In 1864 Federal troops encamped on the grounds of Atlanta City Hall (from 1853 until 1883). Today's Georgia capitol stands on this site.
The right wing (15th and 17th Corps), Maj. Gen. O. O. Howard, USA, marched from bivouac areas in the vicinity of White Hall (West End) early that morning, the 15th Corp toward Jonesboro, the 17th Corp. toward McDonough. The 3rd Cavalry Division, Brig. Gen. J. L. Kilpatrick, USA, covered the right wing.
The left wing (14th and 20th Corp), Maj. Gen. H. W. Slocum, USA, marched from bivouac areas in and around Atlanta, the 20th Corps. to Stone Mountain on the 15th and the 14th Corps, accompanied by General Sherman and his staff, to Lithonia the next day. The Provost Guard (2nd and 33rd Massachusetts and 111th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer Infantry) was the last unit to leave Atlanta, marching behind the 14th Corps on Nov. 16th.
During the four days preceding the departure, the work of destruction had been so thorough that when General Sherman mounted his horse, here at the John Neal house, early on Nov. 16th, his Chief Engineer, Capt. Orlando M. Poe. CE, stated that “for military purposes the city of Atlanta has ceased to exist”. (source Georgia Historic Marker 060-117 - The March to the Sea)
The Georgia Capitol building was constructed between 1884 and 1889. It is built in the neoclassical structure with a gilded dome and is the perfect expression and symbol for the capitol of the ‘New South’ as Atlanta considered itself to be after the Reconstruction. The dome is gilded with Gold that was mined in north Georgia. The State Capitol is listed on the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places.
The grounds around the Capitol have many statues of the leaders of Georgia that played a significant role in the states history. There is also a museum inside the Capitol.
The Gilding of Georgia Capitols’ Dome
During a 1957 renovation of Georgia's capitol, Thomas Bradbury, the architect in charge of the project, and Gordon Price, a Dahlonega-born engineer living in Atlanta, proposed that the deteriorated tin-covered dome be replaced by a more attractive and durable surface. The citizens of Dahlonega and Lumpkin County offered to donate the gold. Within a week, twenty ounces of gold had been pledged by citizens from an area that 129 years earlier had been the site of the nation's first gold rush.
The gold was expected to last thirty or forty years but the gold was applied during the winter months, and the engineers were unaware that gold leaf does not bond properly when it is applied during cold weather. By 1977 almost half of the gold was gone from the dome. Concern over the disappearing gold and the dome's appearance led a number of Georgians and state officials to explore how the dome might be regilded. The Dahlonega–Lumpkin County Jaycees committed their organization to raising the gold for the project, as they had done in the late 1950s, with overall responsibility for regilding to be assumed by the Georgia Building Authority.
The fund-raising effort was ambitious; a wagon train crossed the state, visiting each of the state's former capitals. In June 1979, after a journey of almost six weeks, the wagon train pulled up to the city limits of Dahlonega, where Governor George Busbee boarded the lead wagon and drove it for the final few miles. Before the end of the year, enough gold for the dome had been collected.
Only ten other states have capitol domes covered with gold leaf: Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Of these, the gilded domes of Iowa and Georgia are the largest.
Source: Georgia State Capitol (
visit link)
The Georgia State Capitol is open to the public 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends and holidays. Guided tours are available Monday through Friday at 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 2:00 p.m. The Georgia General Assembly is in session beginning the second Monday in January and continues for 40 working days.
The Capitol is located in downtown Atlanta at the intersection of I-20 and I-75/85, near Underground Atlanta and the Five Points and Georgia State MARTA station.