You can't drive to the top of Kennesaw Mountain anymore. But hard campaigners can still walk or bike up; weekend shuttle will go to daily in a couple months

Restriping and other work was scheduled to begin this week at the park outside Atlanta (NPS photo)

I drove Saturday morning (Jan. 3) across town to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, hoping to drive to the top of the Georgia peak a couple days ahead of the formal closure of the road to private vehicles.

Oops.

The walk to the summit provides some pretty cool views (Picket photos)

I had forgotten Mountain Road wasn’t open to cars on weekends. OK, how about the shuttle bus operating next to the visitor center? Well, it wasn’t operating because of rainy conditions. So, I did what hundreds of people do every day: Walk the 1.6 mile paved surface to the summit.

I greeted fellow walkers and took in a few signs indicating Confederate cannon and defensive positions from June 1864.

There’s a few for Maj. Gen. Edward Walthall’s division, namely  Quarles and Reynolds brigades. At the top, I used a marker to match views of Marietta and Atlanta and saw one listing 14 Georgia generals who fought for the Rebel army at Kennesaw Mountain. And above that is a cool stretch of emplaced cannons mimicking the Confederate positions.

Beyond the history, you get great views of the skyline and buildings below as you walk the winding road. I returned via the same route because the popular walkup trail was a bit wet and I didn’t trust my knees and bum ankle. (For the curious, the summit is 1,808 feet above sea level.)

I imagine my experience of seeing the road entrance blocked will be a surprise to many visitors this week as the news spread that the park Monday closed the road to private vehicles seven days a week as part of a safety improvement project.

The aim is to reduce congestion, ensure safety and protect resources.

"This change in use addresses growing safety concerns on a narrow, heavily used road," said Acting Superintendent Beth Wheeler in a news release. "We understand this change may impact how some visitors experience the park, and we are committed to prioritizing a safe and accessible experience for all visitors while also preserving the natural and historical integrity of the park."

A marker provides details on what can be scene from near the summit (Picket photos)

The road to the summit will eventually be accessible daily by shuttle, foot and bicycles, the latter of which must follow a specific schedule. The unpaved walkup trail will not be affected by the project.

"Once construction is complete, the park will expand its existing weekend/holiday shuttle service to seven days a week." said Wheeler in an email to the Picket. She said the park has seen increased visitation and held a public comment period in summer 2024.

The bottom line for the next couple months: Visitors can walk up the mountain on the road or the trail, bicyclists can come each day and the shuttle still operates on the weekend.

Work includes restriping the road and improvements to the summit and shuttle plaza near the visitor center. 

Wheeler says there will be a pedestrian lane on the outside edge of the road. The pedestrian lane will be wide enough for both ascending and descending walkers. 

A wider lane will be available for the shuttle and bicycles. It will be separated from pedestrians by new striping.

I noticed Saturday, ahead of the closure, that walkers were spread out over much of the road, so it will be interesting to see whether rangers will be able to keep them to the designated lane. Perhaps there will be sticks or something similar to separate the two lanes. (At right, a walker carried this replica canteen up the road)

Cyclist access will be permitted daily from 7:30 a.m.-10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. (or 6 p.m. during winter hours) outside of shuttle operating times.

The road has a pretty good elevation grade increase in places and has a couple blind spots. And there's no shoulder lane. In other words, it has looked like any other old road -- with no marked spots for pedestrians.

Park officials say it has seen increased traffic incidents and medical emergencies.

While cars, when not attended to properly, are the most inherently dangerous of the three modes of transportation, pedestrians and bicyclists often have close calls and incidents.

Intermittent road closures to all forms of transportation will occur through late March, perhaps longer, the park said.

Visitor Ann Wright told the Atlanta CBS News affiliate that motorists sometimes sped up not matter how many strollers or bikes were on the road.

Some have questioned whether fewer people will make the trek to the top if they can't drive themselves.

