Atlanta Lookback: The Slave Auction House On Whitehall Street

“War is hell.” That familiar phrase was reportedly first uttered by Union General Tecumseh Sherman during the Civil War. Sherman commanded more than 100,000 troops as destroyed the American South town by town in the infamous “March to the Sea.”

Did You Know About The Slave Auction House In Atlanta?

One of the cities in his wake was Atlanta, then a teetering rail town. There are photographs that exist of much of the carnage, thanks to official Union photographer George N. Barnard, who was embedded with the soldiers.

In 1866, Barnard published one of the most important war photography projects of all time, “Photographic Views of Sherman’s Campaign.”

Much of  Atlanta’s landscape was part of Sherman’s activities. As Georgia Tech’s historical account observes, “In anticipation of advancing Union troops in the summer of 1864, several forts were built on what is now Georgia Tech land. Seen as strategically high ground, land along the southern edge of campus was cleared and fortified by the Confederacy to prevent direct frontal attacks on the city.”

One of the more iconic pictures taken during Sherman’s invasion of Atlanta shows a structure on Whitehall Street used to hold slave auctions all but abandoned. Whitehall Street today is in the middle of a den of old, abandoned buildings, open and wild fields and liquor stores.