View of the Confederate earthworks and the Illinois monument today.

This citation reads: "Erected to the memory of the ILLINOIS SOLDIERS who died on the battlefield of Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia, June 27th, 1864. On the field the men of Col. Dan McCook's 3rd Brigade, 2nd Div. 14th Army Corps assaulted the Confederate works on the 27th day of June, 1864, losing four hundred and eighty killed and wounded, including two commanders, Col. Dan McCook mortally wounded and Col. D. F. Harmon killed; brigade reached Confederate works and at less than one hundred feet from them maintaind a line for six days and nights without relief. At the end of which time the Confederates evacuated."

The Illinois Monument

In 1899, 60 acres of land was purchased by Lansing Dowdy, a veteran of the 86th Illinois who had fought here. Money was raised and a large monument of Georgia marble was erected on the spot where the Federal assault had peaked. The monument was installed on June 27, 1914.

Illinois units listed on the side of the monument.

This is a postcard view from a distance of the twin peaks of Kennesaw Mountain.

This is a view from near the top of Kennesaw Mountain on an overcast day reminding us of the very rainy weather experienced by the soldiers during the battle.

Union troops attacked entrenched confederates on June 27, 1864. This painting by artist, Thur de Thuistrup, hans in the park visitor center.

Eight thousand Union infantrymen in five brigades attacked the two best divisions in Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's Confederate Army. Most of those in the assault waives were shot down. some got to close quarters and for a few minutes there was brutal hand-to-hand fighting on top of the defenders' earthworks. Both sides grimly nicknamed this place the "Dead Angle."

Postcard of a wartime photo taken from a Union artillery position of Kennesaw Mountain and Pigeon Hill.

This is a Confederate gun emplacement.