SUNDAY MORNING: CIVIL WAR TRUST SEGMENT.
This morning I was fortunate enough to be able to sit down with a cup of coffee and watch a very good segment on CBS News Sunday Morning about the ongoing efforts of saving the battlefield of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and Franklin,Tennessee by the Civil War Trust. I consider this momentous effort on the part of the Civil War Trust as vital to our Nation.
Civil War Trust map of Franklin Battlefield.
It was actually monument damage that I have personally witnessed at Chickamauga that inspired me to become involved in preservation, albeit on a much smaller scale.
As I mentioned in a previous blog, I began researching the 1st German, 32nd Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry following an encounter with the regiment's monument at Cave Hill National Cemetery. Intending just to write an article to draw attention to the monument, I ultimately got involved in a 10 year effort to save the memorial.
First stage of the 32nd Indiana Monument preservation effort at Cave Hill.
But before the hook was solidly set, we decided to go on a trip to view some of the battlefields where I knew the regiment had fought. Our first stop was the pristine battlefield of Shiloh, where a person could feel that sense of hollowed ground.
We moved east to Chattanooga and spent the day roaming mostly Lookout Mountain. The following day, we moved south to Chickamauga battlefield.
Kentucky monument at Chickamauga.
Roaming the site literally bummed me out. This was when the main road screamed right through the middle of the park, and I was stunned and dismayed at how many of the beautiful monuments had been vandalized in one way or another.
The two pins sticking up just to the left of the cannonballs used to have a small stone cannon anchored in place.
More than a few metal plaques had been pried away from the monuments, and I recall one musket had been removed from a soldier statue.
I almost came unglued when a couple allowed their 10-year-old kid to climb on the First Wisconsin Cavalry monument for a photo op, despite the sign prohibiting such conduct.
Returning home, I was more than determined to see that the 32nd Indiana monument was properly preserved. At this point I was not keenly aware of the Civil War Trust, but certainly recognized the need.
The point of all this is quite simple: If you wish to serve your Nation in some way, SAVE OUR HISTORY! Support organizations like the Civil War Trust, and don't fall into the belief that you as an individual can't accomplish your own personal mission to preserve history. We are all historians, and we all have a duty to preserve our heritage.
I will take this opportunity to speak to another preservation effort that I became involved with on returning home from Tennessee and settling in Corydon, Indiana.
When neighbors learned of what I do, I was promptly drafted into the Battle of Corydon Civil War Board, tasked with putting on the annual reenactment of Morgan's Great Raid through Corydon in July 1863, among other projects.
I made the joke that I would participate because I had to make amends for my heathen Kentucky ancestor who rode through here with Morgan in 1863. The call of "Damn right!," was unanimous.
One of those additional projects we engaged in was the successful land acquisition of Morvin's Landing in Harrison County, Indiana. This was the site where General John Hunt Morgan landed his troops using the steamboats Alice Dean and John T. McCombs to cross the Ohio River in July 1863.
This site is not only important to Civil War history, being the site of Morgan's crossing and the final resting place of the Alice Dean, it also has significant importance to native history going back possibly to the Paleo period.
"Sentiment moves the world: Man is nothing without it. He who feels no pride in his ancestors is unworthy to be remembered by his descendants." Maj. David French Boyd, 9th Louisiana Infantry, and first president of Louisiana State University.
