Final Panorama

This is the last stitched panoramic to offer. It is of Snodgrass Hill and forms a 360 degree view. The cannon on either end of the picture is the same cannon. To view the original post click here.

Granger Panorama

Here is the stitched together panorama of Granger's Knoll. Each monument is identified on the picture (you'll have to click on the picture to see the larger version to read the identification).

The monument on the far right is the 89th Ohio's and Granger's headquarters monument is also nearby. On the other side of the headquarters monument is the 84th Indiana monument. At the far end of the path part of the 98th Ohio's monument can be seen. Next to the tablets for Whitaker's Brigade is the 115th Illinois' monument. The big monument we can see the rear of is for the 22nd Michigan. And finally attacking this position was the 2nd South Carolina, the short marker on the edge of the tree line.

Granger Knoll

The term Granger Knoll is my own term, officially I'm not sure this knoll has a name. But it is where Granger's headquarters monument is so that is why I'm calling it that. This spot is where Whitaker's Brigade formed on the afternoon of September 20th. This was the first of Granger's Reserve Corps to reach the lines along Snodgrass Ridge. These four pictures form a panoramic moving right to left.

The monument on the far right is the 89th Ohio's and Granger's headquarters monument is also nearby.
On the other side of the headquarters monument is the 84th Indiana monument. At the far end of the path part of the 98th Ohio's monument can be seen.
Next to the tablets for Whitaker's Brigade is the 115th Illinois' monument. The big monument we can see the rear of is for the 22nd Michigan.
And finally attacking this position was the 2nd South Carolina, the short marker on the edge of the tree line.

A minor anniversary

Saturday was my 200th day of doing this blog. I know in the blogosphere that does not represent too long a commitment, there are plenty of blogs that have been around much longer than me. I'm continually amazed at the number of visits I receive (again I realize from source reports that I'm far down the readership list but I didn't start this in hopes of being the most widely read blogger, I did it for fun, its still fun so I'll keep doing it). Sometime today I will have my 2500th unique visitor. My readers have come here 7409 times so it seems that people keep coming back, must be doing something right. And my readers have also viewed the site 11643 times so when they come back for repeated visits they check a few pages of posts so that is also encouraging.


Blogger also keeps statistics on where people are from. These stats continually amaze me. I've had readers in 60 countries. The United States makes up 93.3% of my readers but I've actually got a pretty strong contingent from the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Spain and Germany. In the US I still am missing a reader from North Dakota but have had visits from the other 49 states and Washington DC. Colorado is the number one source of visits. The other top states are Tennessee, California, Virginia and Ohio.


This is my 198th post and I've had 119 comments left, at least comments that I've allowed to remain. Occasionally someone leaves a comment promoting some diet miracle or whatnot and I delete those but I've only had a handful of problems in that regard. I have read every comment left me and I try to leave a response.


Finally I'd like to thank you for your support of the diabetes walk I participated in at the end of October. It was a great time and I intend on doing it again next year, maybe even running the course. I hit my personal fundraising goal of $150 and our team raised $565. My girlfriend is probably gonna kill me for posting this picture but oh well. That's her and her son in the front row. On the back row that's me on the left, then her friend Erin, her sister Annemarie and her sister's friend Angie. We were the Sugar Sisters, which I guess made me the sugar daddy. :)

Snodgrass Hill

Here is a 360 degree panorama on Snodgrass Hill. The cannon in the first picture is the same as in the last.

The high ground in the distance is the extension of Snodgrass ridge.
The Snodgrass cabin.

Thomas' HQ can be seen in the distance.

Granger would have approached from the far corner of the field.

Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day to all our veterans. And a big thank you. I could not begin to put into words how thankful I am that I live in the country that I do today and that is because of a long line of brave men and women who fought for this country over the years. Here's a few pictures from national cemeteries and some men who gave the ultimate price for our freedom. The first is from Stones River, the next two are from Shiloh and the final one is in Chattanooga.

Kelly Field Panorama

For some reason the Kelly Field panorma didn't load correctly, so here is a second chance. Again, the orginial post can be viewed here.

Panoramas

I hope these turn out okay. On some earlier posts I've had panoramas, I also have a program that stitches the photos together. For some reason if I post the stitched photo on the same post as the individuals the stitched version only loads as the version you see here. All of my photos are supposed to load so that you can click on them and see the real size version. The preview versions are fine for most viewing but as you can see there are so small for the panoramas to be laughable.

