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Been having a lot of fun on another board with the question: "What was the first battlefield you ever visited and tell us about it."
Mine was at Sharpsburg. Can't remember why or exactly when .. maybe 1987 ... but it did rejuvenate on off and on interest in the USCW.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Gettysburg then Antietam on a road trip my wife and I took to PA and MD back in 1982. I knew then I was hooked on this part of history. We took a road trip the next year and this time going to KY and TN seeing Stone's River and Shiloh.
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'If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed,
if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.'
Mark Twain
Mine was Gettysburg. I was a little tyke (though to probably many of you, I am still a young 'un) and don't remember a whole lot of the battlefield. I do remember the Eternal Light Peach Memorial vividly, and the cemetery, and little bits and pieces of the town. But now, living the the DelMarVa region, I have gotten to see many of the other battlefields. I guess it left a lasting impression!!
__________________ "The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize." George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
The very first Civil War battlefield I ever visited was Perryville, in Kentucky in 2005. It was a bit of a roadside distraction that we happened upon when I went on vacation with my aunt, uncle, two younger cousins, and sister. We traveled to the east coast and visited Washington D.C., and on the way back to Illinois we went through Kentucky. My aunt and uncle knew of my interest in the Civil War and they stopped at the battlefield.
It was an interesting experience. I remember being very excited about being able to "touch" the history I had long been fascinated with, but I knew very little about the battle. We took a walking tour around the grounds, and it was a great experience overall.
Several years ago I visited South Mountain, MD where my great grandfather was wounded. Using his diary I was able to find the general vicinity where he was shot at Foxes Gap. Next I traveled to nearby Frederick to the Lutheran Church, converted to a hospital, where he was taken. Someday I hope to visit North Anna River in Virginia where he was captured and Andersonville, Georgia where he was a POW.
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"Those who forget to remember the past are condemned to repeat it", George Santayana.
It has to be Bennington in New York State. Didn't know enough about the history of that little battle where one of Burgoynne's column that was supposed to raid the farmlands for horses and fodder was completely smashed by a bunch of farmers. It was a major defeat of regular troops by a bunch o' militia. I visited a lot of New England/Upstate New York Revolutionary War battlefields in the '80s when I used to go to New Hampshire annually.
For the American Civil War, Murfreesboro, Tennessee in the late '80s. I was taking a NMLRA gun building class in Bowling Green, Kentucky and played tourist when I was in the area. It's well interpreted (both sides tried to flank the other's left flank) in the dead of winter. I also learned that fire ants were eating the sythentic wood planks the Park Service layed down (the newer stuff has a pesticide to deter fire ants) and the Rangers were dismayed about it. I think my next battlefield was Fort Donelson as it was in the area. My first major battlefield in the East was Fredericksburg. That the area was highly developed made it very disappointing.
I'm from Arkansas and my first battlefield visit was Jenkin's Ferry. I have since been to Prarie Grove, Mark's Mill and Pea Ridge here in Arkansas.
I have visited Wilson's Creek, Vicksburg, Shiloh, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Chickamauga, Stones River, Murfreesboro and last but not least,
Gettysburg.
My pop was stationed in Charleston SC, so when I was still pulling on his pant leg he would take me down to "The Battery" to go fishing. As a kid I remember looking out into the harbor and seeing the old fort and thinking "that just seems to be in the way". I even broke my arm falling off one of the bigger cannons. He also took me to Liberty Island where the USS Yorktown is mored. Those memories are what started my passion for history;civil war and WW2. I started painting model figures and building models of WW2 aircraft. Many years later I am still building model aircraft. I never told my pop how much fun it was doing those things, so I have made a point to take my kids to similar sites. We recently went to Mansfield LA and went aboard the USS Lexington mored in Corpus Christi. I hope that the kids enjoy it as much as I do and their interest will grow as they get older.
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