Walking and reading without chewing gum

          The Horseshoe Ridge area of the Chickamauga National Military Park is a hilly location. It is a historically important piece of ground that was among the bloodiest positions in the entire American Civil War.

          Yours truly has devoted a large part of the last five years trying to understand

The view from near the top of
Hill 1 of Horseshoe Ridge
toward the Snodgrass buildings.

fully what happened along that pretty ridgeline on September 20, 1863 and on the sides of the hills which approach the ridge. Professional Civil War historians, no doubt, know a better way to do this. There is probably some slick academic method, some logical process the big-name pros use to study battlefield history and determine who did what, where they did it and when. You have to learn how sooner or later, too.

          These professional researchers know where to read about all the information they need for a given project. Many of these professionals are professors and they have assistants (read that students) who produce the needed information. These assistants, in turn, learn all the fancy research methods. The cool tricks.

          Yours truly does not know the fancy tricks, the ins and outs of academia, the time-saving procedures.

          I have to do it the hard way. First, I make copies of the material pertinent to the mysteries I want to solve. I insert each sheet into a plastic page protector and put the covers in a small notebook. I carry the notebook in the field and I read as I walk.

          I don’t try to chew gum at the same time.

          This week found your loyal blogger at Horseshoe Ridge, walking up and down the hills, notebook in hand. It is instructive to read the post-battle reports and letters from soldiers while walking the grounds.

The gap between Hill 1 (to the right) and Hill 2 (left). Notice the low spot between them.

          For example, if you want to determine approximately where a specific battalion went up the hill, you compare all the reports. Did an officer describe the ground his battalion fought over in the regimental report? Did a soldier describe the ground in a letter home to his family?

          If so, try to match the description of the topography in the report to what you see. Maybe one report describes a gentle slope while another describes and steep climb. Photograph what you see for future comparisons.

          The hillsides of Horseshoe Ridge are not smooth and easily traversed. There are undulations and draws that can make it difficult to go up hill in a straight line. The only consistent thing is change.

For that reason, a 106-year-old letter from a veteran of the fighting to the son of another veteran is valuable to a modern day researcher because it describes the ground covered by the writer’s battalion and names the commanding officer of the battalion to his right.

So I read the letter over and over while walking the various pathways repeatedly. Once in a while I figure something out and, in an uncertain world, THAT is a blessed event.

          Reading that letter as you walk the Ridge makes you feel as though you have company on that hillside. You can almost hear the voice of the writer and it feels as though the boys are with you.

          It is a unique experience. I highly recommend it.

 

          Thanks for reading.

This is a just for fun image. The images available from here are interesting.