The Degress Battery

Fulton County · dedicated 1956 · On Degress Avenue, north of Dekalb Avenue in Atlanta.

July 22, 1864. Light Battery H, 1st Ill. (four 20-pounders), Capt. Francis DeGress, was posted here on right of M.L. Smith's div., Logan's 15th A.C. Shells from these guns are said to have been the first to fall in Atlanta. Late afternoon. Manigault's brigade (CS) broke the Federal line at the R.R., forcing Martin's brigade, S. of it & Lightburn's N. of it, to withdraw. DeGress' gunners spiked the pieces & the horses were shot to prevent the removal of the guns by their Confederate captors. The line was retaken in a counter-charge by Martin & Lightburn, aided by Mersy's 16th A.C. brigade; Capt. DeGress re-possessed his guns.

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The Degress Battery

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