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Gotta see the crater at Petersburg

Dinner at the Crab Shack…

I’m not sure any of this is real.

Scrapnel has a long history of faking pics.


Most pics on this thread were probably pulled off the net while fat boy sits in his Barko Lounger.

Welcome to it.
Seriously, take it back to Montana if you wish.
Last week was in the 80s, and comfortable.
Monday morning was 60, and saturated underwear sweaty.

From the Collins family iirc. From the Paysures family. Who made their Rothschild employees somewhat wealthy.

I spent half a day at Petersburg. Didn't do it justice. I've always meant to get back. The crater is cool

Petersburg was truly the key to Richmond, for that matter eastern resistance in the confederacy!
I wonder when it came to be recognized as such by the high command! I think it came to both sides at the same time!
Meades corps commanders had plenty of opportunity to take Petersburg in the fall of 1864, but everybody dropped the ball!
Beauregard got there first with a few thousand men, and was able to hold on until Lee got there with his army.
Taking Petersburg would have shortened the war by about 6 months!
And while we’re discussing strategies, it’s my opinion that Sherman’s march did nothing but long term economic damage to the Deep South: he was burning farms fields and factories hundreds of miles away from the nearest confederate units, faced only by a few local militia.
“Grant was to go for Lee. And I was to go for Joe Johnson!”
These are “Uncle Billy’s l” own words on what was discussed in Cincinnati before Grant went east to take overall command. Without the armies, the confederate government had zero real power.
His march from Atlanta to Savanna did zero to shorten the war
The Army of Tennessee was his true objective!!! 😟
While Hood went off to try to get the state of TN back into the war, Billy and his boys went on a big freaking picnic shoe Scofield and Thomas, actually won the war!
Reon

Imagine if Sherman, Scofield and Thomas, 3 armies, could have forced the AOT to surrender, then headed east to help Grant and Meade to corral Lee, we’re talking about taking about 8 or 9’months off the length of the war! 🤬 Thousands of lives, millions of dollars worth of internal structure saved for the post war South!
I do hold Sherman, and Lincoln as CINC, responsible for this.
So the North fought and deliberately extended the war to end slavery.
You guys know your history as well as I do.
Change my mind!
Reon

Battle of Franklin was madness

Fredericksburg, the third battle to claim the bloodiest battle. Antietam, Gettysburg and now Fredericksburg, each with their own dimension…

Michael Fellman's book "Citizen Sherman" is pretty good to get an idea about who Sherman was. He was a deeply conflicted individual and at one time had to be sent home to recuperate when he was stationed in Kentucky I think because he had a nervous breakdown. He was crazy. I do think it says although he allowed foraging it got out of hand and the criminal element went full nuts robbing, destroying and pillaging. His celebrated march to the sea I have to agree did more harm than good for ending the war. But had Johnson been allowed to stay and fight him his success would've been much less. Johnson was effective against him.
Lincoln actually had little to do with the prosecution of the war in my opinion.

