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4.12.2021: Built as a cotton warehouse by John Glover in 1845, the Kennesaw House is one of Marietta’s oldest buildings. Dix Fletcher purchased the warehouse in 1855, and after remodeling it, opened the Fletcher House Hotel in its place. During the early years of the Civil War, the hotel was used as a Confederate hospital and a morgue. In addition, Andrews’ Raiders stayed in a second-floor room on the evening prior to their theft of the steam engine, “The General,” which took place on April 12, 1862. (The Great Locomotive Chase) 

As the war was nearing its climax in July of 1864, the Union Army took over the building, and when General Sherman came through town on his “March to the Sea”, he did not burn the Fletcher House. Sherman spared the hotel because Dix Fletcher was a Mason and because his son-in-law, Henry Cole, was a Yankee spy. However, the fourth floor did catch fire as ashes from other burning buildings blew onto the roof, and the fourth floor was not rebuilt. (MariettaHistory.org)

I took this photo today (April 12, 2021 … 159 years to the day the Great Locomotive Chase began) and used a “wet plate” filter to make The Kennesaw House look like a photo that may have been taken during the Civil War. 102/365