Allatoona Pass was a huge supply depot on the Western & Atlantic Railroad and William T. Sherman stored a large amount of provisions there for his push on Atlanta. With Atlanta in Sherman’s possession he now set out to destroy John Bell Hood’s Confederate Army of Tennessee. Sherman really wanted to make a march to Savannah but the War Department wanted Hood taken off the map so Sherman had to pursue despite his better judgment. For Hood who had some freedom of movement the supply depot at Allatoona Pass made for a tempting target.
Sherman was not a fool though. A small brigade of four regiments guarded the depot but he knew that it was vulnerable. When Sherman began to pursue he ordered John Corse to take his division to reinforce the garrison and take command. It was well that he did. Hood dispatched Samuel French’s Division to take possession of Allatoona expecting only a small garrison and a quick victory. The Confederates arrived around sunrise on October 5 and found strong earthworks fully manned with many of the defenders armed with Henry repeating rifles.
French went ahead anyway and opened a two hour artillery bombardment and after that sent a demand for surrender which Corse refused. French sent his infantry in and Corse’s men withstood the assaults for two hours. Victory was getting closer as French’s men pinned the Union troops in one of the forts and the pressure nearly broke Corse’s defenses. by around noon French received bad news. His cavalry reported that Union reinforcements were coming so he decided to pull back toward Acworth. Legend has it that his cavalry intercepted a wig-wag signal from Sherman telling Corse to “Hold the fort.” Federal reinforcements arrived two days later so someone got duped.
Casualty figures were light by number but high by percentage. Corse lost about 700 men defending the forts while French lost about 900 men. Considering Corse had about 2,000 men to defend the forts while French brought about 3,300 men it was a bloody battle.
Lake Allatoona flooded most of the area so the town of Allatoon is no more but the pass itself is still there along with the road that lead to the forts as well as the forts themselves and is a part of the Allatoona Pass Battlefield State Historic Site.
