise facing Little Kennesaw and Pigeon Hill, this Federal gun emplacement accommodated four batteries, each containing six artillery pieces. These guns bombarded Confederate forces on Kennesaw Mountain off and on for 10 days. Today, four artillery pieces have been placed in the historic earthworks: three 3 inch ordinance rifles (iron cannons painted black) and one 12 pound Napoleon gun (bronze cannon with green oxidation).

Open Transcript 

Transcript

[audio description] Against a black backdrop the National Park Service Arrowhead logo stands above the words Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. Against a dark gray backdrop are the words the 157th Commemoration of the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain Artillery at the 24-gun Battery.

Hello and welcome to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. My name is Ranger Amanda and today we are here at the 24-gun battery as part of the 157th Battle of Kennesaw Mountain Commemoration. And we're going to talk a little bit today about the artillery at the 24-gun Battery. Now behind me we have; we are located in the field and right behind the field is a wooded area. In addition to that, you have a three-inch ordinance rifle, which is a black cannon on its carriage and its limber, or its artillery chest, is quite a few yards away from that. And you have a detachment of Union soldiers. So, they have a dark blue wool jacket and sky-blue pants. And we have about eight men that are located behind me on that gun at each one of the positions. A little off to my right, your left, is a tent that is set up on for a medical display and have kind of that tent life of times during the Civil War. In addition to that, I have Mr. Andy Cole here with me, who's going to talk a little bit about the artillery and then you'll see a firing. So, with that I’m going to pass it on to Mr. Cole.

Thank you, Ranger Corman. Well again, hello and welcome to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. And we are standing here in the field behind the 24-gun battery. So, just off in the tree line there are a number of historic earthworks and if you go down the line looking at each of them you will see where there were 24 Union cannons. That means that there were four artillery batteries here. So, when you hear the term an artillery battery, a battery in the Union army and you know we're Union by the blue that we are wearing today, that is going to be six cannons commanded by a captain. In the Confederate army, it was four cannons to a battery commanded by a captain. Now with this position here is somewhat unique here at the battlefield because this amount of artillery is just unprecedented for the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain on June 27, 1864. So, this position is set up to basically silence the cannons up atop Kennesaw Mountain. You see the Confederates they're going to use their cannons defensively. They're going to take their cannons and spread them out all along the line, that way no matter where the Union army attacks, there will be cannons there to meet them. Well with the Union army, since we have more cannons, there's 254 cannons in the Union army under General William T. Sherman to about 170 cannons under the Confederate army. The Union army, we will mass our artillery. So what we will do is put 24 guns in a line firing at Big Kennesaw, Little Kennesaw and Pigeon Hill. There was a signal station atop Kennesaw Mountain, where the Confederates, they used it to observe the area and very quickly the soldiers, the artillery men here at the 24-gun battery, they saw. “Oh the Confederates are up there and they're waving their signal flags” and began firing their shots. And the shots were so accurate from this position they actually hit the tree above one of the signal officers scattering all of the signal officers off the top of the mountain. And there is archaeological evidence supporting that a cannonball has been found, actually found by a park visitor in the trail on top of Kennesaw Mountain, which brings me to my preservation note, if you find any artifact here at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, you got to let the rangers know because all the artifacts here belong to all of us. So with that being said, the effect of this position, I could talk about it from the Union perspective, they talked about firing guns. But I think there's a Confederate story that tells it best on how effective the position behind me was. Up on top of Little Kennesaw Mountain, there was a Confederate staff officer, he told the cannoneers up there, he said, "I want you to fire off a shot so we can see how many guns reply and we can count them by their smoke.” So, the commands to commence firing was given and the Confederates began firing out here. The 24-gun Battery answered that firing. Shells were going through the openings in the Confederate works exploding one of the ammunition chests. Fuses and primers were popping and fizzing and one Confederate, he said, and I quote, “We never stirred up that hornet's nest again” So, this position is going to be instrumental in keeping Confederate fire on top of Kennesaw Mountain, keep it suppressed and on the morning of the 27th, all along the wood line behind me, you would have heard the peel of the guns firing, just almost continuously, in support of the attacks on the morning of the 27th. So, at this time we are going to fire. So, I am going to step out of the way so you can have a good unobstructed view of the cannon and the limber. So, at this time…

Gunner...commence...firing!

(man in distance) Attention Detachment!

(man in distance) With shell...three seconds...load!

(man in distance) Gunner...shell...three seconds.

(man in distance) Ready!

(man in distance) Fire! [loud explosion]

(man in distance) Cease Fire!

Well, we hope you've enjoyed this demonstration of our artillery crew here at Kennesaw Mountain as part of the 157th Battle Anniversary of Kennesaw Mountain. Stay tuned to more programs this weekend to commemorate our anniversary. Like us on social media and please stay tuned for more programming. Have a great one!

(man in distance) In place, rest.

[audio description] Against a dark gray backdrop are the words thank you for joining us for the 157th Battle of Kennesaw Mountain for more programs please like and subscribe to our social media sites.

Duration:

8 minutes, 32 seconds

[Sat 2:00 pm ET] Facing the ridgeline of Kennesaw Mountain and Pigeon Hill, Sherman strategically placed a 24-gun artillery battery just west of the mountain. Please join volunteer Andy Cole and the Kennesaw Mountain Volunteer Artillery detachment as he discusses the importance of this location and they provide a live firing of a 3-inch ordinance rife. This video highlights Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park Driving Tour Stop #2: 24-Gun Battery.