Sope Creek

It crosses Roswell Road (the main Georgia 120), and travels in a sidewinder fashion to the east for the next 4 miles (6 km).

It travels in this direction for the next 2 miles (3 km), crossing Paper Mill Road and Columns Drive, before emptying into the Chattahoochee River.

Paper Mill Road crosses the creek about 1 mile (1.6 km) upstream from the point where the Sope empties into the Chattahoochee.

There are conflicting authorities supporting at least two versions: The Atlanta Journal once said of the area, "Sope Creek, particularly in the springtime, is a place of unusual beauty.

The stream is strewn with great boulders and the water dashes over these in a series of cascades, causing such masses of foam that they look like soapsuds."

In an older brochure, the Park Service stated that the creek is named for "... a Cherokee Indian called "Old Sope" who lived in the area perhaps even after the Removal."

A more recent Park Service brochure has reduced that statement to "Named for a Cherokee holdout from the Trail of Tears ..."[4] No further authority or evidence is cited.

There's an interesting history behind Soap (or Sope) Creek, a tributary of the Chattahoochee River that has lent its name to housing developments and buildings in east Cobb County, including an elementary school.

Old Soap was highly regarded by the whites in the area, according to "The First Hundred Years: A Short History of Cobb County," which states that "he had lived there so long that a creek and its branch were named for him."

However, there was a dispute, and he and his family were forced to move to Cherokee County, where they lived until they were relocated on the Trail of Tears, wrote Bishop, who contributes to www.trailofthetrail.com.

In 1851, James Isom founded a ferry that crossed the Chattahoochee at the mouth of Sope Creek, and came to own a great deal of land and three slaves, and to be considered wealthy.

[7] On May 4, 1864, Major-General William T. Sherman took control of the Military Division of the Mississippi and began to engage Confederate General Joseph Johnston and his Army of Tennessee.

The two engaged in this 'dance' for nearly two months, with one exception, the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, in which Sherman lost his nerve, attacked head on, and suffered a bloody defeat.

Author David Conyngham best described it in his book Sherman's March Through the South, when he wrote "True, such movements would not break up Johnston's Army, but it gave us a victory; besides, Sherman and Johnston were watching each other's movements, like two expert wrestlers, to know who would make a slip, for they knew that to attack an intrenched [sic] position was likely to prove a defeat."

Even though this was the strategically sound theory, this was a personal gamble for Johnston, for every time he retreated, despite the fact that he was outmanned by Sherman, he aggravated Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

On the night of July 7, Sherman gave orders to Schofield to move his troops around and to the left, bypassing Johnston.

Sherman said, "I wish you to make an examination thereabouts and secure a foothold, fortified on the other side, anywhere about Roswell or mouth of Soap Creek.

Half a mile above the creek is a shallow ford where infantry can cross easily, but there is no road leading to it and it would be difficult to make one.

I propose to move at daylight and cross the river with as little delay as possible, and believe there is very little chance of failure, no matter which point you select.

Sherman decided that McPherson would hold his position across from Johnston, and at the last moment, swing around in the same fashion as Schofield and cross the Chattahoochee at Shallow Ford, what is today known as Shallowford Road.

Mask well your command and make a lodgment across the Chattahoochee, but do not attempt it until you have a ford nearby by which to reinforce the party first sent, or by which it may be necessary to retire.

Schofield advanced a division across the river at the ford and instructed them to take up positions opposite of the mouth of Sope Creek.

[7] There, they would support bridge-building operations and provide cover while the engineers constructed a pontoon bridge at Isom's Ferry.

I will give you information concerning roads, etc., beyond the river as soon as possible.By 8:30 p.m. on the night of July 8, Schofield had laid a bridge crossing the Chattahoochee at Isom's Ferry and had relocated four divisions to the east bank.