Posted on 03/29/2014 9:29:01 AM PDT by Rebelbase
Video at link. Made me think of the Civil War Spotslyvania tree stump:
Must have been a lot of men trying to hide behind that tree.
I hear Saguaro Cactus don’t much like being shot at either.
They’ll hurt you right back.
Sometimes, but sadly we still have ignorant people come to the National Monument in Tucson who shoot at and otherwise desecrate them.
5.56mm
In 1966 I went through Basic Training at Fort Lewis, WA. We were the first to do so since WWII. There was a gently sloping ridge at the downrange end of the rifle range. It was pretty heavily vegetated with alder- or aspen-like trees. Each day we spent on the range, we could see some of these trees in the background falling, cut down by our rifle fire. I bet the trees began to cringe when they heard, “Ready on the left, ready on the right, the firing line ...”
Draining the gene pool one “opening” at at time.
I remember that one, from about 1986 or so, near Lake Pleasant, AZ.
“Must have been a lot of men trying to hide behind that tree.”
The truth is even more astounding. That tree stood on the McCoull Farm northwest of Spotsylvania Court House Virginia. In May of 1864 portions of the Union and Confederate Armies fought across that land.
The tree stood in the midst of some Confederate entrenchments along a salient that protruded about 1/2 mile out from the Southern lines. Why they didn’t cut the tree down is a mystery, perhaps they left it standing for shade or to serve as a landmark.
Before dawn on the morning of May 12 1864, two Union Army Corps slammed into the salient near its apex, capturing a long segment of the line, many prisoners and numerous artillery pieces.
R.E. Lee ordered a counterattack which resulted in a 24 hour struggle to recapture the ground the Confederates had lost earlier in the day. The fighting was hardest on the western side of the salient where it bent to the northeast. This area was known as the “angle” and this is where this tree was standing.
For almost 24 hours through fog and rain, soldiers fought for this stretch of entrenchments that covered little more than an acre of ground. Often the troops were only feet apart, Confederates on one side of the trench and Federals on the other. The dead and wounded were ground into the mud sometimes 4 or 5 bodies deep.
This tree was felled by musket fire that was not purposefully aimed at it thus testifying to the incredible amount of ammunition expended in this area. When it finally went down it toppled onto some Confederate troops, killing several. This incident was mentioned in many accounts written shortly after the fight was over.
Ever after this piece of ground has been known as the “Bloody Angle” and possibly is the bloodiest acre of ground in North American military history.
You can visit it today in the Spotsylvania unit of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. The exact spot where this tree stood is marked by a plaque.
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