Just Another Civil War Blog

Sunday, December 10, 2023

Fredericksburg

Yesterday I went to Fredericksburg Battlefield for the 161st Anniversary. I was headed for a ranger presentation at Prospect Hill. I've been a few times. The last time I went was in 2021 and Lee Drive was closed near the visitor center. The thing that struck me this time was the amount of development near the battlefield.

This is the scene two years ago around the time of my visit, on Lafayette Blvd not far from the Coolidge marker and the entrance to Lee Drive.

(Coolidge marker in the background just to the right of the tree)

As I headed to Prospect Hill, I noticed there were a lot of houses just visible off of Drive. This is certainly different from Gettysburg or Antietam were the actual battlefield is pretty well preserved. This this National Park Service (NPS) report notes as early as 1940 park officials expressed concerns about development
encroaching on the park.

I continued down Lee Drive to Prospect Hill. This was the area where Stonewall Jackson defended the area against attacks from Union troops. A few minutes after I arrived, the ranger started the presentation. It was a bit chilly but the weather was great and the sun was out.

(presentation by NPS ranger)

He did a great job explaining the fighting in the area. This link provides an overview. After the presentation I walked around the area and looked at the markers and plaques. After the war, one of Jackson's aides James Power Smith,
placed several stone markers around the Fredericksburg area relating to Lee and his Generals.

(marker near Prospect Hill)

This wasn't far from where the talk was given. After I finished my walk around Prospect Hill, I headed back to Maryland. Over all it was a great day.

Saturday, October 21, 2023

First Post

This is my first post. A little bit about me, I'm an attorney in Maryland and a Civil War history buff. I use Facebook a lot to post about the war but I wanted to move some of my stuff to a blog, so here goes....

On the way home from a dear friends funeral the other day, I stopped at Buffington Island Battlefield Memorial Park. It was on my Civil War sites bucket list. In July 1863, it was the site of Battle of Buffington Island, the largest Civil War battle in Ohio. The Battle was part of Morgan's Raid. The more than 1,000 mile raid was an attempt by Confederate General and cavalry commander, John H. Morgan to divert attention of the Union Army of the Ohio in Kentucky and Tennessee. After Morgan crossed the Ohio river into Indiana and in response to the raid Union commander of the Department of Ohio, General Ambrose Burnside organized local troops and attempted to stop Morgan. Undaunted, Morgan continued across Indiana into Ohio. On July 19, 1863, Union troops aided by U.S. Navy gunboats blocking the ford over the Ohio River, defeated Morgan and captured over 1,000 of his men. Morgan himself however escaped and tried to cross the river into West Virginia. He saw his remaining men fleeing northward and turned around. He was finally captured on July 26th.

The Memorial Park is in the small town of Portland, Ohio. The town is deep in southeast Ohio along the banks of the Ohio River. It was early in the morning and misty when I arrived at the park. No one was around. What mainly struck me was how small the park was. The land for the park was purchased by the Ohio Historical Society in 1929 and just four acres. In early 2023, the American Battlefield Trust saved additional acreage. There's only one main memorial and a picnic area and permanent rest rooms. There's no unit markers or walking trails. It's surrounded by fields and trailers - no McDonald's or campgrounds like Gettysburg. It was pretty quiet while I was there. I don't even think a car passed long rural Ohio Route 124.