A trail leads from Mountain Road to Little Kennesaw Mountain (Picket photo)

"I think it kind of shuts off a lot of availability for people who aren't physically able to get up there because I know it is kind of more of a strenuous hike, but I think it would be better for the park and for the conservation of the nature for sure," hiker Jenna Nation told the station.

Wheeler said the new shuttle schedule has not yet been set. The park will share information in the spring when the construction project is complete and the new uses and times for Mountain Road begin, she said.

The wartime version of the road going to the mountain top allowed Southern troops to haul cannon to the commanding heights.

Union forces on June 27, 1864, made demonstrations in the area (above), but the real attack occurred farther to the south. The assault was a costly – but temporary --failure as the army neared Atlanta.

There was no fighting at the summit during the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.

Old number 9: Vandals and thieves tried to diminish this Civil War cannon. The weathered survivor, displayed for a decade at a Georgia battlefield, will be a star artifact at an upcoming Atlanta History Center exhibit

Key's battery howitzer at Pickett's Mill (Picket photo), number 9 on top of dented muzzle (Georgia State Parks), gun after it was recovered in Spalding County, Ga. in 2010, and artillery Capt. Thomas Key (Wikipedia); click to enlarge images

A dinged-up 12-pounder howitzer that survived numerous battles, years of vandalism and theft from a city park will be returned next month from a Georgia battlefield to the Atlanta History Center, where it will be featured in a new exhibition telling a bigger story about the Civil War.

The gun, manufactured in Boston in 1851 for the Arkansas Military Institute, has been on loan for nearly 10 years to Pickett’s Mill Battlefield State Historic Site northwest of Atlanta. It’s possible it was used to mow down Federal attackers who futilely charged through a ravine toward Confederates waiting for them in strength.

“Captain Key's howitzer is one of the most important artifacts /stories we have going into the new exhibit,” Gordon Jones, senior military and historian at the AHC, wrote the Picket in a recent email. “It'll be a cornerstone of the Atlanta Campaign area, right up there with the U.S. Army wagon, Confederate flag that flew over Atlanta, Cleburne sword, plus more new acquisitions.”

Jones was referring to Confederate Capt. Thomas Key, whose Arkansas artillery battery served in the division of legendary Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne during the Atlanta Campaign.

Key's Battery flag (Wikipedia

The AHC in 2016 lent the gun to the state park as it prepared to move the “Battle of Atlanta” cyclorama painting from the city’s Grant Park to the center’s facilities in the Buckhead neighborhood (The gun, below, during its move from the AHC to Pickett's Mill).

For the AHC and history aficionados, the audacious Key and his four-gun battery are remembered for being in the thick of things in numerous 1864 Atlanta Campaign battles – Dalton, Pickett’s Mill, Peachtree Creek and Jonesboro, among others..

Yet this bronze gun has a postwar history as interesting as its service during the war. It had several postwar homes and was vandalized while displayed outside in Grant Park. Indignities included a broken cascabel, hacksaw marks and scores of indentations.

The howitzer was subsequently stolen, turning up in a county south of Atlanta.

The AHC gained custody of the weapon and had it refurbished and placed on a carriage that was built in 1936.

Thomas Bailey, who makes and restores carriages and other artillery components, recalls working on the Key howitzer, which has an artillery shell jammed into its 780-pound barrel.

“It always stood out to me how beat up it was,” said the owner of Historical Ordnance Works in Woodstock, Ga. “Somebody tried breaking it up for scrap. There were saw marks on the trunnion.” He estimates the barrel had about 60 marks from a sledgehammer.

So you can say this gun is a survivor -- from the horrors of war and the ravages of vandals.

Key and his men always in the thick of things

The Key battery howitzer was one of two cast by Cyrus Alger & Co. for the Arkansas Military Institute. The number 9 is stamped on its muzzle face and the barrel is marked with an eagle atop a globe.

