Colonel Eli Long, Army of the Cumberland, at Cohutta Springs (west)

Colonel Eli Long came into Cohutta Springs (west) in northern Murray County, Georgia, on February  22, 1864, before the first Battle of Dalton. He was en route to Dalton, Whitfield County, Georgia, and Murray County was a back way into Whitfield County. Long camped at Waterhouse's Mill, near the Conasauga River. Neither the county name nor the place name of Cohutta Springs is ever mentioned in Union Correspondence, and the area probably was not known to the Federals as Cohutta Springs. The post office had suspended delivery of mail to that area during the war, and there probably would be no markers in the vicinity of the mill. Union correspondence always refers to the place by some description, such as "Waterhouse's Mill" or "south of the Connesaga" (River). In his Feb. 1864 reconnaissance, Long received ambiguous orders and had to ask for more information about his mission, due to confusion over the roads in the area. He had been asked to communicate with Cruft at Red Clay, but Red Clay is about twelve miles west of Waterhouse's and cannot be reached directly from the road he is calling the Spring Place and Cleveland Road. Interestingly, in his earlier report, he names the road, but does not yet know the name of the place (Mr. Waterhouse's house). In a later report, he names his campsite of the 22nd as Mr. Waterhouse's house, and calls the road "Spring Place Road."*

This area is not at the mineral springs and resort. It is five miles west of the mineral springs, on modern-day Georgia Highway 225, a mile or so south of the Tennessee state line.

Link to 1863-1865 post with map (drafted 1863-1864; published 1865) showing the area south of the Conasauga River, but not designating Cohutta Springs P.O. The relevant area on this map is the road running from Spring Place directly north toward Benton Pike, just where it intersects a road that runs southeast toward Ellijay. The place name of Cohutta Springs (where the post office was located from 1836 until at least 1865) does not appear on the map. However, east of that area, on a road running parallel to the S.P. and Cleveland Road, is "Cohutta Springs" (Cohutta Springs, east), where the resort and mineral springs would be located. MAP AND DESCRIPTION.


Citation:

O.R., Series 1, Vol. 32, Pt. 1--Reports [Washington: Government Printing Office, 1891], 423, 469, 472.

Full Citation: The War of the Rebellion: v.1-53 [serial no. 1-111] Formal reports, both Union and Confederate, of the first seizures of United States property in the southern states, and of all military operations in the field, with the correspondence, orders and returns relating specially thereto. 1880-1898. 111v
The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Pub. Under the Direction of the ... Secretary of War, United States. Record and Pension Office. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1891. Original from: Pennsylvania State University. Digitized: 6 July 2011. 

------Report No. 3, "Report of Brig. Gen. Charles Cruft, U.S. Army, commanding First Division, Fourth Army Corps."] Hdqrs. First Div., Fourth Army Corps, Blue Springs, Tenn., Mar. 2, 1864, 422-429. [Relevant section: page 423, mentioning Eli Long]. http://bit.ly/OfficialRecords-I-43-3-Eli-Long


------Report No. 26, "Reports of Col. Eli Long, Fourth Ohio Cavalry, commanding Second Brigade, Second Cavalry Division," 469-474 [Relevant sections (report that mention Burnt Mill, Waterhouse's, Cleveland and Spring Place Road, or the Connesauga): 469] http://bit.ly/OfficialRecords-I-43-3-Eli-Long-Rept-26

------Report of Col. Eli Long [Hdqrs. Second Brig., Second Div. Cavalry, near Lee's House, Ga., February 27, 1864], 472. http://bit.ly/OfficialRecords-I-43-3-Eli-Long-at-Lees-House

*Typically these main roads run between two towns and are named, in a broad sense, for both towns; hence, "Spring Place and Cleveland Road." Locally, the people in Cleveland or Charleston, Tennessee, would probably refer to it as "Spring Place Road," while people in Spring Place would refer to it as "Cleveland Road" or "Charleston Road."

Cohutta Springs (West)

Cohutta Springs as a town is no longer extant. Historically, the community of Cohutta Springs covered a broad area from south and east of modern-day Cisco, Georgia, to north and east of modern-day Crandall, Georgia. On maps from 1836 to about 1900, the area is marked either Cohutta Springs or Cohutta Springs P.O., and it lies on a road that ran between Spring Place, Georgia, to an area east of Cleveland, Tennessee, and on up to Charleston, Tennessee. Today it would be located on Georgia Highway 225, near the intersection of Hall's Chapel Road and Georgia Highway 2. There are several other small communities dotted throughout the area, each with its own unofficial place name (no longer receiving mail via the place name, but sometimes still called by its old, traditional place name). Some old maps have two separate spots designated as "Cohutta Springs." Other maps have one or the other, but not both. Our blog features both areas, and will usually try to differentiate by saying "east" or "west."

Cohutta Springs (West):
This post features Cohutta Springs (west), near the location of Oakwood Plantation, once known as Waterhouse's Mill and house. The area is designated in various ways in census. In 1870 Census, the area is designated as 874th Militia District, with the Post Office designated as "Cohutta Springs" in 1860 and "Spring Place" in 1870 (showing how mail delivery changed depending on which post office was available). In 1880, the area is part of the Tenth District, no. 874. On property deeds, the area is designated as Tenth District, 3rd Section, Murray County, Georgia (or sometimes, Tenth District, 3rd Section, originally Cherokee, now Murray County). It would be interesting to know whether the residents of this area actually referred to it as "Cohutta Springs." Callaway Campbell did, and used the post office as his mailing address. But clearly, the resort area, five miles away, was also called Cohutta Springs. Other place names for the area, depending on the exact vicinity of the land and which mailing route is in use, are Cisco, Georgia, and Crandall, Georgia (though the actual town of Crandall is some miles away, and is closer to the other Cohutta Springs).