Camp Nelson National Monument

From Wikipedia.

CAMP NELSON NATIONAL  MONUMENT

Formerly Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park, is located about 20 miles south of Lexington, Kentucky.  The camp was established in 1863 as a depot for the Union Army and it became a recruiting and training ground or new soldiers from eastern Tennessee and for former slaves.

On October 26, 2018, President Trump proclaimed the site as Camp Nelson National Monument, the 418th unit of the National Park Service.

It was established as a supply depot for Union efforts in the area and in Tennessee.  It was named for Union General William "Bull" Nelson who had recently been murdered by Union General Jefferson C. Davis (not the Confederate president) over an insult.  (Another interesting story in itself.)

It was placed near the Hickman Bridge, the only bridge over the Kentucky River upriver from the state capital (Frankfort, Kentucky).

Only he northern side of the camp needed protection as the other three sides  have almost verticle 400-500 foot cliffs.

--Old Secesh

MCCWRT Meeting: Henry Haupt-- Part 2: The Railroad Guy

**  Henry Haupt was Lincoln's railroad man.

**  He was appointed to the USMA at West Point at age 14 and graduated at age 18.  He graduated in July and resigned his commission in September.

**  At the Second Battle of Manassas, Union General Pope needed troops.  But the question was, where were those troops.  These troops were with General Samuel Davis Sturgiss.  He kept 10,000 troops out of the action.

**  Haupt knew how to use railroads in a wartime sitiation.  The United States Military Rail Road was formed to make sure the railroads could help the war effort.

**  He rose to prominence during McClellan's Peninsular Campaign

**  He was especially good at building bridges, including the 400 foot long, 100 foot-high trestle over the Potomac Creek in Virginia.

--Old Secesh

Fort Wool Today-- Part 8

The fort was decommissioned in 1953 as a military installation.  Of course, since it was named for U.S. general John Ellis Wool, its name would not have to be changed now since the passage of the 2020 Defense Bill.

It was turned over to Virginia.  In the 1950s, the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT) was constructed right next to the fort, with its southern island connected to the fort  by an earthen causeway.  The HRBT opened for traffic in 1957.  In 1967 and again in 1970, the City of Hampton developed the fort into a park which could be accessed by the passenger ferry Miss Hampton II.

The fort can also be seen by  westbound vehicles on approach to the HRBT  southern tunnel, which carries Interstate I-64 across the mouth of Hampton Roads.

The island the fort sits on is now called  Rip Raps and it continues to settle.  Occasionally the casemates of the original fort are put off limits for safety reasons.

On 28 April 2007, a garrison flag was raised over the fort for the first time to salute a Parade of Tall Ships passing by it as part of the 400th anniversary of the settlement of nearby Jamestown.

What caused me to become more aware of the fort and write about it in my Not So Forgotten: War of 1812 blog (it was built as a result of the British occupying the Chesapeake Bay during that war and, of course the attacks on Washington, D.C., and Baltimore), was that the fort has now been turned into a bird sanctuary and is off limits to people.

There Needs To be Some Sort of Compromise Between Nature and People Here.  --Old Secesh

Robert Cogdill Gilchrist's Proposal for a Confederate Flag in 1861

Since I have been writing about this man's construction of the first suspension bridge over the Hudson River in the state of New York, I also found this interesting tidbit.

From Confederate Flags.org.

The proposal of Robert C. Gilchrist of Charleston, South Carolina,  was sent by express courier to Christopher G. Memminger on 4 February 1861, the day the Montgomery Convention which created the Confederacy opened.

Retaining the idea of the Stars and Stripes, Gilchrist removed the canton and placed the stars on a blue cross which spread across the red and white stripes.

This early design by a prominent citizen who had been Commissioner of the United States District Court and the U.S. Court of Claims for the District of South Carolina received wide  publicity.

However, in a letter  to the South Carolina delegation dated 7 February 1861, signed by Charles H. Moise, the Jewish congregations of South Carolina objected to the adoption of a sectarian symbol as the flag of the new country.

Interesting flag design.  I'd never seen it before or heard of Robert C. Gilchrist before I made the blog entries about Gilchrist's bridge across the Hudson River in 1871.

--Old Secesh

A Confederate Built the First Suspension Bridge Over the Hudson River-- Part 3: A Short-Lived Bridge

Robert Gilchrist's bridge, the first suspension one over the Hudson River,  was dedicated on September 8, 1871,  with a great public celebration, complete with a steam locomotive and boxcars and a picnic. However, it turned out that there wasn't enough food, but, alas, plenty of speeches.

The bridge was described as being about 25 feet above the normal water level, 15 feet wide and with a span of 230 feet.

Plans had a railroad depot to be constructed and passenger service could detrain and  catch a stagecoach to local towns 

Sadly, however, Gilchrist's bridge was not to last for very long.  On April 1, 1873, the cables on one side of the bridge gave way after a very heavy snowstorm, causing the bridge to hang upside down on the remaining cable.  Later that spring, the bridge was removed so as not to impede the  spring logging drive on the river.

