The city was founded in 1837 as Terminus, so-named because a rail line ended there. It was incorporated as Marthasville in 1845; two years later it was renamed Atlanta. Only a few dozen people lived there in the 1840’s, but by 1861, when the Civil War began, some 10,000 people called it home. By 1864, when Sherman’s armies started south from Chattanooga, Atlanta’s population was double that number. The city boasted factories, foundries, stores, arsenals, government offices, and hospitals, which, as the war progressed and drew closer, were hard pressed to handle the mounting number of casualties needing treatment. So strategic was Atlanta that Confederate President Jefferson Davis proclaimed that “Its fall would open the way for the Federal armies to the Gulf on one hand, and to Charleston on the other, and close up those granaries from which Gen. Robert E. Lee’s armies are supplied. It would give them control of our network of railroads and thus paralyze our efforts.” Now, with Federal soldiers in Atlanta, Davis’ fears would be realized. Sherman’s troops occupied Atlanta for more than 2 months. The photographs and captions that follow highlight aspects of that occupation. [Illustration: _National Archives_ _Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, conqueror of Atlanta._] [Illustration: _Library of Congress_ _Confederate palisades and cheveaux-de-frise around the Potter house northwest of Atlanta. Near here, Mayor James M. Calhoun surrendered the city to Sherman’s forces._] [Illustration: _Library of Congress_ _Union soldiers lounge inside one of the abandoned Confederate field forts defending Atlanta._] [Illustration: _Library of Congress_ _Atlanta, October 1864: “solid and business-like, wide streets and many fine houses.”_] [Illustration: _Atlanta Historical Society_ _Federal officers commandeered many of Atlanta’s houses for staff headquarters. Col. Henry A. Barnum and his staff moved into General Hood’s former headquarters, described as the “finest wooden building in the city.”_] [Illustration: _Library of Congress_ _After Sherman turned Atlanta into an armed camp, wagon trains, like this one on Whitehall Street, rumbled through the city day and night._] [Illustration: _Atlanta Historical Society_ _The 2d Massachusetts Infantry, the “best officered regiment in the Army,” set up camp in City Hall Square. When this photograph was taken, near the end of the occupation, the soldiers’ tents had been replaced by more substantial wooden huts built from demolished houses._]