Rocky Face Ridge purchase faces fundraising deadline

Published 8:54 am Friday, February 7, 2025

Local and regional Civil War groups pursuing a battlefield artillery site on historic Rocky Face Ridge are advancing in their fundraising efforts to buy the property before development can occur. However, more than $76,000 still needs to be raised by June.

Bob Jenkins, president of Save the Dalton Battlefields, spoke on the endeavor during a presentation at last weekend’s Chickamauga Civil War Show at the Dalton Convention Center.

“Whitfield County has preserved 1,000 acres at Rocky Face Ridge Park,” he said. “It’s the crown jewel of Georgia Civil War parks with incredible vistas … where you can see the entire Atlanta campaign in one spot.”

Jenkins accepted a $10,000 donation toward purchase of the former Confederate artillery site from Joe Trahan, president of the Georgia Battlefields Association. Another group, the American Battlefield Trust, has provided half of the $677,000 needed to purchase 61.54 acres of what is known as the Washington Artillery/Stanford’s Battery site. The property is along the southeast slope of Rocky Face Ridge.

Jenkins mentioned an additional partner in a handout he provided at the presentation. The Open Space Institute seeks “to protect fragile ecosystems and preserve the natural vegetation on this property to prevent erosion and stormwater runoff.”

“(The property’s) preservation is vital, not only for historic reasons, but also for ecologic and environmental reasons,” he added in a follow-up email. “If developed, it would seriously impact stormwater runoff and erosion, and create significant flooding in the Mill Creek basin.”

‘A lot of history’

After the presentation, Jenkins said in a phone call he had received checks in the mail that day for $5,000 and $100, and another pledge for $500.

“So the number we’re down to currently is $76,550 to go, which is our current need,” he shared. “Out of the $677,000, we’ve raised just over $600,000 in pledges or donations. We have until June 2025 … But we started last September. Fifty percent of the funds are coming from American Battlefield Trust. That’s the same group that helped us acquire the property that became Rocky Face Ridge Park, which (Whitfield) county helped us obtain through the leadership of (former commission chair) Mike Babb.”

Jenkins said there have been “many people over the years that have helped with raising awareness as well as helping to preserve property in Dalton and Whitfield County.” He mentioned specifically Bill Blackman, Paul Belk, regional historian Marvin Sowder and Babb.

“Greg Cockburn introduced us to several landowners to acquire property … in local preservation efforts,” he continued. “David Aft has provided wonderful support at Community Foundation of Northwest Georgia, and local utility companies and many others have helped, too, including the Frank P. Pierce Foundation of Chattanooga.”

All the groups working on the purchase make the endeavor “a historic, environmental and conservation project,” noted Jenkins.

Tom Gilmore, the chief land preservation officer for the American Battlefield Trust, which preserves Revolutionary War, Civil War and War of 1812 battle sites, said his organization is highly interested in the property from a historical standpoint.

“The property was used during multiple battles in the Civil War in 1864,” he noted. “It’s got a lot of history associated with it, not just the Battle of Rocky Face Ridge itself. We only preserve Civil War sites that are designated as the most significant sites in the country, one of which is the Battle of Rocky Face Ridge.”

Gilmore pointed out the site is “very pristine, with original earthworks (defensive fortifications).”

“We are very excited about it, and it is a good follow on a preservation effort on Rocky Face Ridge (that began) in 2016,” he said. “That was the Grant property, which is 308 acres that is now owned by Whitfield County. We preserved it, protected it in perpetuity with a conservation easement, and then transferred the property to (the county).”

‘Generations yet unborn’

Jenkins was asked why citizens should care about preserving a local battlefield site from the Civil War.

“To preserve the history so that our children and our children’s children will be able to walk the grounds that their ancestors walked, and to be able to see some of the most important Civil War earthworks in the nation,” he replied. “Also from an environmental standpoint, to maintain our greenspace so that Rocky Face Ridge does not look like Lookout Mountain or Missionary Ridge one day. It would, if not for the leadership of Mike Babb and other commissioners over the years. That’s what Whitfield County would have looked like.”

He added, “No county funds have been, or will be, utilized in obtaining this property. This is all through private donations and various grants.”

Trahan said later in the week that every one of the battlefields are “sacred ground.”

“Our job is to buy property where brave men and women fought and died,” he explained. “This piece of property is important, in our estimation … Every time we save a piece of property, it just warms my heart because unfortunately, in places like Atlanta, they’ve been pretty much paved over and then it’s gone forever. We’re hoping that generations yet unborn will be able to walk that ground.”

Trahan added that on a personal note he is from Louisiana and several of his ancestors fought with the Washington Artillery.

The whitfieldcountyga.com website page for Rocky Face Ridge Park states it is “full of Civil War history, hiking trails, picnic pavilions, restroom facilities, state-of-the-art mountain bike trails and some of the most beautiful views in Whitfield County.”

Is Jenkins confident groups and individuals can raise the remaining funds in less than four months?

“Absolutely.”

Who fought on the property?

The Washington Artillery/Stanford’s Battery site on the southeastern side of Rocky Face Ridge is a 61-acre property that was used during the Civil War. Bob Jenkins, the president of Save the Dalton Battlefields, was asked what happened there.

“There may be other units called the Washington Artillery, including the northern one in Ohio, but this one is from New Orleans,” he said. “They are a famous outfit that dates back to the War of 1812. It was formed by a group of leading citizens and young men from New Orleans, and named after general and President George Washington. Several of their units served with the Army of Northern Virginia, but this battery served with the Army of Tennessee in Georgia.”

Stanford’s Battery was also a Confederate unit; it hailed from neighboring Mississippi.

“There is another artillery site located on this property that was manned by Garrity’s Alabama Battery,” Jenkins added. “There were Georgia troops in Stovall‘s Georgia Brigade, as well as Alabama soldiers from Baker’s Alabama Brigade and Clayton’s Alabama Brigade that occupied earthworks on this property. Midwestern soldiers in regiments from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin also fought on this property in February and May 1864, and Black troops from the 14th United States Colored Troops charged across this property in August 1864.”

How to help save a battlefield

Those desiring to donate to the project can send a check to Community Foundation of Northwest Georgia with “Save the Dalton Battlefields LLC” in the memo line. The address is Save the Dalton Battlefields, c/o Robert Jenkins, P.O. Box 6124, Dalton GA 30722. You can also donate on Facebook (Save the Dalton Battlefields).