Failure in the Saddle Review

A new book that I would consider to be MUST reading for any Army of Tennessee aficionado is Dave Powell's newest, Failure in the Saddle: Nathan Bedford Forrest, Joseph Wheeler, and the Confederate Cavalry in the Chickamauga Campaign. I have chided Dave for several years that with this book he would never be able to come south again, due to daring to offer a critique of N.B. Forrest in this campaign, but after reading the complete book I have to say that any open minded student of Forrest and the western cavalry will learn a lot from this book and even if you don't agree with the analysis offered by Dave, I still think it gives you a lot to think about. With that though I do agree with the author on these subjects.
Forrest does not perform that well in this campaign, not all of this is his fault however, having to deal with several less than stellar subordinates, General John Pegram and Col. John S. Scott, as well as having to command a Corps for the first time. One thing that is often lost on Forrest is his rapid rise to commanding a corps, going from commanding a brigade in April to corps by September, with several intervals due to other factors. Forrest has a learning curve and its one that he benefits from, the Forrest of 1864 had to be made and the Chickamauga campaign was part of that. Dave is fair with Forrest and so although he fails at things, he does ultimately learn from his mistakes.
Forrest, however, is only part of this story. The other half belongs to "Fighting Joe" Wheeler, who really comes out of this looking bad. Wheeler never learned, and was a problem for the mounted arm of the Army of Tennessee. Wheeler should be held up with Leonidas Polk as one of the most incompetent high level leaders in the Confederate service.
I have often said that if the cavalry is the eyes and ears of an army, then the Army of Tennessee was blind and deaf during this campaign and Dave's book definitely cements that view. I high recommend it to anyone interested in the Chickamauga Campaign or the Army of Tennessee in general.

Chickamauga Anniversary Sept 17-19, 2010

This weekend is the anniversary of the Battle of Chickamauga and as always the NPS is offering a full slate of special tours and other programs, including some 150th programs being provided by our own Chris Young. Anyway, if you want to tramp on the battlefield in conditions very similar to what they were 147 years ago here is your chance. Note, that your hosts here are all involved in the programing, you can view the schedule here, www.nps.gov/chch/planyourvisit/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&PageID=295473 I will be doing five special programs this weekend one on Friday covering Col. John Wilder's defence of Alexander's Bridge, a new one "Sins of the Fathers" which will be about Col. Peyton Colquitt and General James Deshler, A.P. Stewart's Breakthrough, will co-lead the "Secession Crisis" tour with Dr. Keith Bohannon, our own Patrick Lewis, and Lindsey Brown, and conclude on Sunday with my Longstreet's Breakthrough tour. Chris will be leading his Forrest tour, a program on the Civilians caught in the conflict, and then overseeing our 1860 Election programs. Going to be a busy week. So anyway, a lot of good programs free to the public and hope to see some of you all there.

The Truth About...

One interesting footnote about the Battle of Chickamauga is the story of the Archibald Gracies, both father and son. General Gracie is an interesting story alone, New Yorker who sides with the Confederacy, in many ways the Anti-Thomas of the battle. Less known is his son, Archibald Gracie IV. Gracie IV was born in Mobile, Ala in 1858 and was only five when his father was killed outside of Richmond in 1864. He would then mirror his fathers life in many ways, attending West Point, being involved in the State militia, rising to the rank of Colonel in the famed 7th New York Militia, and being a sucessful business man.

In the 1890s Gracie would visit the Chickamauga battlefield and see the area of Snodgrass Hill where his father's brigade fought and leave with many questions, questions that he began to research and ultimately lead to him spending seven years writing a book that would be published as The Truth About Chickamauga, more of a study of Snodgrass Hill with some hefty errors in it. Gracie rightfully challenged the placement of certain monuments on Snodgrass Hill, he accomplished this by his own research and heavy correspondents with many of the Union commanders. Gracie intended for the Truth to be a two part study and was working on a Confederate companion when he decided he needed a break.

Seven years of work on Chickamauga had seen the publication of Truth in December of 1911, and Gracie deciding that he need a break before starting on Part II. This leads Gracie to travel to Europe alone, leaving New York in early 1912 aboard the famed liner, The Oceanic. Gracie then booked his return trip to be the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic. Gracie, staying in First Class spent a great deal of his time with Isodor Strauss, the famed co-owner of Macy's Department Store. Strauss had been involved in Confederate blockade running during the war when he lived in Georgia. Gracie gave Strauss a copy of his book and the two discussed it. On April 14th Strauss finished the book. That night the Titanic would strike an ice berg and sink in the early AM hours of April 15th. Copies of the Truth About Chickamauga going down with the ship. Gracie would be one of the survivors of the sinking, his friend Isodor Strauss would not.

Upon returning to New York, Graice would forgoe working on his second part to Chickamauga, instead penning The Truth About the Titanic. Gracie would not live to see it published though, he would die from complications from diabeties in December of 1912. He would be laid to rest near his father in Brooklyn's Woodlawn Cemetery. Today it is interesting that his Truth About Chickamauga is considered to be one of the most flawed books on the battle, yet his Truth About the Titanic is considered to be one of the best primary accounts of the Tragedy.

"The sins of the father shall be visited upon the son..."

The Army of Tennessee would lose four brigade commanders in the Battle of Chickamauga, Brigadier Generals Preston Smith, Ben Helm, and James Deshler, along with Colonel Peyton Colquitt. Today four stacks of cannon balls mark the locations of where they fell. Of the four, Helm, Deshler and Colquitt were all young men, Helm being the eldest at 32, Deshler being 30, and Colquitt being 31, and all three would fall in the blundered attack of Leonidas Polk on the morning of September 20th. Little attention has been given to these three as a group, Helm has always stood out for being President Lincoln's brother in law, but little has been told of Deshler and Colquitt. Of interest is that all three had attended West Point at the same time with Deshler and Colquitt being friends and displaying similar traits.

