Battlefields & Military

All Revolutionary War Battles, Zero Carbon

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Read the chronology of the Revolutionary War below, and click on the links to read my visits to each battlefield park by Electric Vehicle. Our country’s independence was the result of many hard fought battles, bravery, determination, moments of military genius, critical help from our allies and luck. Visiting the sites helps bring to life the story we should all know.

On the 19th of April 1775 at the Old North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts, the embattled farmers resisted British efforts to take their stockpile of weapons and fired ‘the shot heard round the world’ against the world’s dominant military power.

After the British retreated from Concord to Boston, the rebellious colonists tried to trap the British in Boston. The monument on Bunker Hill commemorates the siege in June 1775, but the Americans were unable to defeat the British that year.

The first significant Patriot victory happened in Moores Creek North Carolina in February 1776 at a bridge much like Concord’s, where Scottish Highlanders charged with broadswords and were cut down by muskets behind low earthworks.

That same winter, Henry Knox brought captured cannon from Fort Ticonderoga in New York on sleds to Boston, surrounding the British. They withdrew to Canada in March 1776, but that summer the British took New York City. Washington crossed the Lower Delaware River in December 1776, defeating the British at Trenton and Princeton, but he was unable to dislodge the British fleet or army from New York.

In 1777, the British tried to join their Quebec & New York forces and to take the de facto capital of the colonies, Philadelphia. At Forts Stanwix and Saratoga (see photo) in New York the Patriots defeated the British in August and September 1777, convincing the French to help us. But the British landed troops in Maryland and took Philadelphia from the south.

Washington trained and wintered with his army in Valley Forge in 1778 and 1779 and in Morristown 1779 and 1780. The most notable victory in that time was when George Rogers Clark took Fort Sackville Indiana in February 1779, winning control of the lands bordering the Great Lakes.

But in 1780 the British took Charleston South Carolina and attempted to take control of the southern colonies. In October, the Patriots won at Kings Mountain South Carolina. In January 1781, the Patriots executed a rare maneuver to win at Cowpens South Carolina, but Cornwallis eked out a costly victory at Guilford Courthouse North Carolina in March. Then in June the Patriots failed to take the British fort at Ninety-Six South Carolina.

The war may have continued for a couple more years, but our French allies helped us win the critical victory that fall. Washington and Rochambeau secretly marched their combined armies down the coast to Yorktown Virginia, while the French fleet blocked the entire entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. Cornwallis surrendered on the 19th of October 1781.

Petersburg National Battlefield

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“You see, in this world there’s two kinds of people, my friend:
Those with loaded guns, and those who dig.
You dig.”

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Grant recognized that although he might not be able to take Richmond with frontal assaults, he could cut it off by taking the rail junction city of Petersburg on the Appomattox River to the south. Lee had more forces in North Carolina, so Grant needed to keep them separated. Grant poured troops, mortars and supplies into the area to besiege both cities. And most importantly, Grant ordered his men to dig: new defenses and longer trenches, to close the gap with the enemy. Over the winter, the captured Fort Harrison near Richmond was reinforced, clearly in sight of Confederate defenses, and it became part of a line of forts beginning to surround Richmond.

The photo above shows examples of siege fortifications—including the cannon aimed right at you—near Battery 9, captured by African American troops. Lee desperately counterattacked inflicting the worst single regimental loss of the war, on the First Maine Heavy Artillery, but at the next fort, the Union held. By now, Grant had far more troops here than Lee and was proceeding to cut off both cities and attack them simultaneously. To avoid being surrounded and running out of moves, Lee withdrew from both cities and fled west. Richmond had fallen. Grant pursued to block Lee before he could move south. Now the race is on, and Union cavalry victories at the Five Forks Battlefield to the west mark the beginning of the end. No longer behind defensive walls, Lee heads west across country towards a town called Appomattox.

