Battlefields I Would Like to Visit (Again)

You’ll love Saylor’s Creek – Karen and I visited there 3 years ago, and it’s wonderfully pristine. There’s a local group there that takes wonderful care of it. The topography is very easy to interpret, and one can only imagine the carnage and loss that took place in the valley at the bottom. I was also able to easily envision the Federal Cavalry’s movements.

Great place, and one I’d love to get back to.

J.D.

There is precious little near Atlanta; urbanization took it all
before anyone cared. Stones River is nice, but the park has
only a small corner of the field.

JFE

To echo Dave, Pickett’s Mill is well worth the trip out to Dallas GA, although that last hike up from the ravine toward the Confederate line can be a killer. It’s pristine and usually uncrowded. There is at least one New Hope Church reservation nearby as well. I led a few tours there and at Kenesaw in my West Georgia College days.

I recommend Perryville to anyone who hasn’t been there since about 2002. The park now controls McCook’s entire I Corps front, from the Open Knob to the Bottom House and Dixville Crossroads.

Stones River is indeed small but included Sheridan’s “stand in the cedars” position, which I’m sure you’d not want to miss 😉

Finally there are real undiscovered jewels at Mill Springs/Logan’s Cross Roads KY, Olustee FL, and Blakely AL. The last named took it on the chin in the recent hurricanes, but it’s still well worth visiting.

If you haven’t been there since 95, then Perryville is a must-return, especially with Ken’s book in hand.

Several of my favorite units in the Army of the Cumberland fought at Pickett’s Mill, Wood’s and Johnson’s Divisions. While searching for Chickamauga stuff, I have come across a couple of Pickett’s Mill accounts that make it clear it was a grim fight.

The park allows you to walk the Confederate line, and then loop back around and, as Ken notes, climb up towards the line following the Federal route.

I was most surprised at the amount of signage and interpretation done at Bryce’s Crossroads. It being NBF’s most famous fight, I guess I can see why, but there really is a good bit to see. A driving tour and everything. My understanding is that most of the land is private property, but it is all still completely rural and ‘feels” right.

Eric,

The Aiken engagment is remembered by what is called the Defenders of Aiken marker, erected in 1911, in a corner of the First Baptist Churchyard, besides the intersection where the fighting took place. Rivers Bridge State Park is the best Sherman-related battle site here, located on the edge of Salkehatchie Swamp; many of the earthworks still survive. The earthworks that lie to the west of the City of Columbia at what some call the Battle of the Congaree (really just a skirmish) will soon be open to the public as part of a new park. These earthworks were built as part of a grandiose plan, never completed, to encircle the entire city with earthworks
which, considering the man-power deficiences in 1865, would have made little difference.

As for battle sites I would like to visit, sad to say I have never been to Shiloh, that must change someday. I have always wanted to see Palmito Ranch or Palmetto Ranch in Texas, I have seen both spellings used, site of the war’s last battle. There are two books on this engagement, I haven’t read either one but am always intrigued by the obscure and the forgotten, which certainly this qualifies as, no doubt. I think the Civil War Times had an article on it earlier this year.

John