Editing Atlanta (section)

===Civil War===
[[File:United States Colored Troop enlisted African-American soldier reading at 8 Whitehall Street, Atlanta slave auction house, Fall 1864- 'Auction & Negro Sales,' Whitehall Street LOC cwpb.03351 (cropped).tif|alt=|left|thumb|[[George N. Barnard]]'s 1864 photograph of a [[Slave-trader|slave trader's]] business on Whitehall Street, Atlanta, [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], shows a [[United States Colored Troops|United States Colored Troop]] infantryman (corporal) sitting by the door.]]
By 1860, Atlanta's population had grown to 9,554.<ref>{{cite web|last=Storey|first=Steve|title=Atlanta & West Point Railroad|publisher=Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage|url=http://railga.com/atlwp.html|access-date=September 28, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Atlanta Old and New: 1848 to 1868|work=Roadside Georgia|publisher=Golden Ink|url=http://roadsidegeorgia.com/city/atlanta02.html|access-date=November 13, 2007|archive-date=October 21, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071021093026/http://roadsidegeorgia.com/city/atlanta02.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> During the [[American Civil War]], the nexus of multiple railroads in Atlanta made the city a strategic hub for the distribution of military supplies.<ref>{{cite web |title=Atlanta's Role in the Civil War |url=https://www.americaslibrary.gov/es/ga/es_ga_atlanta_1.html |website=americaslibrary.gov |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=January 12, 2022 |quote=Because of its location and commercial importance, Atlanta was used as a center for military operations and as a supply route by the Confederate army during the Civil War. Therefore, it also became a target for the Union army.}}</ref>

In 1864, the [[Union Army]] moved southward following the capture of Chattanooga and began its [[Atlanta campaign|invasion of north Georgia]]. The region surrounding Atlanta was the location of several major army battles, culminating with the [[Battle of Atlanta]] and a four-month-long siege of the city by the Union Army under the command of General [[William Tecumseh Sherman]]. On September 1, 1864, [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] General [[John Bell Hood]] decided to retreat from Atlanta, and he ordered the destruction of all public buildings and possible assets that could be of use to the Union Army. On the next day, Mayor [[James Calhoun (politician, born 1811)|James Calhoun]] surrendered Atlanta to the Union Army, and on September 7, Sherman ordered the city's civilian population to evacuate. On November 11, 1864, Sherman prepared for the Union Army's [[Sherman's March to the Sea|March to the Sea]] by ordering the destruction of Atlanta's remaining military assets.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.civilwarlibrary.org/sherman-s-march-chronology.html|title=Sherman's March Chronology|website=civilwarlibrary.org}}</ref>