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Camp McDonald

Camp McDonald was one of a number of large training camps in Georgia where several thousand soldiers mustered and trained during the first three years of the war. More than 3,000 men from the famed Phillips Legion commanded by Colonel William Phillips trained there in the summer of 1861.

The location of the camp was at Big Shanty (now Kennesaw) and was important because of the abundance of water and railroad activity (lodging, freight) that provided a location for training, means and point to move troops to the war. Camp McDonald was comprised of about 60 acres, but had no permanent structures, mostly tents. The center of the camp was generally that of the current park, where many of the springs and streams were located. Around this area was the arrangement of tents, training areas and parade grounds.

Camp McDonald was named after the 29th governor of Georgia, Charles J. McDonald, by then Gov. Joseph E. Brown in June 1861. Gov. McDonald was born in Charleston, SC on July 9, 1793. In the early 1800’s he moved to Bibb County, Georgia and practiced law and politics. After serving several terms in the Georgia House and Senate, he was elected to two terms as governor in 1839 and 1841. He later served on the Georgia Supreme Court from 1855-1859. McDonald’s business interests included textile mills near Sweetwater Creek in present day Douglas County (the mills were destroyed in 1864 by William T. Sherman). The area and ruins are now Sweetwater Creek State Park. In 1859, due to poor health, McDonald retired to his home in Marietta, known as Kennesaw Hall. Gov. McDonald was a supporter of state’s rights and a southern confederacy, he was an elector-at-large on the Breckenrige presidential ticket in 1860. McDonald died on December 16, 1860 and is buried in the Episcopal Cemetery in Marietta. The Kennesaw Hall was burned during the war and the site was later occupied by Governor Brown.

These maps were evidently created by Joseph Derry. Souvenir copies were printed in later years.
An edition prepared for the GA 4th Brigade is pictured here.

Camp McDonald

Although some Georgia troops had already left for Virginia and other threatened areas, the war really came to Cobb County when Governor Joe Brown established Camp Brown at Smyrna in early 1861. Then on June 11, 1861, Camp McDonald was activated at Big Shanty and things began to stir around the Big Spring area. The camp was named for former Governor Charles C. McDonald, who was a resident of Marietta. He no doubt was familiar with the locality and perhaps was instrumental in having the camp established here.

There was an abundance of good water here plus open ground, high and dry, and not too thickly settled. Also the railroad was in operation and furnished a convenient means of transportation for incoming recruits and the supplies necessary for their training and subsistence. The camp was meant to be a training ground for immediate service in the field so no permanent structures were necessary. The recruits lived in small tents and no doubt had rude shelters for cooking and eating and storage of supplies.

Brigadier General Wm. Phillips of the Georgia Militia was commander of the camp and with his staff was camped about where our present Library is located. For these locations I am using a map prepared by B.C. Yates, former superintendent of Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield Park, and this map was later reprinted and sold for the benefit of the reactivated 41st Georgia Infantry. What I want to do is relate the camp and regimental locations with the present day streets and physical features.

I have not located a copy of this map for inclusion in this article.

So into camp came the Rowland Highlanders, the Lewis Volunteers, the Rowland Infantry and Davis Guards, all from Cass County, (later Bartow), the Newton Rifles from Covington, the Stephens Infantry from Gordon County, the Jackson County Volunteers, the Davis Invincibles from far off Dougherty County, the Dooly Light Infantry from Vienna, and finally the only Cobb County company, the Acworth Infantry, led by Captain J.B. O'Neal. These companies formed the First Regiment, Fourth Brigade, Georgia Volunteers. They were camped along the present Due West Road and their parade ground was approximately where the 4-lane crosses Due West Road.

Between their camp and the railroad were the tents of the Rifle Battalion, The Greene Rifles from Greene County, the Dalton Guards from Whitfield, the Habersham Volunteers from Clarksville, the Polk County Rifles and the Blue Ridge Rifles from Lumpkin County. The Rifle Battalion was later combined with the Artillery Company and the Cavalry Battalion to form Phillip's Legion which fought with the Army of Virginia under command of Robert E. Lee.