Hood was a helluva good division commander, way over his head as the head of TAOT commander.
He recuperated in Richmond from the terrible wounds he received at Gettysburg and Davis came to be his friend. Davis never cared for Joe Johnston and he promoted Hood to the command after Sherman, with a 5 to 1 advantage, maneuvered Johnson into retreating to Atlanta.
Hood was aggressive, and after Sherman stomped him in GA, he took off for TN, trying to draw the Army of The Ohio out of GA. A good move IMHO, but Hood was in a lot of pain and probably taking a lot of laudanum, which probably didn’t make him a great strategic fighter.
Like I stated, Sherman with his great advantage in men with TAOTO, and Scofield with the Army of The Cumberland and Thomas with the Army of The Tennessee, could probably easily have forced him to surrender TAOT, and then corralled Lee in VA. They outnumbered Hood probably 12 or 15 to one at this point. A shoe in cinch!😎
I often wonder what the heck Grant and the high command were to thinking in letting Sherman head off on a picnic instead of pursuing the war? It had to be political reasons, or surely Lincoln and Grant as a strategist would have spotted the problem.
As a kid I was taught Lincoln was a great president, but as I have gotten older and read further into the history, I believe that he forced the seceded states into an unnecessary war. Remember, only 7 states went out until he called for 75,000 troops to put down a rebellion!
Everything that happened from that point on, was done for a political reason. Little Mac couldn’t win the war early, because the war was fought for political reasons.
The north and the Republicans were clearly fighting a political war.
Considering the cost In money for the war, not even considering the lives ruined and the damage done, we would have been 100’times better off if the Republicans had paid 5 times the value of the slaves held in bondage and sent all of them home to Africa. I know it sounds racist of me, and maybe it is, but as I said, I describe myself as a realist.
Compare the current situation with African Americans and consider the white Eastern Europeans and Chinese imported for cheap labor. They were treated as poorly and discriminated against as bad or worse than the worst of the slaves. I know. Because my great grandad was a Hunky miner on my Moms side, and because I live in and have studied Pennsylvania!
I’m looking through 150 years of hindsight, and it does wonders for your vision!😀
I grew up Believing that WW2 was a just war! And with Hitler running Germany and the aggression from Japan, it surely was!
But that 80 years of hindsight leads me to believe that it was fought tactically and ended as it was for political purposes not military decisions!
I’m not claiming to be a strategic genius. I have a 12th grade education. But this cursed hindsight and being a realist in conjunction with reading history, has made me realize that everything that happens has a political reason, and one helluva lot of it is smoke and mirrors!
Viet Nam and LBJ, watergate, Iraq and Iran, and Ukraine back to the Middle East are all decisions made by people who are not elected, but have wealth and control and influence.
The sun rises and the world turns because God wills it. Everything else is political.
Change my mind!
Reon

A little snippet on my GG Grandfather[James Craig Taylor] found by CF member magmarc:

Before becoming a lawyer and publisher, James Craig Taylor and his elder brother George (b. 1825) both volunteered and served in the Mexican–American War (1848–1849), and later both became Confederate officers during the American Civil War. On April 22, 1861, upon hearing the news that Virginia had seceded, Montgomery County citizens raised $10,000 to support the Confederate war effort and entrusted it to James C. Taylor, who invested it in county bonds. The local County Court authorized issuance of additional bonds, and also named Taylor the county treasurer.[4] Taylor soon raised a company (C in the 54th Virginia Infantry), and became its captain on September 10, 1861, later fighting in the Battle of Middle Creek in Kentucky and earning a promotion to Major on May 13, 1862. He was mustered out on September 20, 1862.[5] All five of the Taylor brothers would fight for the Confederacy and only Creed Taylor Jr. (b. 1832 who died in a postwar duel or accident) failed to receive an officer's commission. Younger brother John Locke Taylor (1835–1911) was wounded at the Second Battle of Manassas, and his brother Robert Taylor (1838–1862) died at the Battle of Malvern Hill.

I'm also trying to find a copy of the letter he sent to the Governor upon hearing the news that Virginia would be seceding.
So far I've been unsuccessful in finding where I stored it.

Chatham House/Union hospital during Battle of Fredericksburg…

I sorta got off the rails on politics and such, and I want to apologize to Kirk.
This is rightfully his thread, chronicling he and Dianne’s visit to the history and Scenery of the eastern United States.
This is my heritage, and I treasure it personally. From talking with him, I’m sure that they do as well and I am hoping this trip is safe and enjoyable, as I think it is. I wish I had gotten a chance to meet you both! Don’t be a stranger, and if I ever get back to Montana, you and I got a date to go, possibly die again with General Custer!😀 Walking that same ground and knowing the history and stories, actually can give you that feeling!😎
I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself. Carol and I always talked about maybe renting a camper and spending a week or two doing what you’re doing now! I’m a little envious, but I’m happy for you both!😀
I know you’re busy, but please give me a call when you’re both settled back at home! We can probably spend an evening talking about it!😀
Reon

