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I am constantly amazed and thankful of the efforts of dedicated cachers, and in this case cachers who study and visit sites of the Civil War and share those sites vicariously through the travels of a CW commorative geocoin. Awesome. To each of you have moved this peice and shared these stories places, Thank You!
-Snurt
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Chickamauga & Lookout Mountain (Chattanooga) 4/5/10
In the fall of 1863 Union and Confederate armies clashed in some of the war’s hardest fighting. The prize was Chattanooga, TN, a key rail center and gateway to the heart of the Confederacy. This campaign began in late June 1863 when Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecran’s 70,000-strong Army of the Cumberland moved from Murfreesboro, TN against Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg’s 43,000-strong Army of Tennessee at Tullahoma, TN, defending the roads to Chattanooga. As a result of a series of skillful marches, Rosecrans forced the Confederates to withdraw to Chattanooga itself. Bragg dug in. However, in late August the Federals crossed the Tennessee River crossings northeast of the city and expecting Bragg to fight back.
Bragg concentrated his forces 26 miles south of Chattanooga while reinforcements swelled his ranks to over 66,000 men. On September 18, after failing to destroy isolated parts of Rosecran’s army, Bragg attempted to wedge his troops between the Federals and Chattanooga.
Fighting began after dawn on September 19 when Federal infantry encountered Confederate cavalry at Jay’s Mills, sparking a battle that spread south and west nearly four miles. Gradually the Confederates pushed the Federals back west to the Lafayette Road. The following day, when Rosecrans shifted troops to meet new attacks, a gap opened in the Federal line just as Lt. Gen. James Longstreet’s troops assaulted that point. The gap was smashed, routing Rosecrans and half his army. The defeated Federals were forced to withdraw into Chattanooga, while being pursued by the Confederates who occupied Missionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain and Chattanooga Valley. Confederate artillery placed on heights (Lookout Mountain) overlooking the river blocked the best roads and rail lines, preventing the Federals from establishing supply lines and entering the city. Unless something was done to break the Confederate stranglehold, Rosecrans’ army must either starve and surrender or abandon just-won Chattanooga.
From late October to mid-November President Lincoln sent 36,000 reinforcement troops from Virginia and Mississippi. Maj. Gen. George Thomas, the "Rock of Chickamauga" replaced Rosecrans as head of the Army of the Cumberland and Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant assumed overall command. This began to dramatically change the situation. On November 23, Thomas’ men attacked and drove the Confederates from Orchard Knob, just west of Missionary Ridge. The next morning, aided by heavy fog partially enshrouding Lookout Mountain’s slopes, Federals troops pushed the Confederates out of their defenses around the Cravens House at the base of Lookout Mountain. On November 25, with Bragg’s army concentrated mostly on Missionary Ridge, Grant launched troops against the right and left flanks of this Confederate line. The Federal attack on the left was delayed crossing the Chattanooga Creek and the Confederates blocked the attack on their right. Grant ordered Thomas’ Army of the Cumberland to assault the rifle pits at the base of Missionary Ridge to take pressure off the right flank attack. Then, without orders, Thomas’ men scaled the heights in one of the war’s great charges. The Confederate line collapsed and fled to the rear. That night they began their retreat into Georgia and Union troops now controlled the city and nearly all of Tennessee. The next spring, Sherman would use Chattannoga for his base as he began his march to Atlanta and the sea.
(excerpts taken from National Park Service brochure)
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Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia (Campaign for Atlanta)
All throughout north Georgia, Gen. William T. Sherman had advanced his army southeast along the vital railroad from Chattanooga, TN towards Atlanta. Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston would take up defensive positions, only to retreat when Sherman attempted to flank them. At Kennesaw Mountain, Johnston had a massive network of trenches and earthworks prepared to halt the Union advance. This time, when Sherman tried to march his army around Kennesaw, he was met by an attack at Kolb’s Farm from troops under the command of Lt. Gen. John B. Hood. Although the Union soldiers turned back Hood's hastily prepared attack, Sherman's army could not flank them any further. Muddy roads had become nearly impassable. Sherman knew that in these conditions, a march further away from his supply line at the railroad would be too slow. Instead, Sherman believed that Hood's expansion of the southern end of the Confederate line had stretched Johnston's army too thin. The Union general drew up plans for an attack on the middle of the Confederate defenses.
The attack began early in the morning of June 27, 1864 with a thunderous artillery barrage on the entrenched Confederates. This was followed by an infantry attack in three parts: the Army of the Cumberland would lead the main attack on Confederate soldiers in the center; to the left, the Army of the Tennessee under the command of Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson would lead a secondary attack aimed at the slopes of Little Kennesaw Mountain; and to Thomas's right, the Army of the Ohio would hold down Hood's corps at the southern end of the line. The fiercest fighting came at a bend near the center of the Confederate line, a place later known as the Dead Angle. Sherman was attempting to repeat his success at Missionary Rigge here on Kennesaw Mountain. However, despite repeated attempts to overrun the Confederate defenses, the Union army could not dislodge Johnston's well "dug-in" army.