At Chickamauga, in September 1863, his superiors lauded Key for his gallantry and effectiveness, saying that in the fiercest part of the struggle he ran his battery by hand to within 60 yards of the enemy's lines.

Key and his cannons played a large part in the Confederate victory at Pickett’s Mill on May 27, 1864. Cleburne ordered Key to place two guns to the right oblique to enfilade the ravine. 

It’s uncertain whether number 9 was one of those two, but it certainly was among the four battery guns there.

Federal troops under Brig. Gen. William Hazen charged uphill in their attempt to take the top of a ridge. Key’s howitzers were ready for them. The battery fired about 182 rounds of spherical case and canister in two hours.

The Federal army suffered about 1,600 casualties at the battle, compared to 500 for the South. (At right, volunteer Michael Hitt at Pickett's Mill ravine in 2023, Picket photo)

On July 25, 1864, Key’s Battery was issued Napoleons captured from the Federals during the Battle of Atlanta and number 9 was sent to the Macon Arsenal. The Napoleons were considered a step up.

In his postwar book, Key wrote he regretted parting with number 9, which had been with his men at Perryville, Missionary Ridge, Resaca, New Hope Church,  Peachtree Creek and other battles.

“So it cannot be thought strange that I regret having separated from my command a gun that has been my companion under such trying and bloody circumstances.”

The howitzer made a lot of stops after the war

A 2016 newsletter produced by the Georgia Battlefields Association tells what happened to number 9 after the war:

At war’s end, the gun became property of the U.S. Army and was sent to the Washington Arsenal.

In 1880, upon a request on behalf of the state militia, number 9 was one of four guns (including two originally belonging to the Georgia Military Institute) sent to Rome, Ga. In 1887, Atlanta requested four obsolete guns for display in Fort Walker in Grant Park; the Rome guns were selected. (Fort Walker is not far from the old Cyclorama building).

“Over the years, the gun was vandalized: initials scratched, dented, pieces broken off, overturned, etc.,” according to the GBA newsletter, authored by Charlie Crawford, who then served as GBA president.

Michael Hitt, a volunteer historian at Pickett’s Mill and Civil War researcher, provided the Picket two vintage post cards (below) showing the gun when it was at Fort Walker.

In one photograph, the barrel lies on the ground and the left cheek of the gun carriage is heavily damaged.

“Maybe a tree or part of one fell on it,” Hitt said. “The other image shows it remounted, with a big dent on the muzzle, at an 11 o'clock position.”

Something unexpected found at residence

In the 1980s, Hitt – then a suburban Atlanta police officer -- restored three artillery pieces languishing at Fort Walker, part of the South’s defensive works in Atlanta. But vandals continued to damage the guns.

“There’s a lot of history connected with that fort,” Hitt, lamenting the lack of city protection, told The Atlanta Journal in 1984 (article below). “It’s like they abandoned it.”

Things somehow got worse.

“In 1985, all the guns were removed from Fort Walker,” according to the GBA. “Number 9 was removed from its carriage and displayed on a Grant Park monument, from which it was stolen in summer 1993.”

In February 2010, a tip about stolen goods led sheriff’s deputies to a Spalding County house, where they found stolen items, including a crate with a damaged cannon barrel inside. The whole affair was covered by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Hitt at that time identified the gun as number 9 and said it was part of the Helena Artillery, also known as Key’s Battery. It was part of the Confederate Army of Tennessee.

While a small debate ensued on whether the gun belonged to Georgia, Arkansas or the U.S. Army, the gun eventually was reclaimed by Atlanta. According to the GBA newsletter, it sat in a crate in the foyer of the old Cyclorama building for a few years.

In 2014, the AHC struck a deal with the city to restore and relocate the giant painting, locomotive Texas and other artifacts in the Cyclorama building to a new wing in Buckhead. That meant the howitzer would move, too.

What a long strange trip it's been for gun

After it was cleaned up, the Key howitzer was shown off in the visitor center at Pickett’s Mill, which is in Paulding County, just northwest of Atlanta.