“Grant stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was drinking!”
Uncle Billy or William T Sherman, whichever fits for you.😀
Though I hold Sherman in some guilt, I admire the man, and he and Old Pete (Longstreet) I consider them old friends that I haven’t met yet. Honestly there are dozens more throughout American History that I feel this way about. GAC and his wife Libbie most certainly, Washington, Jefferson, Nimitz and Ike too.
Great authors can bring these great people alive to you, and you will come to think of them as personal friends as well as heroes!
I’d surely like to have a coffee with Lincoln, and find out what really motivated him.
“Why not let the South go in peace?” He was supposedly asked.
“I can’t let them go. Who would pay for the government?” Was his reply!😀
Bruce Catton set the standard for writing Civil War history, Shelby Foote raised the bar. Both are considered friends as well!

The first time we were at Gettysburg it was the last few days of June in the mid 90’s. It was scorching hot. I was wearing shorts and a golf shirt and was roasting. I kept thinking about the men who fought there marching for miles and miles in those wool tunics and Brogan shoes (Hell, some of the Rebs were barefoot). There had to have been many who succumbed to the heat. Of course people were tougher then.

Ron

Maj Charles Peyton battle report after Pickett’s charge
Report of Major Charles S. Peyton, Nineteenth Virginia Infantry, commanding Garnett’s brigade, Pickett’s division.
CAMP NEAR WILLIAMSPORT, MD., July 9, 1863.

MAJOR: In compliance with instructions from division headquarters, I have the honor to report the part taken by this brigade in the late battle near Gettysburg, Pa., July 3.

Notwithstanding the long and severe marches made by the troops of this brigade, they reached the field about 9 a. m., in high spirits and in good condition. At about 12 p. m. we were ordered to take position behind the crest of the hill on which the artillery, under Colonel Alexander, was planted, where we lay during a most terrific cannonading, which opened at 1.30 p. m., and was kept up without intermission for one hour.

During the shelling, we lost about 20 killed and wounded. Among the killed was Lieutenant-Colonel Ellis, of the Nineteenth Virginia, whose bravery as a soldier, and his innocence, purity, and integrity as a Christian, have not only elicited the admiration of his own command, but endeared him to all who knew him.

At 2.30 p. m., the artillery fire having to some extent abated, the order to advance was given, first by Major-General Pickett in person, and repeated by General Garnett with promptness, apparent cheerfulness, and alacrity. The brigade moved forward at quick time. The ground was open, but little broken, and from 800 to 1, 000 yards from the crest whence we started to the enemy’s line. The brigade moved in good order, keeping up its line almost perfectly, notwithstanding it had to climb three high post and rail fences, behind the last of which the enemy’s skirmishers were first met and immediately drive in. Moving on, we soon met the advance line of the enemy, lying concealed in the grass on the slope, about 100 yards in front of his second line, which consisted of a stone wall about breast high, running nearly parallel to and about 30 paces from the crest of the hill, which was lined with their artillery.

The first line referred to above, after offering some resistance, was completely routed, and driven in confusion back to the stone wall. Here we captured some prisoners, which were ordered to the rear without a guard. Having routed the enemy here, General Garnett ordered the brigade forward, which it promptly obeyed, loading and firing as it advanced.

Up to this time we had suffered but little from the enemy’s batteries, which apparently had been much crippled previous to our advance, with the exception of one posted on the mountain, about 1 mile to our right, which enfiladed nearly our entire line with fearful effect, sometimes as many as 10 men being killed and wounded by the bursting of a single shell. From the point it had first routed the enemy, the brigade moved rapidly forward toward the stone wall, under a galling fire both from artillery and infantry, the artillery using grape and canister. We were now within about 75 paces of the wall, unsupported on the right and left, General Kemper being some 50 or 60 yards behind and to the right, and General Armistead coming up in our rear.

General Kemper’s line was discovered to be lapping on ours, when, deeming it advisable to have the line extended on the right to prevent being flanked, a staff officer rode back to the general to request him to incline to the right. General Kemper not being present (perhaps wounded at the time), Captain Fry, of his staff, immediately began his exertions to carry out the request, but, in consequence of the eagerness of the men in pressing forward, it was impossible to have the order carried out.