This first one is of Kelly Field. The original post can be viewed here.
This one is of the Union left blank along Reed's Bridge road. The original post can be viewed here.
And finally here is one from Lytle Hill. There are kinda two posts for this one. Check out here and here. This was back when I was doing my series on the gap.

Maps

Here is a link to a copy of park tour map. I realized the other day that I keep mentioning places but if you didn't have a map you would probably be very lost. And in case you don't want to download the pdf, here is a copy of the map

Kelly Field

Kelly Field is another large field with impressive views but little fighting. Don't get me wrong, there was fighting here, just that it was somewhat minor compared to the action that was 150 yards to the east in the woods. But that early action was actually pretty important. On the morning of the 20th the Confederates had planned to strike the Union left flank and continue to attack in echelon and roll up the Union line, eventually pushing them into McLemore's Cove. Nothing ever seemed to work perfectly for Bragg and this dawn attack was not the exception. The attack eventually got rolling and some Confederates did get on the Union left flank, attacking down the LaFayette Road from the McDonald Field vicinity (where the current visitor's center is). Timely Union reinforcements stopped the attack but not before the Confederates gained the edge of Kelly Field and could see the enormous possibilities.

This panorama (next four pictures) was shot from the southeast corner of Kelly Field near the King mortuary monument.

The LaFayette Road comes into Kelly Field near the taller monument in the left center of this picture and runs along the tree line in the final two pictures.

The 2003 Rocky Mountain Civil War Roundtable study group standing near the LaFayette Road with the Kelly house behind us. Our leader, Matt S., is pointing north explaining the morning attack into Kelly Field.

Rocky Mtn CWRT Meeting

Tomorrow night is the next meeting of the Rocky Mountain Civil War Roundtable. Former president Dave Townsend will be talking about The Wilderness as part of our "Campaigning with Grant" series.

In the spring of 1864, President Lincoln brought Grant east to fill the newly created rank of Lt General and placed in charge of all Union forces. Although Grant had been successful in the west, he never actively sought the command. Based on past performance, he was clearly the best choice. The proximity of Washington and its influence on how the war would be waged was no small matter. But Lincoln and the unassuming Grant quickly formed a strong trust in each other, and Lincoln would handle the Washington side of the war.

Although Grant was in charge of all the Union forces, he made his headquarters with General Meade and his Army of the Potomac. The General-in-chief told Meade, "Lee's army will be your objective. Where he goes, there you will go also." There would be no maneuvering for position.

The Battle of the Wilderness was the first of what would be a long, bloody, and almost continual contact between the two armies culminating the following year at Appomattox. By striking at Grant’s flank in the Wilderness, Lee negated some of the Union's superiority in troops and artillery. The two days of fighting was intense, and many of the wounded were burned to death by fires resulting form the battle. Although the Union suffered greater casualties, at the conclusion of the battle, Grant’s objective remained the same – Lee’s army. Rather than stopping or pulling back to Washington as his predecessor had, Grant moved south to attack again.

A reading list:
1) Grant and Lee: the Virginia Campaigns 1864-65 by William A Frassanito
2) The Virginia Campaign 1864 and 1865 by Gen. Andrew A. Humphreys
3) The Battle of the Wilderness May 5-6, 1864 by Gordon C. Rhea
4) Bloody Roads South: May-June 1864 by Noah Andre Trudeau

Poe Field

For some reason the fighting in Poe Field has always eluded me, I don't know why but I just do not have a good handle on that action. Here are the few things I can say confidently. Poe Field is along the LaFayette Road between Kelly Field and Brotherton Field. This is where the Union lined curved back and came into contact with the road after having a sort of salient in front of Kelly Field (along what is now Battleline Road). I am not sure what fighting was seen here on the 19th. I'm pretty sure that on the 20th after the break through the Confederates pushed north into Poe Field. I hate to admit this but this is just an area I don't know much about, maybe that's because the Kelly and Brotherton fields are much more prominent in the story, maybe it's because little of significance happened here.

