When the Civil War ended in 1865, life, as you can imagine, did not just magically return to normal. There was no “normal.” Chaos was the order of the day and the State of Georgia had been particularly hard hit. Its politics was scattered, the economy was in shambles and in June of 1865 the United States Government created the Military Department of Georgia in an attempt to bring order to the rapidly declining state.
The City of Atlanta was placed under Martial Law and, for a brief period, the Union Army was in control of the city. The man who was placed in command of that army was, on the surface, an unusual choice. He was in fact a Soldier of Fortune, a Prussian Prince who was apparently so enamored with war that he traveled the globe in search of conflicts in which to become involved and he is the subject of this week’s Stories of Atlanta.
