As a kid roaming the hilly woods of East Atlanta in the 1930s and '40s, Gene Benton didn't think too much about the Minié balls and belt buckles he and his friends found buried in the ground.

Benton's childhood home on East Side Avenue sat amidst the killing fields of the Battle of Atlanta, a Civil War clash that claimed 12,000 Confederate and Union lives and led to Atlanta's surrender in 1864.

Becky Stein/AJC (ENLARGE)

Nicole Taylor wears handmade gloves that were part of her period clothing. One of the participants noted that he has been taking part in re-enactments three times longer than the Civil War lasted.

Becky Stein/AJC (ENLARGE)

Kiev Thomason covers his ears from the sound of the cannon blast

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Saturday, a tiny portion of that battlefield was again alive with the sound of cannon and rifles as Civil War re-enactors staged a living history of the epic battle, which marks its 144th anniversary Tuesday.

In the shade of Kirkwood's Gilliam Park, the re-enactors dug trenches and built earthwork defenses that simulated the 4-mile line the Confederates manned intended to repulse U.S. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's advancing army.

Rifles over their shoulders, the sweaty soldiers marched in formation and fired rounds before breaking for a midday ration of boiled beef and sweet potatoes cooked over a campfire.

Benton, who now lives in Tucker, watched approvingly and said the demonstration gave him a new appreciation for events he only dimly understood as a child. "Everything's been paved over and knocked down, but there's still a little bit of history left," he said.

Saturday's history festival also included demonstrations of Civil War-era life in East Atlanta, along with storytelling and bus tours of key battle sites.

A Jonesboro troop called the Armory Guards manned the Civil War camp in Kirkwood, portraying Confederate soldiers. Several of the group's members said they shared ancestors who fought in the same Georgia units during the war.

"To honor my ancestors, I thought I needed to get out and don the wool and live like they did," said Kiev Thomason, who was indeed dressed in thick wool pants and long-sleeved shirt on a sunny 90-degree day.

Thomason, an electrician, said the troop has also portrayed Federal soldiers at other events. "The men were honorable on both sides," he said, stitching up a large bag of dirt to fortify the defenses.

Thomason's sister, brother-in-law, nieces, nephews and parents also played roles. His father, Tony, was the gunner in charge of the six-pound cannon. His mother, Darlene, dressed in a full-length brown 19th-century dress with petticoat and apron, explained how dandelions were a kind of green delicacy during the war.

Robby Mitchell, a property manager from Loganville, noted that he has been re-enacting three times longer than the four-year Civil War actually lasted.

Chewing on a fatty piece of boiled meat, he said, "We got to have a screw loose somewhere to get out here and do this."