Deshler and Colquitt also had something else in common, their father's strong Fire Eater personalities that were passed along to them. David Deshler was born in Pennsylvania in 1798 and moved to Alabama in 1825 where he became quite wealthy from his involvement in the establishment and later ownership of the Tuscumbia, Courtland, and Decatur Railroad, the first railroad west of the Appalachians. By the 1850s Deshler had become quite radical in his political leanings, in February of 1861 he wrote to a friend in Philladelphia, "You don't seem to see that the Black Republican programme would be degradation, socially and politically to our section; it would be the destruction of $4,000,000,000-four thousand millions of dollars-of property to us, besides putting us down upon a platform of perfect equality with our own chattels. How can we stand the proposition? Could you agree to it, supposing that we changed places? Not at all-You would die first. Well, so will we..." David Deshler imparted these views to his son, and he would indeed die for that line of thought. David Deshler would mourn his son for the rest of his life, having already lost his wife, daughter and another son prior to the war. Upon his death in 1871, Deshler willed all of his land and money for the establishment of the Deshler Female Institute in Tuscumbia, being named for James.

Walter T. Colquitt was a legal powerhouse in the state of Georgia, making his way to the state Supreme Court. Judge Colquitt was a strong states rights advocate and urged immediate secession in 1850, at the Nashville Convention of that year, which meet to consider what the southern states should do if Congress banned slavery in the new territories. During the discussion Colquitt losing patience for the debate that was going on stood and said that the time for talking was over, action was needed and that instead of words that they should be casting bullets and preparing for war. Colquitt also passed his beliefs onto his sons, particularly Peyton, who after dropping out of West Point would become editor of the Columbus Sentinel and a state senator from 1857-58. After John Brown's Raid Colquitt would offer the services of his militia company to the State of Virginia, all of this would have made his father proud, but Walter Colquitt had died in 1855. His son would also live up to his father's expectations and go to war, and pay the ultimate price at Chickamauga. Indeed the sins of the fathers would be visited upon the sons a thousand times.

Chickamauga Study Group Tour 2010

Dave Powell has posted the schedule for next years Chickamauga Study Group Tour of the Chickamauga Battlefield. These are great tours that get you out on the ground and cover in detail a particular action or personality of the the battle, so if you havent been on one of these and have the opportunity to do so, I highly recommend going on next years.

CCNMP Study Group 2010 tours March 12 and 13, 2010.

Friday Morning: Bragg in Command, part IBy Bus, we will trace Confederate Commander Braxton Bragg’s movements to the field between September 9th and 19th, discussing his command decisions and the information he had at the time. Stops will include Lee and Gordon’s Mills, Rock Springs, Lafayette, Leet’s Tanyard.

Friday Afternoon: Bragg in command, part IIBy Bus and foot. We begin with a hike down to Thedford Ford, discuss Bragg reaching the field on the 19th and subsequent decisions that day, then hike back. From there we will discuss the morning confusion with Polk, the decision to order everyone into action, and later meetings. We will visit Brotherton Field and the 20th HQ site near Winfrey Field.

Saturday Morning: Cleburne AttacksOn foot. While Breckinridge’s Division overwhelmed John Beatty’s Brigade and nearly broke through into Thomas’ Rear, the southern end of Kelly Field was assailed by DH Hill’s other Division, under Pat Cleburne. Cleburne’s men had a difficult fight that morning, and it was not the command’s best performance. We will examine Polk’s attack, Wood’s delay and wandering, and finally, Deshler’s desperate action at noon. We will visit Polk’s tablet on Alexander Bridge Road, move overland to Wood’s approximate departure point, track his brigade’s attack with Stewart into Poe field (visit Alabama Monument) and work our way up the ridge to Deshler’s mortuary monument.

Saturday Afternoon: Final defense of Battle line RoadOn foot, we will examine the defense of Battle line road, and the final retreat from that position on September 20th. We will focus primarily on Baird’s Division and the difficulties they experienced as they tried to disengage, on how well the overall retreat was managed, and on the nature of the final Confederate attack in this sector.

The Maps of Chickamauga

We are alive but busy with many things, including the upcoming West Coast Civil War Roundtable Conference, but I thought I would take the time to point out an incredibly important book is about to come out on the Battle of Chickamauga. This work, the Maps of the Battle of Chickamauga, by Dave Powell and published by Savas Beatie, LLC, http://www.savasbeatie.com/books/Chickamauga_book.htm, is the definative one volume work on the battle at this time and the maps are superb, reflecting the quality of all titles from Savas Beatie.
If you have been intimidated with Chickamauga before I highly recommend this book.

Parks, the Public Sphere, and Preservation

I had a thought during a discussion last week on the contentious issue of mountain top removal coal mining (MTR) when someone mentioned that the Romantic views of sweeping mountain vistas that were the backdrop for an anti-MTR film looked like something out of a National Park Service site video. "Ha," I thought, "true enough." But it also got me thinking about the symbolism of the National Parks, specifically the seal and patch I have emblazoned on a sizable percentage of my clothing: an arrowhead inverted with a buffalo grazing in the foreground in front of a majestic redwood and a mountain rising in the background.

Does the NPS identify itself with things lost or vanishing, Indians, indigenous plant and animal species, and geological formations, all of which have found themselves the target of modernization? Is the NPS to be the curators of America's zoo-of-the-past when we have finally rid ourselves of these beautiful inconveniences? Does the government preservation of space only encourage the exploitation of places not designated sacred, beautiful, or otherwise special?