Richmond National Battlefield Park

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Like the Union capital, the Confederate capital was surrounded by a series of forts and fortified trenches, with one complete ring around the city and another outer line of defenses about 2/3 of the way around Richmond. The Confederate earthworks above are massive, up to 15 feet added to the tops of hills, running for miles with deep trenches. In many previous battles, the federal troops staged bloody frontal assaults on similar high-ground, well-defended positions, often losing thousands of men. Going back to the age of castles in Europe, this has proven to be a waste of human lives with little prospect for success. In the Revolutionary War, Lafayette knew that siege warfare against cannon required carefully building successive trenches at night to approach under cover. General Washington listened to him and took Yorktown using that technique.

In 1862, General McClellan tried to take Richmond, leading troops up the York River. Despite fighting at the exact same defenses around Yorktown 75 years after Washington, McClellan still relied primarily on mass frontal assaults without trench cover, revealing a dumbfounding lack of literacy. Robert E. Lee replaced the Confederate commander and executed seven days of battles that forced the Union to retreat from Virginia.

In 1864, after Spotsylvania, Grant tried again at Cold Harbor, again wasting most of 6,000 troops in an hour. Lee was prepared to defend Richmond again from another expected northeast attack, but here at Fort Harrison, Grant managed to swing his troops around to attack from the southeast in a surprise attack on 29 September 1864. General Burnham was killed, but the fort was taken. African American regiments were critical in these Union battles.

This victory gave the Union a chance to control the James River which runs through Richmond, exposing southern rail lines to Union forces, and it forced Lee to redeploy his defensive troops. If Grant could just gain one more victory at Petersburg, he could lay siege to Richmond, which was Lee’s great fear. Richmond was critical to the Confederate war effort.

Even today, Richmond is the hub of Virginia’s road and rail network. The Tredegar Iron Works—now gone—was a massive operation supplying artillery, ammunition, and armor plating for ironclad ships. The large plateau in the city housed its Chimborazo Hospital—now the site of a large park and a small medical museum—and was full of troops in various stages of recovery or not. Disease likely killed more soldiers than battle, as troops who had never been far from home suddenly congregated in close quarters. If Richmond was cut off from the south, then their ships couldn’t sail downriver, and the only safe access would be from the east without rivers, good roads or rail.

The war, blockades, lost slave labor and plantation burnings devastated the Confederate economy, and their currency was nearly worthless. If Richmond became surrounded, the Confederacy might collapse entirely. With one more victory, the war might end.

Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park

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While this is the longest park name, they could have gone with “Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, The Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House Battlefields Memorial National Military Park”. This is the largest military park covering 70 miles and three years of battles. Outside historic Fredericksburg, there are few buildings to see, including the Old Salem Church (another battle site), Ellwood (where Jackson’s left arm is buried) and the Stonewall Jackson Shrine. There are miles of fields, forests, trenches, historic trails, foundations, key military positions, markers, and memorials, with well over 40 tour stops, and there were visitors at every battlefield even until dusk.

Fredericksburg is roughly halfway between DC and Richmond, the Confederate Capital, which explains the numerous, bloody battles fought in the area. Spotsylvania is the name of the county. Fredericksburg was a Union disaster, under General Burnside, who ordered repeated attacks up the steep hills held by entrenched Confederates, but unlike Antietam all attacks failed and ended in retreat. At Chancellorsville—a one house village— the next year, General Hooker had executed an end run around Lee’s forces in the hills above Fredericksburg, but Stonewall Jackson executed an end run around Hooker’s forces. Jackson was killed, but the Union retreated in another defeat. Lee, confident after many victories, went north to Gettysburg. Another year later, General Grant returned to the Wilderness and Court House of Spotsylvania, finally making progress towards Richmond.

Chatham House, the Union HQ where both Clara Barton and Walt Whitman worked in the hospital, has a commanding view of Fredericksburg above, where Union artillery supported the failed assault. Washington, Jefferson and Madison were among the visitors to the wealthy plantation home that predates the country. Lincoln met with some of his generals here during the war. In the 1920’s the owners built a magnificent formal garden, which makes a nice break from the gruesome battlefields. Fredericksburg also has a historic walking tour, with some buildings that predate the Revolution, monuments to founding fathers and a slave auction block.

