1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Lauren 2 00:00:07,880 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 1: Vogelbaum here. In eighteen sixty four, during the Civil War, 3 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:18,560 Speaker 1: General William Sherman stomped through the United States South, marching 4 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:23,040 Speaker 1: his Union army across Georgia to the Atlantic Ocean. He 5 00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 1: demoralized the Confederation and wreaked havoc on their supply chain 6 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:29,520 Speaker 1: in one of the most decisive campaigns of the war. 7 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:35,040 Speaker 1: But in the late eighteen hundreds, a businessman from Georgia 8 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:38,320 Speaker 1: wanted people to believe that Sherman had lost the Battle 9 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:42,440 Speaker 1: of Atlanta, and he used a spectacular piece of artwork 10 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:45,199 Speaker 1: to try to spin the story into a Confederate win. 11 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:51,320 Speaker 1: His name was Paul Atkinson. Atkinson was something of a 12 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 1: marketing maven and the son of a Confederate soldier. He 13 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:58,920 Speaker 1: purchased this artwork, a cyclorama called the Battle of Atlanta 14 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:03,639 Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety one, and reinterpreted several scenes to then 15 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:08,960 Speaker 1: promote the painting as a win for the Confederates. Cycloramas 16 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:13,400 Speaker 1: were hugely popular in the eighteen hundreds. These massive pieces 17 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:16,440 Speaker 1: of art were typically housed in big buildings so that 18 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: viewers could stand on platforms and be completely surrounded by it. 19 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,560 Speaker 1: The painting's horizons were at eye level and skylines were 20 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:28,560 Speaker 1: painted to achieve depth of field, while lower portions sometimes 21 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:32,120 Speaker 1: incorporated physical figurines and other items as part of ground 22 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:37,000 Speaker 1: floor dioramas. This helped to achieve an overall three dimensional effect. 23 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:42,360 Speaker 1: Atkinson took out an advertisement in an Atlanta newspaper in 24 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:45,479 Speaker 1: eighteen ninety two urging people to buy tickets to come 25 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:48,560 Speaker 1: see the painting that proved the valor of the Confederate 26 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 1: soldiers in their victory. This historic battle was not a 27 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 1: Confederate victory, of course, A Sherman and the Union practically 28 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 1: burned Atlanta to the ground. To this day, our city's 29 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:06,520 Speaker 1: seal features of Phoenix rising from the ashes. But Atkinson 30 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:10,320 Speaker 1: got away with his ideological spin for decades with the 31 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:14,399 Speaker 1: help of bitter Southerners clinging to the Lost Cause, which 32 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:17,560 Speaker 1: is an ideology that permeated the South, saying that the 33 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: Civil War was fought to preserve its culture in general, 34 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:26,519 Speaker 1: and not slavery in particular. The story of the Battle 35 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:31,040 Speaker 1: of Atlanta cyclorama began when the American Panorama Company commissioned 36 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:34,639 Speaker 1: a team of seventeen German and Austrian painters in Milwaukee 37 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 1: to create this massive painting as a tribute to Union veterans. 38 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:43,320 Speaker 1: The painters traveled to Atlanta, made sketches of the landscape 39 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:45,600 Speaker 1: where the center of the Battle of Atlanta took place, 40 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:50,840 Speaker 1: and interviewed Union survivors. The cyclorama was painted in eighteen 41 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:54,639 Speaker 1: eighty five and premiered in eighteen eighty six. It attracted 42 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: adoring crowds in Minneapolis and then Indianapolis. It is hugh 43 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:03,520 Speaker 1: It measures forty nine feet tall by three hundred and 44 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:06,959 Speaker 1: seventy one feet long, and weighs some ten thousand pounds 45 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:10,200 Speaker 1: in metric that's about twenty by one hundred and thirteen 46 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 1: meters and over forty five hundred kilos. The painters were 47 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:18,720 Speaker 1: instructed to take the battle on July twenty second of 48 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:23,760 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty four and freeze it for history. This part 49 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:26,360 