Your "Connection" at battlefields.

I am by no means claiming to be an expert, but I do have an affinity for learning about the Civil War and touring it's fields. (Clearly. ) I have walked my share of fields, and have read a lot about the war between the states. I, like many of you, also have a deep family connection with the war.

Aside from Civil War battlefields, I have toured Yorktown, and a site from a battle during WWII on Guam. While on these two other sites, I never felt that connection. I was unable to 'see' or 'feel' the battles happening. I will admit, that I was able to do so a little better at the Guam site then at Yorktown. However, it was not nearly on the scale of when I visit battlefields of the Civil War.

When I am at a place like Cold Harbor, or Antietam, the images in my head are very vivid, and I begin to feel a presence. I can almost see the battle unfolding before me, feel the people who fought there. I began wondering why, and became curious how other people are when at a battlefield. For me, I believe it is a couple of things. One being the family connection, having all the information I have on my four ancestor-brothers who fought. The second thing I believe is that there is an ungodly amount of information that was recorded during this period. Photos, diaries, official reports, correspondeses, etc. Add to it the fact that these pieces have been perserved through the 150yrs.

Now, I had ancestors fight in the Revolution. But there are no photos. Diary entries and letters are scarce. Paintings only offer the artists' imagination of the battle. It's hard for me to make a connection to it. In Guam, I was unable to make the connection because, to be honest, I hadn't studied it. I didn't make that connection until I came back home and through a little bit of digging, discovered a photo of the mountain I hiked with Marines in line, marching into the jungle. I was able to match it up with one of my photos. While exploring this field, we had come across .50 cal casings, bomb fragments, .45 rounds (the actual bullet, not the case), gas masks, piles of live ammunition, and a very deteriated M1 Garand. We even stumbled upon Japanese pillboxes. Yet, I still was unable to really feel anything while there.





However, even with this, I still could not make such a connection. The connection I get from Civil War fields is what draws me to them. Add to it the fact that I can follow my ancestor's foot steps, and be able to put faces to the men who fought.

What draws you to the battlefields? While there, do you get similar feelings? Are you able to 'see' the battle playing out as you step through the grounds?

When I went to South Mountain, MD where my GGF was wounded on September 14, 1862 both my wife and I got a feeling that we were not alone along the ridge line where many on both sides had fallen at Fox's Gap.

Brice's Crossroads every June 10th. I get there about 5:00 AM before the crowds arrive and listen for the hoofbeats.

I get that feeling at Shiloh and very strongly on Cheatham Hill at Kennesaw.

I have been to Gettysburg many times, but next month I am taking a vacation there to stand at the angle and see where my Great-great-grandfather of the 19th Virginia Infantry regiment was captured by Union forces during Pickett's charge.

The battlefield always awes me, but to stand where he stood..., that's going to be something.

When you stand where they stood, or walk where they walked, it's a moving experience. At Antietam, I find myself looking at all those rock ledges and seeing soldiers from both sides huddled down behind them. At Gettysburg, just looking across the field at Cemetery Ridge from the Virginia Memorial makes me shiver. But when I visit cemeteries - both sides - I get the sobs, out of nowhere, and I keep wondering, how could you do this to each other?

Like you I've been to battlefields from many different periods, French and Indian War, Revolution, ACW...and like you I feel drawn to the Civil War battlefields more so than the others.

I'm not sure why. My family wasn't even in America when the war was fought.

Like you I see the battle playing out before me when I visit (especially when I walk the battlefield), I find myself trying to put myself in their shoes, from the privates through the command staff as I do it.

My question to you, do you find more of a tie to certain Civil War battlefields that you don't to others?
While I've visited battlefields from every year of the war, I find myself drawn to those fought between 7 Day's battlefields and Spottsylvania, earlier and later in the war not so much. For example Petersburg was great to visit and explore, but I felt no connection to it.
There are battlefields that I identify more with than others...Gaine's Mill and Malvern Hill but not so much 7 Pines or Frayser's Farm...
And there are places on battlefields that hold sway over me too...1st Corps positions on Day One @ Gettysburg, The Wheatfield @ Gettysburg, Plum Run Valley @ Gettysburg and parts of Culp's Hill...but other places there while of interest are just another part of the battlefield (Devil's Den, The Round Tops, The High Water Mark), do you find that happening to you?

