This weekend Atlanta marked the 140th anniversary of the Battle of Atlanta. You cannot be faulted if you happened to be in Atlanta but failed to notice. We are a city with little use for the past; inevitably we put development before preservation. As it turns out, the site where the new shopping center is being built, just around the corner on the edge of Little 5 Points, was an important battlefield. Not that there was anything at all to indicate this. In fact, heavy fighting took place on the spot where I am now sitting and typing this: my bedroom. Or at least on the land where my bedroom now resides. The vantage point of Atlanta's Cyclorama painting lies somewhere just outside my front door. That area has recently been an ugly semi-industrial eyesore. It is soon to be a big box development with a Target, Kroger, Best Buy, Lowe's and several others. Having visited some amazing civil war sites, it is all too easy to bemoan the lost opportunity to preserve an important part of American history. But that opportunity is long since gone. I am forced to admit that in some ways, some rather depressing ways, Atlanta has been a step ahead of the cultural curve in its priorities.
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution did put together a decent little web site devoted to the Battle of Atlanta. It's nice to have something to praise the local paper for. By the way, if you aren't already familiar with it, check out BugMeNot to get an instant login and password if the ajc site asks you to register.
