The Bald Knob and Nodine's Hill, Kennesaw Mountain

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Feb 15, 2013
Location
The Emerald Isle
I have just started reading "Kennesaw Mountain: Sherman, Johnston, and the Atlanta Campaign" by Earl J. Hess. In Chapter 1, he talks about a part of the battle which I wasn't really familiar with, the skirmishing at features called Nodine's Hill and The Bald Knob. Mr. Hess failed to mentioned which units were involved in this skirmishing though at least on the Confederate side. I do believe he mentioned men from Bate's Division when discussing the Bald Knob but did not go any further than that. Is is know which Confederate an Union units were involved in these skirmishes?
 
The men associated with this part of the fighting on the Kennesaw Line on June 20th, 1864 were those of Brigadier General Walter C.Whitaker on the Federal side. They were part of Thomas' Army of the Cumberland, IV Corp, I Div, II Brigade and were made up of the 96th and 115th Illinois, 35th and 84th Indiana, 21st Kentucky and 40th and 51st Ohio. There is a decent amount of reference to it in Braumgartner and Strayer's Kennesaw Mountain June 1864. I haven't seen reference to it on the Confederate side anywhere but it was very likely Bate's men as you alluded to. Probably those of Brig. General Thomas B. Smith (37th GA and 4th GA SS, 20th, 30th, 15th and 37th Tennessee) in particular and likely others. This was highly contested ground with hand to hand fighting lasting into the darkness. The NPS just annexed this part of the battlefield a few years back. It's not easy to get to but really neat to see if you are feeling adventurous!
 
I have just started reading "Kennesaw Mountain: Sherman, Johnston, and the Atlanta Campaign" by Earl J. Hess. In Chapter 1, he talks about a part of the battle which I wasn't really familiar with, the skirmishing at features called Nodine's Hill and The Bald Knob. Mr. Hess failed to mentioned which units were involved in this skirmishing though at least on the Confederate side. I do believe he mentioned men from Bate's Division when discussing the Bald Knob but did not go any further than that. Is is know which Confederate an Union units were involved in these skirmishes?
The men associated with this part of the fighting on the Kennesaw Line on June 20th, 1864 were those of Brigadier General Walter C.Whitak
I have just started reading "Kennesaw Mountain: Sherman, Johnston, and the Atlanta Campaign" by Earl J. Hess. In Chapter 1, he talks about a part of the battle which I wasn't really familiar with, the skirmishing at features called Nodine's Hill and The Bald Knob. Mr. Hess failed to mentioned which units were involved in this skirmishing though at least on the Confederate side. I do believe he mentioned men from Bate's Division when discussing the Bald Knob but did not go any further than that. Is is know which Confederate an Union units were involved in these skirmishes?

I just found direct reference for an answer to your question on the Federal side in General Oliver O. Howard's autobiography. It turns out that I was incorrect! The men originally holding the the bald hill near Kennesaw were those of Col. Isaac Kirby of the 1st Brigade of Stanley's 1st Division of Howard's IV Corps. I was off by a brigade! They were overrun by the Confederates and lost the hill. The following day, it was taken back by the 1st Brigade of the 3rd Division (Wood) of Howard's IV Corps including the 25th Illinois that Nodine was the Colonel of. Sorry for the confusion!
 
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