I also find a familiarity with places I've visited for the first time...Fredericksburg is an example, walking through the town from the river up to Marye's Heights for the first time didn't seem new to me for a lack of a better description.

Sorry I tend to ramble before the coffee hits.

Kel- I do find more of a tie in at certain fields, as well as certain spots at other battlefields. I had a strong connection with both Antietam and Fredericksburg. I even had a strong feeling at Cold Harbor. At Antietam, the strongest connection I felt was when I was standing near the tower, where the monument to the Irish Brigade stands. My ancestors' regiment (81st PA) had taken this ground along with the 5th NH at one point. At that point, I felt even more alone (I was practically alone the entire day. Encountered maybe 10 people total) and seemed like I could reach out towards the men fighting.

" .....Then through much effort, the 81st and 5th NH took the higher ground to the left, and were able to deliver devastating enflade fire down the sunken road, causing many Confederate casualties and forcing a withdrawal....."



I didn't make much of a connection at Fort Harrison until I came to the spot where the Union side had breached the earthen mound. The description of the action was so vivid, and as I stood there looking at what they had to scramble over, I began to get that feeling that I was there, watching it happen.




That is where a brigade commander from the Union side had climbed up, flag in hand, and stood at the top waving it and encouraging his men to move forward before being shot several times.

Ha, Ha! Captain Obvious strikes again.

No Gb, I cut and pasted it from a sports forum I frequent. Always makes me laugh.

Let me pose this question a bit differently to everyone- For those that have felt something at a battlefield (either a little or a lot)- what do you believe is the factor to you having that feeling?

For those who have visited battlefields from a range of different wars and felt stronger connections at CW fields- What do you think is the reason for that? What makes the CW fields so different?

Nickname comes from paintball. I've seen that picture for YEARS.

The Civil War relative I feel closest to is PVT Lewis Massuere of the 3rd Battery Wisconsin. He was the first one I learned about, the one with the most family stories, and the one from whom I got my first name (via my GGrandfather but spelled as Louis.) I've been able to walk the fields of Stone River and Chickamauga where PVT Massuere's battery was heavily engaged, and in both places I could feel an affinity; heightened senses, almost a feeling of deja vu (probably after having read so much about the battles), excitement/anxiety, etc. I especially felt close to my ancestor on the ridge at the western edge of Dyer's Field at Chickamauga, where his battery was overrun and lost 5 of 6 guns, and where he saved his gunner's life by slinging the corporal (shot through the lungs) over his shoulder and running toward the Dry Creek Road, avoiding capture.

Unlike CptObvious, however, I've been able to get a similar feeling at a Revolutionary War site. The Battle of Great Bridge was fought just about a mile from my house, and after studying the action and being immersed in the geography (I drive just about every day over the site of the original "Great Bridge") I experience the same sort of connection.

I think the similarity between the two are the personal links; one via ancestry and family lore, and the other via the familiar home ground. I've walked many other battlefields, including Gettysburg, Antietam, Cold Harbor, and even Guam and Yorktown like CptObvious, and could appreciate all that happened at each site, but it took the personal connections of places like Stones River, Chickamauga or Great Bridge to really draw me in.

I feel a connection most keenly at Gettysburg. Maybe that's because my ggggg-uncle fought there on Day 1 with the 153rd PA, and was mortally wounded on Barlow/Blocher's Knoll. That's a part of the battlefield that's hardly ever visited, and I can easily walk down to near Rock Creek where the 153rd lined up to meet Ewell's men and pretend what it must be like to see men come out of the woods hollering and shooting at you. Sometimes I just sit on the base of the 153rd monument at the top of the hill, facing the woods and the creek and soak it all in; it works especially well in the summer, near the battle anniversary. I have also been able to go to the George Spangler farm, which was used as a hospital for the XI Corps, and stand alone in the barn, and try to imagine what it looked and sounded like for the men being treated there. I have been to the Chancellorsville battlefield, and stood where the 153rd was flanked by Jackson's surprise attack, but I can't quite get the same feeling there as at Gettysburg.

Of course, I have also gotten a different, non-specific "feel" for the battle watching the sun set while sitting on the lower level of the PA monument, or standing at the Angle at the same time, or Culp's Hill early in the morning. I think the key, for me, is trying to find a place on that very busy battlefield that is empty, so I can let my mind roam.

It's the truth, you can't get the lay of the land, or the scope of a battle from a book or from pictures.