Upcoming 2024 Congress: Atlanta, Georgia
Since 2001, our association has held 19 Congresses across the Southeast. Each Congress is held in a different location near where our soldiers once fought and bivouacked. There are three nights of activities and two days of tours. We often use local guides to educate our members and show use the exact locations of where our soldiers stood and fought. The first night has a welcome reception and silent auction. Our second night is called Historian Night, and it is an open forum where members make 15-minute or less presentations about people, places, and things related to our brigade. The third night is a full banquet with a guest speaker.
Our 2021 Congress was held in Cartersville, Georgia in May and included visits to Cassville, Kingston, Kennesaw Mountain, Allatoona Pass, New Hope Church, and Pickett’s Mill. Our 21st Congress was held in Franklin, Tennessee. Our 22nd Congress was headquartered in Kinston, North Carolina and featured tours of the Bentonville and Wyse Fork Battlefields led by Colonel Wade Sokolosky.
Our 23rd Congress will be headquartered in Gainesville, Georgia. Our tours will include:
Friday, May 10th
An adventure into Northeast Georgia, home of companies from the 42nd, 43rd, and 52nd Georgia. Gainesville was home to two companies from the 43rd and holds Alta Vista Cemetery, our first stop, which is the final resting place of Lt. General James Longstreet and 31 of our men. We will then stop at the remaining wing of Longstreet’s Piedmont Hotel, which is now a museum to General Longstreet and where a living history demonstration will be arranged for us. We are then off to Cleveland, Georgia and a visit to the historic courthouse and the muster grounds of the 52nd Georgia. Lunch will be across the street at Clyde’s Table & Tavern. Our third Georgia hill town is Dahlonega, which houses the Georgia Gold Museum, the law office of Colonel Weir Boyd of the 52nd Georgia, and Mount Hope Cemetery, where members from three companies of the 52nd rest in peace.
Saturday, May 11th
Brace yourself as we journey into Atlanta. Definitely on the schedule is a visit to Oakland Cemetery, the trench line at Fort Walker, and a walk where Stovall’s Brigade charged the Union line and captured a federal battery in the Battle of Atlanta. We will enjoy a catered lunch at the L.P. Grant House, the oldest surviving home in Atlanta. Lemuel Grant designed the formidable Confederate trenches that surrounded Atlanta. We will have time for one more stop which, depending on sentiment and weather, could be the newly restored cyclorama, or Confederate Knoll of Westview Cemetery, and view the trench line where Stovall’s men camped for six weeks during the siege of Atlanta.
The headquarters will be at the Fairfield Inn in Gainesville. We have a block of rooms (Your choice of one king or two doubles) for $159 a night. We will be using their conference room on Thursday and Friday nights.
Rooms can be booked directly at:
https://www.marriott.com/event-reservations/reservation-link.mi?id=1701365770082&key=GRP&app=resvlink
Click HERE for registration information.
