Annual Battle of Kennesaw Mountain programming will be virtual this year

Jun. 22—Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park is set to mark the 157th anniversary of its namesake battle with virtual programming throughout the weekend.

In a series of programs available through its Facebook and YouTube accounts, the park plans to give viewers a glimpse not only into what military tactics and firing of cannons and other weapons may have been like in the Civil War but also how fortification, cooking and medicine worked at the time. The videos will be released on Facebook during scheduled times throughout the day.

Programming for the anniversary weekend has already been pre-recorded, said Park Ranger Jake Boling, but residents are more than welcome to come take the park's driving tour, highlighting important sites at the park and watch videos at the various sites. The park and visitor center is also open for general visitors.

Boling also said park rangers will be available around the park to answer questions on the video postings.

He said it's important to commemorate the day each year as part of the park's mission to educate.

"All year long, we try to interpret various elements of the Civil War, of this park, of this battle, anything connected to this site," Boling said. "Our site is dedicated to interpreting, educating and remembering what happened here in 1864, and the anniversary is kind of a natural time during the year when we really get to do that."

The battle, on June 27, 1864, was one of the bloodiest in the Atlanta campaign. Kennesaw Mountain, Boling said, served as "the last best chance, defensively, on the campaign that the Confederacy had."

Perched atop a mountain, and with plenty of opportunity to create fortifications, Union Gen. William Sherman's frontal assaults on the Confederate troops "were largely ineffective," Boling said.

But in the end — on or just prior to July 1 — Union forces gained a position at the very south end of the Confederate line in modern-day Austell and forced a Confederate retreat.

Presenting all that, as well as many programs, online over the past 15 months has challenged the park, Boling said. But it has also presented new opportunities. Anyone with access to the internet can go online and watch the national park's programming or its anniversary commemorations.

"I wouldn't go so far as to say it's limiting us," he said. "Presenting virtual programs is a very different animal. A lot of us had to kind of learn, and we're still learning a lot of things. ... But it has allowed us to do a lot of different things that we might not normally have done."

He also said online programs often mean more accessible programs. For example, videos have caption capabilities for the hearing impaired.

Even once programs return to face-to-face settings, Boling believes virtual programming will still be incorporated into the park's repertoire.

"It really just allows anyone to see the battlefield from anywhere," he said.

Online programs commemorating the 157th anniversary of the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain are expected to be released from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, though schedules and programming are subject to change.

For more information, visit nps.gov/kemo/index.htm or the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park Facebook page.

Follow Thomas Hartwell on Twitter at twitter.com/MDJThomas.