What Civil War Site Would You Visit on a Busman's Holiday? And, What Is a Busman's Holiday Anyway?

This question was asked of the editorial staff of the December 2021 Civil War Times magazine.

Editor Dana B. Shoaf said Shiloh.  Others said Mobile Bay, Vicksburg and Lookout Mountain.

Of course, little ol' me would want to go to Fort Fisher, especially since I haven't been there since you-know-what hit.

(While reading the Civil War Talk site today, I came across an Obediah Joseph Syfrett, a member of the 25th South Carolina Infantry Regiment, who was captured at Fort Fisher and sent to Elmira Prison Camp, which he survived.  He and his family moved to Texas where he died in 1925.  Now, finding a tidbit of information like that sure does make my day.)

Well, in case you're wondering what a "busman's holiday" is, I looked it up.  I'd heard of it, but wasn't really sure.

Originated in Britain and refers to a period of leisure time where a person does something of a similar nature to his normal occupation.  In case you're wondering.  Now, I know.  You learn something new every day.

There's Old Obediah.  --Old Secesh

Antietam Group Purchases Historic Land

From the August 16, 2021, Herald-Mail media  "Antietam preservation group purchases land outside  national battlefield" by Sherry Greenfield.

The Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, left nearly 23,000 men dead, wounded or missing.  It is still considered America's single bloodiest day.

For the first time, the preservation group Save Historic Antietam Foundation (SHAF) has bought land outside the national battlefield park.  It is located along Harpers Ferry Road.  The half-acre property is one-half mile south of Sharpsburg and was bought for $132,000.

An abandoned house sits on the property and will be removed.

It is on high ground inside Confederate lines that overlooks the final assault of Union General Ambrose Burnside's  attack in the afternoon where Southern artillery occupied this spot and pounded Burnside's assault.

SHAF will be fund raising to pay for it.  An anonymous donor will be matching everything raised one-for-one.

-Old Secesh

American Battlefield Trust, December 2020: Battle of Williamsburg-- Part 1

As a member of the American Battlefield Trust, I receive the  calendars.  This is from the 2021 calendar which had a preliminary page for December 2020.

Since the organization works to save American battlefields from the American Revolution, War of 1812 and Civil War, each month they feature a different battlefield with a full page current photo as well as information.  There is also writing on specific days telling what happened.

I didn't know they had December 2020 in it until I opened it up.

December featured  a picture of part of the Williamsburg, Virginia, battlefield by Robert James.

There was also a smaller picture of Prospect Hill at the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania NMP, in Virginia by Chris Landon.

--Old Secesh

Preservation to Be Done at Alabama's Fort Blakely-- Part 1: 'The Last Stand of the Confederacy'

From the December 14, 2020, Yellowhammer  "Permanent conservation project announced for Baldwin County's Fort Blakely Battlefield" by Sean Ross.

The Conservation Fund, American Battlefield Trust and the University of South Alabama this week announced a new project for about 60 acres of the historic Fort Blakely Battlefield in Baldwin County (near Mobile).

The groups have committed to protecting this site where U.S. Colored Troops fought and won a battle in the closing days of the Civil War.

Many have called this battle "The Last Stand of the Confederacy" because it was fought as hostilities drew to a close.  On April 9, 1865, the same day Robert E. Lee was surrendering his Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House, in less than a half hour the fort was overrun by Union troops, including some 5,000 black soldiers.

This encounter marked one of the heaviest concentrations of United States Colored Troops in the war.

About 40% of the 2,000 acre battlefield is protected by the State of Alabama  However, probably the most significant quarter of the battlefield was not protected until now.

--Old Secesh

What the War Was Really About

From Civil War Talk

April 9, 1862 diary entry by James Hannegan of the 5th Ohio  Cavalry after the Battle of Shiloh.

"Went over the battleground again today & saw some of the most shocking sights I ever beheld.    Men were lying dead in every possible position.  Some with their heads torn off, limbs scattered around & the dead horses were in heaps all over the field & today it was quite cool which is very favorable, otherwise this stench would be almost intolerable.

