Florida Monument at Chickamauga

The final installment of state monuments, the Florida monument.

I was told that the Florida monument was the best place for a sunrise picture. One day I did get up early enough to catch sunrise. Unfortunately it was not a great sunrise. It was interesting to be there in the dark and see the park awake around me. Watch the people show up to work in the visitor's center. See the people show up for their morning runs. See the animals wandering around as the sun slowly revealed them. Here are a few of my sunrise pictures. Because the sunrise was nothing spectacular all it really shows is a gradual lighting of the monument.

Tennessee Cavalry Monuments at Chickamauga

Tennessee also put up two cavalry monuments, one for each side in the fight. The Confederate monument is well north of the battlefield near Cloud Church. For those who have visited the park it is directly behind the Krystal's.

The Union monument is behind Wilder Tower with most of the other Union cavalry monuments.

Tennessee Monuments at Chickamauga

Tennessee placed markers for all of its regiments and batteries. These markers are basically beefed up head stones, a little taller and a little thicker but of the same shape. They then also placed monuments for each branch of service.

Artillery: Located on the Reed's Bridge road almost directly north of the Kelly Field positions.
Carnes' Tennessee Battery. Apparently they wanted more than just a plain marker. Their marker can be seen to the left of the monument.
FYI that's me in the orange hat.
Infantry: Located along the Snodgrass Hill defenses.

Georgia Monument at Chickamauga

I've always liked the Georgia monument. Its not too simple and not too busy. Its in a prominent place (Poe Field along the LaFayette Road). Its the tallest monument in the park. Georgia really went all out when they put their monuments around the battlefield, probably because it was a Confederate victory and it was in Georgia.
The color bearer points north towards Chattanooga.
I like the detail put into the top section. I like that they went to that much trouble when its not the easiest thing to see.
There are three soldiers denoting the various branches of the army. Infantry:

Artillery:
And cavalry:
Chickamauga doesn't offer too many sunset picture opportunities. I sat one night near the Georgia monument and got this one. I like it but wish there were more sunset opportunities.

Confederate Monuments at Chickamauga

A selection of Confederate monuments.


Alabama state monument:
Texas state monument:
Bledsoe's Battery monument (Missouri):
39th North Carolina monument. North Carolina does not have a state monument so I selected this one from the few individual regiment monuments. It marks the furthest penetration of the LaFayette Road line on September 19. Lythe Hill is through the trees at the far end of the field.
Kentucky state monument:

South Carolina state monument:
General Bushrod R. Johnson monument:

I left out Tennessee, Florida and Georgia on purpose. Those states will each have their own post in the coming days to showcase their monuments. If I get some comments about it I will also do individual posts for Kentucky, South Carolina and North Carolina.

2nd Minnesota Monuments at Chickamauga

The 2nd Minnesota erected a few monuments to show their various positions during the battle. Here is a sampling.

If memory serves correctly this is in Kelly Field.
On Snodgrass Hill:

Along the road to Reed's Bridge:

Cavalry Monuments at Chickamauga

I know there are a few fellow bloggers who are cavalry nuts, this is for them. There were several cavalry regiments at Chickamauga, below are the seven best Union monuments as chosen by me. There are several other cavalry monuments but they were a bit plain. The Confederate monuments will follow in a future post.

7th Pennsylvania Cavalry:
9th Pennsylvania Cavalry:
15th Pennsylvania Cavalry:

1st Ohio Cavalry:
2nd Ohio Cavalry:
3rd Ohio Cavalry:
1st Wisconsin Cavalry:

Chickamauga Monuments (Sept 20) part 2

79th Pennsylvania monument. I've always liked this monument because of the moment it depicts with the death of a color bearer. Later I learned that one of my friend's had a relative in the unit. Now when I see the monument I'm reminded of him.

10th Wisconsin monument. Like I said yesterday I have an affinity for Wisconsin monuments. This is one of my favorites. I like the stare down he's giving the advancing Confederates. I like the sword, though it looks more like a broad sword than what I'd typically think of as a Civil War sword. I'm sure it really was an issued sword, it just looks a bit different than what I'd expect to see.

24th Wisconsin monument. This monument means a bit more to me than any other Wisconsin monument because I had a relative in this regiment. He is the only relative I'm sure I had at this battle (there are a couple of brothers in the 21st Wisconsin that I might be related to, I'm just not sure yet). Jacob Goll was a private in the regiment yet hardly ever fought with them. As best I can tell he only fought in one battle, Chattanooga. After Perryville he was picked to be a provost guard (one document seems to indicate that Sheridan, his division commander, selected the men for the provost guard personally but this I'm not sure of). He served as division provost guard until after Chickamauga when he was returned to the ranks. Following Chattanooga he was detached again, this time to serve in the ambulance corps. After the fall of Atlanta his regiment was sent with Thomas back to middle Tennessee, he stayed behind in the Atlanta area for a little while and was murdered in a "row" or a quarrel. To me this would indicate he was killed by a fellow Union soldier. I've often wondered if court martial records would reveal more of the story but have heard that the court martial records are a mess. He is listed as murdered on every government document so I would suspect that the other person was court martialed. That though might remain a mystery.

Chickamauga Monuments (Sept 20)

Continuing with yesterday's theme of Chickamauga monuments, here are some for the second day of combat.

The 22nd Michigan monument. I've always been drawn to the monuments with these panels. I guess I like the artwork, how the regiment decided to remember their engagement. Usually the text of monuments is plain enough to not offend another regiment, simply stating where they were at what times and how many men they lost. There is good information there but it often is only a small piece of the puzzle. For a good chuckle read how many monuments at Shiloh say that the regiment retired to the landing. That makes it sound like an organized affair when in some cases it was a matter of the regiment disintegrating rapidly and running everywhere. So these panels in some way shed a bit more light on the action. Of course they are going to be a sanitized version of the regiment's exploits but they are still more interesting than the simple recap of where, when and losses.

The 68th Indiana monument. This one also tells a story, not with a panel but with an engraving. I've never seen a copy of the Indiana at Chickamauga book so I could find out why they choose this moment to present. Its just a solitary soldier looking at his leg. There is no visible wound but that would seem the most logical explanation.