Confederate Strategy Unique to Cobb Explored in Lecture

SMYRNA — The Chattahoochee River was the last big barrier for Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman to overcome on his march to Atlanta in 1864.

As he led his soldiers south toward Atlanta, he came across a foreboding and unrecognizable line of defense: the Shoupade.

"The best line of field (entrenchments) I have ever seen, prepared long in advance," Sherman said of the Shoupades he encountered at the time.

Designed by and named after Confederate Brig. Gen. Francis Asbury Shoup, the one-of-a-kind fortress was the center of discussion in a lecture given by local historian Philip Ivester at the Smyrna Public Library.

Ivester said when Confederates — who had just 55,000 men and 154 cannons —were coming up against the Union — that had 120,000 men and 250 cannons — the idea for the Shoupade finally came to fruition.

"He had discussed some ideas of how to defend a smaller army against an army twice its size ... he continued to work on this until he got down to Cobb County, and they were getting more and more desperate ... that's when he perfected his idea for a unique system of defenses," Ivester said.

Shoupades positioned a small group of soldiers in a near triangle-like shape. Inside, riflemen stood on a multi-level trench, where just their top half would be exposed, allowing them to fire. Beneath them, fellow soldiers would be adding ammunition to the rifles.

The Shoupades were connected by trenches that spanned nearly six miles along the Chattahoochee, with other artillery stationed between the fortresses.

Made of logs stuffed with dirt, trees and other earth matter, Ivester said they were nearly impassible.

"It looked to be virtually impenetrable ... these were virtually bomb proof. You couldn't shell them out," Ivester said.

The Shoupades were able to slow Sherman's army, but ultimately, were abandoned by the Confederates after mass confusion of their purpose.

"(The Confederates) were looking for an earthwork, just like everything everything else (they'd) seen," Ivester said.

Confederates soon fled to the Chattahoochee's south bank and Union soldiers lined the north, preparing to move in on Atlanta.

But, Ivester said, there was a period of peace in which soldiers on both sides crossed the river and safely went behind enemy lines.

"(The Confederates) put up a white flag and proposed to stop shooting, and all go swimming," Ivester said.

The Rebel troops traded tobacco for the Yankee's coffee. Ivester read several letters from Southern soldiers aloud for the lecture attendees, many of them waxing poetic about their search for smokes.

"Just how much they were willing to do ... they were addicted," Smyrna resident Sandra McQueen said of those soldiers.

McQueen said she lives near an old Civil War battleground. She doesn't live inside the River Line Historic Area, a neighborhood that a nonprofit by the same name is trying to popularize.

"We created an identity and a sense of place for people that live in the river line," said Roberta Cook, executive director of the River Line Historic Area.

The organization works to protect natural and historic resources in the six-mile-long stretch that connects Smyrna, Vinings and Mableton.

"It's our business to preserve the river line and the Shoupades," Cook said.

Part of their work is ensuring the preservation of the Shoupades that still exist today. Out of the 36 that were erected in the Civil War, 10 still stand and three are available for the public to visit.

Those interested in seeing the Shoupades can visit Shoupade Park or Riverline Park, both in Smyrna, or Discovery Park at Riverline in Mableton.