"Most of the dead  bodies have been robbed by our own men.  The faces of the dead were perfectly black.  Our men have been busy ever since the battly burying the dead, but hundreds still unburied.

"Every house in the neighborhood is filled with wounded rebels.  Some have been brought in today who have been lying in the woods since Monday."

--Old Secesh

Presidential Visits to Antietam Battlefield-- Part 5: William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt

Continued from June 3.

President McKinley returned to Antietam Battlefield  on May 30, 1900, Memorial Day, to deliver  an address at the unveiling of the Maryland State Monument.  Interestingly, among McKinley's guests of honor  were Mr. and Mrs James Longstreet.

The next president to visit was  McKinley's successor, the old Rough Rider himself, Theodore Roosevelt.  Born in 1858, he was obviously too young to serve in the Civil War, but he did vividly remember watching the Lincoln funeral procession making its way through the streets of New York from his parents' bedroom window in April 1865.

Roosevelt visited Antietam Battlefield on September 17, 1903, to deliver a speech at the dedication of New Jersey's state monument.

--Old Secesh

Nathaniel Dawson describes First Manassas Battlefield-- Part 3: "Fierce Looking Fellows. They Fought Well"

July 25

"I went over the field yesterday.  The scene was awful.  The dead Yankees were still lying unburied in many places.  I saw as many as one hundred in a space of an acre.

"They belong to Ellsworth's Zouaves who were reduced from 1,100 to 200 men.  God seems specially to have marked them for  vengeance.  They wore blue pants and red shirts and are fierce looking fellows.  They fought well."

--Old Secesh

MCCWRT Meeting This Tuesday, Mar. 12: Jonathan Letterman

The McHenry County Civil War Round Table will have their regular meeting this Tuesday, March 12 at the Woodstock (Illinois) Library at 414 West Judd Street starting at 7 pm.

This month's presenter will be Gordon Dammann who will speak about Jonathan Letterman.

Letterman is credited with being the originator of modern methods for medical  organization in armies and medicine in the field.  He is known today as "The Father of Battlefield Medicine."

Should be interesting as I had never heard of him before.

The meeting is open to everyone.

AND<  Today is Bang-Clang Day.  This is the anniversary of the Battle of Hampton Roads.  Today, March 9, the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia fought to a draw.  Both were ironclads, hence the bang-clang.

Come On Down.  --Old Secesh

The American Battlefield Trust-- Part 2: From APCWS to CWT to AMT

A second non-profit battlefield presentation group, the Civil War Trust, was created in 1991.  This group was able to acquire and preserve 6,700 acres of land in the eight years of its existence.

On November  19, 1999, the APCWS and Civil War Trust merged to form a single organization, the Civil War Preservation Trust.to streamline and  strengthen efforts.  On January 11, 2011, the name was shortened to just the Civil War Trust (CWT)

On Veterans Day, November 11, 2014, the CWT partnered with the Society of Cincinnati (hereditary group of officers of the Continental Army) to save endangered American Revolution and War of 1812 battlefields.

So, Now You Know.  --Old Secesh

PTSD in the Civil War? You Betcha.-- Part 4: Aftermath of Battles and Disease

Many soldiers regarded the aftermath of battles to be even more disturbing than the battles themselves.  Some described landscapes so bloody that you could cross them and never touch the ground, walking only upon bodies and body parts.  When over 5,000 Confederates fell in the failed attack on Malvern Hill in Virginia in 1862, a Union colonel wrote: "A third of them were dead or dying, but enough were alive to give the field a singularly crawling effect."

Those wounded then faced the horrors of pre-modern medicine, including tens of thousands of amputations with unsterilized instruments.  Contrary to popular belief, however, that soldiers often bit down on bullets as surgeons did their amputations, opiates were available and widely dispensed.  This caused drug addictions.

Nor were bullets and shells the greatest threat to soldiers.  Diseases were a lot worse,  killing twice as many.  Long stretches in crowded and unsanitary camps brought about these deadly diseases, especially dysentery.

--Old Secesh

Civil War Buff's 65 Battlefield Campaign Comes to Close-- Part 2

And he has been to a lot of battlefields, including Petersburg, Fort Sumter, Antietam, Perryville, Chancellorsville and of course, Gettysburg.

