Wheeler Delays Blair

One of the two markers that triggered this interest in the local historical markers.

Text of the Marker - Verbatim, but translated by me without all the abbreviations.
McPherson's Army of the Tennessee (US) seized Decatur July 19, 1864 and on July 20th moved towards Atlanta in two columns - the 15th and 16th Army Corps via the Georgia railroad, the 17th by roads south of it where Wheeler's Cavalry (CS), guarding the right of Atlanta's outer defense line, was posted.
Wheeler encountered Blair's 17th Army Corps at Clay Street and, in a contest lasting all afternoon, endeavored to halt it - both forces using artillery. Toward evening, Wheeler withdrew west to Leggett Hill, where he was relieved at Midnight by Cleburne's division (of Hardee's corp) (CS), which had been withdrawn from the engagement at Peachtree Creek for this purpose.

Georgia Historical Commission Marker Number 044-42 Erected 1956

Location: Hosea Williams Drive at Clay Street
GPS:
Visited: June 19, 2008

So here we are, at the first marker, but smack in the middle of the preliminary movements prior to the Battle of Atlanta. The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain was over, the encounter at Peachtree Creek was over, and Decatur was occupied by solders of the Union.
Now, at this point and time, I had always believed that the Battle of Atlanta happened in a rather linear fashion beginning at Kennesaw Mountain and continuing with the March to the Sea, southeast towards Savannah. So now, with the information on this marker, a flanking action to cut off the supply line and a push from the east towards a fortified city is described. This changes my perception and triggers some understanding of other markers that I had read along Dekalb Avenue where there were battles over the railroad line.
If, as I believed at the time, the battle followed a southeastern course, then those markers on Dekalb Avenue would have occurred after Atlanta had fallen. I had never been quite comfortable with the idea that the Union forces and the Confederate forces were still fighting over the railroad after the city had fallen. And I had never been comfortable with the idea that the Union commander did not sidestep the fortifications, attack at weak points, or siege the city.

So, from this marker, Union forces, after capturing Decatur on the east side of Atlanta, move towards the eastern defenses of the city and, along the way, encounter some of the defenders. The defenders delay the Union forces for an entire afternoon until they withdrawn to Leggett's Hill, where ever that is. The Confederate forces are relieved by another division that has come from the Peachtree Creek encounter.
Now when talking of the Battle of Atlanta, the encounter at Peachtree Creek is what comes to my mind, right after the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. The area a little east of the actual battle area is currently called Peachtree Battle. So for the Confederates to remove a portion of the defenders there and shift them to the south east, the threat must have been significant, and possibly expected.







An assumption of mine from the text of the marker: A.C. equals Army Corps. While reading this, and some others, I originally mistook the A.C. for Armored Cavalry since the markers that I read dealt with cavalry corps. After some research, I latched onto the Army Corps translation.