Statement of Purpose THE CIVIL WAR CENTER The Civil War was
arguably the most important event in the history of the United
States. The conflict fundamentally altered the relationship of
the states to the federal government, freed four million slaves,
and changed the socio-economic development of the nation. Few
states were affected more by this tumultuous period than
Georgia. Georgia furnished substantial natural resources,
manpower, and political and military leadership to the Southern
Republic’s war effort. Important figures such as Vice President
of the Confederacy Alexander Stephens, General William J.
Hardee, and General James Longstreet led the way in the South’s
fight for its independence. Critical battles at Dalton, Resaca,
Dallas, New Hope Church, and Kennesaw Mountain were fought only
a short distance from our own Kennesaw State University.
Georgia’s society – men and women, white and black, slave and
free – experienced change on a scale never witnessed before or
since. However, despite Georgia’s ke