Description
Long before Interstate 285 surrounded the Metro area, Atlanta had a Perimeter, 10 miles around. Instead of speeding cars going around the line, there were cannonballs screaming overhead. That first perimeter was the defensive line built by the Confederate Army to protect Atlanta from the attacking Federal forces during the Civil War. That defense ring of 36 forts was never broken nor defeated. The defenses held back the Federal forces for six weeks before the Confederates were forced to abandon them.
This updated and enlarged edition includes now the earlier defense lines–the Johnston River Line along the Chattahoochee, the Outer Line North of the city defenses, the Union Siege Line, and the later Exterior Line off the west side and down to protect the railroad lifelines near the end of the Campaign.
What happened to those forts and Lines? Can you visit them today? Dr. Lawrence Krumenaker does, and now so will you!
Walking The Line tells you the story of how the forts and defense line came into being and how these mostly-lost cannon emplacements were rediscovered 150 years later. Every fort site was photographed for the historical record, and to help you identify them. The book concludes with what Atlantans can do to make sure the Atlanta defense Line doesn’t get lost again. After you read this book, you’ll know what happened to them, how many remain in modern Atlanta, and you’ll have maps and directions to tour them by walking, biking or automobile!
Walking The Line will allow you to visit the remaining visible defenses of Atlanta, using its maps, photos, and descriptions. – Byron Brady, Confederate Veteran, January-February 2015.
This book would have been a Godsend last fall as I tried to piece together the locations of Civil War Atlanta…this book packs a wallop of information and details provided… It is an essential tool for your arsenal of research and a key to discovering the defenses of Atlanta one hundred and fifty years later. I highly recommend this book. — Duane Benell, The Civil War Courier, May 2016, p. 28.
I have now finished reading your book for the third time and each time that I have read it is a time that I learn even more interesting facts about Atlanta’s fortifications (both lost and found). A well done to you sir and I won’t take Atlanta’s Civil War history quite so much for granted the next time that I am there. — Robert S., of Birmingham, AL Jan. 2017 via email.
Walking The Line, 2nd Ed., ISBN 978-1-930876-20-0, (c) 2025 Hermograph Press, 48 106 pp., List Price: $24.99 PRE-ORDER PRICE: $19.99
