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Cassville was created by the Georgia Legislature in 1832 to serve as county seat for simultaneously created Cass County (now Bartow), one of ten original counties carved from the former Cherokee territory. By the 1850's Cassville was the cultural center of north Georgia with two colleges (male and female), four hotels, a newspaper and wooden sidewalks.
Georgia's first Supreme Court decision was delivered at Cassville in 1846. Many of the Cherokee Nation's legal battles to hold on to north Georgia were staged at the Cassville Court House. But by the end of the Civil War, all that remained of Cassville's former eminence was three homes, two churches and a Confederate Cemetery. |
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Cassville is remembered by students of the Civil War for what did not happen here: The Cassville Affair. During the Atlanta Campaign, Confederate General Joe Johnston intended a major offensive here after tricking General Sherman into dividing his forces at Adairsville.
Quite likely, this last best offensive would have been successful and leveled the playing field for Gen. Johnston's extremely out-numbered Confederate troops. However, the evening before the battle that was not, May 18, 1864, Confederate Gen. John Hood convinced Johnston to withdraw south to Allatoona. (The same evening, Gen. Johnston succumbed to another's wish and was baptised at Cassville by Gen. Polk, a clergyman, at the request of Mrs. Johnston.)
Union Forces occupied Cassville from that night until November 1864. On October 30, orders were issued to destroy Cassville. Residents were given only 20 minutes notice the town was being burned. No images of the town, nor official records of her citizens, survived. |
| Directions and Website |
Directions: Take Cassville/White Exit from I-75. Also north of Cartersville on old US 41
Historic Cassville Website |
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