Gilchrist returned to Charleston and remained there the rest of his life other than infrequent trips back to the Adirondacks where he began selling off his inherited land.

--Old Secesh

A Confederate Built the First Suspension Bridge Over Hudson River-- Part 2: A Railroad Opportunity

When the Civil War broke out, Robert Gilchrist,  though opposed to secession,  stayed in Charleston and sided with the Confederacy.  He fought to defend the Fort Sumter and Charleston Harbor.   He was commissioned an officer and rose to the rank of major under general Beauregard, the commander in Charleston.

The city held out until 1865, when it was abandoned as Sherman marched his Union force through South Carolina.

When the war ended, Robert, his wife and young family, traveled to The Glen to inspect the property owned by his uncle (also named Robert Gilchrist) and Mother (Mary Gilchrist).

Dr. Thomas Durant  by then had the Adirondack Railroad, whose completion had been delayed because of the war and was planning to expand his railroad from Saratoga to North Creek.  Robert Gilchrist was now in the Adirondacks and had plans to expand into the  forest, tourism and resort industries and saw an opportunity with the railroad.

Robert decided to help the railroad locate and had a bridge built across the Hudson River on his property.  The project cost $8,000 and was a John A. Roebling-style bridge and hired engineer Charles McDonald to supervise it.

--Old Secesh

Col. Ulric Dahlgren's Leg May or May Not Be Buried at the Washington Navy Yard

From the December 20, 2018, Greater Greater Washington, D.C.:  "Breakfast Links: 10 interesting facts about Navy Yard you probably didn't know" by Leticia Johnson.

Even though the Washington Navy Yard probably should be in my Civil War Navy blog, since this story is primarily on a Union Army officer, I decided to put it here.  I have been writing about the Washington Navy Yard in my Not So Forgotten: War of 1812 blog in regards to its destruction by the British and Americans during the attack on Washington, D.C., during that war.

I like to cross-over my blogs whenever I can.

Abraham Lincoln was a frequent visitor to this place during the war and John Wilkes Booth made his escape after the assassination over the Washington Navy Yard Bridge.

COLONEL ULRIC DAHLGREN'S LEG

Sounds like the makings of a good ghost story.  The man's leg was buried at the Navy Yard.

10.  There's a leg... buried in a parking garage... (that may or not still be there).

The severed appendage in question belongs to Ulric Dahlgren.

Want To Know More?  --Old SecehLeg

Battle of Tuliffiny-- Part 5: The "Swamp Fox: Hideout

The Tuliffiny Creek is located in Jaspar County, the South Carolina county located across the Savannak River from Savannah.

The amphibious landing on the Tuliffiny River was conducted primarily by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps and was also successful in moving 5,000 troops to Gregorie Point, which is a peninsula bounded by the Tuliffinay and Coosawatchie  rivers located near the town of Yemassee and some 45 miles north of Savannah.

Much of this area is covered by swamps and thick foliage and large trees.    General Francis Marion, "The Swamp Fox" of the American Revolution  fought the British and encamped near this area  on several occasions.

The Union objective was to cut the Charleston-Savannah  Railroad by destroying a railroad trestle bridge that crossed the Tuliffiny River.

--Old Secesh

Robert A. Cameron-- Part 2: In the 9th and 19th Indiana Regiments

In 1857 he bought and began publishing the Valparaiso Republican newspaper and was a delegate to the Republican 1860 convention in Chicago and a big supporter of Abraham Lincoln.

When the Civil War began he was a medical doctor in Valparaiso and a member of the Indiana House of Representatives.  He enlisted in the 9th Indiana for three months and was elected captain of a company.  When that enlistment was up, he reenlisted for the duration of the war and was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 19th Indiana on July 29, 1861.

His regiment fought a skirmish at the Chain Bridge crossing the Potomac River into Washington, D.C. in September 1861.

--Old Secesh

Submerged Civil War Relics Could Get a New Home-- Part 1

From the August 21, 2012, Montgomery (Alabama) Advertiser by Alvin Benn.

The war was nearly over and Union troops in Alabama had two more missions to complete. Both gave them much pleasure. One was to burn Selma to the ground on April 2, 1865, and the second was to destroy as many weapons as they could by dumping them into the Alabama River.

Selma was one of only two major armament centers in the Confederacy.

It took a week to "sink" the weapons in the river near where the noted Edmund Pettus Bridge was dedicated 85 years later. (This bridge played a role in the Civil Rights Movement.)

Fun At the River. --Old Secesh

Another Version of How Not to Cross a Bridge-- Part 3

Another version of this story had the whole bridge collapsing, "...there came a crash, a few yells, some swearing...and the proud military organization was floundering in the depths below, amid planks, joists, logs and their individual selves, while a few had clutched the boxed trusses upon either side of the roadway, looking down, horror stricken, upon their scrambling comrades below."

