The Civil War Battlegrounds

[josephusminimus]

One of the sources of travel enjoyment in the eastern US for me was visiting the Civil War battlegrounds.&nbsp; At least those still preserved well enough to recognize the terrain features.&nbsp; At the time I was passing through a phase of submerging myself in the history of the time, so I suppose it mightn't be for everyone.&nbsp; I won't bother mentioning Gettysburg because you've all probably been there.<br /><br />A few of my personal favorites:<br /><br />Probably my favorite is Vicksburg.&nbsp; Maybe because it's so well preserved and if a person spends a few hours, or a few days going over the site it still holds discoveries, mysteries and drama.<br /><br />Huge site.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nps.gov/vick/index.htm">http://www.nps.gov/vick/index.htm</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.vicksburgbattlefieldmuseum.net/">http://www.vicksburgbattlefieldmuseum.net/</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/vicksburg.html">http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/vicksburg.html</a><br /><br />Antietam's also fairly well preserved and a good one.&nbsp; That nightmare cornfield is still there.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antietam_National_Battlefield">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antietam_National_Battlefield</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/antiet.htm">http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/antiet.htm</a><br /><br />The forts on the barrier islands are a don't miss.&nbsp; Here's a link to a fair summary of a tour-like set of a lot of what happened in those troubles:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.fodors.com/community/uni...ghway-through-the-cradle-of-the-civil-war.cfm">http://www.fodors.com/community/uni...ghway-through-the-cradle-of-the-civil-war.cfm</a><br /><br /><br />Further west there's a spattering of the less-decisive engagements in most of the states.&nbsp; In Texas, there's Fort Davis.&nbsp; Not precisely a battlefield, but it's where the Texans left their wounded during the last phase of the retreat from New Mexico.&nbsp; Left them so the Union Army could tend them, but the Apache arrived first and butchered them betwixt the time of the Texans leaving and the Union arriving.<br /><br />There's Glorietta and Valverde still out there in New Mexico.&nbsp; Not formal sites, but still available for some hikes, climbing, still there to examine the pockmarks left by bullets in the rocks people were hiding behind.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />

 

[karl]

I don't have a lot of interest in the Civil War, but really enjoyed Bentonville and Appomattox.

 

[blars]

I think some of the lesser known battles (not civil war) are more interesting.&nbsp; How many know that California and Nevada fought over a border dispute, or the one between Canada and the US over a pig?

 

[josephusminimus]

I think some of the lesser known battles (not civil war) are more interesting.&nbsp; How many know that California and Nevada fought over a border dispute, or the one between Canada and the US over a pig?

Although I'd call myself a history buff I never heard of those.&nbsp; But I agree, the US Civil War is only a toe in the water.<br /><br />I spent several years examining a civil war fought almost a thousand years ago among the Chacoan/Mogollons and thoroughly enjoyed doing it.<br /><br />Thanks for pointing out that I'd focused the thread too tightly to be of interest to a lot of folks.

 

[mockturtle]

I don't think you focused too tightly at all.&nbsp; Civil War battlefields are a huge tour on their own [one I have yet to take].&nbsp;

 

[Les H]

Trish and I met a couple who fulltimed in a class a who "collected" US fort sites, whether they still stand or not. And here in the south, its hard to go into any town or city that doesnt have some ties to either the civil war, trail of tears or even the civil rights movement, if thats what you are into.

 

[josephusminimus]

Trish and I met a couple who fulltimed in a class a who "collected" US fort sites, whether they still stand or not. And here in the south, its hard to go into any town or city that doesnt have some ties to either the civil war, trail of tears or even the civil rights movement, if thats what you are into.

The folks you met were on a fun track. The landscapes of this country are spackled with fort sites barely documented or undocumented ranging from protection from NA raids, feuds, civil wars, other wars, whatever.&nbsp; Great fun locating the garbage heaps and middens of the undocumented ones.&nbsp; Amazingly informative about our ancestors, those garbage heaps.&nbsp;

 

[josephusminimus]

Hovenweep, up near Monticello, UT, might be one of the more interesting forts in the US.&nbsp; I don't think it's there for the Civil War, though.&nbsp; Their civil war came a bit late in the day to have Hovenweep as an anticipator of it.&nbsp; Maybe a century or two before those folks began bashing in the heads of their kinfolk.<br /><br />My personal view is that Hovenweep was out on the periphery of the territory they believed was safe enough not to need a border patrol.

 

[josephusminimus]

Roughly at 32 38 47N, 111 37 0 W,&nbsp; Picacho Pass, AZ, was the westernmost battle of the Civil War. The Confederate troops were trying to stall the advance of the California Volunteers moving east to re-take Tuscon, then push on to the Rio Grande.<br /><br /><img rel="lightbox" src="http://sofarfromheavendotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/swilling-bullet-hole-and-repairs.jpg?w=500" class="bbc_img" /><br /><br />The southerners were commanded by Jack Swilling, [who later became the founder of Phoenix and is a study unto himself - Note the bullet hole in his hat and the fact it's been cut in half and sewn back together - eventually he died in prison awaiting trial for a stagecoach stickup for which he was acquitted ex-post-facto].<br /><br />I've never attempted to locate the Picacho Pass battleground, don't know whether anyone knows where it is.&nbsp; But I'd like to sometime.<br /><br />Incidently, the south lost that one and Swilling was captured.&nbsp; Showed up a short time later at Pinos Altos, NM, working with the California Volunteers to lure Mangus Colorado out of the woods in a truce, where they captured him, tied him to a wagon wheel, killed him trying to escape during the night.