Resaca Update

Last weekend was the annual reenactment of the Battle of Resaca and afterwork on Saturday made my way over to visit with some friends that were in attendence and happened to stumble upon a sign that announced that phase I of construction of the Battlefield Park would start next year. So here is a link to the Friends of Resaca Battlefield's website with a picture of the sign. Check it out and let me know what you think of the proposed site.

http://www.resacabattlefield.org/FoRstart.html

A matter of Black and White

I have been impressed with a number of articles, blogs, and video lectures that have been making their way onto the internet as of late, and the New York Times' Disunion blog is one of them, the following link will take you to a recent posting about Army of Tennessee brigade commander Randall Gibson, http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/black-or-white/?emc=eta1 . I have seen references to Gibson's heritage before but found this very enlightening and also alerted me to the posting's author's recent book that uses the Gibsons as one of three families he studies, so Im going to have a look. One thing that has definately piqued my interest in this beyond the obvious was the noted feud between Gibson and Bragg, and I wonder if hushed rumors about this might have been involved there. Anyway dear readers, enjoy.

2nd Annual The Face of Battle Symposium

The Face of Battle: The Struggle Begins

In commemoration of the pivotal events that occurred 150 years ago during the volatile year of 1861, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park in conjunction with The Friends of the Park will present the second annual The Face of Battle symposium, focusing on the events of 1861 and how they affected the Chattanooga area as the country went to war. The symposium will be presented at the Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga, TN on Saturday, May 7th, 2011. This program will be free and open to the public, but reservations are required.
Schedule and Speakers:

9:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Welcome and Introductions

10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Rebels With A Cause: East Tennessee’s Confederate Population
Dr. John Fowler, Director of the Bandy Heritage Center and Professor of History,
Dalton State College

11:00 a.m. – 12:00p.m. The First Year of the War in Georgia, 1860-1861
Dr. Keith Bohannon, Associate Professor of History, University of West Georgia

12:00 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. Lunch

1:15 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. Loyal Cavaliers: Tennessee’s Unionist Cavalrymen
Myers Brown, Tennessee State Museum

2:15 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. The Confederate Flags of 1861: From Secession to War
Greg Biggs, Author

3:15 p.m. End of Symposium


To make reservations, please contact Chickamauga and Chattanooga NMP the Chickamauga Visitor Center at 706-866-9241.

150 Years Ago

Wow, where does the time go? Well, the past few months have been incredibly busy, finishing and starting several projects and going on a ten day detail for the 150th Anniversary of Fort Sumter. Still have some good plans for the blog if I ever have the time to impliment them. So the purpose of this post is a brief note about the beginning of the 150ths. I really enjoyed my time in Charleston, although I can assure you that I havent worked that hard since I was "working" for my Dad in a hayfield. The 150th from my perspective wasnt really what I expected, although busy it wasnt overwhelming and the reenacted bombardment was kind of cool, but not as big as I expected it to be. Of course the threatened Govt shutdown did have an impact on some of this, but still it leaves me wondering what the impact of the 150s is going to be.

Resaca Preservation Effort

Time for a post and update, its been hard to pay much attention to the blog lately due to a number of factors, most notably working on my next book. However, after a brief visit and drive around the Resaca area on Monday, I thought it would be timely to note the recent effort by the Civil War Trust to try to preserve more land at the site. Resaca is a true Gem of a site and will hopefully be open to visitation in the not too distant future.
The little village of Resaca was the site of two engagements during the Civil War, the most notable being the slugfest that occured on May 14-15, 1864 between Sherman and Johnston. The second was part of Hood's march north following the fall of Atlanta. Portions of both engagements are being preserved at this time by efforts from the Civil War Trust, The Friends of Resaca Battlefield, along with the state of Georgia. Here is the most recent annoucement by the Civil War Trust to work on obtaining the land where some of the heaviest fighting in the battle occured, http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/resaca/resaca-2011/a-message-from-jim-lighthizer.html. Also, for those who are interested, http://www.resacabattlefield.org/ (Note the Confederate Sharpshooter on the lower left is yours truely circa 1991.)