In 1863 Nathan Bedford Forrest saves the city from the hands of Colonel Abel Streight and his Lightning Mule Brigade . Rome honors him as a hero. A statue in his honor is erected downtown, later moved to Myrtle Hill . Union General Jefferson C. Davis captures Rome in May 1864, a major target of the Atlanta Campaign . Approaching the city, Davis gets reports of the extensive fort system the citizens and the Confederate Army have constructed.
Forward detachments report the forts manned and prepare for battle.
From this point they pull back under cover of darkness on May 16, 1864. The hardest fighting occurs at Fort Attawa, northwest of Rome on the Summerville Pike. Upon retreat from Atlanta, John Bell Hood 's now meager army moves into the general area about October 10, in hot retreat from Sherman's well supplied hoard. I could see Lost Cause stamped on every face. I knew then the Confederacy was doomed.