An Unexpected Clash

An Unexpected Clash is a Georgia historical marker in DeKalb County, dedicated 1988.

At the intersection of Clifton Street and Memorial Drive in Atlanta.

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July 22, 1864. The attack by Walker's & Bate's divs. (Hardee's A.C.) [CS] struck the two brigades, Mersy's & Rice's, of Sweeny's 16th A.C. div. [US] enroute to support the 17th in E. Atlanta. Walker's troops came up Sugar Cr., valley from the S.; Bate's from the high ground eastward. Sweeny's men hastily formed defensively -- Rice racing E., Mersy S., the apex of the lines atop the hill where Laird's 14th Ohio Battery was posted & where Murphy High School stands. Blodgett's Missouri Battery H was at Rice's center, facing E. Though greatly outnumbered, Sweeny managed to hold the position, thereby foiling Hardee's thrust at the Federal rear.

TodayHistorical map

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David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1856 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1864 · Colton's Georgia (1864) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1866 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1869 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1874 · Military Operations of the Atlanta Campaign. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Georgia, 1866, covering the location of An Unexpected Clash, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Georgia, 1866, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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This historical marker is part of the Georgia Historical Marker Program and was erected by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Marker texts and locations come from the Society's own marker database.

An Unexpected Clash

Historical maps covering this location

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