John Nash, head of the Friends of Pickett’s Mill Battlefield, recalls taking his cannon trailer to the AHC to take the gun and carriage to Pickett’s Mill. The carriage was among those built by Works Progress Administration (WPA) employees in the 1930s when the guns were at Fort Walker.

Now the gun is heading to Buckhead. (Editor's note: I learned about the upcoming move from a Facebook post on The Atlanta Campaign History and Discussion Group.)

The Atlanta History Center in May closed its longtime Civil War exhibit, “Turning Point,” to make way for two new galleries that will feature breathtaking artifacts and a broader discussion of issues that engage the republic to this day: our belief systems, victory, defeat, reconciliation and the evolving meaning of freedom.

Museum officials said they will announce the confirmed name of the new Civil War era exhibition and an opening date in the next week or so.

AHC CEO Sheffield Hale with Union 20th Corps wagon that traveled near what is now the AHC (Picket photo)

Some people on social media had expressed worry the gun would go back into storage at the AHC. Or they advocate it should stay at Pickett's Mill.

Josh Headlee, curator and historic preservation specialist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which oversees state parks, said the weapon’s association with the battle made it a compelling artifact there.

“Rather than it sit in storage for all that time, the AHC was generous enough to reach out to us about the loan,” said Headlee. “Since the Key’s Battery played a prominent role in that battle, it has been a wonderful temporary addition to the Pickett’s Mill exhibits. However, Key’s Battery played an important role in the battles for Atlanta as well, so it’s just at home in their collection as it is ours.”

Hitt, a board member with the Pickett’s Mill friends group, agrees.

“I was able to get the Key battery howitzer (loaned) out from the AHC several years ago with the knowledge that it would be returned when it was needed for a display. Well, it is going to be part of a display now at the AHC and I don't have an issue with it. The gun's Atlanta story is just as interesting as the Pickett's Mill story.”

So there’s the story – for now – about old number 9. Living historians occasionally fire a reproduction Key’s Battery gun at Pickett’s Mill. The next event is scheduled for Jan. 17.

Those wanting to see the original gun at Pickett’s Mill before it leaves have only a few weeks. It will be back in Atlanta some time in February

The old GBA newsletter said the artifact might win a contest for most interesting story. “Go see the gun and marvel at its long, strange trip.”

Brother, where art thou? A dogged New Yorker traveled twice to Virginia to retrieve body of sibling killed at the Wilderness. A Fredericksburg park volunteer and a descendant put together the poignant story, which is showcased in an exhibit

2nd Lt. Horace Hill (NY State Military Museum via Wayne Historians Organization), national colors of the 111th New York (NY State Military Museum) and park volunteer Steve Morin 

In spring 1864, Francis Abner Hill set out to do something thousands of others in his situation would have wanted to do, but did not have the money, time or tenacity.

Francis planned to bring back to Upstate New York the body of his younger brother, 2^nd Lt. Horace Gilbert Hill, killed just a week before, on May 5, while leading his company at the Wilderness in Virginia.

The military action was still too hot in the area and Francis wasn’t allowed to search for the grave. But signs of his persistence were evident in his many visits to military hospitals in Washington, D.C., apparently to glean helpful information from wounded members of the 111^th New York Infantry. He wanted to know if any of them knew where Horace was laid to rest.

Those interviews and letters sent to veterans and families after his return to Wayne County set the ground work for his second – and successful – trip to find Horace and bring the 23-year-old home (Hill family monument, right, courtesy Nancy Rosin).

“Francis Hill’s successful recovery efforts were not a common occurrence in the Civil War,” wrote Steve Morin, a retired federal government researcher and volunteer at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, in a report about the sibling’s search for Horace. And such efforts did not blunt the pain.

“Returning a Civil War soldier’s remains helped to establish a degree of closure, but it didn’t erase the lifelong anguish caused by the loss," according to Morin.