Our line, much shattered, still kept up the advance until within about 20 paces of the wall, when, for a moment, it recoiled under the terrific fire that poured into our ranks both from their batteries and from their sheltered infantry. At this moment, General Kemper came up on the right and General Armistead in rear, when the three lines, joining in concert, rushed forward with unyielding determination and an apparent spirit of laudable rivalry to plant the Southern banner on the wall of the enemy. His strongest and last line was instantly gained; the Confederate battle-flag waved over his defenses, and the fighting over the wall became hand to hand, and of the most desperate character; but more than half having already fallen, our line was found too weak to rout the enemy. We hoped for a support on the left [which had started simultaneously with ourselves], but hoped in vain. Yet a small remnant remained in desperate struggle, receiving a fire in front, on the right, and on the left, many even climbing over the wall, and fighting the enemy in his own trenches until entirely surrounded; and those who were not killed or wounded were captured, with the exception of about 300 who came off slowly, but greatly scattered, the identity of every regiment being entirely lost, and every regimental commander killed or wounded.

The brigade went into action with 1,287 men and about 140 officers, as shown by the report of the previous evening, and sustained a loss, as the list of casualties will show, of 941 killed, wounded, and missing, and it is feared, from all the information received, that the majority (those reported missing) are either killed or wounded.

It is needles, perhaps, to speak of conspicuous gallantry where all behaved so well. Each and every regimental commander displayed a cool bravery and daring that not only encouraged their own commands, but won the highest admiration from all those who saw them. They led their regiments in the fight, and showed, by their conduct, that they only desired their men to follow where they were willing to lead. But of our cool, gallant, noble brigade commander it may not be out of place to speak. Never had the brigade been better handled, and never has it done better service in the field of battle. There was scarcely an officer or man in the command whose attention was not attracted by the cool and handsome bearing of General Garnett, who, totally devoid of excitement or rashness, rode immediately in rear of his advancing line, endeavoring by his personal efforts, and by the aid of his staff, to keep his line well closed and dressed. He was shot from his horse while near the center of the brigade, within about 25 paces of the stone wall. This gallant officer was too well known to need further mention.

Captain [C. F.] Linthicum, assistant adjutant-general, Lieutenant [John S.] Jones, aide-de-camp, and Lieutenant Harrison, acting aide-de-camp, did their whole duty, and won the admiration of the entire command by their gallant bearing on the field while carrying orders from one portion of the line to the other, where it seemed almost impossible for any one to escape.

The conduct of Captain [Michael P.] Spessard, of the Twenty eighth Virginia, was particularly conspicuous. His son fell, mortally wounded, at his side; he stopped but for a moment to look on his dying son, gave him his canteen of water, and pressed on, with his company, to the wall, which he climbed, and fought the enemy with his sword in their own trenches until his sword was wrested from his hands by two Yankees; he finally made his escape in safety.

In making the above report, I have endeavored to be as accurate as possible, but have had to rely mainly for information on others, whose position gave them better opportunity for witnessing the conduct of the entire brigade than I could have, being with, and paying my attention to, my own regiment.

I am, major, with great respect, your obedient servant,

Chas. S. Peyton,
Major, Commanding.

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Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Chancellorsville…

Quite a coincidence
19th Virginia Infantry Flag
Bullet holes as well as moth damage are visible in this wool and cotton flag of the 19th Virginia Infantry. The flag was captured by Private Benjamin Falls of the 19th Massachusetts Infantry during Pickett's Charge, on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg. John Coski, historian and director of library and research at The American Civil War Museum, has written that "Falls reached for what he believed to be the abandoned battle flag of the 19th Virginia Infantry at the stone wall, only to discover that it was still in the grasp of a wounded Confederate soldier. Falls pointed his bayonet at the soldier, forcing him to surrender the flag." Falls was later awarded the Medal of Honor for his action. The large rectangular piece missing from the left side of the flag once contained the unit designation; it was doubtless removed as a souvenir by Falls or by someone at the U.S. War Department where the flag was deposited.