CWT Chickamauga 2018- After Action Reports

My Sunday morning pictures came out pretty good. The doe in Brotherton Field @Booner was sweet-talking on Sunday morning. She listened but wasn't buying it. :D

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Reeds Bridge 9/18/1863
US

ColMinty: @7shotWild u got any spr trps?
7shotWild: dude we got r hands full
7shotWild: at alxndrs brdg
ColMinty: dude we got @CavWizNBF
CavWizNBF: yup & @BushyJohn
ColMinty: I thot sum 1 dlted him?
CavWizNBF: <deleted from group by @cav4MI7PA4US>
7shotWild: sndn 7 cos ur way
ColMinty: whts up w/ u & 7s?
7shotWild: huh?
ColMinty: nvrmnd - jst snd hlp
7shotWild: k sndn sum @72IN & @123IL mtd inf
ColMinty: any ofthem got spencrs
7shotWild: uumm no jst my guys
ColMinty: @WindyTrdBtty u firin blks?
WindyTrdBtty: no sir canistr
ColMinty: @7shotWild u got any spr arty
7shotWild: dude ur killin me
WindyTrdBtty: @CavWizNBF stillcomin
7shotWild: sndn sect of @RxLilly batty
RxLilly: ontheway
ColMinty: i hate @CavWizNBF :furious:
 
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I sliped off from the Wilder field road march (due to not being able to walk that much) to see if the NPS had changed any of the weapons in the Fuller collection which is an awesome collection and they had not changed a single weapon from my last vist. I know they have more guns in storage.

Been waking up an hour before my alarm.

I found that not changing your watch and a shot of Fireball cures that, right @Drew
 
Got all my dirty clothes delivered to me by FedEx today. Time to do laundry. I swear my bags felt just as heavy outbound as they did inbound. Don't know wassup with that.
 
I finally got a good night sleep and am arriving at post-campaign normalcy. I finally got all my pics downloaded and had a chance to go through them too. Turns out I didn't take many pics at some of the sites not on our official tour,so I'm gonna mostly post them in this thread I think. For a few weeks before our tour started,I planned to hit the ground running at the Chattanooga airport and head straight to Dalton. I had read the Blue & Gray Magazine issue on Dalton and had it with me. There were 3 sites in Dalton I planned to definitely visit. I googled "Dug Gap Battlefield Park" at the Chattanooga airport and hit the road. I knew something was wrong when I was in downtown Dalton and Google Maps said I was .2 miles from my destination. That Google adventure took me to the Visitor Center/Depot Museum in Dalton which didn't turn out to be a bad thing. I had to go the restroom anyway and I picked up a good brochure/map of the Civil War tour of Dalton and a good brochure on my second planned site visit in Dalton. I got my bearings and headed out and found the park entrance up on the ridge.

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As I said,I read the Blue & Gray Magazine issue on Dalton and a small book,partly about Dalton,before our tour.

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... I got my bearings and headed out and found the park entrance up on the ridge.
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I had the same B&G issue on Dalton as you, and although @mkyzzzrdet and I drove through, around, and past Dalton several times on our trip we actually visited very few sites. We attempted to eat dinner in the 1850's W&ARR Depot but found it closed and the restaurant a thing of the past. I was so disgusted that I didn't even bother to take photos there or of Joe Johnston's nearby statue. The two places we did however visit were the "pocket park" viewing station at Mill Creek Gap in Rocky Face Ridge and Dug Gap. Below, Atlanta Campaign markers at Mill Creek Gap:

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Returning from our weekend at Chickamauga we turned south at Tunnel Hill and drove south through the valley west of Rocky Face Ridge to Dug Gap, parking outside the gated parking lot and walking into the tiny so-called "park" there. The only photo I took was this one of the roadside marker you also saw:

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After hiking up the steep trail to the ridge and walking along the ridge some, I decided that next time I go to Dalton I need to spend a whole day there and hire a guide or go with someone who knows the area. It was hard getting my bearings up there and I'm sure Rocky Face Ridge doesn't run in a straight line. I'm sure it follows the contours of the hills along the ridge. I need to get that compass app like @Frums has on his phone too. I also realized that's not a good place to hike alone. If you fall and can't get up,you're in a world of hurt. The terrain is remote and brutal.

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I got up on the rocky ridge and walked as far as I dared to the best spot I could find for a picture. I shoulda taken a pic of where my feet were and the ridge immediately left and right of me to show y'all how precarious my footing was.

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I got up on the rocky ridge and walked as far as I dared to the best spot I could find for a picture. I shoulda taken a pic of where my feet were and the ridge immediately left and right of me to show y'all how precarious my footing was.

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That's pretty much why we didn't tarry too long there either - I only regret not having taken ANY photos from there!
 
Good idea to start a separate thread for after action reports.