Estimated casualties were 3,000 for the Union side, and 1,000 for the Confederates. Ambrose Bierce, author of several Civil War eye witness books, was wounded in the head. Following the battle, both sides sat at a stalemate. By July 1, the roads had dried out enough for Sherman to continue his flanking movements. Johnston, with the advantage of lookouts on top of Kennesaw Mountain, observed Sherman's movements and again retreated before the Union army could outflank him.
Military historians have claimed that Sherman's attack was a needless waste of lives against a firmly entrenched opponent. Sherman, however, believed that his actions were justifiable, since they showed Johnston that he was not afraid to fight. Whatever the case, Kennesaw Mountain was one of the few victories for the Confederates during the Atlanta Campaign.
The site of the battleground is now part of Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, where both Confederate deliberate trenches on top of the mountain and Union hasty rifle-pits are still easily identified by the casual inspection of any visitor.
The first commissioner of Major League Baseball, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, was named for Kennesaw Mountain, but using a variant spelling. His father, a physician, fought on the Union side and reportedly nearly lost his leg in the battle.
Within a month Sherman began his assault on Atlanta’s outnumbered defenders and the Battle of Atlanta was on. A series of battles over the next 6 weeks caused Gen. Hood to order all public property destroyed and the city evacuated. Sherman entered Atlanta on Sept. 2 and triumphantly telegraphed the news to Washington, "Atlanta is ours, and fairly won."
The fall of Atlanta was a crippling blow to the Confederacy’s capacity and its will to make war. Coupled with Union victories elsewhere, the war’s end was now in sight.
(excerpts taken from Wikipedia.org and National Park System brochure)
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Adersonville National Historic Site
The Andersonville National Historic Site consists of the prison site, the National Prisoner of War Museum and the Anderson National Cemetery. Here you can begin to understand the hardships and suffering of prisoners of war, both North and South, during the Civil War. The harshness of war, though, is tempered here at Andersonville by a landscape of beauty that perhaps inspires hope.
The Prison:
Andersonville, or Camp Sumter, was one of the largest of many Confederate prisons established during the Civil War. Built in late 1864, Confederate officials decided to move the large numbers of Federal prisoners kept in and around Richmond, Virginal, to a place of greater security and more abundant food supply.
During the 14 months the prison existed, more than 45,000 Union soldiers were confined in the stockade. Of these, almost 13,000 died from disease, poor sanitation, malnutrition, overcrowding, or exposure to the elements.
The prison pen initially covered about 16-1/2 acres enclosed by a 15-foot-high stockade constructed in the shape of a parallelogram. It was enlarged to 26-1/2 acres in June 1864. Sentry boxes, or "pigeon-roosts", stood at 30-yard intervals along the top of the stockade. About 19 feet inside the wall was the "deadline," which the prisoners were forbidden to cross, upon threat of death. A stream running through the prison yard-Stockade Branch-supplied water to most of the prison and also served as a latrine, the subsequent source of much of the rampant diseases. Two entrances, the North and South gates, were on the west side of the stockade. Eight small earthen forts located around the exterior of the prison were equipped with artillery to quell disturbances within the compound as well as to defend against feared Union cavalry attacks.
The first prisoners arrived in February 1864 and during the next few months approximately 400 arrived each day until, by the end of June, some 26,000 men were confined in an area originally intended for 10,000. The largest number held at any one time was more than 32,000.
A deteriorating economy, inadequate transportation, and the need to concentrate all available resources on its army, the Confederate government was unable to provide adequate housing, food, clothing and medical care to their Federal captives. The resulting horrific conditions, along with a breakdown of the prisoner exchange system, resulted in much suffering and subsequent high mortality rate.
"Wuld that I was an artist & has the material to print this camp & all its horors or the tongue of some eloquent Statesman and had the privleage of expresing my mind to our hon. Rulers at Washington, I should gloery to decribe this hell on Earth where it takes 7 of its ocupants to make a Shadow"; Sgt, David Kennedy, 9th Ohio Cavalry, July 9, 1864.
National Prisoner of War Museum, a tribute to All Prisoners of War:
In 1998 the museum was dedicated to the military men and women of this country who suffered captivity. Theirs is a story of sacrifice and courage. The museum offers nine display halls with exhibits honoring American prisoners of war from all conflicts.