Speaker 1: of the painting shows a fierce fight on the rail 50 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:29,679 Speaker 1: line just outside of Atlanta that hadn't yet turned into 51 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:32,680 Speaker 1: victory for the Union. The Union had set up a 52 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:36,120 Speaker 1: trench line, but the Confederates had broken through. There were 53 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 1: skirmishes with bayonets flashing and horses mortally wounded. There were 54 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 1: heroic figures on both sides The painting was purposefully created 55 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:49,680 Speaker 1: in a way that showed drama a fight yet to 56 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:54,640 Speaker 1: be decided. But by eighteen ninety the entertainment value of 57 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: the Battle of Atlanta Cyclorama had worn off in the North, 58 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:03,640 Speaker 1: and the owners declared bankruptcy. In stepped Atkinson, whose four 59 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:06,120 Speaker 1: brothers had fought in the Battle of Atlanta along with 60 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:10,240 Speaker 1: their father. Atkinson had been too young to fight, but 61 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:13,400 Speaker 1: in the painting he saw a way to memorialize his 62 00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 1: family and the South. He bought the cyclorama at a 63 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:20,880 Speaker 1: low price and moved it to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and began 64 00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:25,839 Speaker 1: to rewrite history. As we said, the original creators didn't 65 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:28,200 Speaker 1: paint the battle in a way that showed a decisive win, 66 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:32,240 Speaker 1: and Atkinson was able to use that to his advantage. 67 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:34,719 Speaker 1: He hired his own team of painters to make a 68 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:39,400 Speaker 1: few simple changes that turned the entire narrative around. In 69 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:43,320 Speaker 1: one scene that depicts captured Confederates in gray being taken 70 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:46,960 Speaker 1: prisoner by Union soldiers in blue, and a Union soldier 71 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:51,479 Speaker 1: holding a crumpled Confederate flag, his team simply repainted the 72 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:56,000 Speaker 1: soldier's uniforms. The imprisoned soldiers were now in Union blue 73 00:04:56,279 --> 00:05:00,120 Speaker 1: and being herded by Confederate rebels, and that Confederate a 74 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:03,160 Speaker 1: flag in the hands of the Union was simply painted over. 75 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:08,640 Speaker 1: Atkinson's skill as a promoter did the rest to spin 76 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:11,919 Speaker 1: this new narrative. He moved the painting to Atlanta in 77 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:16,039 Speaker 1: eighteen ninety two, upon which local newspaper, The Atlanta Constitution, 78 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:22,320 Speaker 1: proclaimed it the only Confederate victory ever painted. However, some 79 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:26,719 Speaker 1: Southerners embraced Atkinson's painting because it proved the South had 80 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:30,800 Speaker 1: fought valiantly to preserve its way of life. The Cyclorama 81 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:34,200 Speaker 1: became a monument to revered Confederate leaders, just like the 82 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:39,920 Speaker 1: statues popping up around the South, but eventually crowds thinned 83 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:43,240 Speaker 1: in Atlanta, just as they had in the North. On 84 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:46,640 Speaker 1: November fifteenth of eighteen ninety two, in a last desperate 85 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:50,200 Speaker 1: attempt to make some money, Atkinson ran another advertisement in 86 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:54,280 Speaker 1: the newspaper, again proclaiming a Southern win, but his show 87 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:59,160 Speaker 1: had gone bankrupt by the end of the year. For decades, 88 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 1: the Cyclorama continued to remain a symbol of the lost Cause, 89 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 1: but that was also part of its downfall. Many' souther 90 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 1: nurse did not embrace this ideology. Eventually Atkinson sold the 91 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:17,080 Speaker 1: painting to Ernest Woodruff, another local businessman, who immediately resold 92 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:20,400 Speaker 1: it for a small profit. The piece was finally moved 93 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:23,960 Speaker 1: to Atlanta's Grant Park, where it remained until twenty fourteen. 