And here's where I think Jurgen Habermas' idea of the public sphere, a space outside formal politics where citizens can communicatively debate issues concerning the body politic, is so vitally important to a new role for the NPS and for Americans generally. I attended the National Council on Public History conference this weekend where Dr. James Brewer Stewart's keynote address, “Abolishing Slavery in Lincoln’s Time and Ours: The Legacies of American Slavery and the Challenges of Human Trafficking,” envisioned a new -- but at the same time very old -- role for historic sites. Speaking specifically about those that dealt with slavery in the past, Dr. Stewart encouraged sites to use their roots in historical slavery as a platform to launch discussion about modern day human trafficking, to smash the concept that slavery ended in 1865 (a concept that Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the civil rights movement cast into doubt anyway) by showing that ending only American slavery did not end the phenomenon worldwide. He encouraged, too, a dialogue between the public and interpreters about how the issues of the past continue to affect our world today.

As public land, why should a National Park site not be the site of public sphere debate among concerned citizens?It seems to me that NPS sites have always been tied to public debate. To whit: Chickamauga or any other Civil War battlefield was the site of a debate over the meanings of citizenship, freedom, equality, race, class, gender, and a host of other issues when the armies met there in 1863. Perhaps 34,000 casualties was not Habermas' ideal of communicative action, but it nevertheless is an extreme example of debate over vital issues outside of formal politics. Later, in the 1890s and onward, the battlefield became a site of commemoration and (white) North-South reconciliation. Themes of shared sacrifice and valor were played up, while the "emancipatory" legacy of the war was largely redacted. The monuments on the field attest to this revisioning of the war as an unfortunate but glorious national Iliad. This understanding continued through the 1960s commemoration of the war's 100th anniversary, which employed Confederate memory as a banner to rally anti-Civil Rights support in the white South. With the 150th anniversary of the war approaching, the NPS has a chance to use its Civil War sites in a new way, as a public free space to encourage civil dialogue (Incidentally, this is the reason I was at the conference, participating in a panel of public historians discussing themes and strategies for the CW 150th). There will be resistance from many, saying that entering "politics" could bias the site. But by recognizing and discussing the fact that these places have -- in one way or the other -- always been spaces for social-political debate, how is employing that space for the same purpose today any different? That legacy of debate, being a bandbox for the playing out of the politics of memory, is the very reason these spaces have become places invested with cultural meaning.

In my opinion, the parks-as-free-space model of use will have to take hold if we are to positively preserve Civil War battlefields. As the country moves farther away from the Civil War being a "felt history," as the Civil War becomes a shrinking part of America's historical consciousness, and as general public interest in history declines, continuing the tradition of civic dialogue in these spaces will demonstrate to a new generation of Americans the continuing lessons that can be drawn from these places, these memories. It will increase public awareness of these sites as important, as relevant, as vital to our national identity. By demonstrating that relevance and usefulness we can create a new set of "stakeholders," people emotionally invested in the continued preservation and appropriate use of these places, and thereby -- hopefully -- preserve their lessons for another generation.

Appearance of Longstreet's Men

Longstreet's Corps made an impression on the Western soldiers they encountered and more than one recounted the appearance of Longstreet's men, over the years several stories have been told about where they aquired their new suits, for those who are unfamiliar with this, Longstreet's troops wore light blue pants and dark blue-gray jackets. The following sheds a little light on this and also shows that it wasnt exclusive to Longstreet's men, but the Army of Northern Virginia as a whole;

"I heard it from a courteous member of General Lee's staff, who has recently inspected the army, this its fighting condition never was better, and that its comfort is duly cared for a its health all that could be desired. I, myself, can bear witness to the truthfulness of all that can be said of the morale and spirit of this army just now. It is, I humbly submit, the most agreeable news that I can communicate to the home folks, that the Army of Northern Virginia is being supplied cap a pie with new outfits; and I hazard nothing in saying that in looks and spirit, out troops are today in nothing behind the condition of the army when it entered Pennsylvania; and yet, so silently has this metamorphising process been conducted, and so quietly is each department discharging its duty, that you can scarcely realize how so great a change has been wrought in so short a period."

That account is from the August 30, 1863 issue of The Charleston Mercury. It should also be noted that Longstreet's men boarded the trains south on September 7th, 1863.

Seminar in the Woods Update

For those who are interested, here is an update from Dave Powell on the March Seminar in the Woods.


Folks,

Here is an update to the Study group, and reminder that if you are interested, please make your reservations early.

Here is a link to the Study group detail:

http://www.chattanoogacwrt.org/studygroup2009.htm

As usual, feel free to pass it around to any interested parties

Also, on Thursday night, March 12th, there will be an open meeting to allow for public input for the new General Management Plan for the CCNMP.
The meeting will be held between 4 PM to 8 PM, Eastern Time, at the Walker Pavilion, Coolidge Park,on the North Shore/in North Chattanooga

It's an open meeting, you can walk in late. The format will be one of "stations" where you will have a chance to interact with various NPS officials concerning the future use of the military park. We need to talk to as many people as we can, and impress upon them the continued interest we have in keeping the focus on the parks as MILITARY Parks - their original and most important mission.

If you can attend, please do so.

