I have been to the Atlanta History Center a number of times, in my twenties, later on as a father with two boys, and, last year, as a senior citizen. The Center has changed a lot over the forty years that I have been visiting it, and it always gets better. There is a lot of great stuff at the museum, but, for Civil War history the Center does a better job than any municipal museum in the country.
When I used to visit the museum, you could tour the exhibits, but if you wanted to see the Cyclorama of the Battle of Atlanta you had to cross the city to Grant Park, pay a separate admission, and not have anything at the two sites refer to each other. Now, the Cyclorama has been moved to the Atlanta History Center and it is one of the most viewed exhibits in the entire museum. It was recently restored and the artwork is excellent.
Many times when I visit Civil War museums I don’t press my wife to come along with me. She likes history but spending a morning looking at the detritus from the battlefield is not her idea of a date night out. The same thing with my kids when they were little. They would be very excited to see the exhibits, but after a half an hour they would get bored and ask to go home. What I can tell you is if you have a mixed family with varying ages and interest in the Civil War, this museum is for you.
For the student of the American Civil War, this is a great place. It tells the story of the civilians, both white and Black, before the war and it provides a detailed look at the Battle of Atlanta. The museum also gives insight into Emancipation and Reconstruction after the war. The museum holds one of the largest collections of Civil War artifacts in the country. NOTE: In the Summer of 2026 there will be a new expanded exhibit on the Civil War.
The Atlanta History Center is located at 130 W Paces Ferry Rd NW, Atlanta, GA 30305. The prices for admission are not cheap. Here is what they were in April of 2026:
The Center came into existence in 1926 but the museum is very modern and huge. The Civil War played a part in its growth. In 1986 it was gifted with the outstanding DuBose Collection of Civil War artifacts and in 1989 the new part of the Center was built for the Civil War exhibits. The Center is surrounded by woods, fields, and gardens, each set around a theme. I won’t take you through the entire grounds of the Center, but we will look at the Civil War related outdoor grounds.
In the entry-room there is a brief post-war history of the Black community in Forsyth County. Before the Civil War, this county northeast of Atlanta had an 11% slave population, yet in the 1970s there were almost no Blacks living there. This was because of the forcible expulsion of African Americans from the county from the end of Reconstruction until 1912. I have family living in Forsyth County and in my young adult days Blacks could not buy a home there.
Below are African Americans being held as prisoners by the white militia.
Right outside the entryway is a piece of the Union artillery. This was a 30 pounder, meaning it could fire a shot of 30 lbs.
This was a Parrot Rifle. It was developed in 1860 by Captain Robert Parrot at the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, New York. It was a design that was used on both land and sea. Because it could fire more than two miles it was particularly prized by artillerymen. These guns are easily recognizable because the breech has a wrought iron band giving it extra strength.
Every Civil War exhibit includes good signage.
The historical signage says:
The Union Army used this cannon during the American Civil War, which was fought between 1861 and 1865. Called a siege cannon, it was too big and heavy to be used in most battles. Instead, it was used during sieges, which were lengthy assaults used to capture fortified cities or seaports.
This particular type of siege cannon is called a Parrott Rifle. It was invented in 1860 by a former U.S. Army captain named Robert Parker Parrott, who designed a series of spiral grooves, called riffling, inside the iron barrel, or bore. The riffling made the cannon fire much farther and more accurately than previous bronze cannons that had smooth bores. As a result, this rifled barrel could hit a target almost two miles away. This is one reason more people were killed in the Civil War than in any other war in American history.
Rifled cannons used different types of projectiles: solid shot cannon balls for knocking down brick walls and fortifications; shells with time fuses for making explosions; or case shot, which contained dozens of small iron balls. These balls flew through the air like bullets, killing any soldier in their path.
Today, our Parrot Rifle rests on a modern steel stand so it can be displayed safely. Originally, it would have been on a wooden carriage with wheels, which allowed soldiers with eight horses to move the cannon where it was needed. The wheels also absorbed the shock when the cannon was fired.
