Events and locations featured in this edition of Civil War include:
¶ The Crater, Petersburg National Battlefield, Petersburg, Virginia
The Battle of the Crater involved a massive mine explosion under Confederate siege lines that blew a gaping hole in a salient section chosen by the Union command as an effective place to try such a feat.
¶ Union Generals Reynolds and Buford Monuments — Chambersburg Pike, Gettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Linked in Gettysburg lore forever are Union Generals John Buford and John Reynolds. Both West Pointers, Buford was born near Lexington, Kentucky,
where as John Reynolds’ hometown was Lancaster, Pennsylvania. On the march towards Gettysburg, it was General Buford’s cavalry that led the army as it raced to meet Lee’s invasion into Pennsylvania – a grand raiding party that sent panic through every farming family in southern Pennsylvania.
¶ The Stockade and Providence Spring, Andersonville National Historic Site, Andersonville, Georgia
Though the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia, only began taking prisoners in March 1864, just a year before the war was to close, this crude
stockade built by slave labor in a very far off and remote corner of southern Georgia some 100 miles south Atlanta, became a notorious penitentiary known for its wretched conditions which led to unspeakable suffering by the prisoners held there.
¶ Water Oaks Pond, Shiloh National Military, Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee
The Battle of Shiloh occurred on April 6 and 7, 1862, when Confederate forces under Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston surprised Union forces under General Ulyssess S. Grant who were camped along the banks of the Tennessee River at Pittsburg Landing.
¶ Poague’s Confederate Artillery — Widow Tapp Farm, Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania National Military Park, Spotsylvania County, Virginia
In early May 1864, the war’s two best generals finally clashed at the Battle of the Wilderness in Central Virginia. Union General Ulysses S. Grant was brought from the Western Theater by President Lincoln to bring Confederate General Robert E. Lee to bay.
¶ Union Artillery — Malvern Hill, Richmond National Battlefields, Richmond, Virginia
The Seven Days Campaign was a turning point in the Civil War given Union General George B. McClellan’s army had inched its way to within five miles
of the Confederate capital city by late June 1862. But, when Robert E. Lee took command after the wounding of General Joseph Johnston, the Gray Fox – General Lee’s sobriquet – went on the offensive, driving McClellan’s routed army some 30 miles to the south in bitter defeat. It was a stunning reversal of fortune for the southern cause and made Lee an instant hero and savior to the Richmond populace.
¶ Mississippi Memorial, Vicksburg National Military Park, Vicksburg, Mississippi
William Winters went off to war to make $13 dollars a month—pay his family counted on for their very survival. With many of the letters home, Winters would enclose the monies earned so his family could survive. Sadly, Winters was killed in 1864 in a remote portion of eastern Louisiana near Mansfield, Sabine Pass.
¶ Stonewall Jackson Monument — Henry Hill, Manassas National Battlefield, Manassas, VirginiaAdjectives contemporaries used to describe Confederate Adjectives describing General Stonewall Jackson range from: brilliant, eccentric, lunatic, pious, crazy fool, enigmatic, exceptional, quirky, devout, zealous —to only name a handful. Jackson was a very successful general in the war’s
¶ 132nd Pennsylvania Monument — The Sunken Road, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Maryland
William McKinley was born the seventh of nine children some 50 miles south of Cleveland in 1843. When the Civil War began, he volunteered for the
23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry in which he served with his mentor Rutherford B. Hayes. At the war’s beginning, the regiment saw action in the western hills
of Virginia (today’s West Virginia) at Carnifex Ferry in September 1861. The regiment made an arduous march east to fight in the Antietam Campaign in
September 1862. Hayes was wounded at South Mountain three days prior to Antietam. McKinley escaped Antietam bloody butchery there, even though the
23rd saw heavy action on the Union left flank as the daylong battle ended with over 23,000 casualties—the bloodiest day in American history.
¶ Little Round Top, Gettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
General Dan Sickles, commander of the Union army’s Third Corps, blatantly disobeyed orders in positioning his corps in front of the high ground at Little Round Top. In the heavy fighting which destroyed his Third Corps, Sickles was hit by a solid cannon shot. His shattered leg was amputated
through the upper thigh on the battlefield. That leg is still on display at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. The one-legged Sickles hobbled with honor on crutches for 50 years as a show of valor until he died in 1914. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery (not Gettysburg) where he had wished to rest.
¶ Driftwood Beach — Jekyll Island, Georgia
On November 28, 1858, a large ship dubbed The Wanderer quietly slipped into a coastal inlet at Jekyll Island, Georgia, and unloaded its human cargo of
some 400 slaves onto the beaches of this beautiful six-mile long barrier island in the southern most corner of Georgia.
¶ Richard Kirkland Memorial — Maryre’s Heights, Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania National Military Park, Fredericksburg, Virginia
One of the most iconic Civil War monuments is dubbed “The Angel of Maryre’s Heights” which memorializes Confederate Sgt Richard Kirkland heroic
aid given to the wounded Union soldiers pinned down in front of the wall. While the monument does not specifically name a regiment he provided water for, it seems likely it was the 155th Pennsylvania. “Don’t you know that you would get a bullet through your head the moment you stepped over this wall,” General Kershaw told Kirkland. “Yes, but I’ll take the chances,” Kirkland replied. Sgt. Kirkland survived as both sides were in awe of his courage and mercy.
About Author Chris Heisey
For more than a half of century now, I have been studying the Civil War and with some 2,500 books in my library it is not just a casual interest. This war is
fascinating to study; the reverberations of the fraternal conflict that killed more than 700,000 Americans in four years continues to haunt our political battlefield. While the war is tragic in every way, and no study of the conflict between 1861-1865 can escape how horrible this war was to humble Americans who went off to battle from their farms, small towns, and cities to fight in lethal combat with powerful muskets aimed at close quarters into tightly packed lines of troops. Cannon fire too was accurate from more than a mile distant, knocking scores out indiscriminately. Yet, what killed more soldiers than
any lead missile was the abundance of communicable diseases, whether bacterial or viral, which spread disease through the ranks North and South with no
discrimination of class, race or age. For many years, I was not sure why the Civil War bug afflicted me with a continuing sense of awe and wonder.
Despite the inescapable horrors of this war, studying every aspect of the Civil War brings me scholarly delight.
There are times that bring guilt and shame because of the tremendous suffering endured on both sides. Blessed I am to live within miles of the world’s most famous battlefield of Gettysburg in southern Pennsylvania. My favorite battlefield is Maryland’s Antietam, again, located
an hour from my home. Never am I far from a journey back to the 1860s.
The Civil War connects us, divides us, challenges us to find common ground. Our common ground is battlefields — gifts to us where our ancestors fought bravely — and my wish is that this calendar beckons you to seek a battlefield and ponder the mysteries of our shared heritage whether
blue or gray.
“Man is the only picture making animal in the world,”
abolitionist Frederick Douglass wrote in 1864, adding.
“He alone of all inhabitants of earth has the capacity and
passion for pictures.” May these pictures speak to you about
our past, our present and our future.
