Crossing of the Union Army at the Shallow Ford
From this site, you can view the path to the 16th U.S. Army Corps under the command of Major General Grenville M. Dodge, as it crossed the Chattahoochee River at the Shallow Ford and entrenched itself on the south side of the river during the Civil War. The Roswell Battalion had retreated in advance of the Union´s arrival on July 6, 1864, and burned the old covered bridge, which was located further upstream from this point. Dodge wrote to Union General William Tecumseh Sherman on July 10, 1864, "The ford is half a mile or more in extent, very rough, and impractical except for troops". James P. Snell of the 16th Army Corps wrote in his diary... "The bottom was rough and rocky hard on bare feet. The teams had to make quite a circuit, but they got over in safety". Years earlier, the old Etowah (Hightower) Indian Trail crossed the river at the Shallow Ford, and Jacob Brooks operated a ferry there as early as 1824.
Plaque courtesy Lat34North.com.
Original page, with additional info, here.
Photo credit: Byron Hooks of Lat34North.com.