June 5, 2017

CONTACT: Trevor Beemon

Executive Director

678-594-4994

tbeemon@cobblandmarks.com

MARIETTA, GA, May 31 - Join the William Root House Museum & Garden as we travel back to July 1864, when the Root family fled from Marietta, leaving their home to the advancing Union Army. Visit the disheveled parlor and dining room to see what the family may have left behind after rushing to leave. Head outside to meet with Union soldiers as they take over the house, constructing a headquarters and attempting to recruit new soldiers.

WHAT: Civil War on the Homefront

WHEN: July 8, 2017 10:00am - 4:00pm

WHERE: William Root House Museum & Garden; 80 N Marietta Parkway NW, Marietta, GA 30060

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Union Major General William T. Sherman invaded Georgia in May 1864. Moving into Georgia from the vicinity of Chattanooga, Tennessee, the Union Army was on a mission to occupy Atlanta, and would follow the Western and Atlantic Railroad all the way down. As the Union Army approached Marietta, William Root made plans for his family to head south. The Root family gathered their most treasured belongings and made their way to Washington, Georgia. The Root family would remain in Washington through the end of the war and would not return to Marietta until 1865.

The Union Army occupied Marietta on Sunday, July 3, 1864. While most of Marietta’s citizens had gone south, some had remained. A northern news correspondent observed that "probably not more than twenty houses are occupied." As reported in the Lamoille Newsdealer on August 10, 1864, "throngs of soldiers are now roaming over the half destroyed gardens, or strolling through the mutilated mansions, thumbing on ruined pianos and lolling on the sofas..."

Used as a supply hub, the city was occupied by Union troops until November 13, 1864. That evening Union Major General William T. Sherman was returning to Marietta from a visit to the nearby village of Allatoona. When he arrived he found the Cobb County Courthouse ablaze, with fires spreading to other structures around the Square.

ABOUT THE WILLIAM ROOT HOUSE MUSEUM AND GARDEN: Owned and operated by Cobb Landmarks & Historical Society, the William Root House Museum & Garden offers an authentic look at life for a middle class Georgia family during the 1860s. The simple frame house is more typical of its time and place than the grand plantations and columned mansions people typically imagine when they think of the Old South.

Visitors to the museum will learn the story of the house, the Root family, and life in antebellum and Civil War Georgia. Using electronic touchscreens, visitors can analyze historic records, family photos, archaeological information, and more. These primary resources help explain how the Root family lived and how the house has evolved over time.

For information about the Root House, hours of operation, and admission, call 770-426-4982.