For years, the volunteer has transcribed documents for the park’s historical database. His curiosity routinely takes him to the internet to learn more about his subjects, as was the case in the Hills.

This spring, Morin turned to Ancestry.com for photographs and learned of a Hill family tree put together by Nancy Rosin of Rochester. “She answered my Ancestry message and I was floored when she told me she was Francis’s great-great-granddaughter,” he told the Picket in an email. Rosin is related through the maternal side of her family.

Using records (including a copy of Francis Hill's diary) already held by the park and letters and photographs from Rosin, the pair completed a compelling portrait of a family that sought closure amid its grief. 

On Friday evening (5p-7p Jan. 2), Morin spoke at a reception at the city's Fredericksburg Visitor Center about the project. The reception kicked off an exhibit about volunteers and their roles in supporting the mission of the federal park. 

“Finding Nancy was fortunate because she possessed so many letters, images, etc. that filled in gaps and provided personal insights into the family members,” Morin said. (At left, Francis and his wife Sophia, courtesy Nancy Rosin)

The researcher told FXBG Neighbors he likens his work using primary documents to solving a puzzle. (Read this Picket article about how he helped identify a grave at Fredericksburg National Cemetery)

“I have always loved the way he views history,” Ashley Ranalli, volunteer coordinator at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, told FXBG Neighbors.

“To me, Steve is looking to understand the people he is researching and make a connection.”

Rosin told the Picket that Morin provided context on documents her family kept for 165 years. Other relatives also have material related to the brothers.

Lt. Horace Hill's 1864 pocket diary (NPS photo)

"My collaboration with Steve centered on the letters themselves. In the collection, there were about 40 letters written following Lieut. Hill’s death, from fellow soldiers and military officials tending to the details of pay owed, the return of personal effects, etc." Rosin said.

"But many of the letters were from area families whose sons had also died in the Wilderness and who, similarly, wanted to bring their remains home. Those letters were very helpful in unraveling the story of Francis’s recovery of his brother’s remains."

'Ready to defend the stars and stripes'

Horace Hill enlisted early in the war when he was 19 years old, Rosin said.

"A description of him written by a friend described him as popular with the girls and fond of staying out late at parties/social gatherings. When he left for the war, Horace and a young woman named Amanda Franklin were in a serious relationship and some of his letters home indicate they were planning a life together at war’s end," she wrote in an email. (Horace, left, before the war. Courtesy Nancy Rosin)

Hill served in another New York regiment before joining the 111^th. He rose to sergeant and then second lieutenant in 1863. He fought in numerous battles, including Gettysburg, where the regiment suffered heavy casualties.

In March 1863, he wrote to Francis saying he wish he had expressed more appreciation for their relationship. "Your kindness is fully appreciated by a brother who tonight is a soldier sitting in his tent shedding bitter tears of regret as he remembers how little he manifested the love of a brother in days gone."

Horace Hill had a premonition of his death, according to a fellow officer with the 111^th.

On the evening  of May 5, 1864, in the vicious fighting at the Wilderness, Company A tangled with Confederates. According to “Military History of Wayne County,” Hill was waving his sword, trying to rally his men, when he was instantly killed by a ball passing through his chin and neck. His body was found after Confederates retreated.

NPS map of Wilderness fighting around the time Lt. Horace Hill was killed.
The 111th New York is indicated near rectangle bearing Barlow's name. Click to enlarge

The young officer was buried at a farm with other soldiers. His family did not know the location.

The Rochester Express carried this pithy article about his death, according to a Facebook page about the 111^th New York.

“Lieutenant Hill was almost idolized by the men under his command. He had gained that respect, not only by being an ever true and faithful soldier, but also by kindly caring for his men. His heart swelled with proud emotions at the thought of his country's glory, and he was ever ready to defend the stars and stripes from the insults of traitors. Though comparatively unknown his name may well stand side by side with Ellsworth, Lyon, Wadsworth, Sedgwick, and a host of others; heroes whose names generations yet unborn shall love to read and revere. He fell as a hero falls. Amid the carnage of battle, he yielded up his life, a noble sacrifice, for ‘God and home, and native land,’ and that God in whom he trusted will surely reward him.”