CCNMP Study Group 2009 Seminar in the Woods
Mission Statement: The purpose of the CCNMP Study Group is to create a forum to bring students of the American Civil War together to study and explore those events in the fall of 1863 that led ultimately to the creation of the Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park. The intent is to use the indispensable resource of the park itself as an outdoor classroom to promote learning and study of the battles for Chattanooga, and to build interest for an annual gathering that will in time examine all aspects of the Campaigns for Chattanooga. Additionally, we hope to bring students and serious scholars, both professional and amateur, to the field to share insights and knowledge about the battles.
Tour Leaders: Jim Ogden, Park Historian, and Dave Powell
Date: Friday, March 13, and Saturday, March 14, 2009.
Note: Friday’s tours will involve a tour bus. We will be charging a small fee for use of the bus. See below.
Friday Morning: 8:30 a.m. to Noon. Minty vs. Johnson, September 18th, 1863.By Bus, we will examine the opening engagement of the battle, as Bushrod Johnson and Nathan Bedford Forrest collided with Minty’s Cavalry Brigade. Stops will include Ringgold, Peeler’s Mill site, Peavine Ridge, Reed’s Bridge, and conclude at Jay’s Mill. This land is in private hands, but we will have ample opportunities to dismount and walk some of the terrain in question.
Park at the Visitor‘s Center. The bus will depart and return from there.
Friday Afternoon: 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Rosecrans in Command, September 17th to 20th, 1863.By Bus, we will trace Union Commander William Starke Rosecrans’ movements on the field between September 17th and 20th, discussing his command decisions and the information he had at the time. Stops will include Crawfish Springs, Wilder Tower/Widow Glenn’s, the Visitor’s Center, and the Dyer Orchard HQ site.
Park at the Visitor’s Center. The Bus will depart and return from there.
Saturday Morning: 8:30 a.m. to Noon. Hindman vs. Sheridan, morning of September 20th.On foot: We will examine the attack of Hindman’s Division on Sheridan’s Federals, after Davis’ division is overwhelmed. We will discuss the fighting in South Dyer Field, the storming of Lytle Hill, defeat of Lytle and Walworth’s Brigades, and end with Wilder’s repulse of Manigault’s Rebel Brigade.
Park in the gravel lot by Recreational Field.
Saturday Afternoon: 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Hindman assails the end of the line: Horseshoe Ridge, September 20thOn Foot: Horseshoe Ridge provides a dramatic conclusion to the battle of Chickamauga. We will discuss the movements of Anderson’s, Manigault’s and Deas’ Brigades as they make their final attack on Horseshoe Ridge.
Park at Snodgrass Hill.
Cost: Beyond the fee for Friday’s Bus, there is no cost for tour participation. Meals lodging, transportation, and incidentals, however, are the individual’s responsibility.
Tour Departures: All tours will meet at the Chickamauga Visitor’s Center at the designated start time, and will depart from there after some brief overview discussion. We will board the bus or car caravan to the designated parking area, and from there, we will be on foot. We will be on foot for up to three hours, so dress and prepare accordingly. Tours will depart rain or shine. Participants are responsible for their own transportation, and should plan accordingly. All tours are designed to be self-contained, so participants who cannot attend the full schedule are still welcome to join us for any portion of the weekend.
Lodging and Meals: Everyone is responsible for their own lodging and meals. There are many hotels in the greater Chattanooga area, for any price range. The closest are in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, with the least expensive in Ringgold. Each tour is designed to leave at least 90 minutes for lunch, and there are several family and fast food restaurants within minutes of the battlefield. There are designated picnic areas near the Visitor’s Center, for those who wish to bring a lunch and eat on the field.
What to bring: Each tour will involve extensive walking. Proper clothing and especially footgear is essential. Dress in layers, wear sturdy, broken-in walking shoes or boots, and be prepared for some rain, as spring can be quite wet in North Georgia. We will be walking on dirt and gravel trails, uncut fields, and through stretches of woods. The ground will be wet and muddy in places. Bring your own water and snacks.
Reading up on the subject: Many people like to prepare in advance for these kinds of events. I suggest the following works might be of help.
Cozzens, Peter. This Terrible Sound. University of Illinois, 1992. The best modern study of the battle.
Gracie, Archibald. The Truth About Chickamauga. Morningside, Reprinted 1987. For the veteran Chickamauga student only. Gracie’s narrative is incoherent, disorganized, and mistaken in many places. However, his focus is central to Saturday Afternoon’s tour, and his work contains a wealth of primary source accounts that are not found anywhere else. We will be discussing many of the same topics Gracie examines.
Woodworth, Stephen E. Six Armies In Tennessee: The Chickamauga And Chattanooga Campaigns. Lincoln, Nebraska. University of Nebraska Press, 1998; an excellent overview campaign study.
Woodworth, Stephen E. A Deep Steady Thunder: The Battle Of Chickamauga. Abilene, Texas. McWhiney Foundation Press, 1998. Concise but very useful account of the battle, designed as an introduction to the action. 100 pages, very readable.
Note: Friday’s Tours will be by Bus, as we move from site to site. While the tour itself is free, we do have to pay for the bus.
Pre-registration Fee: $35 Due by February 1st, 2009.
After November 5th, 2008, send to:FRANK CRAWFORD34664 ORANGE DRIVEPINELLAS PARK, FLORIDA 33781
Make checks payable to: Frank Crawford.
Frank will hold your payments. If you pay by check, note that Frank will not cash those checks until we have sufficient entries, so that if we have to refund, Frank will simply send your checks back to you.
Please also note that this fee is NON-REFUNDABLE after February 1st, 2009. Once we are committed to the bus, we will be charged the booking fee.
On-site Sign up Fee: $40
We MUST have 20 attendees registered and Paid by Feb 1st, or we cannot reserve the bus. Once we confirm the minimum, you will be able to join the tour the day we depart, for late add-ons. If we do not meet the minimum, we will car-caravan for Friday’s tours.

Old Hickory's Ties to Chickamauga

I take pen in hand (well, keyboard) in order to peer into the lives of “Old Hickory’s” adopted family and trace their loyalties to the Union. General Andrew Jackson was an ardent Unionist but had several relations give their lives for the “Southern Cause.” It was Jackson who, during Thomas Jefferson’s birthday celebration on April 20, 1830, starred John C. Calhoun squarely in the eyes, and gave the resounding toast, “OUR UNION: IT MUST BE PRESERVED!” Although born in South Carolina, and a Tennessee emigrant, Jackson was willing to lay down his life and the lives of United States soldiers in order to keep the Union together. His adopted grandson (grandnephew in reality) and grandnephew gave their lives for the South at the Battle of Chickamauga.

