Johnston's River Line Defense-- Part 5: Shoup's Formidable Design

At the rear, or base of the fort, and behind the line would be a entrance (sally port) where troops could enter or leave the fort safely.

From above, the defensive line would look like a saw blade with the trenches connecting the forts receding  at a backward angle to each redan and then at forward angle  to the next fort creating what Francis A. Shoup  called a re-entrant (salient).

Along the front of the trenches would be walls or palisades made of stockades.

Each fort could hold up to eighty men.  Soldiers within the forts could load rifles and hand them up to riflemen on the earthen platforms who would then provide interlocking fields of fire channeling attacking forces  towards the re-entrant formed by the receding tranches where artillery fire from the redans would sweep the ground.

If all the forts  were manned at once, the River Line would prove to be quite formidable.

And, I'd Never Heard of This Francis A. Shoup Before.  --Old Secesh

Johnston's River Line Defense, Atlanta-- Part 4: A Unique Design

Construction on what initially was called the  Chattahoochee River Line started on June 19 and took about two weeks using a labor force of soldiers well enough to work from local hospitals and over 1,000 impressed slaves.  I like to think this was when Scarlett O'Hara saw slaves from Tara going through the streets of Atlanta with picks and shovels in the movie "Gone With the Wind."

Some trenches already existed near the state railroad bridge but the vast amount of defenses had to be built from scratch.

THE SHOUPETTES

Francis A. Shoup's defensive design consisted of arrowhead-shaped infantry forts -- 36 were built -- spaced 175 yards apart and connected by trenches broken every  30 to 75 yards by artillery redans that each would house two cannons.

Each of the arrowhead forts, which came to be called Shoupades after the designer, consisted of an earthen foundation with log walls or parapets extending 14 to 20 feet high depending upon the terrain.  Interior earthen walls would stop short of the log exterior walls, forming a platform on which infantrymen could fire over the top of the fort.

And, There's More.  --Old Secesh

Johnston's River Defense Line, Atlanta-- Part 3: Francis A. Shoup's Plan

From the beginning of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's Atlanta Campaign in May 1864, he had continually outflanked Confederate General Johnston's army forcing them to fall back to a defensive position at Kennesaw Mountain in late July.  Johnston saw the nearby Chattahoochee River as a major  boundary between him and the city of Atlanta.  He had already sent a hundred men to guard the railroad bridge over the river at Bolton.

Johnston feared he would lose thousands of men captured should he have to cross the river if he were to be driven back and decided there should be a defensive line on his side of the river.

On June 18, 1864, roughly a week before the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Johnston was approached by his artillery commander, Brigadier General Francis A. Shoup, about constructing a defensive line  atop a ridge along the northwest bank of the river (on the opposite side from Atlanta).  The Confederate Army could withdraw to this place should Sherman continue outflanking maneuvers

Shoup's design for the fortifications was such that it would only take a small fraction of Johnston's forces to defend them while, if necessary, the rest of the army would have time to get across the river.

Johnston approved Shoup's plan and work on it began the next day.

--Old Secesh

Johnston's River Line Defense, Atlanta-- Part 2: Comparable to France's Maginot Line

Before I read about it in the article I used in my other blog, I had never heard of this Line before, even though I lived outside of Atlanta for awhile.  So, this is all new to me.

It must have been quite an impressive fortification as the Wikipedia article says it is often compared to the French Maginot Line built prior to World War II.  Today, it is part of the River Line Historic Area and the Chattahoochee  River Line Battlefield.  It consists of the remains of Confederate battlements including  unique fortifications called Shoupades, named after their designer, Confederate Brigadier General Francis A. Shoup.

The remnants are spread out over an approximately six-seven mile stretch  along the northwest side of the river from a point just north of where Nickajack Creek joins he Chattahoochee in Mableton to north of South Atlanta Road in Smyrna/Vinings.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 5, 1973.  Although many of the remains are on private property, visitors can access the site off U.S. 78 in Mableton, and off S.R.  280 and S. Atlanta Road in Smyrna/Vinings.

--Old Secesh