Walking The Line
New Second Edition!
Much enlarged and updated over the first edition!
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.
In this new edition, not only are the forts of the city defense line examined, but also the preceding defense lines–the Johnston River Line along the Chattahoochee River with its Shoupade forts, the Outer Line between the city and the Union forces, and the Union Siege Line that followed up the Battle of Atlanta and Peachtree Creek. When the end was nigh, the Confederates tried to stave off defeat with the Exterior Line to protect its railroad lifelines. The Exterior Line, and the mystery of where the bottom half of its arc exists, is solved and the whole Line explored.
What happened to those forts and Lines? Can you visit them today? Dr. Lawrence Krumenaker knows, and now so will you!
Walking The Line, 2nd Edition tells you the story of how the Lines, forts and city defense Line came into being in 1864. The book includes not only the story and tours, but also what Atlantans can do to make sure the Atlanta defense Lines don’t get lost again. The book also includes a study of preservation changes in the eleven years since the first edition, and what some groups are doing to preserve what is left today.
After you read this book, you’ll have photographs, maps and directions to tour them by walking, biking or automobile!
REVIEWS OF THE SECOND EDITION
….This new work is a monumental achievement. (Dr. Krumenaker) includes detailed maps, current photographs, and all kinds of illustrations to help the Civil War enthusiasts and historians today to find the exact spot where these things happened. It is a bit mind boggling how much he has managed to fit into this slim 102-page volume. … Presumably, those who will be using this guide would already know a lot about the Civil War and Atlanta, but beginners should be able to pick it up and use it to get started. … –Kenneth H. Thomas Jr., (former Atlanta Journal Constitution columnist), Geneaology Bulletin, December 15, 2025.
REVIEWS OF THE FIRST EDITION
…gives even longtime Atlanta residents a guide to rediscover remnants of their Civil War heritage–some paved over, some merely overlooked.–Jon Guttman, Civil War Times, January 2015.
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, ISBN 978-1-930876-20-0, (c) 2025, Hermograph Press, 106 pp. (up from 42!), List Price: $24.99, Email: walkingtheline@hermograph.com
ORDER HERE!!