Francis Hill, an Ontario, N.Y., businessmen who cared for his ailing parents rather than enlist, decided to quickly find his brother’s remains. He used Horace’s 1857 diary, according to Morin, to take notes of his trip, including expenditures and notations. 

The diary highlighted the extensive planning, research, logistics and costs associated with returning Lt. Hill to his home near Lake Ontario, according to Morin. While he was not permitted to travel to the front in May 1864, Francis visited numerous hospitals in the Washington area.

Morin’s report -- which includes an extensive bibliography -- summarizes what Francis learned during and after his first visit to Virginia. Among the findings was his brother was buried near fellow New York 2nd Lt. James W. Snedaker (right, courtesy Wayne Historians Organization).

The plots were on the farm of William A. Stephens of Spotsylvania County, close to the battlefield.

Interestingly, Horace’s sword and scabbard had been sent to a Washington hospital after his death. The family later acquired it but Rosin said she is unaware of who has it in their possession.

Brother, father of another soldier communicated

Francis Hill, who was often called Abe or Abner by friends, planned to return to Virginia in late November 1864 and he received a letter (left, click to enlarge) from the U.S. Army authorizing his travel to the grave site. 

Business and personal matters, however, delayed his trip to summer 1865, shortly after the war ended.

In the diary, Francis noted directions to the Stephens farm, which held the bodies of several 111^th New York soldiers.

At some point, Francis communicated with Adrastus Snedaker, father of killed Lt. James Snedaker. Francis and Adrastus had been in touch with a private who saw Horace after the latter's death and helped bury him, carving out a marker with an ax.

"This soldier wrote a very detailed letter to Francis that described his brother’s burial, the condition of the remains, and what he carved on the grave marker," said Morin. 

Adrastus Snedaker retrieved his son’s body in June 1865, one month before Francis was able to go and find Horace’s remains. Horace Hill was laid to rest at Ontario Center Cemetery. (Findagrave.com photo below courtesy Bob Davis)

"Horace now lies buried in a small pioneer cemetery on Ridge Road in Ontario, just a short distance from the Hill family homestead and the old mill pond, surrounded by three generations of his family," Rosin told the Picket.

One of his older military coats belongs to the Sterling Historical Society in New York.

For his part, Francis Hill, a prominent farmer, miller and town official, was married to Martha Sophia Patterson and they had five children, three of whom lived to adulthood. Their daughter, Martha Stella Hill, is Rosin's great-grandmother.

According to a diary, Francis wrote on April 24, 1874, about being at the beside of his dying mother.

“Her sufferings have been severe, but her death was peaceful and apparently easy and she retained consciousness almost to the last moment. A few minutes before she ceased to breathe and while laying partially on the left side she opened her eyes in apparent pleasure and exclaimed 'Horace G: Why Horace' as though she saw him & then spoke to him.”

Francis died in Ontario, N.Y., in 1903 at age 68.

"This story is important because it describes in such a personal way the impact of war on the lives of ordinary people. I think of my family, living in a small farming community, then their lives upended by the outbreak of the war," said Rosin.

"People often focus on the 'pomp and circumstance' of war -- the battles, the valor, etc. I think the story of Francis and Horace brings home the loss and grief in war’s aftermath. And of course, it’s a very touching story about the love of family…as Lieut. Hill put it, 'those near and dear to me.'”

Exhibit will look at work of park volunteers

Ranalli, the volunteer coordinator at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, said the exhibition will be in place through Feb. 2. The visitor center is at 601 Caroline St., Fredericksburg, Va.

Morin was given the Hill documents to transcribe and found them to be intriguing, Ranalli said.

