An Unknown Soldier of Allatoona Pass

This grave holds the remains of a Confederate soldier who fell at the Battle of Allatoona Pass on October fifth, eighteen sixty-four. He served in the division of General Samuel G. French and was killed when Confederate forces attacked the Union garrison holding this vital mountain gap in the Western and Atlantic Railroad line.

The battle was one of the bloodiest small engagements of Sherman's Atlanta Campaign. Confederate forces outnumbered the defenders but failed to dislodge them, suffering heavy losses. Sherman's signal to the garrison to hold the fort, later immortalized in the hymn Hold the Fort, became part of American lore. This soldier's name was never recorded. For generations, Southerners have come here on pilgrimage, honoring a man known only by his uniform and his cause.