CIVIL WAR battlefields WALKING THE TRAILS OF HISTORY DAVID T. GILBERT FOREWORD BY JEFF SHAARA CONTENTS Foreword by JEFF SHAARA 6 Introduction by DAVID T. GILBERT 12 EASTERN VIRGINIA 28 WEST TENNESSEE, MISSISSIPPI, AND LOUISIANA 220 Manassas National Battlefield Park First Manassas Battlefield, Virginia 30 Fort Donelson National Battlefield Second Manassas Battlefield, Virginia 38 Fort Donelson Battlefield, Tennessee 222 Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park Shiloh National Military Park Fredericksburg Battlefield, Virginia 46 Shiloh Battlefield, Tennessee 228 Chancellorsville Battlefield, Virginia 56 Vicksburg National Military Park Wilderness Battlefield, Virginia 70 Vicksburg Battlefield, Mississippi 242 Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield, Virginia 78 Port Hudson State Historic Site Richmond National Battlefield Park Port Hudson Battlefield, Louisiana 254 Gaines’ Mill Battlefield, Virginia 86 KENTUCKY, EAST TENNESSEE, Malvern Hill Battlefield, Virginia 92 AND GEORGIA 260 Cold Harbor Battlefield, Virginia 98 Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site Brandy Station Battlefield Park Perryville Battlefield, Kentucky 262 Brandy Station Battlefield, Virginia 104 Stones River National Battlefield Petersburg National Battlefield Stones River Battlefield, Tennessee 268 Petersburg Battlefield, Virginia 112 Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park Appomattox Court House National Historical Park Chickamauga Battlefield, Georgia 276 Appomattox Court House Battlefield, Virginia 128 Lookout Mountain Battlefield, Tennessee 288 Pickett’s Mill Battlefield Historic Site WESTERN VIRGINIA AND THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY 138 Pickett’s Mill Battlefield, Georgia 294 McDowell Battlefield Park Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park McDowell Battlefield, Virginia 140 Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield, Georgia 300 Third Winchester Battlefield Park OTHER REGIONS 308 Third Winchester Battlefield, Virginia 146 Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield Fisher’s Hill Battlefield Park Wilson’s Creek Battlefield, Missouri 310 Fisher’s Hill Battlefield, Virginia 158 Picacho Peak State Park WEST VIRGINIA, MARYLAND, Picacho Peak Battlefield, Arizona 318 AND PENNSYLVANIA 164 Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site Harpers Ferry National Historical Park Bentonville Battlefield, North Carolina 324 Harpers Ferry Battlefield, West Virginia 166 Antietam National Battlefield Battlefield Sites 330 Antietam Battlefield, Maryland 176 Gettysburg National Military Park About the Civil War Trust 332 Gettysburg Battlefield, Pennsylvania 190 Acknowledgments 333 Monocacy National Battlefield Suggested Reading List 333 Monocacy Battlefield, Maryland 210 Photography Credits 334 4 CIVIL WAR BATTLEFIELDS 5 INTRODUCTION DAVID T. GILBERT There are many defining moments in our country’s past, of thousands of mothers without sons, wives without but few had a more substantial and significant impact on husbands, and children without fathers. Civilians, too, all citizens than the Civil War. The energy and effort still paid a horrific price: the war left homes, farms, commu- devoted to preserving battlefield sites, the ever-growing nities, and entire towns in ashes. Gaines Foster in his list of publications, the millions of visitors to Civil War book Ghosts of the Confederacy admonishes us to take a sites every year, and even the contentious debates over deeper, more measured look into this national tragedy: enduring symbols of the conflict attest to the contin- “The rapid healing of national divisions and damaged ued impact of the Civil War on our lives today. The southern self-image . came at the cost of deriving little profound constitutional changes brought about by insight or wisdom from the past. Rather than looking at the war were just the point of departure for a host of the war as a tragic failure and trying to understand it, or issues that still dominate our national conscience: the even condemn it, Americans, North and South, chose quest for legal and social equality for all Americans, to view it as a glorious time to be celebrated.” debates over the proper role of the federal government, Culturally, we are still divided by basic disagree- and never-ending efforts to reconcile differing cultural ments about the meaning of the war, a division that values held under a single national flag. As National often parallels, in uncanny ways, debates between indi- Park Service historian John Henessey wrote in 2002, vidual rights and the reach of the federal government. “The struggle to define America continues, and all paths The simple fact that slavery had become such a conten- to understanding that struggle invariably pass through tious issue in American politics in the 19th century—to the cauldron of America’s Civil War.” the point where a new phrase, “the peculiar