He travels in his 2005 Ford Escape or his 2011 Toyota RAV4 and usually stays in local Hampton Inns.  Usually accompanied by friends or co-workers, he returns loaded with t-shirts and books.  (I hear you Rob.)

He compares his travels to a baseball pilgrimage where someone tries to visit every major league ballpark.

On a few occasions, he has also flown to the sites.

Wish I'd Have Thought of It.  Wonder If Anyone Else Did This?  --Old Secesh

Veterans Day: Civil War Trust Expanding Mission to Save Revolutionary and War of 1812 Battlefields

From the November 10, 2014, Washington Post "Civil War Trust to preserve battlefields from Revolutionary War and War of 1812."

The Civil War Trust, the nation's largest Civil War battlefield protection group is enlarging its mission to cover these, often overlooked, battlefields.

Jim Lighthizer, the group's president said this is a strong and logical connection between the three wars.  "The Revolutionary War created the country, and the War of 1812 affirmed that creation.  The Civil War defined who we are."

The announcement for this expanded mission will come today in honor of Veterans Day at the Princeton Battle memorial in New Jersey.

There are many fewer Revolutionary and War of 1812 sites.  Civil War battlefields cover between 200,000 and 250,000 acres.  The other two combined somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000.

Since its inception 27 years ago, the Trust has preserved over 40,000 acres of Civil War battlefields.

--Old Secesh

Tennessee's Battle of Franklin Gets New Land (Hopefully)

From Civil War Interactive, from the May 27, 2014, Nashville Tennesseean "Nearly $3 million deal in place to secure more Civil War land" by Kevin Walters.

Reid Lovell has five ancestors who weer at the Battle of Franklin, near Nashville, on November 30, 1864.  On Tuesday, May 27th, Lovell signed a contract to sell 1.6 acres of land adjacent to the focus of the battlefield, the Carter House, for $2.8 million.

Now, Franklin preservationists have a year to secure the money for the deal to go through.

Said Lovell: "We are longtime Franklin people, and we love this community.  My family and I have a 150-year relationship with the property (meaning they owned it at the time of the battle.

The land is considered "core battlefield" near where Confederate General Otho Strahl was killed.

Two buildings currently on Lowell's property will be taken down if the money is raised.

Much as I am glad the battlefield is getting the land, that $2.8 million seems like a whole lot of money.  Too bad Mr. Lovell didn't offer it for considerably less.

Nice Profit, Though.  --Old Secesh

A Real Preservation Character: Robert Lee Hodge-- Part 2

"To see tbe obliteration of these things I had in my mind on a high mantel with reverence, it was a rude awakening." Since 1980, he has been a re-enactor, mostly Confederate, but, if necessary, a Union soldier (sadly, sometimes there are not enough Union re-enactors).

(A picture of him as a Rebel appears to be the real thing.)

His interest in all things Civil War, and especially Confederate, earned him a photo on the cover of 1998 Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Horowitz's best-seller "Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War." (A great book.) He also had pages in the book about him.

In addition, he has appeared on the History Channel, A&E and the National Geographic Channel.

His group has saved nearly 1,000 acres around the Fredericksburg, Va., area, most recently 15 acres in Chancellorsville and $1 million to the Civil War Trust for purchase of a part of the Fredericksburg battlefield.
A Committed Man. --Old Secesh

A Real Preservation Character: Robert Lee Hodge-- Part 1

From the Fall 2012 Preservation Magazine "A Preservation Battle Cry" by Gwendolyn Purdom.

With first two names like his, you had to know which side he would be on. Call him the Ultimate Rebel or Secesh (Hey, that's my name), if you prefer.

Those stories his mother read him from the Golden Book of the Civil War as a youngster got him hooked. (I got hooked on Fort Fisher and especially liked the American Heritage book showing all the little soldiers moving across the battlefield.

Today, Robert Lee Hodge is not only a dedicated re-enactor, Rebel, of course, but on occasion even Yankee. But also a historian, filmmaker and preservationist. He is also an 11-year member of the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust's Board of Directors.