“Steve’s research into the story of the Hill brothers was inspired by several primary sources from the park’s bound-volume collection,” she said in an email. “This collection was started in the 1970s by then-chief of Interpretation Bob Crick, who sent college students to campuses across the country to photocopy primary documents related to the park. In the 1990s, the collection was opened to the public, and this particular item was likely donated by a visitor, possibly a relative of the Hill family.”

Rosin said the Francis Hill diary came to the park through relatives of one of his sons. She was not aware it existed until the park contacted her.

The exhibit portion about the Hills is entitled “In Search of Rest” and was created in partnership with the Fredericksburg tourism bureau.

“This marks the first time the Fredericksburg City Visitor Center has featured an exhibit highlighting the work of National Park Service volunteers,” added Ranalli.

A letter from Horace to his mother Elvira

Rosin provided the Picket a letter Lt. Horace Hill wrote to his mother shortly before his death.

Camp of 111th N.Y.V. Inf.

                                                                                                  April 23/64

My Dear Mother

     It being a kind of lonely dreary night and not feeling much like going to bed yet awhile I have taken my pen to write you a little. For the past two weeks we have been busy much of the time in preparing to move & we have gotten about ready so that should it not storm within a day or two, I think we will strike tents & be off for where of course I know not. But most likely it will not be very long ere we come upon the enemy at some point. With what anxiety are the soldiers of this army contemplating the results of the next few months which are fast drawing near. Not only the army but those at home are anxiously awaiting to know the fate of our army. Nearly everyone has a son, brother or some near relative here who is about to risk his life amid the dangers of the battlefield. Some will fall. A battle cannot be fought without some lives being lost. Who are the fated ones is the question asked by all of us. None of us think that it is ourselves or at least have a hope that it is not yet. We all run the same risk. I have been lucky thus far but for all of that I may be the first of many to stand in the way of some fatal shell. But I feel it is my duty to stand by my country as long as she is in trouble & if I fall while protecting her right against her enemies I shall die in a noble cause. One for whom thousands have laid down their lives. Am I not ready and willing to do as much if it will help to plant the standard of right over our nation? I am. Is it not better to die than live under the hand of tyranny, despotism?

     Yet when I think of home & friends who are dear I cannot help feeling sad & in a measure dread what is before us. I may pass through unharmed but there are many who will not. They have parents and friends who to them are as dear as mine. It is the same for them to leave them that it is for me. O Mother it is a sad, sad thing to look upon & I would to God that this evil war would cease before another life is lost upon the battlefield. But there are not such thoughts that cheer the soldiers’ hearts as is the thought of the happy days in store for him when he shall have cleared the land of the nations enemies & he shall have laid down his implements of warfare & returned to his home there to meet again his friends & associates & enjoy their society in peace under a reunited government.

     This perhaps is if we move the last letter I shall write to you for some time & may be the last one I shall ever write to you. Dear Mother do not feel sad because I speak thus for your boy is under the protection & guidance of Him who rules the universe. In Him is my trust. His will and mine be done. I go forth ready to receive whatever fate is in store for me.

     Should this be the last time given me to address you I would for your comfort have you know that although I am a wild and sinful boy yet have I remembered my God & through His power & agency have I learned to look for protection amid the trying scenes of life. Through His power alone can I be spared to return to you. Therefore let us trust it all to Him & all will be well in life or in death.

     Write as often as you can. Your letters may not reach us immediately. But it will come round after awhile. Give my love to father & tell him that I would like a taste of his sugar sap & that maybe I will be home next fall before it is all gone…I will close by bidding you goodnight. With much love

 I am ever affectionately your son      

­­                                                                                           H. G. Hill­

At the bottom of this page Horace’s father Ira Hill had written:

This is the last letter written by Lieut. Horace G. Hill to his mother.