Andersonvile National Cemetery:
Andersonvile National Cemetery was established on July 26, 1865 as a permanent resting place of honor for deceased veterans. The initial interments were of those who had died in the nearby prison camp. Additional interments of Union soldiers who had died in hospitals, other prisoner of war camps, and on the battlefields of central and southwest Georgia brought the total burials to over 13,000. Of these, more than 500 are unknowns. Today the cemetery contains the remains of 18,000 military veterans.
(excerpts taken from National Park Service brochure)
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(Excerpts taken from the New York State Military Museum website)
Another stop for the coin and me was the New York State Military Museum & Veteran Research Center in Saratoga Springs, NY. The museum, located at 61 Lake Ave., is housed a former armory built in 1889, a fine example of armory architecture popular in upstate New York during the late 1800’s.
The museum houses over 10,000 military artifacts dating from the Revolutionary War to Desert Storm that relate to New York State’s military forces, the state’s military history and the contributions of New York’s veterans. The artifacts include uniforms, weapons, artillery pieces and art. A significant portion of the museum’s collection is from the Civil War. Notable artifacts from this conflict include Col. Elmer Ellsworth’s (the Union’s first martyr) uniform, the medical kit of Jubal Early’s surgeon and the uniform and bugle of Gustav Schurmann (Gen. Philip Kearny’s boy bugler).
The museum also owns the country's largest collection of state battle flags and the largest collection of Civil War flags. Of the over 1,850 flags in the collection, more than 60% are from the Civil War. The flags date from the War of 1812 through the 1991 Gulf War. The museum maintains an exhibit of its flag collection in the state capitol in Albany where the collection was originally housed
Museum staff members also perform research activities regarding military material and maintain a 2,000 volume library of military and New York State history, 6,000 photographs, unit history files, broadsides, scrapbooks, letters and maps. Highlights of the library and archives material include over 2,300 Civil War photographs and a collection of Civil War era newspaper clippings arranged by unit as well as New York National Guard service cards and service records dating from the 1880’s to 1865.
Although this was my first visit to the museum, I had previous contacts with their extremely helpful staff. A few years ago a researcher assisted me by developing a website link to display copies of photos, memorabilia and document transcriptions that belonged to an ancestor who served as an officer in the 15th NY Vol. Heavy Artillery Regiment during the Civil War. If you’re interested in taking a look at these, search on "Calvin Shaffer" or "15th NY Vol. Heavy Artillery"
I recommend to anyone interested in military history, specifically Civil War history, to take time to pay the museum a visit.
[This entry was edited by Donald Duck 9872 on Friday, October 09, 2009 at 12:25:17 PM.]
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During my recent trip to upstate New York I also visited a couple of old cemeteries in the Town of Westerlo, located in southern Albany County about 15 miles south of where I grew up. Westerlo was formed in 1815 from parts of two existing towns. Over one hundred local men volunteered to serve in the Civil War.
Our first stop was the Westerlo Central Cemetery, formally established in 1882 and located about three miles south of town along County Hwy. 401. This is the final resting place for members of many local families as well as veterans of several wars, including the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.
Attached are pictures of the coin resting on the headstones of four of these Civil War volunteers; Alphonzo Huyck, Willian Johnson, Stephen R. Simpkins and Alexander Lobdel who died in hospital in Portsmouth, VA on May 15, 1864.
My last stop in Westerlo was at the Westerlo Rural Cemetery, incorporated in 1871 and located about 2 miles north of town along State Hwy. 143. Many local men who served in the Civil War are laid to rest here. Among them are several members of the 7th NY Heavy Artillery Rgt. including Sgt. Wm. H. Lamoreaux who was killed on June 16, 1864 before Petersburg and Jacob Brate. Also here are Pvt. William P. Hoose of Co A of the 20th NY Vol. Infantry Rgt. and John Applebee of Co. D of the 91st NY Vol. Infantry Rgt..
[This entry was edited by Donald Duck 9872 on Tuesday, October 06, 2009 at 8:13:21 PM.]
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Berne, New York is a small hamlet in southwest Albany County that had a population of about 350 when I grew up there in the ‘40’s and ‘50’s. As a boy I remember walking past this small family cemetery many, many times. What caught my attention was the wrought iron fence that surrounded the few head stones and the tall stone in the center topped with a Civil War kepi.
During a recent visit from my home in Illinois to my childhood village I revisited this cemetery with this Civil War Commemorative Geocoin and my camera.
The cemetery, located just north of the village, is that of the Wood family on whose farm the plots are located. The headstone in the photographs marks the burial ground of Pvt. Jesse D. Wood, Co. C, 177th N.Y. Vol. Regiment. He died of disease at Port Hudson, LA on Aug. 14, 1863 at 17 years and 3 days of age.