I noticed earlier today that @Buckeye Bill posted some great photos from the Ringgold Tour and from Chickamauga on Saturday and Sunday! You can check them out here https://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-ringgold-gap-chickamauga-battlefield-tour-2018.151195/

So far these are threads or posts within existing threads I've created concerning the trip, in addition to photos posted on the previous trip thread:

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/confederate-states-of-america-cemeteries.99188/page-14#post-1918774

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/union-24-gun-battery-at-kennesaw-mountain-nbp.151261/

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/texas-civil-war-monuments.83560/page-3#post-1919329

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At the Union 24-Gun Battery at Kennesaw Mountain NBP.

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I may have told most or all of this before, but a quick rundown of the week was as follows: Sunday I flew into Atlanta-Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta and met Mike @mkyzzzrdet at our hotel. From there we drove to Jonesboro to visit the Pat Cleburne Cemetery and figure out the battle there as best we could without maps or a guidebook before returning to our hotel. (Unfortunately, both of us had forgotten to take our cameras so we have nothing to show for our efforts in Jonesboro!) Monday was split between Kennesaw Mountain NBP and the Southern Civil War and RR Museum at the town of Kennesaw (Big Shanty during the war) which is the current home of the locomotive General from The Great Locomotive Chase. Tuesday morning we returned to Kennesaw Mountain and saw the Union 24-Gun Battery before continuing on the short distance to Alatoona Pass Inn on the old battlefield of Allatoona. The ca. 1890 inn is a wonderful B&B across from the entrance to the park which we spent the afternoon exploring. (Look for a separate thread!) That evening we drove to Cartersville for dinner.

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Wednesday we followed the route of the Great Locomotive Chase all the way to Ringgold, which was also the route of the Atlanta Campaign in reverse. There are several so-called Pocket Parks or waysides like this one outside Cassville built by the Depression-era Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930's with bronze relief maps of the various battles; we almost missed it, but for Mike's sharp eyes!

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While looking at a clutch of roadside markers for the campaign on U.S. 41 at Adairsville we decided to visit the nearby town and its restored W&ARR Depot which contains a museum featuring the Chase. (Look for a future thread on the subject!) While waiting for it to open we accepted an invitation from a shop owner to look inside her gift/antiques mall/shop where I found and finally broke down and bought a 1960 edition of the classic 1898 Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War which I am currently reading, having started it on the wait for and return flight to Texas. Following our tour of the little museum we returned to the shop for wonderful pecan pie and spice cake!

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Next stop was the W&ARR Tunnel at Tunnel Hill north of Dalton. We had been here before, back in 2014 but had missed also touring the house (above and below) where John Bell Hood had been brought after losing his leg at Chickamauga. Who should we meet in the parking lot but Bobby @bdtex! (Unfortunately by then it was after 4 pm and too late for the tunnel or house tours, but we returned the following day on our drive to Ringgold.) I wanted to check out the sites in Ringgold I planned to visit during our group tour so we cut short the rest of the day. On our way back we stopped at the wayside at Mill Creek Gap briefly before going into Dalton where we ate dinner before returning to Alatoona for the second night.

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Thursday we abandoned our "home" at Alatoona and although the original plan had been to go to Chattanooga for the day and try to meet others of our group there, Mike & I decided to again spend a leisurely day on U.S. 41 back to Ringgold. Our first stop was early in the morning at the site of the wartime Cooper Iron Works near Cartersville, destroyed by Sherman's army except for the blast furnace above. The day before we'd missed the turn to Kingston so decided to see what was there. Unfortunately the W&A Depot is long gone but we found the interesting Confederate Cemetery there which is detailed in my link in the above post. This time we had an extended tour of both the tunnel and nearby house and recreated general store at Tunnel Hill where we ran into the Missourians!

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We continued on to Ringgold again, stopping to see if the elusive Old Stone Church there which had served as a hospital - allegedly with blood stains to prove it - was open; but alas! we never managed to find it open on several tries despite posted signs to the contrary. Failing that, we went on our way to locate the hotel where our gathering was to take place. That evening we joined other members at the Golden Corral Buffet on Battlefield Parkway between Ringgold and Fort Oglethorpe at the northern entrance to Chickamauga NMP. The next three days - Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning - were taken up with the various tours of Ringgold, Chickamauga Battlefield and environs. We never even made it to Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain, or any part of Tennessee!

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My next stop in Dalton was West Hill Cemetery. I was gonna post some pics of it in @Buckeye Bill 's Confederate Cemeteries Golden Thread but somebody posted a video about the cemetery early in that thread so I'll post all of my pics here. First,pics from the Confederate Cemetery there.

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On one of the street corners at West Hill Cemetery is another Civil War historical marker and a cannon. I recall checking the barrel for any markings but don't recall if there were/are any.

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Final stop in Dalton was downtown at the Joseph E. Johnston statue. Weekends are probably better to get good pictures of the statue. Less traffic and fewer parked cars around maybe.

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