Better late than never.

"Civil War marker installed in Smyrna

Cobb County has a new historical marker at a Civil War site in Smyrna.

The marker highlights a section of Johnston's River Line, which was occupied in early July 1864 during the Atlanta campaign of the Civil War, said Charlie Crawford, president of the Georgia Battlefields Association, which pressed for placement of the marker.

The line, authorized by Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, was once a seven-mile-long system of unique fortifications intended to help the Confederate forces prevent a Federal crossing of the Chattahoochee River, Crawford said.

Over the years, the fortifications have been damaged and destroyed until only a dozen fragments of the line remain. In February 2006, the River Line was selected as one of the 10 most endangered Civil War sites by the Civil War Preservation Trust, Crawford said.

The marker was installed this month in the new River Line Hill development, on the west side of Oakdale Road about a half mile north of Veterans Memorial Highway.

As part of the rezoning process, the developer — KB Home — agreed to preserve some of the trenches on the site and to pay the $1,460 cost of the marker, Crawford said."

(Good for the developer.) Stan