The Second Regiment was camped around the intersection of the 4-lane and Pine Mountain Road and their parade ground was between the camp and Butler Creek. The Second Regiment companies were the Jackson Guards from Fulton County, the Carroll Guards and Gold Diggers from Carroll County, the Palmetto Guards from old Campbell County, the Senoia Infantry from Coweta, the Heard Grays from Heard County, the Henry Guards from McDonough, the Cotton Guards from Paulding County and the Kingston Volunteers from Cass. The First and Second Regiments were later combined to form the 18th Georgia and took part in many battles under Lee's command.

The Artillery Battalion was camped between the headquarters camp and the W & A Railroad, somewhere around the intersection of Moon Station Road, or Harris Street as we now know it, and Main Street. They did not lack for fancy names either as we find the Cherokee Artillery from Floyd County, the Spring Place Volunteers from Murray County, the Lewis and Phillips Guards from Fulton County, the Barnesville Blues from Pike County and the Holloway Guards from Upson County.

Farther out the present North Main Street and on the right side, we find the camp of the Cavalry Battalion. Their parade ground was west of what is now Park Street and south of Paulding Drive. Their companies were known as the Governor's Horse Guards from Baldwin County, the Johnson Rangers from Cass, the Coweta Rangers from Newnan and the Cherokee Dragoons from Cherokee. In all there were some thirty-five companies in camp, over twentyfive hundred men, more inhabitants than the community would have for a good many years. Last but most important in the instruction of this mass of new recruits was the camp of the cadets of the Georgia Military Institute from Marietta, who were to be the drill instructors for all these soldiers-to-be. Their camp was on the west side of Dallas Street and extending toward Lewis Street, or about where the writer now lives. The Lemuel Kendrick home place was also next to the camp. Their tents were known as Sibley tents, named after the General of that name, and were circular in shape with a center pole which gave them plenty of headroom, the sides could be rolled up, giving ventilation during hot weather. These cadets, most of them mere lads, served as drill instructors until the time came when some of those they trained for war came back from northern Virginia, some missing an arm or a leg, but still able to give instruction to new recruits.

So now Big Shanty comes to life, we hear the roar of cannons as the artillerists practice the art of killing, the sound of bugles as the cavalry wheels into line and charges, and the shrill cries of the cadets rising through the dust churned up by marching feet as they try to teach discipline and obedience to these raw recruits. Farmers, miners, clerks, teachers, hunters and what not, men and boys who as yet know nothing about what war means.

This was the heyday of the famed Lacy House, which had been established only a few years previously, but had already gained a reputation for fine food and hospitality. Friends and relatives of the recruits came from far and wide and sampled Mrs. Lacy's cooking and if there was room, slept in her beds.

Johnny was learning to keep in step and to fire his musket and perhaps to do a little foraging in Lem Kendrick's orchard and garden or even cross the railroad tracks and capture one of Mrs. Lacy's ducks, skills which he would have ample opportunity to exercise later on when foraging became a necessity.

Finally order began to come out of chaos, the troops were deemed ready for active service, so Gov. Brown and other dignitaries were notified that a Grand Review would be held July 31st. On that day the town was filled to overflowing, they came by train, by wagon, on horseback and walking, there would not be as many people in Kennesaw until one hundred years later when the Little General huffed and puffed up the tracks from Atlanta and on to Chattanooga.

The first contingent left for Virginia on August 2nd and 3rd, the second left on the 5th and 6th, and the remainder followed on the 12th. A few days later two regiments of eight hundred men each came into camp, but I cannot find out what their regimental number was. They stayed a few months and then the camp was empty until February of 1862, when the 39th, 40th, 41st, 42nd and 52nd regiments came in. They were gone again by the last of March, and the camp was not used again except for a short time in early 1863 when some conscripts were trained. But the best remembered times were during the first occupancy.

The veterans of Phillip's Legion held a great many reunions in the area of the big spring, even continuing within the memory of some of the present day residents, but like all old soldiers, they have faded away and leave only memories.

Now that we have trained these eager and valiant young Georgians and sent them off to kill and be killed and have welcomed back those who returned it is time to take up the thread of history and trace it through the period of Reconstruction and give honor to those who labored through those trying times to found the community of Kennesaw.

Sources:

www.campmcdonaldpark.org/history.html

Article by Robert Jones adapted from History of Kennesaw by Mark Smith, 1980