Jackson and Rachel had no children of their own, but one cannot say they were childless. Children seemed to be scrambling all about the Hermitage and the White House during his presidential years. The couple adopted two children during their lives and acted as guardians for eight others. One of the adopted children was the son of Rachel’s brother, Severn Donelson, renamed Andrew Jackson, Jr, to honor his adopted father. The other adopted son was an orphaned Creek Indian named Lyncoya. Jackson adopted him during the Creek Indian war of 1813-14 and sent him to the Hermitage to be reared, but unfortunately, Lyncoya died in 1828, at the age of eighteen, as a result of tuberculosis. Andrew Jackson, Jr. married Sarah Yorke of Philadelphia in 1831, and they had a son, Samuel Jackson, in 1837.

The Jackson’s also added three nephews to their family in 1804. After another brother of Rachel’s died, John Samuel Donelson (1798-1817), Daniel Smith Donelson (1802-1863), and Andrew Jackson Donelson (1799-1871) came to call Andrew guardian. The best known of the three nephews was Andrew Jackson Donelson, who married Emily Tennessee Donelson and was his Uncle Andrew’s private secretary during his two terms as president. Emily Donelson acted as White House hostess for most of Jackson’s presidency, but she died of tuberculosis in 1836. One of the Children produced from this marriage was John S. Donelson.

John S. Donelson was born in the White House on May 18, 1832, and was standing at the bedside of his granduncle when the ex-president died in 1845. According to John's stepmother, Elizabeth, the dying Jackson called John to his side, "kissed him and gave him his blessing and parting admonitions [.] He told him not to weep for him[,] that he hoped to meet him in Heaven & that he must be a good boy, obey his parents, keep the Sabath[sic] holy, and not neglect his salvation." John cast his lot with the Confederacy on May 14, 1861, when he was mustered into Company E of the 154th (Senior)Tennessee Regiment as a 2nd lieutenant. His promotion to 1st lieutenant came in August 1861, and his appointment to captain occurred on June 27, 1862. Captain Donelson received a severe wound during the Battle of Stones River (Murfreesboro) on December 31, 1862, and was subsequently killed on September 19, 1863, at the Battle of Chickamauga while serving on Brigadier Preston Smith’s staff as Acting Assistant Adjutant-General (A.A.A.G.). His effects were placed in his brother’s care but no record of his burial was documented. According to the Compiled Service Records (CSRs), Donelson’s captaincy had not been filled by December 1863, due to “the captain-elected” having “failed to pass ex board and appointment not made.”

General Jackson’s “grandson,” Samuel, was born at the Hermitage on June 9, 1837, to Andrew Jackson, Jr. and Sarah Yorke. He enlisted and was elected as the 1st lieutenant of Company G, 44th Tennessee Infantry on December 30, 1861, and received an appointment as captain on April 24, 1862. He too was wounded at the Battle of Stones River (Murfreesboro). Unlike his cousin, John Donelson, Jackson’s wound was recorded. He took a shot in the hand and was sent to Marietta, Georgia, to recover. His company’s muster roll recorded him as being “present” in May and June 1863. Like his cousin, Samuel Jackson took part in his final battle on September 19, 1863, at Chickamauga. Brigadier General Bushrod Johnson described the scene in his official report on October 24, by saying, “ The Forty-fourth Tennessee Regiment had Lieut. Col. John L. McEwen, jr., commanding, a gallant and able officer, who has rendered faithful and efficient service in our army, and 5 company officers wounded, 1 (Capt. Samuel Jackson) mortally.” Johnson goes on to say that “Captain Jackson, of the Forty-fourth Tennessee Regiment, has since died of his wounds. Known to me long and familiarly in youth and manhood as Capt. Samuel Jackson has been, I feel unable to do justice to his many virtues, his pure and admirable character, or his merits as an officer and a soldier.” Jackson’s CSR records he died on October 2, 1863, from wounds received at Chickamauga, but his gravestone at the Hermitage records his death as September 29. Samuel Jackson’s name was placed on the Confederate Roll of Honor on August 10, 1864, posthumously.

Chickamauga "Seminar in the Woods" 2009

For the past several years, Dave Powell, has been conducting indepth tours of the Chickamauga Campaign, and once again there is one scheduled for March 2009. I have been on these the past several years and they are very good. For more info, http://www.chattanoogacwrt.org/studygroup2009.htm

How they fought at Chickamauga

Here is another account describing the way soldiers fought at Chickamauga, similar to what we have posted before, but with more descriptions of what they were using for breastworks. Enjoy.

From an account of Chickamauga of Lt. Col. Henry Davis, 82nd Indiana Infantry;

"Our father was doing everything in his power to strengthen the line by forcing stragglers who were streaming past, singly and in groups, to lie down in line with his men, and by urging the men to pile up rocks, rails, logs, chunks, and anything and everything they could find for defensive breast works, when a general officer on horseback rode up to him (our father), leaned over, put his arm round our father's neck and with an oath said, "Old man, I love you". This happened between the charges of the enemy, and while preparing for their return. Our father did not know who this officer was nor his rank, except that he was a general officer, but I have always believed it was Pap Thomas himself."

The Rifled Musket at Chickamauga

I am currently reading The Rifled Musket in Civil War Combat: Reality and Myth by Earl Hess. This is a very good book that really fills out the argument made by Paddy Griffith years ago, that the Rifled Musket did not change the battlefield. However, I am impressed by the healthy dose of statistics from Chickamauga. Here are some examples:

28th Alabama Infantry held up for 10 minutes in a firefight at 20 yards.

74th Indiana Infantry held its fire until there Confederates were only 60-70 yards away.

Wilder's Brigade, as were their usual tactic, let the Confederates get to within only 50 yards before opening fire.

Now the forested enviroment made an impact on these ranges to some degree, most soldier accounts claim initial visibilty was between 100 to 150 yards through the forest. This is still almost point blank range, literally waiting until you can see the whites of their eyes. So it really ties into why soldiers are fighting on their backs in this fight.