He says that when he moved to Virginia in 1991, he was shocked to see all the old battlefields being overrun by development.

And, there was a lot about him in Tony Horwitz's book "Confederates In the Attic."

--Old Secesh

Timeline: Saving Civil War Battlefields-- Part 2 Took On Wal-Mart and Won

JUNE 2003-- Brandy Station Battlefield Opens.

2008-- May 2008 the largest concentration of Civil War battle sites, along with other historic sites, is designated as the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area.

2011: January-- Wal-Mart cancels construction plans near the Wilderness Battlefield in Virginia and pledges to find a more suitable location.

2011: April-- Plans to build a casino a half-mile south of Gettysburg National Military Park are defeated. A similar proposal also had been denied in 2005.

Watching the Battlefields. --Old Secesh

Timeline: Saving Civil War Battlefields-- Part 1: Two Wins

From the Fall 2012 Preservation Magazine by Laura Wainman.

1994: Walt Disney Company ends the "Third Manassas" battle by withdrawing its proposal to build a $650 million history-themed park. Disney's America, less than four miles from Manassas National Battlefield Park in Virginia.

1996: More than 100 years after the largest cavalry battle of the Civil War, the race to turn the land where it was waged into a Formula One race track ends, leaving Brandy Station, Virginia, intact.

--Old Secesh

Antietam Battlefield-- Part 1

I was fortunate to get to the visitor center in time for the park ranger talk on the battle.  However, I suggest visitors ( especially those who don't know a lot about the battle) try to get there earlier to see the excellent film on the battle which gives some solid background. 

The ranger presentation is at 10 AM and there is another one in the afternoon.

The ranger was very knowledgeable, but did it by memory.  Imagine he's done it a lot of times before.  I was happy to see so many people in attendance.  Often, I go to Civil War sites and its just the people at the center and me.  And, quite a few were younger and not there with their families.

The ranger said that we can see roughly two-thirds of the battlefield from our vantage point at the visitors center, which occupies the high ground backing up to the town.  These would have been the Confederate lines during the battle, though the Union forces came close to breaking them near our spot and even penetrated as far as the Dunker Church to our left and behind us a couple hundred yards.

The battle came down to three things:  Communication, Topography and Experience.  Nearly 30% of the Union soldiers were in their first-ever battle.  This was their first time to "See the Elephant" as Civil War soldiers termed seeing battle.  This is where I got the name of this blog.

More to Come.  --Old Secesh

Good News at the Battle of Bentonville-- Part 2

The Battle of Bentonville was fought in Johnston County, near Goldsboro, North Carolina March 19-21, 1865, and is regarded as the Confederate Army's "Last Stand in the Carolina." The loss here as well as Lee's surrender at Appomattox a few weeks later caused Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston to surrender April 26th.

Fighting raged over 6,000 acres, the largest battle in North Carolina and more than 4,500 casualties on both sides.

What makes Bentonville even more important is the miles or original trenches and the fact that most of the battle took place in a largely rural, agricultural area. It is estimated that the thousands of visitors annually to the site spend $7 million in Johnston County tourism.

In this most recent addition, nine properties were bought, each adjacent to previously acquired lands for a total of 1,435 acres.

More to Come. --Old Secesh

Way Back Then

If you're like me, you are interested in how people approached the Civil War in the years after it was fought.

The December 16th Chattanoogan reported that the reprint of Charles W. Norwood's 1895
Vade-Mecum Guide to the Battled of Chattanooga and Chickamauga is once again available.

Chickamauga was the very first US Civil War military park, established in 1890, so this was only five years later.

It was written by C, W, Norwood, 1st Sgt and Quartermaster of the Union Army who said he had spent much time checking on the book's accuracy.

Much effort was put into this reprint. Mary Helm bought the missing map fron the book at her own expense. Polly Stratton spend 200 hours checking every letter of every word to make sure of accuracy.

You can buy it for $12.95 from the library at 1001 Broad Street, Chattanooga, Tennessee, 37402.

From December 15th Civil War Interactice.

This Would Be of Interest, Especially as Compared to a New Guide. --Old B-Runner