CivilWar

Ulysses S Grant National Historic Site

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Grant was a quiet, thoughtful man who was sometimes taken advantage of by others, developed strong moral convictions and enjoyed travel. He was also the leader who saved the Union in battle and in his Presidency.

While he served in the war with Mexico, he correctly deduced that it was “a wicked war” waged to expand slavery by taking territory from a neighbor in the midst of internal conflicts. After leaving the military to be with wife and kids, he somehow wound up owning a slave, most likely received from his father-in-law, and Grant freed him. His father-in-law kept his other slaves, until they escaped during the Civil War. Unlike some Union generals, Grant advanced African American units as key to victory.

I have now visited a number of his battlefields, but here at his (and his in-laws’) home his views are made clear. Grant clearly attributed the cause of the Civil War to slavery, and as President he fought hard for African American rights, establishing the precedent of sending in troops to protect African Americans being terrorized by racists including the KKK. Grant was often underestimated, even by historians, but in life he counter-attacked aggressively, and in history his core views have proven to be right.

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park

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Before I rant again, let me just acknowledge that there’s a dramatically beautiful view on Lookout Mountain. Chattanooga below is in a strategic location at the bend of the river below. Long before the Civil War battles, the last overland battle of the Revolution was fought here. There’s even a steep funicular line to enjoy the view.

Militarily, controlling the high ground has always been the key. Grant used it to capture Chattanooga, and the confederates used it to try to recapture the city, unsuccessfully. Chickamauga nearby in Georgia is much flatter and covered with monuments to both sides. Which brings me to my brief rant. If even a fraction of the money and effort spent on monuments for both sides were used to explain the cause of the war, slavery, then maybe we wouldn’t have some politicians today still trying to claim that there are “very fine people on both sides” of racial prejudice. No. Racism was wrong both then and now, and the longer that we evade the obvious moral judgements here, the harder it will be to remove the poison.

Andersonville National Historic Site

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Roughly the same number of Union soldiers died in this prisoner of war camp as died in battle at Shiloh: over 13,000. The conditions were horrifying. Disease, vermin, starvation, dehydration, exposure and brutality killed hundreds by the day. Only a small portion of the stockade has been reconstructed, including the north entry gate pictured above, through which about one in three did not come out alive. There is an illustration drawn from the memory of Thomas O’Dea that is absolutely haunting in both its scale and detail. The Union refused a prisoner swap out of concern the confederates would return to battle. One 19 year old prisoner had the job of numbering the dead, and he secretly kept a list of names, regiments and causes of death. Eventually he brought it to the attention of the “angel of the battlefield”, nurse Clara Barton who had petitioned Lincoln to track down missing soldiers. They toured the site and marked over 12,000 graves. Barton went on to found the American Red Cross, and the US ratified the Geneva Conventions the next year. The man in charge of the camp was hung for war crimes. Flags were flying over the National Cemetery before Memorial Day, and burials are still occurring frequently. The visitor center also serves as a memorial and museum to all prisoners of war.

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park

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Union forces fought for weeks to break the long line of confederate fortifications northwest of Atlanta, but were unable to climb the steep hills under heavy fire. There was one “dead angle” or blindspot at Cheatham near the photo where soldiers climbed all the way up the hill and over the earthen walls only to be repelled in hand to hand combat.

5,300 soldiers died in a few weeks of fighting here in the summer of 1864, before the war moved to Atlanta.

Camp Nelson National Monument

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While obviously fortified, the camp is best remembered as a refugee and training site for escaped and liberated slaves to join the Union. A heartless commander here burned shelters before winter to try to dissuade refugees from staying, leading to over 100 deaths from exposure, national outrage and new legislation to build more permanent refugee shelters at many Union bases, including food, clothing & education. There’s a community nearby that persists since that time. Many of the US Colored Troops that served, especially in the second half of the war, were trained here.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 and paying 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 side deserves to be remembered honorably.

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.