Spike

I hopped on our trusty Google Analytics this morning to see what the weekend traffic had been like for us, and boy was I in for a surprise. Apparently, one of our readers (and thanks go out to them) posted a link to my Co. Aytch recap onto Metafilter, resulting in a visitor spike of epic proportions. Here is the link to the thread, which contains some very useful comments and discussion. Some of it is rather critical (in a constructive way), and they actually make some fine points, particularly about my use of "demonstrate" vs. "hint at" or "suggest."

But, more word about our little to-do got out, and I never think that's a bad thing.

Co. Aytch Recap

As Lee's last post noted, the 145th Anniversary of the battle of Chickamauga was celebrated this weekend. And it was celebrated in two distinct ways, on and off the Military Park. At the NPS site, all of your intrepid bloggers were employed in presenting a bang-up weekend of interpretive programming that our increased visitor traffic enjoyed. Down the road, however, the "big show" reenactment took a nosedive for the worse when nationally known neo-Confederate and advocate of the myth of Black Confederate soldiers, H.K. Edgerton took top billing in the "education" portion of the event. It was beyond a sham. Out of curiosity, I stopped in on one of H.K's sermons (for really I don't want to call them lectures or talks... scholars give those), and was unsurprisingly disgusted before a full five minutes were up. The contrast between the scholarly and professional character of the NPS events and the circus-like atmosphere of the reenactment was even apparent to many park visitors who we found were leaving to come be educated with the NPS. It truly was a fantastic weekend.

For my part, as Lee has also said, I put together a little living history event. I've still got many lessons to unpack from this one: which I think means it was a success. But here is a brief AAR. We started out intending to go far beyond the boundaries of living history at a Park that has had one of the strongest traditions within the NPS Civil War community. We sought to recreate the famous Co. Aytch in age, physical condition, "look," and attitude. And, though our numbers may have been small, we succeeded in all of these these regards. The small numbers, though, were an extreme benefit for us, as we were able to bring our audience up close to see exactly what a platoon of that famous company looked like. What it looked like in its entirety:

Essentially, we argued that if we are to tell the full story of Company H, 1st Tennessee Vol. Infantry then we must look beyond Sam Watkins' famous book. Though it is a fine starting point, it is and must be understood as a product of a particular race, class, and worldview unique to the 1880s. Drawing from other scattered writings by and about the 1st, we claimed that discussing the soldiers who volunteered and about whom Sam wrote was only telling a fraction of the story. Underlying every story about every character in Co. Aytch are the stories that Sam consciously excluded, hoping they would become lost. What about the men who didn't volunteer? We know that of the more than 1,000 men in the 1st Tenn. there were at least 50 slaves who accompanied them into the field. Of the 50, we know the names of just 3, one of whom, Sanker, belonged to Sam himself. Where did their narrative go? Why are they not in Co. Aytch? We made the contested claim that Sanker's, Wash Webster's, and Uncle Ike's stories deserve equal footing with those of Tennessee Thompson, Billy Webster, and Alf Horsley.

I can truthfully say that the most stunning part of the event -- for me at least -- was Emmanuel Dabney's presence in the role of my body servant. It was a presence that has not been seen on that field since 1863. That simple presence in the -- or more properly outside of the -- ranks of Co. Aytch was the first step to re-finding these individuals who were fully participant in the events that made up Watkins' narrative but that would be lost to time if we rely on Watkins' postwar memory. Reflecting on the programs we did this weekend with some other long-time Chick-Chatt'ers we agreed that this was the first time that an African American voice had been heard on that battlefield, certainly all the more important that it was one from the Confederate side, too. With the "big show" down the road playing host to H.K. Edgerton's sketchy (at best) claims, it was a high note for scholarship in the parks. The contrast couldn't have been greater, and that is exactly what we need our National Parks to provide.

Aside from the many lessons, fine programs, and hilarious times we had this weekend, there will be two related moments which will stick with me forever. Both involved reinforcing -- to me and hopefully to the audience to whom we were speaking at the time -- the basic inhumanity of slavery. One, as I was delivering a tactical talk and it came time to drop knapsacks I unslung mine and let it fall to the ground. Before I could finish my sentence and place it in the stack with the platoon's, Emmanuel had walked up -- eyes down and hands folded -- and moved it before I could say a word. I instantly knew that I had an opportunity to demonstrate the institution's cruelty here, and so I did not acknowledge his act, did not thank him for it, did not make eye contact, did not stop my talk. My own cruelty -- even to make a teaching point to the audience -- made me shudder inside. In another talk, as I paced up and down in front of the audience I took off my kid gloves and held them behind me for Emmanuel to take. Again without looking back, without saying a word, without acknowledging him in the least, I demanded his service and his loyalty. I denied him the choice of taking my gloves or not; I required that he did. And as I felt those gloves leave my hand, and as I continued my talk without missing a beat, I was sickened.

The point is not that Emmanuel was more than willing to do these things during our programs; the point is not that we dispensed with our master-slave roles once the crowds left. The point is that we got to the essence of living history this weekend. We demonstrated for the public the horrifying nature of that master-slave relationship that the battlefield had not seen since 1863. But this time we were not fighting to maintain it. We were fighting to educate a public that often does not -- can not -- grasp the basic dehumanization that that relationship forced. This time we were fighting to give these invisible characters their shot at making history at Chickamauga.

The question now is, how do we make this an every day experience for visitors at our National Park Service sites? How can we make these lessons not for special events, but for each and every visitor who walks through our doors?

Update: 2 things.
Link to my Co. Aytch research blog
Link to Authentic-Campaigner thread to see other participants' reactions.

To Build a Barricade

I had talked earlier about my hairbrained idea to build a small section of defensive works around the Kelly Field salient (now Battleline Road) here at Chickamauga. Well, we had our experiment this weekend and between myself and former park ranger Lindsey Brown and our own Lee White on Sunday we threw together about fifteen yards of usable, knee high works.