4.2-inch (30-pounder) Army Parrott Rifle, Model of 1861
Manufacturer: West Point Foundry, Cold Springs, New York
Date of manufacture: 1862
Materials: Cast iron with wrought iron breech band
Range: Approximately 2,500 yards
The Union Army used these guns in the sieges of Savannah, Charleston, Vicksburg, Mobile, Richmond, Petersburg, and many other places. It is not known where this particular gun was used.
When you go into the Civil War gallery you will see a large amount of arms and equipment, but what catches your eye is the huge steam locomotive and tender on tracks in the center of the large room.
The locomotive was named the Texas in 1856. It has been restored incredibly well. It was a “workhorse” for half a century, but it is known today for its actions on April 12, 1862 when The General was hijacked by Union eaiders.
Almost all students of the American Civil War know about the Great Locomotive Chase on that date. James Andrews, a civilian scout, led 22 Union soldiers and another civilian on an undercover raid near Atlanta. They captured The General and headed north to burn bridges carrying the railway. They hoped that the supply disruption would help with the capture of Chattanooga.
The interior of the locomotive.
The Texas was commandeered by the Confederates to pursue The General.
You can ascend a staircase an go into The Texas.
This is great if you have a child with you. They may find the strangeness of the cab and tender as interesting as the history of the Great Locomotive Chase.
The locomotive is excellently restored.
Almost every child who went through this room had his picture taken next to the front of the engine.
Confederate forces pursued The General for 87 miles on foot, with a handcar, and with The Texas. Andrews’ Raiders were captured before they reached Union lines north of Ringgold, Georgia, not far from safety. Andrews and seven other Raiders were hanged by Confederate forces soon after they were captured. The hijacking of The General took place on April 7, 1862, and Andrews was hanged on June 7, 1862. Eight captured Raiders escaped from their captors and they traveled hundreds of miles to the Union lines. Some were helped by slaves and Southern Unionists.
The signage tells the history of the Raid, but there is also signage that relates the popular perception of it. Buster Keaton’s The General is a classic of the silent movie era, with a very serious subject being done as a comedy. Walt Disney released The Great Locomotive Chase in the 1950s. There have been fictional accounts and history books devoted to it, as well as train rides over the original right-of-way.
After you leave the train room, you can broaden your scope to the Civil War in Georgia. There is an electric map that lets you track the Union and Confederate armies from 1862 to 1865.
There are also arms that have been preserved since the end of the war.
After viewing the exhibits on the main floor, go down a flight of stair to the entrance to the Battle of Atlanta Cyclorama. The signage tells you that this and the Gettysburg Cyclorama are the only two remaining cycloramas in the United States. This is not true. I was in a cyclorama at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. It was not an historical cyclorama, but it still exists.
If you have never been inside a cyclorama you will be amazed at the size and completeness of this painting. The cyclorama was originally designed to tour the North and the figures in it were individualized Northern officers. It was created by seventeen German artists in Minneapolis and it debuted in that city in 1886. It toured for a half a decade, but in 1892 it was bought by a Georgian businessman who had artists turn the painting into a depiction of a Confederate victory as part of Lost Cause historiography. In the 1930s, the cyclorama was tied into the debut of the movie Gone With the Wind. The cyclorama was the perfect place to have an immersive Battle of Atlanta experience, even if the distortion further distorted history.
I took a lot of photos of individual sections of the painting. As you can see in the photo below, 3-D models of soldiers and scenery are placed in front of the painting. The artwork is longer than a football field.
There are many scenes of the chaos of battle with each side charging and running away. The 3-D soldiers sometimes are intermixed.
The artists did not just depict the heroic, they also showed the suffering of the common soldiers as in this scene of a badly wounded soldier being dragged off the field of battle by two friends.
In the scene below, the wounded and dead are also represented by the 3-D figures. A destroyed wagon is nearby.
Artillery pieces and caissons are scattered in front of the paining.
In the scene below, Union soldiers are driving the Confederates back.
The models are well-integrated into the action on the painting.
At the decisive point in the battle, General John Logan arrives on horseback to rally his men and deliver the decisive blow.
Many of the Union scenes of victory were taken out when the painting was moved to Atlanta, but by the 1930s they were restored. The current restoration shows the cyclorama as it was originally presented in the North during the 1880s.
