Cotton Field

This is one area I've never quite grasped as well as some of the other parts of the fight. I know that after the Confederates cleared the woods south of the Nashville Pike, finally pushed Sheridan away they emerged into this open area. And then they caught hell. The far side of the field, along the Nashville Pike was a ton of Union artillery, as well as the surviving infantry. They opened fire, the Confederates started across the field and got out there aways before they realized it was going to get them all killed. They withdrew and other Confederates to their left made the attempt to break the lines along the Pike.

But how far into this field did they get? I've heard the cotton field described as pretty small, was this whole area cotton? If not then what part was cotton and what was the rest of the field?

These first two pictures show the great open area. In the first the national cemetery is located roughly in the middle of the picture in the trees on the far side of the field.

Here is a little better view of the national cemetery. The area between the pike and the railroad was full of Union artillery as it was slightly higher than the Pike. Later this land became the national cemetery.

Waters' Battery

As we continue on the park service's loop we come to a parking area that isn't an official tour stop. A short walk here through the woods takes us to two markers. There are no views here, that's part of the reason the markers are here, to illustrate just how thick the forests were. How they limited movement and sight. Waters' Battery came into position here and received fresh ammunition but couldn't achive a thing. The terrein and trees, plus Union artillery rounds falling in the woods, prevented the battery from moving far enough forward to get into a firing position.

Michigan marker

At the parking lot for the Slaughter Pen trail is this Michigan marker. I've seen this style of marker before, there is one at Perryville too. Its a simple marker, just lists the various Michigan regiments that were at Stones River. Nothing fancy but its also nice to see this much. At least we know Michigan cares enough to still put up markers.

John Brown Presentation

Last night I did a presentation on John Brown for the Rocky Mountain Civil War Roundtable as part of our series on the causes of the war. I was a little nervous at first that it wouldn't go as smoothly as I'd want. Unlike other presentations I just didn't feel like a Brown expert. I've read some books and hit the internet but I didn't feel 100% confident that I knew it all. But it turned out well. I thought it was a little short, just under an hour when other presentations lately seem to hit 90 minutes, but the few people I talked to about that issue were kinda glad that it was an hour long. Later I realized there was one fact I left out of the presentation but it was a minor piece of the battle of Black Jack so it was not a big deal.

My presentation focused on Bleeding Kansas and Harper's Ferry. For Bleeding Kansas it boiled down to Pottawatomie and Black Jack. I also did brief segments on his life before 1855 and the Secret Six who gave him the financial backing to do what he did those last 4 years of his life. I was a little disappointed in the resources in general because there were questions that were never really answered. I could never get a good number of how many men Brown fought against at Black Jack. One source said he faced 29 to 750 odds, others just said he was outnumbered. How could he win a battle facing those odds, plus capture 25 men? I think he faced odds of 29 to 40-50 and a dozen or so deserted during the fighting. I could never get a handle on whether he was a good business man with bad luck or a bad business man. Some said he was a failure at everything he tried, but others said he suffered as much as others from the various financial panics that hit the country, but that when the country went well so did Brown. It seemed that Brown gets a new biography every year or so, I bet he ranks up there with Lee and Lincoln as the most written about Civil War era personalities. That's a help and a hindrance because some of those books are pure garbage, or offer very little new to the topic.

And because I can't do a post without sharing some pictures, here are some pictures of Harper's Ferry. I have not been to Black Jack (add it to my to do list) so this is all I can share right now. If you click on the first picture you will be able to read the labels I have added to the picture. It points out where John Brown's Fort was in 1859 and where it is now. Unless you have really great vision you probably cannot read it on this page but if you click on it a larger version will load and you should have no problem.

Slaughter Pen

One of Sheridan's final positions is within the park boundary. This area is known as the Slaughter Pen. It is also on the edge of a cedar/limestone area. The irregular limestone outcroppings limited movement for both sides. They made moving artillery around especially difficult.

This field is on the edge of a limestone outcropping and shows that Sheridan's men did also get some excellent fields of fire. I only wish the park had more land at Stones River as I had a relative (24th Wisconsin) in Sheridan's Division and would love to follow their day step by step. Matt Spruill has written a guide book (Winter Lightning) that does take one over what is left of the battlefield outside the park boundaries. Unfortunately I have not been to Stones River since its publication so I have not been able to utilize that resource.

This picture is actually near the stop for Parson's Battery but I liked how it showed the outcroppings.

The park has placed a few cannon in a broken down position here to illustrate just how difficult it would have been to move artillery in these areas.