We learned a few valuable lessons in the process, too. One: the size of the logs represented in monuments like the 33rd OH and the 16th US is more or less correct. I had thought we would be able to build with bigger logs, but smaller ones stacked better. Two: we read about the many fence rails that were used in the process, and we found that the six we pulled off of one of the battlefield's recreated fence lines were some of our most valuable pieces. Being flat and straight helps greatlyWe when stacking. Three: cedar is one of the greatest woods known to mankind. Like the soldiers who suffered for want of tools (except for artillerymen), we had to stick to using deadfall. Most of the downed trees in the forest around us were rotted through and therefore useless. The cedars, however, were always solid, and even when rotten on the outside retained a solid core that was both hard and light. The best part about all this was, the area we were building had been a giant cedar glade at the time of the battle, and so it is likely that cedar would have been a key feature of the original works.

Five: Knee high is plenty. I had always assumed that the works were roughly knee high, and once we got to the point where we felt secure in the lines, we found that they were almost exactly that. This gives ample room to load protected and then raise up on a knee to fire. I don't think the fighting was done exclusively from the prone or the kneeling position but a combination of both for maximum protection. Six: This could be done quickly. With two men working about half the day on Saturday and three on Sunday (we were out for full days but were talking to visitors constantly which interrupted our work) we figure there are somewhere around 12-15 man hours in this stretch of line. Given that the U.S. troops had in the neighborhood of 3 hours from sunup to Confederate attacks to build, then I expect that their line would have been as solid as our own. I feel for the fellows, though, shaking off the frosty morning cold, dragging logs forward and piling them up with skirmishing going on constantly in the front. Becoming completely exhausted before having to fight all day on little food and next to no water must have been beyond misery. Unfortunately for Scribner's guys around where we were building, they would have fought all day only to have their flank rolled up by the final Confederate assault. Their works held all day, but overwhelming Confederate numbers (fun to use that argument against the Lost Causers) sentenced a good many of them (eventually) to Andersonville for their efforts.

The best -- and most rewarding -- part of the weekend was the response we got from visitors. From the gentleman whose ancestor was in the 38th Indiana (the right of Scribner's line in view of where we were building) to the two little boys who asked some very insightful questions about soldiers and their kit, begged their mom to let them build works in the back yard, and braved sharing our hardtack, everyone that we talked to seemed interested. The story of the changing face of warfare, of moving from the Napoleonic (whichever one you mean) battlefield to the 1864 campaigns and WWI is one that is often told by rangers at Chickamauga. Now we have some tangible resources to help us tell that story. I close with a video of the finished product in operation starring yours truly and filmed by our own Mr. White.

Viewshed Restoration

There has been much talk about Civil War National Parks doing viewshed restoration in recent years, Gettysburg and Vicksburg most notably. Here at Chickamauga we have been trying to do the same. The forest that exists today is more dense and overgrown than was normal for 1863. In a few spots on the battlefield, we have begun to cut the undergrowth, selectively fell trees, and begin the process of opening the forest back up. This has made those areas interpretative gold to us on staff. To further enhance the usability of one of the areas, a handful of interested parties are going to reconstruct a section of the temporary field fortifications built by Thomas' Corps around the Kelly Field area.

The tour stop for "Battleline Road" is in the position where the left of Scribner's brigade joined with the right of King's Regular brigade. We will build the works along the line of Ben Scribner's brigade. One of his units, the 33rd O.V.I. were in the center of the brigade line and their monument shows much of what we hope to accomplish. The relief shows the fighting in incredible detail. Check out the piles of logs there, interspersed with large rocks. They're likely not more than knee or thigh high, but just high enough to provide cover for a man lying or crouching down, which we can see here. Scribner initially had his brigade in two lines, and as the Confederates (first Helm's Kentuckians and later Colquitt's Georgians and S. Carolinians) attacked he ordered the second line up to the front to fire over the heads of the first regiment and then drop back down to the ground to reload. This essentially doubled the firepower-per-foot of line covered. On the monument you can see the 10th Wisconsin moving up and firing over the heads of the men of the 33rd OH, who are behind the works.

Scribner's account of all this from his memoirs, How Soldiers Were Made, is very good, and I quote...

We formed in two deployed lines along a wooded ridge, behind us an open field, and before us the ground sloped away from view in the timber. Our division was on the extreme left of the army and covered the road to Rossville and Chattanooga. The Third Brigade [Starkweather] was on my right and the regular brigade on my left. We hastily threw up breastworks of rails and such logs as could be found, in front of each line. The second line, owing to the declivity of the ridge, was very near the first. These dispositions had scarcely been made, when the enemy commenced a furious assault upon us. I instructed my second line to move to the works of the first and deliver their fire after the first, by my order, should commence to fire, then each was to load his musket shielded by the same shelter, and thus to alternately load and fire while the conflict lasted. The enemy prepared for this attack with much deliberation. Their battle flags (a white ball on a dark field) [this is Helm coming up] were planted along their line to form by, and their officers, with swords held across their breasts with both hands, facing their men, dressed their line with commendable coolness and vim [gotta love those Kentuckians!]. When they got ready, they made a dash upon us. We had reserved our fire while they were making these preparations, but now we gave them a warm reception with an incessant outpour of bullets. The battery of the Thrid Brigade [4th Indiana Battery] had a flank range along my front by some of their guns. This range was a narrow open space covered with green, mossy grass. In this space we held the enemy while the battery mowed them down.

While we are building we will interpret the tactical advantage given the US troops in these positions, and the changing nature of Civil War combat from "traditional" maneuvers of '61 to "modern" practices of the '64 campaigns, with Chickamauga as a transition. Before photo at left; check back early next week for after shots of the completed section of works.

