Had it not been for the federal government's willingness to use the power of imminent domain to acquire and protect the land on which the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain took place, then the site of that Civil War clash would long ago have been paved over and replaced with subdivisions. Cobb residents would be lacking what is now one of their favorite recreational venues, and tourists from around the world would no longer be flocking to what is one of the most-visited battlefield parks in the country.
A month before the armies of Union Gen. William T. Sherman and Confederate Gen. Joe Johnston battled at Kennesaw Mountain, fought just up the road from Cobb in the hamlet of Resaca. More than 6,000 soldiers were killed or wounded, making it a bloodier battle that First Bull Run, and one of the bloodiest battles ever in Georgia.
The Resaca battlefield, which is about 55 miles north of Marietta in Gordon County, looks much today as it did in 1864. But situated in the I-75 corridor squarely between the outer fringes of two fast-growing urban areas - Atlanta and Chattanooga, and being only a few miles from bustling Dalton - it is only a matter of time before the bulldozers arrive.
In fact, that time might arrive sooner than later. Four years of negotiations between preservationists and the landowners came to a screeching halt last month when textile magnate Scott Fletcher, who owns most of what was the battlefield, abruptly broke off negotiations to sell the land to the state.
Preservationists envision the land as a state park similar to the Pickett's Mill Battlefield Historic Site on the Cobb-Paulding County line. Its location astride I-75 makes it especially appealing to Georgia preservationists, who envision Resaca as the gateway to a historic trail network that would follow Sherman's invasion route and would be modeled on the ultra-successful "Lee's Trail" in Virginia.
Those trying to create the park had lined up more than $3 million in funding to buy the land ($2 million from private sources and $1 million from government ones.) Among those promising money were the Robert Woodruff Foundation, the Civil War Trust and the Georgia Civil War Commission.
The state's negotiators bent over backward to accommodate land-owner Fletcher, who kept raising his demands every time a deal seemed to be in place. The state even agreed to build a four-mile-long privacy fence for Fletcher and give him $132,000 to maintain it - in addition to the $3 million he was asking at that point for 78 acres of the battlefield. (Another 180 acres were to be leased, and 777 more acres to be covered by a conservation easement). But Fletcher then demanded the state build an interchange from I-75 onto the remainder of his property, then told the state's negotiators he was no longer interested in having a park next door to his house.
The upshot is that a priceless piece of our state and national heritage remains unprotected - and remains in the hands of a landowner who has shown little interest in preserving it.
That leaves the state one option, one that is regrettable, but in this case, unavoidable: condemnation. The state should use its power of imminent domain and take the land from Fletcher in exchange for its fair market value. Preservationists are pressing Gov. Roy Barnes to do just that, and his decision is expected in a few days. Barnes has a keen appreciation for Georgia's history, as well as the vision to appreciate how another battlefield park in the I-75 corridor could boost tourism in our part of the state.
The power of imminent domain was used to excellent effect in Cobb 60 years ago to aid creation of the Kennesaw battlefield park, which now is one of our state's crown-jewels. The governor should show no reluctance to use that same tool to save the Resaca battlefield for future generations.
Copyright © 1999, The Marietta Daily Journal
