Just got back from three days in Virginia. I made Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania CH, Wilderness, Chancellorsville, Kelly's Ford, Culpeper, Brandy Station, Rappahanock Ford, 1st and 2nd Manassas and Aldie ( brother lives near there on the Old Carolina Road). Very neat standing out on that road in an unimproved area with a full moon shining through the trees. Thousand of civil war troops march up and down that road. Same can be said about driving 50 in Loudoun County near Aldie, Middleburg, Snickersville and Upperville.


I had not been to the big battlefields since I worked for the NPS at Petersburg in the early '80's.

Did pick up some reading materials.

Bought "the Bloody Fifth" about the 5th Texas Infantry. Fresh off the press by John Schmutz.

Also my bother is a big ACW historian. I raided his library and made off with a series of books by Rhea on the Overland Campaign.

Looking forward to some good reading.

Jealous of your trip. Sounds like it was awesome.

The Gordan Rhea books are pretty good.

I was up there to see my Ol' Lady get his flag and become the 90th Commandant of the Naval District Washington at the Navy Yards. His office is where Lincoln would come and sit on his porch and watch the activities of the Navy to relax. Also where Lincoln would depart to go to City Point to visit Grant in 1864-65

Very cool museums there is you ever have a chance to visit. Absolute detailed ship models from all eras. and LOTS of guns.

Did you see Dahlgren's leg at the Navy Yard?

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Did you see Dahlgren's leg at the Navy Yard?

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Saw the plaque. No leg.

That place is jammed pack with history.

No one has seen it apparantly, when they renovated the building a few years ago and went to where the leg was supposed to be it was not there. Maybe it's with Stonewall's arm, if only Smedley Butler was around to be questioned.

Some observations that struck me in viewing displays and exhibits at VC's throughout the parks.

1. Fredericksburg doesn't give a good representation of the battle. All the sight lines are obstructed my trees and houses that cover the most important parts of the battlefield. However with the acquisition of the Slaughter Pen Farm has added a tremendous amount of open farm land, very much like the original setting.

2. Fred. Museum/VC. An 10 in clear cylinder about 7 feet long full of mini-balls, supposedly 10,000 bullets representing the number of bullets in the air every second during the pitched battles. You can read that but actually seeing it is very impressive.

3. Spotsylvania CH - still one of the better battlefields. lots of original clearings and trenches everywhere. the Bloody Angle and the assault route is very moving if you know what happened there. I am very surprised how much urbanization has taken place near the park in the past 30 years. Used to be way out in the woods.

4. Wilderness - all the major landmark open fields are still there. Other than that it is still wilderness, looks like it did back then.

5. Chancellorsville.- same as above. I did make the pilgrimage to Jackson's wounding site. That site and the site of the last Council of War between Lee and Jackson was very moving. I would have like to have marched/ hiked Jackson's flank march route.


I still say that Sharpsburg and Gettysburg are the best battlefields in the system. Close behind are Vicksburg and Petersburg because of the trench systems still there.

Rabid:

Have you been to Pea Ridge and Wilson's Creek they are two very nice parks too and very close to 19th century appearance?

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Rabid:

Have you been to Pea Ridge and Wilson's Creek they are two very nice parks too and very close to 19th century appearance?

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No, unfortunately I never have. Shiloh and Stones River are too!

Unfortunately at Stones River the Confederate right/Union left where the battle began is all city now and the Hazen monument one of war's first is being damaged by the heavy passing freight trains not even mentioning the unsightly gravel factory that they stop at.

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Unfortunately at Stones River the Confederate right/Union left where the battle began is all city now and the Hazen monument one of war's first is being damaged by the heavy passing freight trains not even mentioning the unsightly gravel factory that they stop at.

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Stones River is one those battles you would want but not want to see in person. You can only image that gun line.

I grew up in Spotsylvania and Fredericksburg. It is an extremely historic area for many reason of course including the Civil War. There were trenches everywhere. We lived on the edge of a large wooded area and there were trenches behind our house.

We would always find different pieces of "remnants" from the civil war basically everywhere. When we found something we would give them to a co-worker of my Dad and neighbor that ended up with a huge private collection of Civil War memorabilia. He has loaned out his collection to a number of exhibits and museums. It was really a fun little town in which to grow up.

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Just got back from three days in Virginia. I made Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania CH, Wilderness, Chancellorsville, Kelly's Ford, Culpeper, Brandy Station, Rappahanock Ford, 1st and 2nd Manassas and Aldie ( brother lives near there on the Old Carolina Road). Very neat standing out on that road in an unimproved area with a full moon shining through the trees. Thousand of civil war troops march up and down that road. Same can be said about driving 50 in Loudoun County near Aldie, Middleburg, Snickersville and Upperville.


I had not been to the big battlefields since I worked for the NPS at Petersburg in the early '80's.

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What a neat trip. I always thought Spotsylvania was one of Lee's great tactical defensive victories.

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Just got back from three days in Virginia. I made Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania CH, Wilderness, Chancellorsville, Kelly's Ford, Culpeper, Brandy Station, Rappahanock Ford, 1st and 2nd Manassas and Aldie ( brother lives near there on the Old Carolina Road). Very neat standing out on that road in an unimproved area with a full moon shining through the trees. Thousand of civil war troops march up and down that road. Same can be said about driving 50 in Loudoun County near Aldie, Middleburg, Snickersville and Upperville.


I had not been to the big battlefields since I worked for the NPS at Petersburg in the early '80's.

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What a neat trip. I always thought Spotsylvania was one of Lee's great tactical defensive victories.

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Yea if you kill enough them by sacrificing enough of yours they eventually will stop. Only problem was the they had replacements, he did not.

How would you define it as a victory? Lee was stuck, Grant had options and chose maneuver, forcing Lee to follow. It was a stalemate of a battle and a minor strategic success for Grant.

I agree with both statements. That is why I used the term tactical victory. I do consider it a Confederate tactical victory in the sense that Grant failed to displace Lee and was forced to continue his flanking movement. His use of interior lines and using the geography to his advantage was brilliant. Lee realized after Gettysburg he lost the initiative and offensive striking power. His strategy was to win in a war of attrition. The problem was Grant was unlike any General he had faced before. I can't imagine Lee's frustration at Grant's perseverance after inflicting such heavy causalities in less than a month.

It was very strange driving down the very same road that Lee's army traveled from Wilderness to Spotsylvania. Also was same road that Jackson was carried away from Chancellorsville on.