                                                                                     Ira A Hill

Hill was killed 13 days later, May 5, 1864, at the Wilderness

2025's Top 12 Picket posts: Relocated Civil War house, Virginia battlefields, wagon wheel remnant, Enfield rifles conservation, bomb squad -- and much more

Burial at Fredericksburg, Medal of Honor train ride, Georgia bomb squad, house on the move

Posts about a Georgia Civil War house moved to another county, a belated funeral in Fredericksburg and a train ride with living Medal of Honor recipients were big reader draws in 2025. The top 12 Civil War Picket posts – by Blogger page views – covered a wide array of topics.

We’ve got a few items in the works (Nashville's Fort Negley, a fascinating medical kit and a haunting photograph) and we look forward to rolling out those and more in 2026. Thanks so much for your continued interest. Please tell a friend or two about us. And Happy New Year!

We’ll start with a few honorable mentions and then delve into the top 12.

Honorable mentions: A rebuilt Civil War monument in Ohio, USS Cairo wood degradation, a USCT regiment that fought in Georgia and unusual Confederate forts called Shoupades.

12. GETTYSBURG VANDALISM: A man etched initials on a bronze tablet at the “Castle” monument on Little Round Top, enraging the public and park officials. – Read more

11. FINALLY LAID TO REST: Ten years after the discovery of their partial remains, three Federal soldiers were rendered full honors when a small casket holding leg, toe, finger and other bones was buried at the national cemetery in Fredericksburg, Va. – Read more

10. 11^TH VIRGINIA FLAG GOES FOR BIG BUCKS: A Confederate battle flag captured during Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg sold at auction for $390,000, four years after it surfaced at a Civil War show in Dalton, Ga. – Read more

9. ARTIFACTS GALORE IN SOUTH CAROLINA: I have been fascinated by the remnants of a wagon wheel believed destroyed on Feb. 19, 1865, when Federal forces sacked the South Carolina capital and dumped captured Confederate ammunition and materiel into the Congaree River.–  Read more

8. RARE USS MONITOR TURRET DRAINING: Conservators were able to access the turret of the USS Monitor for the first time in more than five years, following the draining of the 90,000-gallon tank that surrounds the remarkable artifact. – Read more

7. WHEN THE BOMB SQUAD COMES CALLING: “We deal with Civil War ordnance more than other local bomb squads due to Kennesaw Mountain, Cheatham Hill, Pickett’s Mill and other historic sites,” says Cobb County (Ga.) Police Sgt. Joel Cade. – Read more

6. REMEMBERING BRANDY STATION  (right) AND MORE: The growing staff at Virginia’s Culpeper Battlefields State Park is learning more about the power and potential of Civil War properties it will manage once they are transferred from the American Battlefield Trust.. – Read more

5. HISTORIC GEORGIA HOME SOLD (Part 1):  An Atlanta-area home that was caught in the middle of Civil War cavalry clashes and briefly served as headquarters for a Union general was sold for $1 and stipulations to a couple who will relocate the residence to a neighboring county.. – Read more

4. HISTORIC GEORGIA HOME MOVED (Part 2):  The relocation of the Robert and Eliza McAfee House from Cobb County to adjoining Cherokee County cleared the way for consideration of a possible gas station on the site. Movers had to slice the residence into six pieces before hauling it away. – Read more

3. CRAFTSMAN HAS A WINDOW TO HISTORY:  Robert Schmitt (right) is helping repair windows at the Dawkins House, a Union, S.C., residence at the center of an interesting chapter in Civil War history. Union briefly served as the capital of the state after Columbia fell to Union forces in 1865. – Read more

2. ENFIELD CONSERVATION SUCCESS? Conservation in Georgia of 20 Enfield rifles has reached a significant milestone, with the first walnut stock emerging from treatment and appearing to be doing well outside a wet environment.. – Read more

1. MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENTS RELIVE ANDREWS RAID:  In September, a dozen Medal of Honor recipients climbed aboard a train in Kennesaw, Ga., to travel back in time while retracing the daring escapade of warriors first awarded the nation’s highest military award for valor. – Read more