There have been lots of bloody summers in Atlanta's history, but one of them was, by far, the worst, and there isn't a close second.

By 1864, America was immersed in its greatest test since it had declared independence from England nearly a century before.

The young nation's first civil war had grown into a full-blown crisis.

The conflict pitted the American North versus the seceding American South.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans had already been killed and the war was still waging.

And while the struggle for victory tilted back and forth, there still remained one

stubborn problem for Union forces, Atlanta.

Over time, Atlanta became the lifeline of the Confederacy.

Though it wasn't the Confederate capital that was to the east in Richmond, Virginia,

Atlanta was the crucial manufacturing and industrial center of the Southern cause.

Once cut off from Northern industry, the Confederacy was

forced to manufacture all its own war supplies. As a major railroad hub situated deep in the heart

of the south, the city of Atlanta was perfectly positioned to meet many of these needs.

So when the Civil War began, Atlanta's factories roared to life, working overtime to supply

the Confederate fighting force. Textile mills buzzed day and night to produce clothing for the soldiers.

Uniforms, trousers, and boots, they also produced tents and blankets. Still other industrial sites around the city

churned out Confederate war machines,

ammunition, muskets, and cannons.

During the war, the New York Times said that Atlanta was, quote,

the workshop, the granary, the storehouse,

and the arsenal of the Confederacy,

end quote.

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