Lake Allatoona and the World Famous Navy Resort--5/5/14

Today was a slow day for touring as we left the coast and moved towards Atlanta, spending most of the day on the road.  We have settled into the Number One RV spot at a Navy RV Site on Lake Allatoona north of Marietta, GA known as the World Famous Navy Resort!!!!  Our camper is tucked into a loved treed spot with the beach directly across from us overlooking Lake Allatoona.

By the time we set up camp it was supper/dinner time and the restaurant we had chosen, "The Steak House" in Cartersville, was closed on Monday.  So we went to a seafood restaurant around the mall from the Steak House called Angelo's Dock Side which turned out to be great!! 

Since RBII was warning us he needed spirits in 45 miles, we headed to Pilot where we usually buy our gas when we are towing a trailer because we get 4 cents off per gallon and Pilot is usually at the lower end of the spectrum price-wise.  We  have been averaging $3.51-3.69/gal along the way.  It was a beautiful evening and we had a speck of energy left, so I suggested we try to find one of the "Civil War thingies" emblems on the local map given to us on check-in at the Resort.  Lo and behold! there was a Allatoona Pass Battlefield memorial only 2 miles from our campsite!!  God does bless us continuously!!!!

We learned that the Allatoona Pass was a defense line after the burning of Atlanta in September 1864 during the "War of Northern Aggression".  Allatoona was important as it had a railroad which passed through the mountain and the Union forces used it for supplies.  The Confederate forces attacked the trains in an attempt to cut off the supplies.  A very bloody battle occurred when Major General Samuel French marched his 3,276 troops against the Federal garrison of 976 troops on October 4, 1864. However, just a few hours before the battle, General John Corse and 2,025 more Federal troops arrived, many of whom were armed with the new Henry repeating rifles.  After a few hours of battle 1603 men from both sides were killed or injured.  With a 35% Union casualty rate and 27% Confederate casualty rate, the Battle of Allatoona Pass is one of the bloodiest of the War Between the States.  As you can see by the story below both generals were West Point students. 

There is a memorial honoring the eleven states whose troops were involved in this battle.