There is a common factual error in too many park films on the Civil War: that slavery only became an issue when Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. This conceit defies all plain fact. Lincoln was anti-slavery from childhood and argued against it his entire life, including all his campaigns and in every office he held. The primary political division in the country pre Civil War was about slavery. Most northern states were not only anti-slavery but had worked on ending slavery since the Revolution. The Abolitionist movement began in Europe in the 1770s and was active openly in the north and in secret in the south before the Civil War. Every southern state that seceded, cited preservation of slavery as the reason. Lincoln’s hesitancy in making it official policy at the outset was due to the few northern border states that were still in the gradual process of ending slavery. Lincoln might have accepted a negotiated settlement early in the war, but the Confederates rejected it, being willing to fight to the death to keep their fellow humans in eternal bondage.

General Lee is quoted at the visitor center in Fredericksburg as expressing his sympathy for the white refugees fleeing south, but he apparently had zero regard for the far greater number of black refugees fleeing north. The Fredericksburg park film expresses much anguish for the destruction of pianos and other household goods, but only briefly mentions that 1/4 of the town were slaves when the Union troops arrived to liberate them. Tens of thousands of slaves fled Virginia through here during the war, crossing the Rappahannock River in Fredericksburg and getting passes to travel to refugee camps at Fort Monroe and near DC, seeking the safety of the Union. The lost property that the Confederate newspapers bewailed was largely human property.

Those who hold these Confederate generals in high esteem need to ask themselves why their heroes cared so much about the white residents and not at all about the black residents? It’s possible to admire Von Manstein for his strategies and Rommel for his tactics, but it’s not possible to ignore the 6 million Jews their government killed in the Holocaust. The Civil War ended 158 years ago. Moral judgements must be made about the cause of the war and the motives of the participants. The Confederate cause was evil, and we must not make heroes of those who served the cause of slavery. Stonewall Jackson was not a saint, so he does not deserve a shrine on national park land.

Gettysburg National Military Park

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This grand Pennsylvania monument is appropriate for this critical turning point in the Civil War in July of 1863. Lee’s northernmost advance on Washington ended, his retreat to Virginia began, and with Vicksburg ending a day later, Lincoln finally had the victory he needed to prove the Union capable of winning the war. The battlefield runs right through town, with bullet-hole houses, up onto Cemetery Hill, where the Union lines held off Lee’s massive frontal assault—a reversal of the usual Union v Confederate roles. The land has been carefully preserved to evoke the day, and the park app’s auto tour tells the many stories of bravery, such as Hancock’s numerous maneuvers in the nick of time. Visiting the cemetery brings Lincoln’s address to life. This is another powerful park to remember this Memorial Day weekend.

Gettysburg has the finest museum at any of the military and battlefield parks. Particularly the park film, short films, quotations, exhibits, bookstore, and, well, everything. It’s worth paying the extra fee to the park partner that runs it. Through first rate research, they get the balance correct between views at the time and the facts. It takes longer to see than most park museums, but for once I felt I understood not just the battle, but the context and meaning behind the struggle. There’s also a phenomenal period panoramic painting of the battle, which is a historic work of art itself. And if you are able to hire a park guide to take you around the battlefield in your own car, that’s the best way to get your questions answered and make sense of the three day battle over much of the same ground. My brother and I were extremely fortunate to secure the expert assistance of our former teacher, who has many years of experience working here and to whom we are very grateful.

Many Civil War sites bend over backwards to present ethically indefensible archaic views as valid, as if they are obliged to reprint Confederate propaganda without context. But that would be like presenting ‘witchcraft’ as valid, because it was believed in colonial Salem. Not only does Gettysburg get it right, but they also clearly blame the north for their role in whitewashing history. Segregationist President Woodrow Wilson supported Jim Crow restrictions to get African Americans back to work for low wages and to win white votes. Most of the Confederate monuments I find objectionable are only 100 years old and come from this era of white northern and southern ‘reconciliation’. We still need to fix this historic problem of treating both sides as having fought for valid causes.

