June 14, 1864 - Leonidas Polk Killed in Action on Pine Mountain, Georgia,
during the Atlanta Campaign:

"Rebel General Polk Killed." -Headline in the St. Louis Republican as reprinted in the Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, Thursday morning, June 23, 1864


Georgia Historical Commission marker 033-20 on Burnt Hickory Road, Kennesaw, Georgia-

GEN. LEONIDAS POLK'S HEADQUARTERS

G.W. Hardage house; June 10-14, 1864.
After withdrawing his corps from Lost Mtn. June 9, Polk's H'dq'rs. were at the John Kirk house 1 mi. W. on this rd. June 10, h'dq'rs. were moved to Hardage house.
Sun. June 12, The Bishop-General read the church service (Episcopal) for his staff, escort, and the Hardage family.
June 14, Polk rode with Johnston, Hardee & others to Pine Mtn. to inspect Bate's line at that advanced outpost.   While there, Polk was killed by a Federal shell.

"One of their Corps commanders (Bishop Polk) had been instantly killed by a shell on the summit of Pine Mountain, and the insurgent armies had suffered fearful losses in that terrible struggle." -Benson J. Lossing, L.L.D., A HISTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR 1861-1865 AND THE CAUSES THAT LED UP TO THAT GREAT CONFLICT, 1895, 1905, 1912


Site of the martyrdom of Leonidas Polk, the South's three-leaders-in-one-man:

Bishop of Louisiana
Chancellor of THE UNIVERISTY OF THE SOUTH
Lieutenant-General, Confederate Army of Tennessee

Pine Mountain, Georgia-



(Near Kennesaw Mountain, not Pine Mountain near Callaway Gardens.)


Lt. Gen. Polk with Gen. Joe Johnston and Lt. Gen. William J.Hardee,
both of whom were with Polk on the crest of Pine Mountain.


Georgia Historical Commission marker 033-24 on Beaumont Drive, Pine Mountain, Kennesaw, Georgia (top), and Georgia Historical Commission marker 033-23 on Stilesboro Road, Kennesaw, Georgia (bottom)-










PINE MOUNTAIN

June 10, 1864. The 4th A.C. moved from Mars
Hill Ch. to position along this road facing
S. Toward Pine Mtn. - highest pont between
Lost & Kennesaw Mtns. The 14th A.C. was on
the left: the 20th on the right.
Pine Mtn. was fortified and held as an outpost
of the main Confederate line 1.25 mils S. -
the line that extended from Lost Mtn. to
Brushy Mtn. - June 5-15.
June 14. Generals Johnston, Hardee & Polk,
while observing Federal lines from Pine Mtn.,
were fired upon by the 4th and 20th Corps batteries.
Gen. Leonidas Polk was killed by a shell.







LT. GENERAL LEONIDAS POLK
KILLED AT PINE MOUNTAIN

The wooded know W. was a fortified outpost.
1.25 miles north of Johnston's intrenched
line from Lost to Brush Mountains, June 5-15,
1864. Pine Mountain was held by Bate's
Division of Hardee's A.C., 5th Co. Washington
Artillery of N. Orleans & Lt. R.T. Beauregard's
S. Carolina Battery.
June 14. While observing Federal lines with
Generals Johnston and Hardee, General Polk was
killed by a shell from a Federal battery- identity
of which is not certain.
The outpost was abandoned the next day and
withdrawn to the main line.







Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.





Special to Chronicle and Sentinel: (excerpts, and edited for accuracy)

A HERO FALLEN!
The gallant Gen. Polk Killed. His remains at Marietta.

Atlanta, June 14.

Lt. Gen. Polk was killed by a shell today above Marietta. He was standing in a group with Gens. Johnston, Hardee, and others, observing the enemy from a position occupied by the Washington Artillery. A fire was opened on the party from a Yankee battery, the second shot taking effect directly in the chest of Gen. Polk. He died instantly, and was carried from the field to Marietta, where the remains await a coffin. -The Confederate Union, Milledgeville, Georgia, Tuesday June 21, 1864



 



"We have lost so much!  I would rather anything than this!"    -General Joseph E. Johnston, C.S.A., The Army of Tennessee, W.M. Polk, LEONIDAS POLK, 1893



Headquarters, Army of Tennessee, In the Field, June 14, 1864, General Field Orders No. 2- "Comrades!  You are called to mourn your first captain, your oldest companion in arms.  Lieutenant-General Polk fell today at the outpost of this army -the army he raised and commanded -in all of whose trials he shared -to all of whose victories he contributed.  In this distinguished leader we have lost the most courteous of Gentlemen, the most gallant of soldiers.  The Christian, Patriot, Soldier has neither lived nor died in vain.  His example is before you -his mantle rests with you."   -signed J.E. Johnston, General, Archives, THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH

"I am too sad to come over this evening.  Ti's hard that one so noble, generous, and brave as our friend Genl' Polk should be taken from us."   -Lieutenant-General John Bell Hood to General Johnston, June 14, 1864, Archives, THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH


"Without a groan his great manly form, so full of honor and love, tottered and fell, with his feet to the foe, and his face upturned to the sky above."  -Mary Polk Branch, MEMOIRS OF A SOUTHERN WOMAN, 1912




"The most remarkable thing about him was, that not a drop of blood was ever seen to come out of the place through which the cannon ball [shell] had passed.  My pen and ability is inadequate to the task of doing his memory justice.  Every private soldier loved him... When I saw him there dead, I felt that I had lost a friend whom I had ever loved and respected, and that the South had lost one of her best and greatest generals"    -Sam R. Watkins, Private, C.S.A., "CO. AYTCH," 1882
 

