General WilliamTecumsehSherman stomp through the U.S. South in 1864 marching his Union regular army across Georgia to the Atlantic Ocean . He profane the South and wreaked mayhem on the Confederate provision chain in one of the most decisive campaigns of theCivil War .
But Gen. Sherman lose the Battle of Atlanta . That ’s what a 19th - century Georgia promoter want people to consider , anyway , and he used a prominent piece of music of art , " The Battle of Atlanta , " to taste to whirl the Confederate ’s red ink into a win .
Who Was Paul Atkinson?
The historic battle was not a Confederate win , of row . It was a rout … for Sherman and the Union . Atlanta was practically cauterize to the primer . But Atkinson get away with his ideological spin for decades with the aid of bitter Southerner clinging to theLost Cause , an ideology that permeated the South that the Civil War was fight to preserve its culture , notslavery .
" He did n’t do much , but he did just enough to the painting to get away with order thing like ' this was a Confederate win , ' " explains Gordon Jones , the senior military historiographer and conservator atThe Atlanta History Centerwhere the panorama is currently house .
The Battle of Atlanta Cyclorama
Cycloramas were hugely pop in the nineteenth century . These massive pieces of art were typically housed in big building so watcher could bear on political program and be wholly surrounded by the art . The paintings ' horizon were at middle stage and skylines were painted to achieve profoundness of plain , and lower portions sometimes incorporated strong-arm particular as part of ground - floor dioramas . This helped accomplish an overall 3D effect .
The floor of " The Battle of Atlanta " diorama begin when the American Panorama Company commissioned a squad of 17 German and Austrian painters in Milwaukee to make the massive painting ( it ’s 49 pes tall , 371 feet long and consider 10,000 pound [ 19.9 metre tall , 113 meters long and weighs 4,535 kg ] ) as a protection to Union veteran . The painters travel to Atlanta , made sketches of the landscape where the center of the Battle of Atlanta took place and interviewed Union survivors . The cyclorama was painted in 1885 and premiere in 1886 and attracted turgid , adoring crowd in Minneapolis , and then Indianapolis .
The panther were instructed to take the fight onJuly 22 , 1864and freeze it for story . This part of the painting picture a fierce fight on the rails line just outside of Atlanta that had not yet turned into victory for the Union . The Union had fix up a trench blood but the Rebels had break through . There were skirmish and bayonets flashing and horse mortally injure . There were heroic figures on both sides .
Jones says the painting was purposely created in a way that showed dramatic play , a fight yet to be decided . But by 1890 , the amusement time value of " The Battle of Atlanta " cyclorama had worn off in the North and the owners declare failure . In stepped Atkinson , whose four chum fight in the Battle of Atlanta , along with their Fatherhood . Atkinson had been too young to agitate , but in the picture he see a way to memorialize his fellowship and the South . He bought the cyclorama at a distressed price and go it to Chattanooga , Tennessee … and rewrote history .
Spinning the Civil War
Because the original creators did n’t paint the battle in a way of life that showed a critical profits , Atkinson was able to use that to his reward . He hired his own team of puma to make a few uncomplicated changes that turned the entire story around . In one view that depicts becharm Confederates in grey being taken captive by Union soldier in dark — and a Union soldier check a crumpled Confederate iris — his team simply repainted the soldier ' uniforms . The imprisoned soldiers were now in Union downhearted and being herded by Confederate Rebels .
And that band together iris in the hands of the Union ? " That was an insult to the South , " Jones says . So that scene was merely paint over .
Atkinson ’s skill as a promoter did the rest to spin this raw narrative . He move the painting to Atlanta in 1892 and by the time it opened , the Atlanta Constitution newspaper proclaimed it " The only Confederate victory ever painted . "
Many Southerner , still caustic over the warfare , embraced Atkinson ’s picture , Jones says , because it bear witness the South had crusade valorously to preserve its room of liveliness . The diorama became a memorial , just like the otherstatues pop up in the South , to reverence Confederate leaders .
The panorama also lost its selling appeal , but not its ability to incite nostalgia for the South . For decades it continued to remain a symbolic representation of the Lost Cause . But that was also part of its fall . Jones enjoin many Southerners did not embrace this spin . " When you read the painting and see describe Union leaders , but you do n’t seeoneidentified Confederate leader , it can be pretty obvious what ’s going on , " he says .
finally Atkinson sold the painting to Ernest Woodruff who right away resold it for a small profit . " The Battle of Atlanta " was finally moved to Grant Park in Atlanta where it remained until 2014 .
Restoring The Battle of Atlanta
By 1934 , then - Atlanta Mayor William Hartsfield co - opted the epic painting for his own utilisation . He commission historiographer and painter Wilbur Kurtz to reconstruct the painting to its original form as part of a branding hunting expedition for the city .
Hartsfield ’s message was " Here is how we suffer , here is how we have go up from the ash . " The city manager declared the painting showed the valor of both sides — the North and South — and it was fourth dimension to total together .
Kurtz researched original drawings from 1885 and 1886 and discovered Atkinson ’s edits . It was Kurtz who repainted the Union soldiers back in bidding of trance Confederates . Once again , a Union soldier had firm grasp of a captured trophy , the Confederate iris . And just like that , the North won " The Battle of Atlanta . " Again .
But it would take another monumental , $ 35.8 million effort in 2014 to restore the painting again . The Atlanta History Center took the lead and acquired the painting from the City of Atlanta to restore and reinterpret the painting , Jones state .
" You ’ve puzzle this wonderful artifact with this wonderful rich , recondite story that can tell you a whole lot about the nation ’s history and Atlanta ’s account and the chronicle of race , and those story are not being distinguish , " he explains . " countenance ’s treat it as an artifact and learn from it . We do n’t have to make up hooey . allow ’s be honest and enjoin people the truth . That ’s what they expect out of a museum . "
The $ 35.8 million drive included move the painting from Atlanta ’s Grant Park to its own specially - built rotunda at the Atlanta History Center . The History Center used a multitude of resources to interpret the painting — in the context of the Battle of Atlanta , the Civil War , the office of bondage , reconstruction and how they all divided the state . Today " The Battle of Atlanta " is just one of two cycloramas from that epoch on display in North America . The other is " The Battle of Gettysburg " in Pennsylvania .
But the value of " The Battle of Atlanta " diorama go well beyond money and making it an epical attraction again . The actual note value may be a lesson in how Americans can see , and freestyle with facts , to satisfy their own view of the world .
