Cartersville grew to prominence after the Civil War. The county seat was moved here when Cassville, renamed Manassas, was burned by Sherman's troops. Cartersville was also burned by Sherman. It was from here that he last communicated with the north on Nov. 13, 1864, cutting himself adrift from his base of operations on his "March to the Sea," with his final message to Gen. Thomas in Nashville, "All is well ...," interrupted as the wire was severed. There are several interesting Civil War sites in the Cartersville/Allatoona area.
The Cartersville depot, still used today, was the scene of a skirmish on May 20, 1864 during the Atlanta Campaign. A rear guard of Confederate Gen. Johnston's retreat barricaded themselves inside the depot, knocking out bricks for gun ports. A 25-by-40 foot section of the original structure remains and is identified by the older brick.
The Bartow History Center has exhibits featuring the county's role in the Civil War, with displays of weapons, artifacts, photos, and maps from war times.
Roselawn was the home of Sam P. Jones, the most famous evangelist of the late 1800s. The Victorian mansion, on the National Register of Historic Places, houses a small Civil War collection upstairs. Across the street is the antebellum First Baptist Church, which received $4,000 in 1904 in restitution from the U.S. Government for damage done 40 years earlier by Sherman's men.
Read and add comments about this page