Marietta is located in northwestern Georgia, near Atlanta. Marietta is the center for a major aircraft industry. Dobbins Air Force Base, and Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, the scene of a major American Civil War battle (1864) in which Union forces were defeated, are in the area. Many Union and Confederate soldiers are buried in Marietta. A 2006 real estate survey has estimated the population of Marietta, Georgia at 61,261.