Parson's Battery

I thought we'd start our Stones River tour where the Park Service starts their tour, at Parson's Battery. The preserved park of Stones River is primarily for the final actions of the battle, Sheridan's final positions, Hazen's stand in the Round Forest and then the attack at McFadden's Ford.

Parson's Battery was located near the Round Forest and was primarily there to defend that spot. When the Confederates finally overran Sheridan's forces and came out near the Cotton Field though Parson's Battery had Confederates on there sides of it. During the entire battle they stood their ground, suffered relatively few casualties and fired an astounding 2299 rounds.

The car in the background is on the Nashville Pike, a road that existed during the battle.
Then a few towards where the Confederate attack would have come from to hit the Round Forest. The high weeds prevent much of a view.

This is the road (McFadden's Lane) directly in front of the battery. There is only foot traffic on the road. This view is to the east showing the ground the Confederates would have attacked across to get to the battery.

And the view looking back at the battery. The national cemetery is in the trees in the distance.

The full story of Parson's Battery

Abe Lincoln's Hat

Abe Lincoln's Hat by Martha Brenner (Author) and Donald Cook (Illustrator)

During the holidays my parents bought my son this book. Its a level 3 book in the Step into Reading series which is a first grade level book. Basically it means longer sentences, and formation of paragraphs. My son loves John brown, loves his Lincoln on a stick, and basically soaks up anything about the Civil War. I encourage it because I know there will come a time that he'll rebel against the Civil War and I'll lose my Civil War buddy. He might not, he might come back to the war later, who knows. So for now I try to enjoy this.

Anyway, he loves this book. He asks for it once or twice a week. The story is simple. Lincoln is a poor (monetarily) lawyer but he tries to dress up, which means buying a top hap. His office is also very messy. One day he realizes he could store important papers in the hat and he would be reminded about them every time he took off the hat. Then it provides a few examples from Lincoln's law career. Each highlight is basically a common sense approach to law. Two men claim they own the mother of a prized young horse. Lincoln convinces them to put the two horses in a field, release the young horse and it will go its mother. Are the stories true? I don't really know but they sound like the sort of stories Lincoln would tell. The end of the book deals with Stephen Douglas and ends with Douglas holding Lincoln's hat at the inauguration, which is true. All in all the book seems accurate, nothing jumps out as obvious fiction. I think it is a good book to get a young kid interested in the Civil War. The book might say its for a first grader but my preschooler (5 years old) loves the story and can understand it just fine. He doesn't know all the words yet but he'll get there.

I would recommend this book for anyone trying to get a child interested in history.

I'm back

I hope you all had a happy holidays. I'm finally back to the blogging world. I had originally intended to start a series on Stones River in late December to coincide with the anniversary of the battle, but that got pushed to the back burner during the busy last few weeks of the year. But I'm back now and will commence that series tomorrow, probably the next dozen or so posts to cover the battle. If you like Stones River then this will be a good January on this blog for you.

I had a good Christmas and New Year's. On Christmas Eve we had dinner with my parents, then met all my wife's family for a get together at a brother's house. On Christmas day we had our parents, and my grandmother, over for presents and a big dinner. There was food for twice as many people as came, in fact I still have a few leftovers. But I love ham so that's not a problem at all.

New Year's Eve we spent with a few of my wife's siblings at a bar. It was a good time, a bit tired by the end of the night but we had a good time. I bet I ate more than I drank, which seems odd. Now that the holidays are over I can try to lose that weight and get back in shape, we'll see, maybe it'll work, maybe it won't.

Among my many Christmas presents were two I wanted to share with you tonight. One is that I got a new laptop, much more modern than my last laptop, or desktop for that matter. It even has a webcam so I could take a picture of me typing this blog, as I'm doing it on my laptop this very moment. The second present is that my wife got me this print:It is "The General's Farewell" by David Wright and depicts Forrest and Cleburne talking outside the Harrison House. Hood and Cheatham are on the porch. Hood has just chewed out these generals again for the Spring Hil affair. In a few hours the battle of Franklin will take place and Cleburne will lose his life leading his men from the front. I own three other Civil War prints, the 6th Mississippi at Shiloh, Cleburne at Chickamauga and Cleburne at Tunnel Hill (unframed). By accident I started a series of Cleburne prints and now it continues by design. The new print already has a place of honor above the fireplace.

