The Battle of Peachtree Creek (July 20, 1864) covered an area from Brookwood Hills on the east to Howell Place (northwest corner of Howell Mill and Collier Roads) on the west, and from the Peachtree Road bridge over Peachtree Creek on the north (from which point General Thomas directed artillery fire) to about the Amtrak station on the south (see map above).
This area was built over and essentially destroyed as a Civil War site decades ago. (You can contrast this with Kennesaw Mountain, much of which has been saved as a national battlefield park, even though the battles there involved fewer men.) Tanyard Creek Park is one of the few green spaces that remain in the battlefield area, so it is especially important to save it in as rustic a condition as possible.
When I lead tours of battlefields, I often ask people to imagine how the site appeared at the time. This is particularly difficult to do when the view is impeded by streets, houses, and commercial buildings. Tanyard Creek Park is the one location in all of the Peachtree Creek battlefield where people can get some idea of masses of men attacking across the woods and fields. For this reason, Georgia Battlefields Association opposes paving any part of the park.
Charlie Crawford, President
Georgia Battlefields Association