Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park - Kennesaw State ...

Foundations
14 I National Park Service
Interpretive Themes
Primary interpretive themes describe
what needs to be interpreted to
provide people with opportunities
to understand and appreciate park
purpose and signifi cance. Following
are the primary interpretive themes
for Kennesaw Mountain National
Battlefi eld Park:
1. Strategy: Struggle for Atlanta
The strategy and tactics used
at Kennesaw Mountain and
throughout the Atlanta Campaign
led to the fi nal outcome of the Civil
War.
Strategy: Struggle for Atlanta includes
these points:
The fl anking tactics used by Union
General William T. Sherman during
his Atlanta Campaign forced the
Confederate army to retreat again
and again.
The evolving technology of
trench warfare that was used by
Confederate General Joseph E.
Johnston showed that shovels and
axes were as important as rifl es and
cannons.
With both armies dependent on the
railroad for supplies, the Atlanta
Campaign did not stray far from
the tracks of the Western & Atlantic
Railroad.
The fall of Atlanta – with its
railroads and factories – diminished
the Confederates’ ability to continue
to manufacture weapons and
support equipment needed to
supply their armies.
The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain
and its aftermath that resulted in
the fall of Atlanta helped ensure
Abraham Lincoln’s re-election
to a second term as President in
November 1864, which assured
the outcomes of the Civil War – the
preservation of the Union, abolition
of slavery, and the emancipation of
African Americans.
The strategy and tactics used at Kennesaw Mountain and throughout the Atlanta Campaign
led to the fi nal outcome of the Civil War.