Myrtle Hill Cemetery - part 2

Mrytle Hill Cemetery also has a number of other monuments in it. One is the monument to the women of the Confederacy. This must be a Georgia thing as I also saw a similar monument in Macon. The other Civil War monument will be the focus of tomorrow's post.

There is also a World War 1 monument in the same section that I found quite interesting. It is for Private Charles Graves. He was designated for burial in Arlington as a representative for World War 1. It would be a Known Soldier to compliment the Unknown Soldier. But Graves' family asked for his body to be returned to his home. Not only is he buried at Myrtle Hill but they also put up a nicely detailed monument with some guns in a brick plaza.

Myrtle Hill Cemetery

Rome, Georgia was utilized as a Confederate hospital site starting in January 1863. The hospital treated sick men as well as wounded men from Stones River, Chickamauga and Chattanooga. In all 380 soldiers died here and were buried in Myrtle Hill Cemetery.

The Confederate section can be seen on the left side of the picture. This picture was taken from the top of Myrtle Hill.

At the top of the cemetery, actually on Myrtle Hill, the Confederates built Fort Stovall. None of the earthworks can be seen anymore, the normal operations of the cemetery have eliminated all vestiges of the fort.

From the top of the cemetery you have nice views of Rome.

LaFayette

LaFayette, Georgia is just south of Chickamauga. If you are familiar with that battle you are well aware that the main road running through the park is the LaFayette Road. This is where Bragg had his headquarters prior to the battle. In fact there is a headquarters monument there for him.

This park, at John B. Gordon Hall (formerly Chattanooga Academy), has numerous historical markers and monuments.

Here is the monument for the county's veterans. Bragg's headquarters monument can be seen in the background near Gordon Hall.

There is also a modern monument that has the names of all the county's veterans.

There was a minor cavalry battle here in June 1864 which I had never heard of.

And as I said earlier this park is also on the site Chattanooga Academy. John B. Gordon was a student here and he would later become a famous Confederate general in the Eastern Theater and governor of Georgia. They would rename the school after Gordon.

In case you go, the town is not pronounced like the how French general pronounced his name. More like, La-Faye-It.

Denver City Park

Wednesday I took off work to go with my son's preschool to the Denver Zoo. We had a great time. Afterwards we made a small detour to see some Civil War cannon in the adjacent park.

There are three cannon encircling a monument to poet Robert Burns, which I found an odd pairing. All of the cannon were placed here in 1897 by the Grand Army of the Republic. I believe that there is another Civil War monument nearby, a sundial turns up on google, but there were bums near where I thought it was and decided not to walk over there with my son. There are risks I'll take alone but not with my son along.

This is an 11 inch Navy Dahlgren.

And a 13 inch seacoast mortar.

The mortar was cast at the Fort Pitt armory in 1862.

And then there was a 6.4 inch (100 pounder) Navy Parrott Rifle.

Which apparently was number 331 from RPP.

Ringgold

When I last visited Ringgold there was not much to see except for these wayside interpretive markers. I've heard that since then part of the mountain has been opened up so you can hike up there and see more of the defensive position. I look forward to doing that sometime, hopefully sooner than later. Cleburne formed the rear guard at Ringgold Gap following the defeat at Chattanooga. It would also be where the campaign for Atlanta starts, although there would be no fighting here in 1864.

Here our guide points up the hill to where part of Cleburne's men fought for control of the gap.

Of the three markers one is for Cleburne's 1863 battle while the other two are for the Atlanta campaign.

Rebel Rivers by Mark Nesbitt

Rebel Rivers by Mark Nesbitt


My father actually came across this book at the library. I had never heard of it but am glad he found it. This is a great book. As the subtitle says, it is a guide for sites on Potomac, Rappahannock, James and York Rivers. Nesbitt will tell you what happened there and how to find the place, pretty standard fare as guide books go. Some of this information is in other guide books but Nesbitt also gives directions on seeing many places by water. I don't think I'd ever do a trip by water but this would be an important book to have along if I ever did. Nearly 100% of those sites can also be reached by land but Nesbitt points out that many of them were first seen by soldiers from the water so it makes sense to see it as the soldiers saw it. Even if you never intend to see them by water I think this guide book would be useful for land based trips.

Lincoln Unmasked by DiLorenzo

Lincoln Unmasked by Thomas DiLorenzo

After my Springfield trip I picked up a bunch of Lincoln books from the library. Some were worthwhile (Land of Lincoln and Following in Lincoln's Footsteps were ones I really enjoyed). Others were not worthwhile. I knew DiLorenzo's book was likely to be a waste but I was curious and decided to take a look. I shouldn't have wasted my time.

Basically DiLorenzo will pick one Lincoln statement or action and draw a much larger conclusion that anyone else does. For instance he'll point out that Lincoln did say in the Lincoln-Douglas debates that he was not for black suffrage. He'll use that to say Lincoln was not the Great Emancipator that he's been labeled. While its fair to point out the varied aspect of Lincoln's life it is quite different to say he doesn't deserve to be called the Great Emancipator because he also said some racist things.

He also goes into a ton of detail exploding various quotes that are attributed to Lincoln. I didn't mind this too much except that there seems to be too much time wasted on it. The quotes in question were of the folk wisdom type, things like "You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." I don't think it really matters one way or the other if Lincoln said that. But this section was only a minor complaint compared to the rest of the book.

After reading this I'm sorry I wasted my time and I'm sorry that the library wasted that money. It could have used that to buy a book that would actually educate its patrons. Don't waste your own time or money on this book.

Sam Davis

One of the famous spy incidents of the war involves Sam Davis of Smyrna, Tennessee. Davis served with the 1st Tennessee until wounds forced him out of the regiment after Perryville. Then he became a member of Coleman's Scouts operating in the Middle Tennessee area.

It was during this service that Sam had the misfortune to be captured by the Union and was taken to a jail in Pulaski, Tennessee. Union General Dodge told Davis he would hang as a spy if he didn't reveal information about his unit. Sam said something along the lines of, "I would rather die a thousand deaths than betray a friend." Or "If I had a thousand lives to live, I would give them all rather than betray a friend or the confidence of my informer." In any respect he stuck to his guns and would not reveal any information. There are stories that Dodge really never intended to hang Sam but had said the threat just to scare the young man. And that Dodge later tried to get Sam to give up some minor piece of information so that he could spare a life. But Sam steadfastly reused to budge and showed quite amount of grace and courage.

Prior to his execution he wrote home:
"Dear mother. O how painful it is to write you! I have got to die to-morrow --- to be hanged by the Federals. Mother, do not grieve for me. I must bid you good-bye forevermore. Mother, I do not fear to die. Give my love to all."

Even at the very end Sam showed amazing courage. The guard was put off by Sam's age and seemed to have no desire to do the execution. Sam said to him (or maybe it's fake to add to the great story), "Officer, I did my duty. Now, you do yours."

In Pulaski you can see the spot where he was hanged on November 27, 1863. There is a little museum there but it was not open when I was there. Apparently its open only by appointment.

Davis' home in Smyrna is now a museum you can tour.

He visited his home a few days before his capture. He tied his horse to this tree while he visited his family, for the last time.

Behind the house is the family burial site.

There is also a monument of Sam on the capitol grounds in Nashville. I have not personally seen that but hope to one day. The story might be exaggerated but the essence of it is correct. A young man was captured and threatened with death to reveal information that would cause his friends to be captured (and possibly killed as well). He refused multiple times to save his own life by telling all he knew. He may not have said all those eloquent things that are attributed to him but his actions are proven.