A boost for resurgence

When Sherman’s army departed Atlanta in November of 1864 the city treasury was left with a grand total of $1.64, and, apparently, that was all in confederate money. To say the least, not much of a nest egg with which to begin rebuilding a city. But that would be just one of many obstacles that the people of Atlanta would overcome in their quest to rebuild. By most accounts, bringing Atlanta back to its prewar glory started before the war even ended and, two years after the war, the city was back bigger than ever. Many factors enabled Atlanta’s resurgence but there were two distinct groups of people who saw to it that Atlanta got off on the right foot and we take a look at those two groups in this week’s Stories of Atlanta.