HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Preserved 1864 Civil War Battlefield
4432 Mt Tabor Church Road, Dallas, GA 30157
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Standard Georgia State Park admission. Check venue website for current fees.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Mixed: paved visitor center, dirt and root trails through the battlefield
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1864 · Civil War Battlefield · Atlanta Campaign · State Historic Site
On the afternoon of May 27, 1864, two days after the Battle of New Hope Church, Major General Oliver O. Howard led roughly 14,000 Union troops in an attempt to outflank the Confederate right near Pickett's Mill, in what is now Paulding County, Georgia. Confederate Major General Patrick Cleburne, with about 10,000 men, anticipated the move and fortified positions in the dense terrain. The resulting engagement was short and one-sided: Union forces sustained approximately 1,600 casualties; Confederate losses were near 500.
The defeat slowed Sherman's drive toward Atlanta and remained a sore subject in Union memory. Veteran and author Ambrose Bierce, who fought at Pickett's Mill, later wrote the bitter essay "The Crime at Pickett's Mill," which preserved the engagement in literary memory at a time when the battle was being deliberately overlooked in official accounts.
The battlefield remained largely undeveloped for more than a century. Beginning in 1973 the State of Georgia gradually acquired the 765-acre site, and the park opened to the public as the Pickett's Mill Battlefield Historic Site in 1990. Surviving earthworks, original troop roads, and an 1800s pioneer cabin are still visible. The visitor center includes exhibits and a short film, and the surrounding terrain remains close to its 1864 condition.
Sources
The original Shadowlands report on Pickett's Mill Battlefield is brief: a misty figure runs between two trees and disappears. Beyond that single description, available sources do not contain corroborated witness accounts, named entities, or media coverage tied specifically to paranormal activity at the site.
This is consistent with how Civil War battlefields tend to register in regional folklore. The atmosphere of preserved engagement ground — silent earthworks, an undisturbed forest floor, the knowledge that more than two thousand casualties fell in a single afternoon — generates ambient ghost stories that rarely cohere into specific named figures or recurring incidents. Park interpretation focuses entirely on the documented battle, the topography, and the experience of the soldiers who fought there.
Walk the 765-acre site that preserves the May 27, 1864 battlefield, including original Union and Confederate troop roads, surviving earthwork battlements, and an 1800s pioneer cabin. The trail system traces the ground where 14,000 Union troops under General Howard advanced against 10,000 Confederates under General Cleburne.
Visit the museum's exhibits on the Atlanta Campaign and the brief, lopsided engagement that produced 1,600 Union and approximately 500 Confederate casualties in a single afternoon. A short film orients visitors before they walk the field.
Some links on this page may earn HauntBound a small commission when you book, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial picks are independent. Full disclosure
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Free Guide
11 verified stops, rated for families, mapped in order. Free.
One email to confirm, then the guide link. Unsubscribe anytime.
Kure Beach, NC
Fort Fisher was the largest earthwork fortification of the Civil War, built by the Confederacy beginning in 1861 to protect blockade-running traffic into the port of Wilmington. After a failed Christmas Eve 1864 assault, a combined Union land and naval bombardment captured the fort in January 1865. Fort Fisher's fall closed the last open Confederate seaport.
Sharpsburg, MD
On September 17, 1862, the Battle of Antietam near Sharpsburg, Maryland became the single bloodiest day in American military history, with 23,100 men killed, wounded, or missing in a 12-hour engagement between Union and Confederate forces.
Republic, MO
The Battle of Wilson's Creek, fought on August 10, 1861, was the first major engagement of the Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi Theater and the second major battle of the war overall. Union General Nathaniel Lyon launched a surprise dawn attack on Confederate forces under General Ben McCulloch, resulting in Lyon's death — the first Union general killed in the war — and over 2,500 total casualties. The Confederate victory secured southwestern Missouri for the South and energized Confederate sentiment throughout the state.