"In the left pocket of his coat was found his Book of Common-Prayer, and in the right four copies of a little manual entitled 'Balm for the Weary and Wounded' [penned by Rev. Dr. Charles Todd Quintard].  Upon the fly-leaf of three of these had been written the names respectively of 'General Joseph E. Johnston,' 'Lieutenant-General Hardee,' 'Lieutenant-General Hood,' 'with compliments of Leonidas Polk, June 12th, 1864.'  Upon that of the fourth was inscribed his own name.  All were saturated with his blood."   -Funeral Services at the burial of Liet. Gen. Leonidas Polk, published 1866



Evidence is showing that the fatal blow was struck by a timed fuse 3" Hotchkiss shell fired from a 3" Ordnance rifled cannon (Rodman gun) sighted by Corporal Frank McCollum, of Captain Peter Simonson's 5th Indiana Battery, of Major-General David S. Stanely's Division, of Major-General Oliver O. Howard's IV Army Corps, of Major-General George H. Thomas' ("the Shame of Virginia") Army of the Cumberland, of Major-General William Tecumseh Sherman's Military Division of the Mississippi.  (Preserved Pine Mountain artifacts, THE CAMPAIGN FOR ATLANTA, William R. Scaife, 1993, and ARTICLES OF WAR, Albert Castel, 2001)


Pine Mtn. GA
June 14-15, 1864
Washington Artillery

Unexploded Hotchkiss shell (timing fuse variety) dug from
a tree on Pine Mountain, presumably fired from Federal artillery.
A unit of the Washington Artillery of New Orleans was
one of the Confederate batteries defending Pine Mountain.





















Soldiers formerly commanded by Bishop-General Leonidas Polk fought
under Lieutenant-General A. P. Stewart in the Battle of Peachtree Creek.
The Washington Artillery fought on the same battlefield.




U.S. HOTCHKISS SHELL

One of the most popular shells used
during the war

A three piece artillery shell

Percussion (displayed) or timing fuse

Black powder bursting charge

In the first millisecond of cannon fire
the back end of the projectile (1) is
forced forward causing the lead
band (2) around the center portion of
the shell to expand so it will engage
the rifling in the barrel causing it to
spin which gives it greater accuracy.
The bursting charge (3) was in the
nose of the shell. All three pieces were
shot from a cannon.


"We killed Bishop Polk yesterday and made good progress to-day..."    -W.T. Sherman, Major-General, Commanding, in THE WAR OF THE REBELLION: THE OFFICIAL RECORDS, Series I, Volume XXXVIII, page 480, 1891
 

Live replica firing of a murderous 3" Ordnance rifle- the Rodman

"[T]he fatal missile of death deprived us of a hero." -Col. J.N. Waytt of the 12th Tennessee,
in THE GALLANT DEAD, 2005



"Father was killed today
instantly being struck
by three inch rile shot while
reconnoitering enemy."
M.Polk

" 'Pine Mountain, a lone sentinel of nature, was made sacredly historic by the blood of the great preacher, General Bishop Polk,' a Rebel soldier wrote." -Derek Smith, THE GALLANT DEAD: Union and Confederate Generals Killed in the Civil War, 2005

Federal occupation of Pine Mountain-

"General Sherman's Campaign- the crest of Pine Mountain,
where General Polk fell June 14, 1864." -Harper's Weekly, June 16, 1864
"GENERAL SHERMAN'S CAMPAIGN. - We give on page 453 three interesting sketches relating to General Sherman's advance in Georgia. These give a view of localities which, in connection with this campaign, have become historic. We have here, in the first place, a sketch of PINE MOUNTAIN, lately occupied by General Howard's corps, after its evacuation by the enemy- the result of one of Sherman's flank movements. It is a high knob, from which a splendid view of the country and a good idea of the position of the different armies may be obtained.
It was on the crest of this mountain that Lieutenant-General Polk was killed, June 14, by a shell form the Fifth Indiana Battery- the battery of the gallant Captain SIMONSON, who was himself killed the next day. The different corps of SHERMAN'S army have their signal stations on the top of Pine Mountain." -Harper's Weekly, June 16, 1864




"Pine Mountain, where Polk, the Fighting Bishop
of the Confederacy, was killed." -MILLER'S PHOTO HISTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR, 1911
"Confederate Generals Killed in Battle."



Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk
Pine Mountain
June 14, 1864

Top: General Albert Sidney Johnston
Bottom right: Lieutenant-General Amborse Powell Hill

"I saw the smoke from and heard the thunder of Simonson's guns as they sent the fatal shot that tore his body and ended his earthly career. Sad and awful moment for the Confederacy." -Lot Young in THE GALLANT DEAD, 2005



"Grape shot, fragments gathered from the spot
where General Leonidas Polk fell at the
summit of the mountain. 1864
Kennesaw, Mt.
From Dr. Polk, June 1890"

(Correction: mini balls, not grapeshot; Pine Mountain, not Kennesaw;
Archives of THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH.)

"One special moment came after the Color Bearers had hiked to a little-visited site on Pine Mountain when Davis [Historian Stephen Davis, joined by Charlie Crawford of Georgia Battlefields Association] gave a vivid description of the death there of Bishop/General Leonidas Polk." -"Great Time at the Grand Review," Hallowed Ground, Civil War Preservation Trust, Winter 2004

Georgia Governor Joe Brown on the eve of Secession: "They may exterminate us... but conquer us they never will!" -DICTIONARY OF GEORGIA BIOGRAPHIES, Vol. 1, Athens, The University of Georgia Press, 1983


Excerpt from "Battles of Georgia,"
poem by Mrs. Lula Kendall Rogers,
Poet Laureate Georgia Division, U.D.C.,
Confederate Veteran, Vol. XXXI, No. 5, May 1923:
__________________________

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