Holtzclaw Street

Holtzclaw Street is a street in Reynoldstown. It runs north-south from Kirkwood Avenue to Memorial Drive. It's had this name since at least 1913.

Holtzclaw Street on Google Maps

Other Names

None known.

Name Origins

Possibly named for James Thadeus Holtzclaw (1833-1893), an Alabama lawyer and Confederate general during the Civil War. Holtzclaw was born in Henry County, Georgia and grew up in Chambers County, Alabama. As a young man, he was accepted to West Point, but instead chose to study law in Montgomery, Alabama. After the Civil War broke out, Holtzclaw served as a lieutenant in a militia group, the Montgomery True Blues, but soon joined the Confederate Army with the same rank. He was promoted rapidly, and by the end of 1861 he held the rank of lieutenant colonel, leading the 18th Alabama Infantry.

James T. Holtzclaw
(Credit: Digital Library of Georgia)

Holtzclaw participated in numerous major battles and was wounded in at least two of them. At Shiloh (1862), he was shot through the lung and thought to be mortally wounded, but he recovered in less than two months; he also received minor injuries at Chickamauga (1863). Holtzclaw was eventually promoted to brigadier general and commanded a brigade of Alabamians under Henry Clayton's division, which was involved in the Atlanta campaign during the summer of 1864. Holtzclaw's brigade is mentioned in numerous historical markers in the Atlanta area, including one in Inman Park, directly north of Holtzclaw Street. After the Civil War, Holtzclaw returned to practicing law in Montgomery, Alabama, where he also worked as a railroad commissioner and for the Democratic party. He died and was buried in Montgomery.

Sources:
Warner, Ezra J. (1959). Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Louisiana State University Press (pp. 141-142)
Clayton's (Holtzclaw's Brigade), Ohio State University Dept. of History

Name Sightings

The earliest record we could find for Holtzclaw Street is the ACDC's 1913 Atlanta City Directory (p. 245). At that time, Holtzclaw Street extended all the way from Kirkwood Avenue to Glenwood Avenue. Today, a large industrial complex and I-20 stand in the way.

Related Streets

None yet.