institution,” An understanding of the battles and campaigns is became a common euphemism for the divisive word— crucial to understanding all other aspects of the Civil offers a crucial message for our nation. Bridging deep, War. President Abraham Lincoln, in his second inau- lingering divisions and finding common ground may be gural address, made this clear to a war-weary nation: an essential component of a successful democracy, and “The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly is perhaps the salient message we should all take from depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, the Civil War. and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encourag- OPPOSITE: Artillery position ing to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction The Second American Revolution on the Wilderness Battlefield, in regard to it is ventured.” He knew only too well that When the deep divisions and contentious debates Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania individual battles swayed elections, shaped political deci- erupted into civil war, both Northerners and Southern- National Military Park, Virginia. sions, effected economic mobilization, brought women ers believed themselves custodians of the legacy of 1776. FOLLOWING SPREAD: Confederate into the war effort, and influenced decisions to abolish As Civil War historian James McPherson has noted, artillery position on Oak slavery as well as to recruit former slaves as soldiers. “Every schoolboy and schoolgirl knew how [their Revo- Hill, Gettysburg Battlefield, Glorifying the war by focusing solely on the mettle lutionary forebears] had fought against the odds to forge Gettysburg National Military Park, Pennsylvania. Fierce assaults and bravery of its soldiers, however, misses a crucial a new republic conceived in liberty. The crisis of 1861 by rebel infantry on the first day point: the Civil War was a bloody, hateful conflict that was the great test of their worthiness of that heritage. of fighting at Gettysburg drove not only pitted brother against brother, father against On their shoulders rode the fate of the great experiment Federal forces from this ridge. son, and neighbor against neighbor, but also left tens of republican government launched in 1776.” 12 CIVIL WAR BATTLEFIELDS INTRODUCTION 13 Using This Book these actions and battles around Petersburg are accom- CHRONOLOGY OF THE BATTLES Civil War Battlefields: Walking the Trails of History panied by hiking trails at each location. describes 32 battlefields at 25 sites in 12 different Because some sites include battles that were part NAME OF BATTLE DATE(S) OF BATTLE SITE NAME states. The book describes 124 battlefield hikes, from of different campaigns, not all battlefields are described Battle of First Manassas (First Battle of Bull Run) July 21, 1861 Manassas National Battlefield Park 0.2 miles long (Jackson Wounding Walking Tour in chronological order, but rather in geographical order. Battle of Wilson’s Creek August 10, 1861 Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield Trail at Chancellorsville Battlefield) to 14 miles long This allows the visitor, for instance, to hike the Gaines’ Battle of Fort Donelson February 16, 1862 Fort Donelson National Battlefield (Cannon Trail at Chickamauga Battlefield). All hiking Mill Battlefield (Battle of Gaines’ Mill, June 27, 1862) Battle of Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing) April 6–7, 1862 Shiloh National Military Park distances are approximate, based either on published and the nearby Cold Harbor Battlefield (Battle of Cold Battle of Picacho Peak April 15, 1862 Picacho Peak State Park material or my personal reconnaissance. Several sites Harbor, May 3–June 12, 1864) during the same visit to include more than one battlefield: Manassas National Richmond National Battlefield Park. To explore the Battle of McDowell May 8, 1862 McDowell Battlefield Park Battlefield Park (First Manassas Battlefield and Second Wilderness Battlefield (Battle of the Wilderness, May Battle of Gaines’ Mill June 27, 1862 Richmond National Battlefield Park Manassas Battlefield); Fredericksburg and Spotsylva- 5–7, 1864) and Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield Battle of Malvern Hill July 1, 1862 Richmond National Battlefield Park nia National Military Park (Fredericksburg Battlefield, (Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, May 8–21, 1864), Battle of Second Manassas (Second Battle of Bull Run) August 28–30, 1862 Manassas National Battlefield Park Chancellorsville Battlefield, Wilderness Battlefield, which both immediately preceded the Battle of Cold Battle of Harpers Ferry September 12–15, 1862 Harpers Ferry National Historical Park and Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield); Richmond Harbor, you will have to travel to Fredericksburg Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg) September 17, 1862 Antietam National Battlefield