He was one of at least 77 Berne men who volunteered to fight for the Union. Many were just farm boys who were caught up in the wave of enthusiasm. The first enlistments were for three months but it was three years before many who survived battles, swamps, Libby or Anderson, returned home. Some had lost an arm or a leg; others, like Jesse, had their health broken by disease. Few local men saw action in early campaigns, the majority fought in Louisiana and the final battles near Richmond, VA.
[This entry was edited by Donald Duck 9872 on Tuesday, October 06, 2009 at 5:31:35 PM.]
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(Excerpts quoted from the Glens Falls, NY Post-Star)
Recently a visitor hiking in the Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland spotted the remains of a soldier’s body. In January, 2009 Michael Aikey, director of the New York State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs, NY, read about the find and that historians believed the soldier came from New York. He immediately began the effort to bring him home. Using a button with the state’s insignia, historians determined that the soldier, 17-19 years old when he was killed, served with a New York State regiment.
On Wednesday, Sept, 16, 2009 encased in a period-style casket the remains of the unknown veteran – shards of bone, cloth, buttons and a belt buckle – was escorted directly to the museum by more than a hundred motorcyclists with the Patriot Guard Riders joined with members of the New York Army National Guard.
A s they approached Saratoga they were met by nearly one hundred onlookers, military personnel and Civil War re-enactors who helped set the scene for a funeral 147 years overdue. A long single-file line of people approached to pay their respects as the flag-draped coffin lay in the museum’s foyer throughout Wednesday afternoon and into the evening.
On September 17, the 147th anniversary of the battle, a military funeral was held at the museum followed by an escort to the nearby Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery by the New York 125th Re-enactors and Galloway Gaelic Pipes and Drums where he was buried (Sec. 7, Grave 124). It is the cemetery’s first burial of an unknown soldier.
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(Excerpts quoted from the Grant Cottage brouchure)
On Mount McGregor, a few miles north of Saratoga Springs, NY, an important piece of Anerican history has survived the ravages of time. The story of a courageous man and the site of his last two battles have been preserved for generations of Americans and visitors from around the world.
In June of 1885, Ulysses S. Grant, 18th president of the United States, and the men who had tenaciously commanded the Union armies during the Civil War, left his home in New York City for a cottage in Saratoga County. This time, rather than bullets and swords, Grant faced financial disaster and incurable cancer. Fighting pain, weakness and time, Grant raced death in order to complete his memoirs, knowing that they could provide financial security for his impoverished family. His friend Mark Twain had agreed to publish them, and in fact visited Grant at the Cottage to discuss the book's progress. On July 23, 1885, Grant, surrounded by his family, died at this secluded cottage only a few days after completing his memoirs. The General's body lay in state in the parlor at the cottage until August 4th, when his funeral was held on the cottage porch. The floral arrangements sent at the time have been preserved and remain on display.
"When Grant gets possession of a place, he holds on to it as if he inherited it, " Abraham Lincoln said of his great general. Grant's spirit is still in the cottage at Mount McGregor. Visitors to the cottage enter the Victorian world just as it was for Grant. The items he used - his chair, bed, nightclothes and other personal effects - are as they were when he died.
Today visitors can still enjoy the same view from the nearby overlook. The vista includes the upper Hudson river and lower Champlain Valleys, the Green Mountains, the Berkshires and Taconic Hills - all rich with history. From this location you can clearly see the site of the Battles of Saratoga of 1777.
Friends of the Ulysses S. Grant Cottage, in partnership with the State of New York, provide both volunteer and paid staff to open the cottage to visitors and conduct special events.
The Friends believe it is important that you have a chance to visit this historic site and learn the story of a man who was not only a hero in time of war, but also in the struggle to provide for his family.
On the day we visited the cottage we had the additional privilage of meeting and hearing from the General and Mrs. Grant, portrayed by a couple from Gettysburg, PA who were in the area to attend the Civil War Encampment in Saratoga's Congress Park the weekend of Sept. 19 & 20 (see next entry). They provided a dissertation of Grant's experiences during the war, his presidency and, especially pertitnent, his stay at the cottage. It was almost surreal to be present with them as we toured the cottage's interrior and observed their responses as the guide described their experiences during their stay.
The attached photos depict the cottage, the General and Mrs. Grant and views from the overlook.
[This entry was edited by Donald Duck 9872 on Thursday, September 24, 2009 at 8:44:34 AM.]
[This entry was edited by Donald Duck 9872 on Thursday, September 24, 2009 at 9:04:57 AM.]
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BJ&Snurt101 posted a note for it
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This CW Traveler has had the excellent fortune of touring many relevant sites at the hands of some of the greatest cachers in the country, imho. Many thanks to each of you (and you know who you are) for traveling to these CW sites, providing pix and sharing commentary of those momentous events, covering and sharing hallowed ground.
-Snurt
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