Fort Smith

When Confederate General Leonidas Polk invaded Kentucky and captured Columbus, Union General US Grant moved fast. He soon after took Paducah and Smithland, strategic spots along the Ohio River. Paducah guarded the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers while Smithland guarded the Ohio and Cumberland rivers. In February 1862 Grant would need naval access to the Cumberland River to aid his attacks on Fort Donelson.

So in my continuing efforts at visiting the rare spots of the war I went to Smithland to see what I could see. There is not much. Smithland is a small town. I think there was just a warning light in town, not a traffic light, just a flashing yellow light. But on the hill south of town are the remains of the Union Fort Smith. They are pretty well preserved, I've heard that they are the best preserved entrenchments in Kentucky but I'm not sure I'd go that far.

This is the only sign in the fort although there were two park benches. The whole place seemed creepy. Perhaps that's because its right next to the cemetery. The benches did not give me a warm cozy feeling, I almost felt like an intruder.

And of course along the river was a place to see the confluence of the Cumberland and Ohio rivers. The Cumberland enters the picture from the right and exits the left side as the Ohio.

I doubt I'll ever visit Smithland again but it was nice to see it once.

Columbus, Kentucky

The day I visited Cairo and Mound City I started my adventure at Columbus Kentucky. This is a nice state park that also doubles as a picnic area. Actually most people there were probably there for picnics. But there was a small museum (though nicely done) and a gift shop.

I was impressed at the amount of markers around the park, plus these markers offered a ton of text. I've been places that have a simple "entrenchments" sign but these markers offered much more interpretation.

There was a nice view of the Mississippi River and the lower ground of Missouri. When I was there the ferry was not operating. I'm not sure if this was a permanent or temporary decision. So I was not able to tramp the battlefield of Belmont, but it is the low ground across the river. Specifically what ground I'm not sure as the river has moved since then and I was not able to wander around Belmont. I could have gotten over there but it would have been quite the detour and from what I heard there is only a marker or two over there.

One of the more interesting things to see was a section of the chain defenses the Confederates strung across the river to prevent (or slow) the Union gunboats from passing the bluffs here. You can try to pick up a link of chain but it is very heavy.

Then of course there are the guns that made Columbus a formidable position for the Union navy. While this particular gun may not have been here during the battle it was here afterwards as the Union used Columbus as a depot for captured cannon. It would later fall in the river as the bank eroded and was found again in 1998. In any respect it is similar to guns that would have been here.

The problem with Columbus is that while it provides a strong defense against the Union navy it is easily outflanked by land. When Forts Henry and Donelson fell the Confederates had to abandon this spot. That is why when General Polk invaded Kentucky he made a fatal error by stopping at Columbus. If he had secured Paducah the invasion might have been worthwhile. Gaining Columbus was not worth opening up much of the rest of Kentucky to Union forces, who now could come in claiming that they were rescuing the state from the Confederates, never minding that both sides had been recruiting in the state since the initial neutrality proclamation. Polk invading the state ended the sham neutrality.

Stringer's Ridge

Yesterday I got an email asking for help preserving Stringer's Ridge in Chattanooga. This site on Moccasin Bend is where Eli Lilly's battery bombarded Chattanooga at the start of the Chickamauga campaign.

The Trust for Public Land is trying to preserve 92 acres on the ridge. The cost is $2.5 million and they are now just $180,000 away from the goal. But they need to hit that by January 9th. If they fail to reach it in time they can sell some of the land (5-10 acres) to a residential developer to cover the shortfall.

Eventually this land would likely become part of the National Park Service. The NPS has recently bought other land on Moccasin Bend and while the Stringer's Ridge parcel is not next to it the two pieces would be a nice addition to the sort of Chattanooga in the war.

Amazingly this parcel has not yet been developed, although from searching the Chattanooga papers online it is not from lack of trying. Many developers have proposed projects but the community has been able to derail each effort. Now we might take this target off the market forever.

To see the map of the parcel and the link to donate click here.

Mound City

Located just north of Cairo, a few minute drive, is Mound City National Cemetery. When I was doing research with the Wisconsin unit rosters I often saw men listed as dying at Mound City. Obviously there was a hospital in this area, also at Cairo. During the war 1644 men were buried here. After the war other dead soldiers from places along the Mississippi and Ohio were reinterred here raising the total to 4808 soldiers. Since then other veterans have been buried here raising the total to over 9000.

One interesting feature of the monument is that it has the names of some of the men buried here. These panels are a bit worn but you can make out quite a few names. The panels were a bit too high to get a comprehensive set of pictures but here are a few so you can see that the panels are still in pretty good condition.