Antietam National Battlefield

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A few quibbles with the park film, Gen. Lee was not “the most handsome man ever to wear a uniform”, the US Army should not be described—at least in this country—as “the enemy”, and Antietam was not a ‘draw’. Like at the bridge above, the Confederate Army held the high ground, the Union Army attacked, and at the end of the day, the Union occupied the field, north, south and center. Since a truce was declared after 12 hours of fighting to clear the field of 23,000 casualties, technically it may have been a “redeployment” back to Virginia, but the war turned on these fields and hills in Maryland. And Lee retreated.

This one battle was bloodier than all of America’s previous wars, and, especially due to photos of the aftermath, it forever changed our perception of war. Clara Barton followed the sound of battle and arrived to provide medical aid, years before she founded the Red Cross. Any hope of a negotiated settlement was gone, and Lincoln drafted the Emancipation Proclamation within a few days.

Manassas National Battlefield Park

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Both the first and second battles here (aka Bull Run) were severe losses for the Union ending in retreats to DC. In the first, Stonewall Jackson above got his nickname, and in the second, Robert E. Lee took command. 900 dead first, and 3,300 dead second.

The ranger is giving a tour of Henry Hill, explaining how Jackson’s forces were expertly positioned and how the Union artillery were stupidly placed in front of them, in range, without infantry support, ahead of their line, without scouting the area. A counter-attack was readied, countermanded and overrun, revealing the lack of infantry. Jackson’s troops attacked with ‘a rebel yell’, and the Union retreated in panic. Which also sums up the rest of the battle.

There’s a driving tour for the second battle, where again the Union forces were incompetently led into rash attacks, poorly executed. In contrast, Lee’s army executed maneuvers, defended and counter-attacked well, with good timing, and Jackson even captured supplies behind lines. Again on this hill, faced with defeat, the Union forces defended before retreating at night.

From a military perspective, the Confederate generals here fought admirably. The hero worship can be excessive (Ranger: ‘neither Jackson nor his horse took steroids’) and misplaced (we have no monuments to Yamashita, Tojo or Rommel). The Confederate victories prolonged the war—in defense of slavery—and increased the cost in American lives.

River Raisin National Battlefield Park

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The battlefields outside were long forgotten, covered by a paper mill and other modern uses, but this is a story that Americans must never forget. So the community came together to make sure we “Remember the Raisin”, correctly, completely and for our kids. The park opened in 2011, repurposing an underused ice rink, and built this longhouse and other exhibits and made the park film with the support and participation of local Native American tribes. My guide passionately explained how learning the history of his own backyard literally changed his life.

The War of 1812 was a mistake, which led to the burning of the White House and the Capitol. The US could have remained neutral as the French & British continued fighting, but instead we declared war on England without adequate preparations. The cause in the history I read was about trade relations and kidnapped sailors, but the real cause was Native American relations. The war was opposed by the ocean trading states in the northeast. Americans wanted to move west, despite the land being occupied by Natives, with treaty protections in many cases. Declaring war was popular among the western border states.

Indiana Governor Harrison destroyed a sacred Native American settlement called Prophetstown at Tippecanoe in 1811. The Americans committed atrocities there, including digging up corpses and scattering the remains. That caused the almost 20 tribes to ally with the British. When the war broke out just as the British were ready to be more conciliatory, the Americans took a French settlement on the River Raisin south of Detroit. Native Americans, with some support from British-Canadian troops, retook the village and killed a number of wounded Americans, in retaliation for Prophetstown.

Americans turned their large military losses into a recruiting tool with a big campaign to ‘Remember the Raisin’—which was followed by similar campaigns for the Alamo, the Maine, the Lusitania, Pearl Harbor and 9/11. When the new recruits arrived, the troops advanced and killed the Native leader Tecumseh. The British fled back to Canada. But for Native Americans, this was the beginning of a national military campaign to force them to Oklahoma and other reservations. Harrison was elected President after Jackson on an equally racist platform.

So it’s appropriate to start with the longhouse, the dugout canoes, maple syrup, corn meal and other Native exhibits, because this site is ground zero for US choosing policies of reneging on treaties, ignoring rights, forcing removal and waging asymmetrical war against the original inhabitants of our country.

Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park

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[Note: Starting today, I’m switching to Monday, Wednesday & Friday posts to keep more up to date.]

The strange elk in the background are actually Nilgai, an Asian Antelope that escaped from a ranching project and now live in the park. In a way, it’s appropriate to start with an invasive species, since this park marks the start of the Mexican American War. In the 1840’s President Polk campaigned on expanding the country westward and as President sent troops to the Rio Grande, even though Mexico viewed it as their territory. Mexico, having only recently won its independence in 1821, was having trouble managing its northernmost territories, and lost control of much of Texas during a revolt by American settlers in the 1830’s. When Mexico’s army crossed the Rio Grande to expel the interlopers, Polk claimed that America was under attack and the war was on.

Mexico laid siege to a small fort on the north bank of the Rio Grande, and US troops were rushed in from up the coast to reinforce it. The two forces met in the middle here in a dry part of the delta. The US had better artillery, and the Mexicans had more men. The US troops were under command of Zachary Taylor, who later turned his war fame into a successful run for President, and many veterans of this battle would go on to serve in the Civil War. Lt. US Grant, who opposed war with Mexico personally, engaged in his first battle here. Between heavier guns firing more deadly shells, light guns quickly turned to face flanking attacks, and well trained US troops who engaged in hand to hand combat between here and the fort, the Mexican Army was forced to retreat. Around 100 Mexican troops and 10 US troops died in battle here.

Today the field is marked with flags and cannon to show the positions of the two sides and ‘interpretive exhibits’—small signs—to explain what happened in different places where the troops faced off. Closer to Brownsville, there’s a much smaller battlefield, the Resaca de la Palma, where the Mexican Army bravely made a stand to protect their retreat. There is a viewing platform of the resaca, meaning ‘often dry river delta channel’ (and not ‘hangover’, as the word means today). The siege of the fort was lifted, but the fort’s leader Major Brown and one other US soldier were killed in action. The fort and eventual city, Brownsville, were later named for the young officer.

Although the site only covers the first week of the war that took place in what’s now the US, the war raged on for two more years with US troops taking cities deep into Mexico, until Mexico agreed to cede Texas and sell its rights west all the way to the Pacific. Mexico lost 1/2 its territory and the US doubled in size. As interesting and consequential as the history is, the site is a well-marked field with a path for each army, so it requires some imagination and curiosity to appreciate. The small visitor center is educational, bilingual, has an informative film, and has enthusiastic and knowledgeable rangers and volunteers. But by all means go out on the battlefield, if only to see the wildlife. I saw over a dozen Nilgai, several hawks hunting in the tall grasses, a crested caracara, and more. This is a well-known area for birders.

Fort Necessity National Battlefield

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“In 1753 a young George Washington crossed the Allegheny Mountains on missions he hoped would lead to a career as a British Officer and land holdings that would make him wealthy. He was unsuccessful in both goals and his actions sparked a war that spread across the globe.”

— National Park Service

We really need a better name than the “French & Indian War”. It sounds like some colonial conflict in South Asia. Indians Native Americans were only reluctantly drawn into fighting on both sides. I suggest the “Colonial Rivers War”, because that explains who, why and where. British and French colonial forces fought over control of rivers, portages and passes linking the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Gulf of Mexico and the Mid-Atlantic Eastern Seaboard.

At the beginning, the French & British were building roads, riverside forts and sending small armed groups into the passes to scout. Washington was in charge of a British force, found a French force, and someone fired a shot precipitating a slaughter that killed the French leader named Jumonville. Jumonville’s brother, Captain Villiers, then led a much larger force seeking revenge.

So Washington’s necessity was to defend his camp, which had been chosen in a pleasant, open meadow, good for grazing animals. As you can see in the photo, the fort was built under a hill, so Washington lost quickly and badly. (Fortunately, he improved tactics later). The French accepted his surrender, but the war over the colonial rivers continued for years, as part of a broader Seven Years’ War between the French and British globally.