Posted on 01/14/2005 5:09:47 PM PST by JustaCowgirl
WASHINGTON -- They may come from the land of cotton, but "Dixie" won't be playing when 23 Civil War re-enactors march down Pennsylvania Avenue during the presidential inaugural parade. They'll be wearing Union blue, not Confederate gray.
Of course, the selection of these re-enactors from Georgia was hardly random. The 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which they represent, once included Capt. Samuel Cheney, great-grandfather of Vice President Dick Cheney.
During an October 2002 visit to the Chickamauga battlefield in Georgia where the regiment gained historical fame, the vice president - a Civil War buff - learned not only that a group honoring the 21st Ohio existed but that it is based in Atlanta, of all places.
So are Confederate re-enactors fighting mad that these Southern Yankees were picked as the lone Civil War representatives in the parade? Nonsense, says Pappy Harmon, who portrays a captain, chief cook and bottle washer (or jack of all trades) in the 28th Georgia Company G during re-enactments against the 21st Ohio.
"Since we're all Southern boys, somebody's got to wear the blue and somebody's got to wear the gray," said Harmon, of Decatur, Ga. "Of course, we all want to wear the gray. So these guys are really popular."
Brad Quinlin, who heads the 21st Ohio group, invited Harmon and several other Confederate re-enactors to join them in the parade - provided they wear the Union colors. Harmon couldn't make it, but four men who wear usually gray in re-enactments will be donning blue for the parade Thursday.
"While on the outside we represent the North, the story we're telling is the soldier's story," said Quinlin, who lives in Suwanee, Ga. "The men on both sides marched the same distances, slept in the same kind of weather. They missed their families, lost friends, ate bad food. They went through the same hardships."
Since Cheney landed the nation's No. 2 job, Quinlin has given him a tour of Chickamauga in northwest Georgia, and Cheney hosted Quinlin for an hourlong Civil War chat in the White House.
"He would tell me different things that he has of his great-grandfather's," said Quinlin, who grew up in Massachusetts and has several ancestors who fought for the North and a few who fought for the South. "I just think circumstances kind of fell in place."
Men from the 21st Ohio were involved in some of the war's most significant events, including the Battle of Stones River near Nashville, and Andrew's Raid, in which Union volunteers stole a locomotive and burned bridges on their way from Marietta, Ga., to Chattanooga, Tenn. (They never made it there, and many were captured and executed.)
The regiment is perhaps most associated with the 1863 battle of Chickamauga. Union troops were being slaughtered, but the 21st Ohio was able to hold off the Confederate soldiers at Snodgrass Hill for six hours before the regiment was forced to retreat north to Chattanooga.
It was one of the war's bloodiest periods. Of the 517 members of the 21st Ohio who participated, all but 122 were wounded, captured or killed.
In May 1865, the regiment took part in its last major activity - the "Grand Review," a parade of sorts in Washington in which the victorious Union armies marched past the White House and President Andrew Johnson.
The symbolism is certainly not lost on those who will follow the same path in Thursday's parade.
Carrying the regimental colors will be Josh Haugh of Charleston, S.C., the group's lone direct descendent of a 21st Ohio member. His great-great-grandfather was Pvt. Henry Hershey.
"In many cases, before the men were captured, they would cut up their flag," Haugh said. "One of the biggest honors a Civil War regiment could bestow on a member was the honor of carrying the colors."
Andy Cole, who works at Georgia's Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield and will march in the parade, says Civil War re-enactors are a close group, regardless of which side they represent.
"It is a great honor," Cole said. "As a Southerner, Northerner, regardless, you can't help but feel kind of humbled. Beyond the Civil War, we get to take part in one of the greatest shows of democracy."
I discovered later he was a local history professor and was from Pennsylvania.
later read
Why not make it even more P.C...let them wear U.N. blue helmets too and carry white flags.
It's harder to find Union people in that area now than it was during the war. Walker County, where Chickamauga is located, voted against secession. I think there's a lot of people who would be surprised to find out that their North Georgia ancestors sympathized with the Blue instead of the Gray.
Nice. I've been to Chickamauga and also to Signal Mountain in Chattanooga. Also there was a Civil War battlefield not more than a mile from my home (Battle of Bull Run).
Interesting. Even today, north Georgia and South Georgia are quite different in culture, at least it seems that way to me.
Have you been promoted from Captain? Congratulations.
They moved Manassas to Oklahoma? ;)
LOL! No, I haven't always lived in Oklahoma. However, I may also have my history messed up. I lived near Knoxville, TN, and there was a civil war battle fought there. The area was called Bull Run, and I think I messed up the reference.
I think Manassas is safe. :0
My Great Grandfather lost two brothers at the battle of Chickamauga. He was in the 18th Alabama. The army gave him a wagon to take them home but he couldn't get across the Alabama River and buried them there.
NOBODY wanted to be the Cowboy.
Couple of battles fought in and around Knoxville, but Bull Run Creek is in Manassas, VA, which is where the Battle of Bull Run was fought ;)
Wow, it's hard to imagine the pain and suffering of that war, isn't it.
My mom's family was from Georgia and I had two male Walker County ancestors during the war. One was a Confederate soldier and the other was a Union loyalist who apparently worked for Sherman's army as they were passing through. The war was a messy business in split-loyalty areas.
Have you been promoted from Captain? Congratulations.
I deserved a promotion after putting up with Mr. Moose and Bunny Rabbit all these years.
I deserved a promotion after putting up with Mr. Moose and Bunny Rabbit all these years.
Not to mention that insubordinate Mister Green Jeans.
NOBODY wanted to be the Cowboy.
Well, I certainly couldn't help them. I'm Just a Cowgirl! :-)
Man what a beautiful Dixie. Reminds me of one night (summer of 1976) when I was visiting someone in Shreveport, LA and the local TV station signed off with a similar rendition of Dixie (NOT the other national anthem) showing scenes of the South.
I love Dixie! thanks for posting
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.