In any respect here is a picture of the Union cannons as the line curves back toward LaFayette Road. The LaFayette Road runs left to right in the picture along the tree line (a stop sign can be seen where the park tour road intersects the LaFayette Road). North is to the right.
Here's looking at those same cannon from in Poe Field, looking north. The LaFayette Road can be easily distinguished because cars can be seen on in.
Those cannon are now at the far end of the picture (they can be seen if you click on the picture itself). The cannons in the foreground are Confederates.
And a silly picture taken from those Confederate cannon looking to the west. The LaFayette Road is not visible but is this side of those other Confederate cannon (running left to right).

Brotherton Field

Brotherton Field is a nice open field but is like nearly every other field at Chickamauga in that it does not really have views of the attacks. In this case most of the attacks come out of the woods directly across the LaFayette Road. This first picture looks south along the LaFayette Road. You can see the woods on the left side and the field behind a brand new fence (this picture was taken in April 2006).
Looking north along that fence towards the Brotherton cabin. You can see my dad's head poking out of the fence near the cabin.

And turned around looking south along that fence. The nice gradual slope of the ridge line in the field can be seen. This probably would have been good ground to defend if the opportunity had existed. This is the area that Longstreet's column pierced the Union line at on September 20th, whether or not you believe in the whole Wood created a gap story.
These final two pictures form a panorama (right to left) of the Union line from the reverse side of the slope. This reverse side would have provided a sheltered area for Union troops to rest before rushing to the crest to join the battle line. You can see that there was a fair amount of artillery along the crest too.

Battleline Road

Here are a variety of pictures taken along Battleline Road. This is was the left of the Union line on September 20th and was held by Thomas. Unfortunately due to the thick woods there are no good pictures looking into or away from the Union line. The best views are along the length of the line. The first two pictures are along the left portion of the line.

This picture was taken farther to the south, more towards the center of the line. For those who have been there before this area is near the King and Deshler mortuary monuments. In fact the directional sign for those monuments can be seen peeking out from behind a tree.
And this is at the far left of the line, where it was curved back away from the main line.

Roundtable Newsletter

Here is the online version of the Rocky Mountain Civil War Roundtable's newsletter. Our next meeting is November 8. I also made a link on the right for this and future roundtable newsletters so that years from now you can look back and think what a wonderful newsletter that was, or that Nick really needs a copy editor to help him out. More likely to think that second thing, but oh well.

Symposium maps

Not too exciting but here are some maps for the symposium. It shows where the event will be held and even includes floor plans. As you can see it is a large space, the auditorium seats about 180 and there is plenty of space for book sellers and other exhibitors.

Halloween Costume

Unfortunately last night I was not able to go out trick or treating but my girlfriend did bring over her son for a bit before they went out on the candy run. He was a lion as the pics obviously indicate. He loves those planes.

Housekeeping

I have added a new section on the right side below the about me section. It has links to files I've created. Most of these will be symposium related but over time I can see making this section similar to what Harry has done at Bull Runnings. Or making files that are monument recaps like Jenny has done at Draw the Sword. Just something new to be aware of. Thanks.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! Last Sunday I got together with my girlfriend's family for dinner and pumpkin carving. In all we carved six pumpkins. The one I brought home she carved for me. She asked me what I wanted carved into it, I was thinking Grant on horseback but she suggested a bat. I agreed a bat would look cool, especially since Grant on horseback would probably be too difficult to pull off. Here are two pictures of the jack o lantern my girlfriend carved for me.

Along LaFayette Road

Probably the largest open area at Chickamauga is this field along the LaFayette Road on the Union right flank. It starts out across the road from Viniard Field, curves north behind the Heg monument and then curves west towards Wilder Tower. The western portion is usually referred by its modern name, Recreation Field. I don't recall seeing an official name for the portion behind the Heg monument, it might technically be an extension of Viniard Field. In any respect this area is the most open ground at Chickamauga.

This is the view behind the Heg monument looking north. Wilder's men formed a line along the tree line on the left side of the picture. The LaFayette Road runs north-south out of view on the right side of the picture. This is again looking north although this time we have moved farther north than the previous picture. The monument in the middle of the picture far in the distance is the 39th North Carolina monument. This marks the farthest penetration by the Confederates on September 19. And here is the 39th North Carolina monument.And the view looking west from the 39th North Carolina monument. This area would be Recreation Field. Lytle Hill is roughly at right center and Wilder Tower is out of view on the left.