Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Granger Knoll

As you can see I have added pictures of the five Union monuments on Granger knoll, which was the subject of two previous posts (visit them here and here). I have also turned these into pdf files that can be viewed by clicking the link on the right side of the page under "Chickamauga Monuments"

I'd also like to point out that this past week I added pdf files of the last 16 Rocky Mountain Civil War Roundtable newsletters and that is available on the right side of the page too, under "RMCWRT Newsletters." Each issue is 6 pages but when you view them you will notice that some do not run a complete 6 pages. That is because I edited out some info that was really only applicable to roundtable members and no longer needs to appear in this online version.

And this morning I also added a link to a copy of the symposium ad that will run in the next issue of North & South magazine. This ad was done in conjunction with the University of Tennessee Press and I am impressed with how well it turned out and how much of the ad space UT Press shared with the roundtable. It is in the section marked "Files" on the right side of the page.

2 comments:

Dave Powell said...

Nick,

"Granger Knoll" - I can't think of a worse name for Hill 3:)

Why? because neither Granger nor any of the regiments pictured were really ever in the positions shown, even the 22nd Michigan.

This is one of the places I like to take folks to demonstrate how badly out of place some monuments can be.

Granger, of course, stayed at the Snodgrass Cabin. Steedman took the division out to the flank, not Granger, so the HQ pyramid for the Reserve Corps is wrong.

Next, note that Whitaker's Brigade formed in two lines, three regiments each. The brigade numbered 2,600 men, with about 1,300 in each line. On parade, that size a force would require 450 yards of frontage. If you pace off the distance from center right to center left along the brigade line, you will note that it comes to just under 50 yards - 47 I think, the last time I marked it. No way are six regiments going to fit into this space.

Next, note that there are only five regimental monuments - the 96th Illinois, which should be in front of the 98th Ohio, is missing. (got a picture of the various 96th IL Monuments?) The 96th is several hundred yards farther west, out beyond the 121st Ohio's "right flank" monument - but that is another story for another time...:)

The 21st Ohio occupied the east slope and crown of Hill 3 for most of the fight. the 22nd Mich charged over the 21st Ohio's right on the west face of Hill 3, and then formed on that side of the hill, about 75-100 yards west of where their monument sits today. The rest of Whitaker's brigade charged forward, and then fell back, several times during the afternoon along the ridge west of Hill 3, intermingling with Mitchell's brigade.

Horseshoe Ridge is one of the more difficult areas to interpret, mainly due to the monument distortion that the park commission introduced. This is part of what so enraged Gracie that he wrote "truth." (As another poster noted, Gracie wanted Hill 3 to be called Le Favour Hill.) I think of Hill 3 as primarily the 21st Ohio's to defend, at least through most of the battle. The Rebel 5th Kentucky cleared it for a while at the end of the afternoon, before Trigg moved up and completed the encirclement.

Dave Powell

Nick said...

Yeah I didn't like the name Granger Knoll either, just tagged that on because of the HQ monument, and I've never been comfortable with what hill number each piece of high ground was. I do have a picture of the 96th Illinois monument, I can post that another time.