The men finally made it into camp, wet, bruised, and perhaps not quite so confident in their skills as soldiers. To add injury to insult, the only weapon in camp, Captain Martin Flood's Masonic Sword, was lost in the river."

You Have to Wonder If That Sword Is Still At the Bottom of the River? --Old Secesh

How Not to Cross a Bridge-- Part 2

The "Green County Volunteers" arrived in Fond du Lac on June 14, 1861, eager to show off their already-learned military prowess and show off for the locals.

Colonel Hamilton reported that when the group entered the city they crossed a wooden bridge "in a perfect step." Unfortunately, that much weight and in step like that proved too much for that bridge and its sidewalk broke and several men were thrown into the water.

One of them, William Carter "struck upon a saw log and was considerably injured. Thus was learned the military rule to march over bridges at route step."

Some Things You Learn the Hard Way. --Old Secesh

Goldsboro's Sacrifice at Battle of Antietam-- Part 5

That little bridge was defended by a small group of Georgia troops and it took until late in the afternoon for Union troops to get across it.  Once they did, they were in a position to flank the Confederate Army and turn the battle into a fiasco for Lee.  General Burnside commanded the Union troops at the bridge and his name is forever attached to it.  Lincoln elevated him to command of the Army of the Potomac after the battle which led to the disastrous Battle of Fredericksburg in December.

Very fortunately, the  troops of Confederate General A.P. Hill arrived from Harper's Ferry after a 17-mile march and they smashed into the Union troops, forcing them back and ending the fighting.

Lee waited a day, expecting McClellan to continue the attack, but when that didn't happen, he retreated back to Virginia and McClellan did not follow.  This angered Lincoln so much that he once again fired his general.

More than 23,000 troops on both sides were killed or wounded during the battle and since it was Americans on both sides, it is the single bloodiest day in American history.

Lees Escaped a Big One.  --Old Secesh

Pennsylvania's Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge-- Part 3

So, the bridge was burned on June 28th.  Confederates had been planning to cross it, but with it gone, they had to change plans and ended up coming together at the small crossroads town of Gettysburg, and the rest is history.

Afterwards, the Columbia Bank and Bridge Company appealed to Congress for reimbursement, but never received any money.  In 1864, they sold the piers and what little remained of the bridge to the Pennsylvania Railroad for $57,000.

A third bridge was begun in 1868 and this one cost $400,000.  It remained in use until a hurricane in 1896 destroyed it.

The fourth bridge at the site was known as the Pennsylvania Railroad Iron Bridge and built in just two months using prefabricated sections.  It was built on those original 27 piers.  By 1928, the Lincoln Highway's vehicular traffic over it got to be a real problem.  Traffic jams were the rule of the day, especially when vehicles had to stop and wait for trains.  It remained open until 1958 when the new Veterans Memorial Bridge was built.

Crossing That bridge When We Come to It.  --Old Secesh

Pennsylvania's Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge-- Part 1

From Wikipedia

I'd never heard of this bridge or the role it played in causing the Battle of Gettysburg.  In addition, that was one huge bridge for that time or even today.  Actually, the one that was burned war not the first bridge at the site, nor was its replacement the last.

The first bridge over the Susquehanna at that point was begun in 1812, a covered bridge and completed in 1814 (good thing the war did not intrude on that area).  It cost $231,771 and was a mile long, at 5,690 feet, 30 feet wide and tolls were $1.50 for a wagon and six horses.

It was destroyed by ice, high water and severe weather February 5, 1832.

Construction on its replacement began in mid-1832 and was completed in 1834, at the cost of $157,300. (I imagine they used some of the original piers.  This new one was, at 5,620 feet, the world's longest covered bridge, 28 feet wide and held up by 27 piers.  It had a carriage/wagon way, a walking path and two towpaths to guide canal traffic across the river (now, that is a bit confusing, a bridge for canal traffic?)

Tolls were $1 a wagon and 6 cents a pedestrian.

More to Come.  --Old Secesh

Burning of the Columbia Bridge (Pa) to be Commemorated

From the April 6, 2013, Lehigh Valley (Pa) Morning Call "Events celebrate burning of key Columboa bridge during Civil War" by Diane W. Stoneback.

The event will be called "Flames Across the Susquehanna"  and will take place from 7-10 PM June 28th, marking the 150th anniversary of the burning of the mile-long covered bridge over the Susquehanna River between Columbia and Wrightsville.

This was a big reason why the Confederates ended up going to Gettysburg as they were stopped from marching north or east.  Instead, they ended up in  Gettysburg and we all know how that turned out.

Starting at 7 PM, ceremonial fires will be lighted one at a time atop each of the remaining 25 piers.  The old bridge site lies alongside the current Veterans Memorial Bridge.

Wonder How Things Would Have Played Out Had the Bridge Not been Burned?  --Old Secesh