War in Our Backyards: Discovering Atlanta, 1861-1865

August 7, 2010 – October 7, 2012

Created by the Atlanta History Center and designed to complement the History Center’s award-winning permanent exhibition, Turning Point: The American Civil War, the new exhibition War in Our Backyards: Discovering Atlanta, 1861-1865 challenges visitors to consider their personal connections to a war that was literally fought in all of our backyards. Although the battlefields around Atlanta are gone, there are visible connections hiding in plain view:  historic artifacts, dug relics, maps, photographs, monuments, and the Cyclorama, which is one of the world’s largest Civil War paintings. Using the latest interactive technology, War in Our Backyards will use historic map overlays to show what battles took place where you live. Additionally, a special video program will allow visitors to see Civil War photographs of the city as they were originally meant to be seen: in 3-D.  Modern views of the same scenes will remind us of how much our city has changed in 150 years. 

War in Our Backyards will also confront Atlanta’s greatest founding myth:  that the city was completely destroyed by General William T. Sherman’s Union armies. In fact, the precise extent of the destruction has never been accurately mapped or fully understood -- until now.  For the first time since the war, how much of the city actually went up in flames will be precisely plotted using dozens of period sources, seven key eyewitness accounts, and the exhibition’s interactive map. Visitors will be able to toggle between the Atlanta of today and the Atlanta of 1864 – both before and after Sherman’s visit. You will be surprised at the results! 

For more information, please call 404.814.4000. 

Take a behind the scenes look at the staff Installing artifacts belonging to famed Atlanta artist Wilbur G. Kurtz.