The man at left foreground is beheaded, for example. On the right, bullet through forehead. These pictures were taken while Yankees were clearing the Sunken Road of the slain in 1862 and still remain haunting today.
Posted on 06/22/2005 9:43:16 PM PDT by quidnunc
Now that it's officially summer, here's my advice to parents who want to continue teaching their kids during the next two months and learn something themselves: visit Civil War battlefields. I probably overdid it with my own children, visiting about 35 in all, but here are my top five:
1. Gettysburg (July 1863)
Much as I'd like to make a surprise choice, there's no avoiding Gettysburg's primacy and sadness, with over 50,000 soldiers becoming casualties over three days.
Driving and walking this Pennsylvania battlefield explains much: the big rocks of Devil's Den were indeed devilish, and the awesome difficulty of "Pickett's Charge" — across a vast expanse, sloping slightly uphill — makes it seem that Robert E. Lee's hope that day was for God to intervene. (That's what Michael Shaara suggested in his fine novel, "The Killer Angels"; it's well worth reading before a Gettysburg visit.)
2. Antietam (September 1862)
The 30-acre Maryland cornfield through which soldiers charged and countercharged is still a cornfield; the farm road worn down by erosion and called Sunken Road until it gained a new name at the battle, Bloody Lane, is also a good place to meditate on 23,000 casualties incurred in one day.
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(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
The CSA tried to leave, but was never succesful. It certainly never met the requirements of being a sovereign nation.
"How 'bout discussing battlefields like everyone else instead of derailing this thread?"
I thought Spotsylvania was very interesting. The lack of development around the battlefield was refreshing. Petersburg was another good take-in. What is left of the crater is still there and there is a nice driving tour. Bad neighborhood, though. Better to go early in the day. I was recently in New Market, VA and visited the Confederated Memorial maintained by VMI on the battlefield. A lot of very interesting exhibits. There was a dress-up area for the kids (and lean adults). My kids (and even my wife)dressed up in Confederate garb and I photographed them in front of a Confederate flag. (We are from New England and I considered it to be a gesture of reconciliation to pro-CSA Freepers). Of course, you would never be able to do that at park maintained by the National Park Service.
I was an extra in "Gettysburg" and heard several stories about strange goings on at the re-enactor campsite. It was just off Pump House Rd. in the same area where there was a Confederate hospital and Longstreet's Corp. (3rd?) staging area.
Park rangers and ex-rangers have the best stories, but they tend to keep quiet.
The one time I did hear something unusual, I was at Antietam Sept. 17, 1997 at daybreak in Miller's cornfield. I heard distant, scattered shooting of black powder rifles, like a picket line firing at an advancing column, coming from the direction of the Federal advance.
I had participated in the 135th Antietam Reenactment the day before. We were done and everyone was going home, so I was surprised when I heard gunfire that morning.
I would put it down to some local reenactor who had a local farm and invited some friends over for a morning skirmish. Hmmm.
Well, here is my little story about the haunting of Gettysburg....
In May of 1976, me, my husband, our two boys aged 6 and 2, along with my mom and dad, decided to go back east from Chicago, where we all lived, in honor of the Bicentennial...we planned to visit Gettysburg, Jamestown, Yorktown, Williamsburg, Monticello, Ash Lawn and just soak in the history of the whole area...
We went in May...most schools were still in session, so we figured May would be a good time to go, as most of the tourists would still not be out in full force what with the kids still being in school...I just pulled my six year old out of school early, figuring the trip would be more educational than the last few weeks of school...
When we got near to Gettysburg, it was already evening time...so we camped in our tent, just outside of Gettysburg...the campground was fairly empty, ,as the tourist season was still not in full force...we all went to bed fairly early, so as to get an early start the next day...it was very, very quiet in the campground and had very few campers...
During the nite, I was awoken, by my husband screams, and him shaking me...he said we had to get out of there, as he heard what sounded like rifle shots and cannon blasts and men screaming and he feared for our lives...he said those sounds woke him wide awake, and even awake, he kept hearing those sounds...apparently he sat there for a few seconds or perhaps a minute, not believing what he was hearing...he swears he was wide awake, not asleep and dreaming...finally he says, the sounds dissipated...but to this day, he knows what he heard, he did hear, and he was wide awake...
What with my hubby screaming, he woke everyone in our tent up...my dad just told him to go back to sleep and he would explain things to him in the morning...in the morning, my dad said, my husband was not the first and certainly would never be the last to relate such a story...my husband is retired military, and not afraid of much of anything...but that night he was terrified, and my dad believed him...dad says, he believes that Gettysburg is haunted, and he thinks that my hubby, for whatever reason, was able to tune in to those hauntings, ,and did actually hear them...
I tend to believe, ,that whenever something horrible happens in a given place, that past act never really leaves the places...vibrations, or hauntings, or spirits, or whatever you want to call it, still remain...and some people seem able to tune into that...and certainly, given the number of men who died at Gettysburg, it was a horrible thing...
