Battlefields & Military

Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

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The Revolutionary War may have started in Concord Massachusetts, but it was won in the Carolinas and Virginia, at places like this. Rhode Island Quaker Nathaniel Greene was given the southern command by General Washington, and he fought a critical battle here with Cornwallis, with Washington’s cousin William leading the dragoons (cavalry). Technically, the British won the battle, but Greene inflicted more than 1/4 casualties upon them while keeping his own force ready to fight again. The British recognized it as a Pyrrhic victory, and Cornwallis had to regroup. The two sides would clash repeatedly before Yorktown.

Here are my visits to all parks in North Carolina and all Revolutionary War parks.

Mill Springs Battlefield National Monument

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The photo is from the eponymous national cemetery next door to the visitor center.

Lincoln said ”I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky.” Kentucky was neutral early, perhaps since they enjoyed betting on horses, especially when they could tell who was going to win. In 1861, it wasn’t clear, at least until this battle.

The confederate troops had entered Kentucky from the East through the Cumberland Gap and soon fortified near the river. Unfortunately, Zollicoffer split his troops on both banks and a rising river made redeployment difficult. Worse, when fighting started, he approached some troops to stop “friendly fire”, not realizing that they were the enemy. With their general dead, the confederates became disorganized and lost. This led to a string of Union victories leading south.

Here are my visits to all parks in Kentucky and all Civil War parks.

Stones River National Battlefield

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This was one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. Lincoln wanted a victory and ordered General Rosencrans to advance up the Nashville Pike. The confederates struck hard, the union army dug in, set up artillery and won the day. The photo shows part of the remains of Fort Rosencrans built to defend the supply route for the rest of the war.

African American labor typically built these massive earthen fortifications, and despite the Union victory, their new rights were often denied.

Here are my visits to all parks in Tennessee and all Civil War parks.

Fort Donelson National Battlefield

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As today, logistics and rivers are critical in war. The fort is in what’s now ”the land between the lakes” where the bends and confluence of rivers gave the Union multiple openings to attack. This confederate battery stopped the Union ironclads, but Grant’s army came around from another side, surrounded the fort by land, and forced its unconditional surrender, earning Grant a nickname, a promotion and a key juncture for his supply-chain based campaign.

Here are my visits to all parks in Tennessee and to all Civil War parks.

Shiloh National Military Park

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Shiloh is a beautiful park, with lovely memorials like the Iowa one above. The self-guided car tour is comprehensive yet easy to follow, since the battle only lasted two days. The site includes Native American mounds, the National Cemetery, well organized placards and a reproduction of the log church for which the battle was named. Shiloh is my favorite battlefield & military site.

The Union graves often are adorned with pennies, in honor of Lincoln, and many confederate graves have flowers. Unfortunately, many soldiers were buried unmarked in trenches, and many confederates were not re-interred. It was a mistake to leave the confederates in mass graves and not make more effort to identify them. There must have been prisoners who could have helped identify the dead, at least by unit. After the war, veterans from both sides petitioned for proper burials and a fitting memorial.

There’s a difference between respecting war dead and agreeing on the honor of the cause. No soldier wants to be forgotten, especially after serving bravely or knowing they might pay the ultimate cost. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is reproduced at the cemetery, and he was correct in saying that the ground has been consecrated by the blood of the dead. But that does not mean that the causes were equal. One side fought to end slavery, and the other side fought to keep it. Both sides deserve respectful burials, but only one cause deserves to be remembered honorably.

Here are my visits to all parks in Tennessee and to all Civil War parks.

Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site

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North of Tupelo, there’s another memorial to another Civil War battle where the goal was to protect railroads and also included US Colored Troops. While the Union was forced to retreat, the confederates were drawn away from the Union’s other advance. There’s a self-guided car tour through the fields where the battle was fought. And here’s another photo.

Here are my visits to all parks in Mississippi and all Civil War parks.

Tupelo National Battlefield

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While obviously, Tupelo is most famous for being the birthplace of Elvis, where his family home now has a museum next to it, a late Civil War battle was fought here too. The Union troops defended the railway, but you have to use your imagination to follow the battle. There’s a small memorial on an acre in town. Here’s a photo.

Here are my visits to all parks in Mississippi and all Civil War parks.

Vicksburg National Military Park

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The fighting here lasted the last six months of the Civil War, and the steep hilly terrain is now covered with placards, cannon, graves, memorials, and statues. The road out to my home state’s memorial was under construction, so I turned around near the statue above.

I was momentarily confused, since the plaque says “1st and 3rd Mississippi Infantry Regiments, African American Descent”. I knew that the confederates had no African American soldiers, at least not at this point of the war, when the Union offered full freedom to enslaved people who joined. Then I realized that these were escaped slaves from Mississippi who formed regiments in liberated Louisiana and returned as soldiers to fight slavery. Their units represented a future, free Mississippi, not the old, slavery Mississippi. Later I read about the statue and learned that the man on the right is looking back at slavery, while the man on the left is looking forward to freedom.

Here are my visits to all parks in Mississippi and all Civil War parks.

Pea Ridge National Military Park

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This view is from the East Overlook facing the Union Headquarters and the Federal Line of artillery. The battle here in northwest Arkansas took place about seven months after Wilson’s Creek in southwest Missouri. The Union army had regrouped and pushed the confederates out of Missouri, and they won here too, killing two generals and keeping Missouri from being retaken.

A unique part of the battle here is that two regiments of Cherokee (about 1,000 men) fighting for the confederacy routed a couple hundred Union cavalry before being forced back by cannon fire. If you wonder why the Cherokee fought the Union, you only have to go to the Elkhorn Tavern down the hill where over 11,000 Cherokee were marched off by US government soldiers about 20 years earlier on the Trail of Tears.

Here are my visits to all parks in Arkansas and all Civil War parks.

Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield

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Here’s the creek. It’s quite pretty, and there used to be a mill here. I saw a bald eagle nearby.

Alright. An important Civil War battle was fought here. To appreciate the story, you need to understand that Missouri was an important strategic state, with a neutral populace and a pro-slavery governor, which President Lincoln very much wanted on the Union side. Lincoln asked Missouri for troops, and the governor refused and plotted to seize the arsenal in St. Louis to help the confederates.

The arsenal’s Captain, Nathaniel Lyon, however, had already secretly moved the weapons to Illinois. After being promoted, Lyon took the state capital and forced the governor to retreat to southwest Missouri, where Wilson’s Creek is. In the summer of 1861, General Lyon marched his forces here, attempting a surprise attack. But the confederates had assembled a larger force. On August 10th, here on Bloody Hill, the forces engaged brutally for five hours. Lyon fought aggressively, was wounded twice in action and was killed leading a countercharge that morning, becoming the first Union general killed. The Union army retreated, but Missouri remained in Union control, despite many guerrilla battles to retake it.

Here are my visits to all parks in Missouri and to all Civil War parks.