Much of the cyclorama focuses on the Union attack on the Troup Hurt House. At about 4:00 PM the Confederates had taken the house and the Union battery of four Parrot guns. At 4:45 PM the Union XV Corp had rallied and was about to retake the house.
From the railway, in the background, you can see Stone Mountain. The house in the middle is Sherman’s headquarters.
Every hour or so there is a brief audio visual presentation explaining the creation of the cyclorama. But, unlike at Gettysburg’s Cyclorama, after it is over you are not escorted out as quickly as possible. You can spend as much time with the painting as you want. There are signage explaining each action on the painting. It is well worth examining the work. Typically there is a docent in the room who can answer your questions.
The suffering and confusion of the scene made a lasting impression on me,
There are more than 6,000 men in the painting, from famous generals to unknown common soldiers.
I had seen the Cyclorama at its old home at Grant Park. The cyclorama’s Grant Park museum has now been turned over to the Atlanta Zoo. The Atlanta History Center moved it to its current location a decade and a half ago after having constructed a specially built building that was round to display the painting as it was originally intended. The Center restored the painting and made it more historical by divorcing it from its Lost Cause reinterpretation that had dominated since the 1890s.
Below you can see how the real track on the left are integrated into the painted image.
When Gone With the Wind opened, a 3-D figure was added to the diorama. It was a character from the movie.
Clark Gable, as Rhett Butler, appears dead! So even in the 21st Century the painting still conveys at least a little of the Lost Cause mentality!
On the same floor there are several artifacts that appear in the painting that the Center has had donated to it. There are also exhibits on the impact of the cyclorama on the telling of history.
There is also an exhibit on the myths that grew around the Civil War.
The role of the cyclorama in the development of the Myth of the Lost Cause in the 20th Century is also an important focus.
The role of Southern white women in promulgating the Lost Cause through their burial customs as well as the erection of monuments to the Confederacy and Civil War relic displays helps explain why the Civil War was so alive even after 100 years of the surrender at Appomattox.
An exhibit looks at the role of veterans after the war.
And the important role of Black troops in the Union Army.
There are also displays outside that show you how people lived at the time of the Civil War. The Smith Farm is the oldest farmhouse still in existence in Atlanta. It has been restored to how it looked in the 1860s. On the grounds are historic varieties of crops common in that era, as well as farm animals of the same breeds that were common at that time. Around the main house, there is a barn, several different types of gardens, slave quarters, and work buildings.
The buildings around the farm include a corncrib, a dairy, a blacksmith shop, a smokehouse, a chicken coop, and a barn.
The central house is very respectable, but it is not a mansion. Farmer Robert Hiram Smith owned 800 acres, most of which he used to graze his pigs.
The house is open and you can go in and ask the costumed docent questions about women’s life on the farm.
We enjoyed the grounds around the house. There was a kitchen garden where vegetables and herbs were grown for the Smith family. Nearby there was a garden where slaves could grow their own food.
When I was there, the children were in love with the farmyard animals kept near the barn. Sometimes a docent took an animal out to meet the kids.
There was a separate kitchen building, but it was a hot day and food preparation was taking place in the back yard.
There is also a slave cabin nearby.
Inside are the homemade objects used by enslaved Blacks every day.
A ladder to the attic which could be used for hiding a person.
The excellent signage will leave you familiar with the lives of slaves.
Next is a blacksmith shop. The blacksmith could be a locally raised white man, an immigrant, or an enslaved person.
The equipment makes you feel that someone was working there.
So, for instance, this laundry machine is ingenious, but it also tells you how hard enslaved women had to work to keep their owners clean.
Similarly in the white peoples house you can see how business records were kept.
A room is devoted to women making clothes for the family.
For all the work and oppression, the flowers must have offered some relief.
Across from the entry space to the Center there is a food court where local restaurants offer lunch for a reasonable charge. We enjoyed our meal there.
Chris Mackowski of Emerging Civil War takes you to the Cyclorama in Atlanta.
Note: All color photos of buildings in this post were taken by Patrick Young except as noted.
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