94 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:30,080 Speaker 1: But meanwhile, in nineteen thirty four, then Atlanta Mayor William 95 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: Hartsfield co opted the epic painting for his own use. 96 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:37,680 Speaker 1: He commissioned historian and painter Wilburg Kurtz to restore the 97 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:40,520 Speaker 1: painting to its original form as part of a branding 98 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:45,760 Speaker 1: campaign for the city. Hartsfield's message was here's how we suffered, 99 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:49,600 Speaker 1: Here's how we have risen from the ashes. The mayor 100 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:52,400 Speaker 1: declared that the painting shows the valor of both sides, 101 00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:54,960 Speaker 1: the North and the South, and that it was time 102 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:59,480 Speaker 1: to come together. A Kertz researched original drawings from the 103 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:03,839 Speaker 1: eighteen eighth and discovered Atkinson's edits. He repainted the Union 104 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:07,000 Speaker 1: soldiers back in command of the captured Confederates and returned 105 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:11,720 Speaker 1: the captured Confederate flag, and just like that, the North 106 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:17,240 Speaker 1: won the Battle of Atlanta again. Kurtz's work also included 107 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:20,560 Speaker 1: creating plaster figurines like the ones that would have originally 108 00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:24,120 Speaker 1: been displayed with the work at ground level. I bring 109 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 1: this up because when the film Gone with the Wind 110 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,920 Speaker 1: premiered in Atlanta, Mayor Hartsfield took actor Clark Gable on 111 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:35,240 Speaker 1: a tour of the cyclorama, and soon after, at Gable's request, 112 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 1: there was a diaryma figurine of his character, a dying 113 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:41,160 Speaker 1: reht Butler added to the scene at the base of 114 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:48,120 Speaker 1: the painting. Anyway, in twenty fourteen, the Atlanta History Center 115 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:52,360 Speaker 1: undertook another monumental restoration effort to bring the painting back 116 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:56,240 Speaker 1: to display. For the article this episode is based on, 117 00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:59,600 Speaker 1: has Stuff Work spoke with Gordon Jones, the senior military 118 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:03,559 Speaker 1: historian and curator at the Atlanta History Center. He said, 119 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: You've got this wonderful artifact, with this wonderful, rich, deep 120 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:10,240 Speaker 1: history that can tell you a whole lot about the 121 00:08:10,320 --> 00:08:13,760 Speaker 1: nation's history and Atlanta's history and the history of race, 122 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:17,600 Speaker 1: and those stories are not being told. Let's treat it 123 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:20,400 Speaker 1: as an artifact and learn from it. We don't have 124 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:23,119 Speaker 1: to make up stuff. Let's be honest and tell people 125 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:26,680 Speaker 1: the truth. That's what they expect out of a museum. 126 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 1: The thirty five million dollar restoration campaign included moving the 127 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:35,760 Speaker 1: painting from Grant Park to its own specially built rotunda 128 00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:39,400 Speaker 1: at the Atlanta History Center. The History Center used a 129 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:43,520 Speaker 1: multitude of resources to interpret the painting in the context 130 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:46,320 Speaker 1: of the battle itself, the Civil War as a whole, 131 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:50,520 Speaker 1: the role of slavery within it, the reconstruction era, and 132 00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:54,600 Speaker 1: how the country was divided Today. The Battle of Atlanta 133 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:57,960 Speaker 1: is one of only two cycloramas from that era on 134 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:01,760 Speaker 1: display in North America. The other is the Battle of Gettysburg, 135 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:07,080 Speaker 1: located in Pennsylvania. But the value of the Battle of 136 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:11,520 Speaker 1: Atlanta cyclorama goes well beyond money and its pull on crowds. 137 00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:15,400 Speaker 1: The real value may be a lesson in how Americans 138 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:19,600 Speaker 1: can interpret and freestyle with facts to satisfy their own 139 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:26,959 Speaker 1: view of the world. Today's episode is based on the 140 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:30,480 Speaker 1: article how Atlanta's cyclorama was used to spin the Civil 141 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:33,480 Speaker 1: War on how Stuffworks dot Com, written by Ray Glear. 142 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:37,559 Speaker 1: Brainstuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot 143 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:40,840 Speaker 1: Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts 144 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:44,079 Speaker 1: from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 145 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:46,000 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.