"By the Old Soldier it is Readily Understood"

Adding some weight to Chris's Post a while back on fighting on the ground, here are some more quotes from vets here at Chickamauga:

“The citizens of today will doubtless wonder how any man could escape such a rain of shot and shell, but by the old soldier it is readily understood. While ninety per cent of these shots were being fired the men were lying flat on their faces and were overshooting each other when suddenly one or the other would spring to his feet and with a bound and a yell rush at a double-quick upon their foe, giving him time to fire one or at most two rounds when his ranks would be broken and compelled to retire.”
-- Lt. Lot D. Young, 4^th Kentucky, CSA

Reminiscences of a Soldier of the Orphan Brigade, 1918. Online here.

“Facing the fire, the line pressed forward on the full run, keeping the ranks tolerably well…at the top of the ridge, they encountered a withering fire, halted and laid down and fired a few rounds. Then once more they moved forward, running & yelling… The advance was suddenly checked. ‘Lie down’ ran along the line…
By lying close to the ground, the men were somewhat protected. Most of the cannon balls and shot flew over us… [we] made good use of our Enfields – firing, turning upon [our] backs and reloading while still lying down…
…when the enemy’s fire seemed to slacken, the men instinctively began to get upon their feet, and, with a rousing cheer, were about to dash forward in another charge. They were then met by fiercer and hotter firing than ever. ‘Lie down’ was the word.”
-- Joseph Whitney, 96^th Illinois

Kiss Clara for Me: The Civil War Letters of Joseph Whitney, 96th Ill, 1969.

“We went forward in the (face) of an awful fire from the batteries and musketry. We went on till we were directly under the cannon mouth when we were so tired out that the whole line was compelled to stop. We lay down and loaded and fired and gave them the best we had while the grape and shell and rifles of the rebels tore great holes in our ranks.”
-- Orson Young, 96^th Illinois

96th Ill. unit file, Chick-Chatt NMP

“Pretty soon we were brought to a halt, close by where the writer was lying down….The rain of lead that the Federals poured into our line was terrific. Our loss in officers and men for the first few minutes was alarming in the extreme. Capt. Jack Leonard, later banker at Dallas, Texas, commanding Company ‘E,’ lost in killed and wounded twenty-eight men, out of a company of about fifty. This seemed to be a key or the turning point in the great battle, and we were ordered to lie flat down and hold it….We went in search of Gen. Deshler and found him on the line to our right, down on his hands and knees, as if trying to see below the smoke and discover the position of the enemy.”
--Lt. Robert M. Collins, 15^th Texas

Chapters from the Unwritten History of the War Between the States, 1893

“We are so flat on the ground that we don’t make much show. They shoot at us, but we do not return it….the fireing is very heavy on our right and left, and the Yank are blazing away at us like fury. Some heavy pine timber here – While lying down here today one man is shot in the head and killed so dead that the man next to him did not know it until we had to move, and moving here was an awful bad piece of business; bullets fly like the wind you can hear them zip zip – zip but you cant see them.”
-- Capt. Samuel T. Foster, 17^th/18^th Texas

One of Cleburne's Command, The Civil War Reminiscences and Diary of Capt. Samuel T. Foster, Granbury's Texas Brigade, CSA, 1980.

I particularly love Joseph Whitney's description of short, rushing advances that gain a few yards and then take cover again. Moving from cover to cover is something we expect from soldiers today, but I find it fascinating when otherwise well-read visitors to Chick-Chatt still expect Civil War units to march on like little toy soldiers. Notice also what the 96th Ill. fellows, Lot Young, and the 15th Wisconsin in the painting above are doing, they're advancing to close the space between them and the enemy. They're not looking for a fire-fight, but are instead taking the fire until they build up the nerve to rush on the enemy with the bayonet. Here we get to another common misconception among many. As Brent Nosworthy would have us remember, the "Napoleonic tactics" that the Civil War armies used were not the plodding lock-step of Bonaparte (which would best be reflected Scott's US tactics), but instead the adaptation of Napoleon III's use of daring rushes on the enemy -- relying on elan and the bayonet to counter the "scientific fire" of the new rifle musket. Civil War infantry were not trained to be 1812 line companies, but instead as Chasseurs a Pied, quick moving light infantry intended to close the rifle musket's elongated "deadly space" and take advantage of the long reload time to drive the enemy away at the point of the cold steel. The old "tactics didn't evolve with technology" line -- like most traditional Civil War interpretations -- doesn't seem to have much weight under scrutiny of primary sources.

Imagined VS History

A short post to note about a strange incident today. I was called regarding one of our living history programs and was asked if there would be tents, after explaining that historically the two armies in the Chickamauga Campaign didn't really have a lot of tentage and that we discouraged their use, to be asked again if there would be tents, and when told no, they hung the phone up on me. Just very odd.

Linear Tactics at Chickamauga

For several weeks now, Patrick, Lee, and I have been discussing the usage of linear style tactics during the war, specifically at Chickamauga. I will let them comment on their research, but I found a very interesting account while doing some research for a tour I will be conducting concerning Brig. Gen. Matthew Ector's Confederate brigade and Col. Ferdinand Van DerVeer's Federal brigade. In 1913, Oscar P. Heath, a former member of Battery I, 4th United States Artillery, wrote a personal account of the Battle entitled "The Battle of Chickamauga: As I Saw It."

Many historians, myself included, used to picture these nice, neat, linear formations of men moving across fields and through woods, halting and trading volley after volley with their foes. Now, not saying this never occurred, but by 1863, most soldiers and their officers were more interested in self preservation and the preservation of their commands. Therefore, I submit this excerpt for your consideration.

Heath states, "...wavering under the awful slaughter in their rank they halted, and, delivering a deadly volley into our ranks, they threw themselves at full length on the ground, and lying on their backs so as to expose themselves as little as possible they loaded their muskets, then turning over and resting on one knee they delivered their fire, then threw themselves on their backs to load as before. Our infantry followed their example and for the next half hour an almost muzzle to muzzle (we were about fifty yards apart) musketry fire was maintained"(5).