On another note...we had visited all the well known places...Gettysburg, Yorktown, Jamestown, Williamsburg, Monticello, Ash Lawn...but my dad wanted to visit a place I had heard of from his tales that he related to me and my brother when we were growing up...he grew up, hearing his dads(my grandfathers), family talk about their days in Virginia during the civil war...dads family had lived for generations in Virginia, before eventually coming to New Jersey, and Philadelphia in my dads time...the family always told the tale of dads ancestors during the Civil War, about the battle of Fraysers Farm, which was supposed to be part of the Seven Days War...they talked about how when the Union soldiers came by, on of my dads old women ancestors ran out with her pipe in her mouth, and her broom in her hand, trying to run the soldiers off of her land...(my maiden name is Frazier, and spelling on the Battle of Fraysers Farm is different, but I have seen various spellings)...but dads family has handed that story down through the generations, a story told from generation to the next...so I just surmise that the Battle of Fraysers Farm, did involve my ancestors in some way or another...
Anyway, dad wanted to find the site of the Battle of Frayers Farm...we had to get a local map, and sure enough, two Battle Markers were shown to designate the Battle of Frayers Farm....we went down little back roads, and twisitng little lanes, and for sure, I thought we would wind up lost...but dad was determined to find these battle markers...and all of a sudden one of them appeared...dad got out of the car, and had mom take several pictures of him with the sign....we drove on a little further, and all of a sudden, on this seemingly deserted back road, there appeared a little civil war museum...there were lots of cars and visitors there...so we of course, all got out, and visited this really wonderful museum...the kids loved it, and dad was pleased as he could be...not only did he find the markers pointing out the place of a battle that he had heard about his whole life, from his family, there was also a museum there, a place to visit...
That trip back east, was so memorable in so many ways...
stainless asked to restrict this to battlefields. Thus, I will not respond.
I was feeling all sorry for him til I found his medical records . . . "scratch on nose from shell splinter." Ha!
But he was later wounded pretty severely in the shoulder at Nashville, and was troubled by that wound for the rest of his long life (he died in 1917).
On the other hand, the husband of my ggg grandfather Bale's eldest daughter (the same ggg grandfather who lost two sons), John Stewart, was killed at Shiloh and his body was never found.
Some folks can tune into it, some can't. There are some pretty remarkable stories about Gettysburg.
was he with the Confederacy or the Union madame?
If he was with the CSA , do you know what Regiment he was serving with?
Grandpa Dent (Capt. S.H. Dent), Dent's Battery (formerly Robertson's Pensacola Battery). They moved around a bit, but at Chickamauga they were with Hindman's Division.
Grandpa Long (Pvt. Nimrod W.E. Long), 51st Alabama Cavalry (Partisan Rangers). They also moved around a good deal but wound up in the end with Johnston in the Carolinas.
Cousin John Stewart was with 55th Alabama Volunteers. He was a captain. My gg grandfather Cain Glover (God only knows why his parents named him THAT) was offered the appointment after his brother in law was killed but declined. He was older than most soldiers and, I think, took the war hard. My gg grandmother died in childbirth while he was off at the war, she had lost three babies earlier, and the twins died with her. Gg grandfather lived with his sole surviving child, my g grandmother, until his early death at 55. Reading between the lines, I think he must have suffered from shellshock or PTS. God rest his soul. Dent and Long were very different personalities (Dent was a bit of a glory seeker, Long was a very shy man and modest), but both were fire eaters and took the war in stride.
About ten years ago I was doing business with a photographer who also did oil paintings. I turned a corner in his office and came face-to-face with a painting he called "Ghost Riders of Gettysburg." It was the same vision I had when I visited the battleground--but I never made a mention to my companions--it was a moment that conversation couldn't allow.
I always regretted that I didn't buy that painting.
There is enormous drama and a kind of beauty in battle. Moments when thousands are moved in a singular purpose. Why should we be surprised when some of that energy remains?
Thank you both for your replies....I am glad to see that others also believe that either the 'spirits' or 'energy', from a massive event can perhaps remain, and that there are those who are touched by it, and tune into it...
GVgirl...your story proves the point....there are many things that happen, that we cannot explain...I, also, regret that you never bought that painting...
Full scale lawless insurrection triggered by those which disagreed with the outcome of the 1860 presidential election.
When Clinton was elected twice don't you believe conservatives were outraged, yet we did not stage sedition and begin bombing U.S. forts, resulting in civil war and economic chaos.
That point was argued before. Saxe-Coburg-Gotha recognized the CSA...therefore, recognition was obtained by at least one country.
I bet you could track that photog down, if you still wanted the painting. If it's meant for you to have it, it'll turn up.
LOL! Actually, I found it to be very beautiful.
During the 125th anniversary, I reenacted Gettysburg, Shiloh, First Bull Run, Chickamauga and Franklin.
I have a tape from a video camera that was right behind the works during Pickett's charge. While I lay "dead", the ground was shaking.
Your story is better than mine. I am thinking of going out east later this summer. Gettysburg is definitely on my agenda again.
Excellent. Sounds like you had a wonderful time and shared some history with the family. Some of my favorite times are dressing up in period attire and attending balls. They are a blast! Good music, good friends, and doing the Charleston!
The man at left foreground is beheaded, for example. On the right, bullet through forehead. These pictures were taken while Yankees were clearing the Sunken Road of the slain in 1862 and still remain haunting today.
Yeah, it remains a struggle here with the Battle of Franklin (Tenn) sites. It's prime land and we are growing like crazy. The city is always trying to find ways to take a little more.
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