The Troup Hurt House stood east of Atlanta near the Georgia Railroad, in what is now the Inman Park area. Confederate troops had previously used the area around the house as part of Atlanta’s outer defenses.

On July 22, Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood launched his great attack against Sherman’s forces. Late in the afternoon, troops of Benjamin Cheatham’s Corps, particularly Arthur Manigault’s brigade of South Carolinians and Alabamians, smashed through the Union XV Corps line around the Troup Hurt House.

They captured the house area and four 20-pounder Parrott rifles belonging to Capt. Francis DeGress’s Battery H, 1st Illinois Light Artillery. For a short time, the Confederates had opened a dangerous gap—about half a mile—in the Union line.

Then Gen. John “Black Jack” Logan, who had taken command after Gen. James McPherson was killed earlier that day, rallied the Federals and launched a major counterattack. The Union troops drove the Confederates back and recaptured DeGress’s guns, closing the breakthrough. The U.S. Army’s official history says the breach was sealed by about 5:00 p.m.

Why the Troup Hurt House is famous

This particular fight became the centerpiece of the enormous Atlanta Cyclorama painting. The painting shows the desperate struggle around the house and DeGress’s battery.

The original house no longer exists. A historical marker on DeGress Avenue in Atlanta identifies the site.

There is also an interesting South Carolina connection: the 10th South Carolina Infantry had used the Troup Hurt House as its headquarters shortly before the battle, and Manigault’s brigade included South Carolina troops in the Confederate breakthrough on July 22.

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