Ken Padgett was
a young North Georgia boy at the time, but he still remembers the first
re-enactment of the Battle of Resaca.
“There were
men in overalls carrying modern shotguns and with some horses,” he said.
What the
event lacked in numbers and authenticity was compensated by an interest in
remembering the bloody clash, one of the early battles in the Atlanta
Campaign, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s eventually successful bid to take the key Georgia city.
The
re-enactments weren’t a mainstay until the early 1980s. This year’s May 16-18 event at Chitwood Farm is a
big one -- given it is officially the 30th re-enactment and comes on
the 150th anniversary of the battle.
And where the
1964 affair, 100 years after the battle, had only a few participants, Padgett
said he expects perhaps 2,000 to 2,500 re-enactors on the field, twice as much
as most years.
“We have
units coming in from California. With all our preservation work going on nationwide,
and people’s interest in Resaca, the excitement of the sesquicentennial seems
to be drawing people,” said Padgett, 58, who is head of the Georgia Division
Reenactors Association, which is putting on the re-enactment.
Local officials
also tout two venues where visitors can go before or after taking in the reenactment:
The Gordon County-owned Fort Wayne Civil War Historic Site and Resaca Battlefield
State Historic Site, along a stretch of Interstate 75 on the western part of
the battlefield. Although the latter may not be officially completed by May 16,
it will be open for visitors to walk interpretive trails.
Re-enactment
organizers expect more artillery pieces to be on the field this year. They also
are touting an old-style baseball game, a Civil War medicine tent and a cavalry
competition.
But the
marquee events remain the two 2 p.m. battle re-enactments (Saturday and Sunday).
The clashes
will recall outnumbered Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s determined effort
to hold off Federals on May 14-15, 1864, after he had withdrawn from Rocky Face.
There was no clear winner on the field at Resaca, but a Union flanking move
forced the Army of Tennessee to retire.
 |
| Joe Johnston |
Johnston had
begun what historian Shelby Foote referred to as the “Red Clay Minuet” with Sherman,
giving up ground grudgingly.
Michael Shaffer,
assistant director of Kennesaw State University’s Civil War Center, cited the
comments of one Federal soldier after the Battle of Resaca: “Brave men were falling on every hand. This
was one of the days that will occupy a conspicuous page in our country’s
history.”
“Visitors to the re-enactment will catch a glimpse of the action after
the initial fighting of the campaign along Rocky Face Ridge, have the chance to
inspect earthworks and inspect the Western & Atlantic Railroad, the
lifeline of both forces as the campaign unfolded,” Shaffer told the Picket.
Tickets
are $5 for adults; $2 for children 6 to 12, and admission is free for
children 5 and under. A shuttle service will carry visitors from the parking
area. Vendors will sell period and contemporary food and offer various wares. Military
and civilian camps will be open to visitors at certain times. The event will be
held rain or shine.
Remembering the dead
As is
customary at the re-enactment, a memorial service will be held, at 10 a.m. on
Saturday, May 17, at the picturesque Confederate Cemetery in nearby Resaca.
According to the National Park Service, the battle casualties totaled 5,547 (US
2,747; CS 2,800).
Mary and Pyatt Green, daughters of Col. John F. Green,
were shocked to see the bodies of Confederate dead lying in the rolling fields
of Resaca or in shallow graves. In 1866, they and their African-American cook
began relocating bodies to a 2.5 acre site provided by their father.
James Lay,
president of the Gordon County Historical Society in Calhoun, said the Green
sisters established the first Confederate cemetery in Georgia. It contains
about 400 remains.
“The women
put the boys as far as they could determine by states with wooden markers.” Markers
and a wall eventually were added, and memorial services became a community
mainstay.
 |
| Flagmaker Robert Banks at Resaca Cemetery |
The historial society,
which sponsored the first re-enactments, currently leads the re-enactment’s
memorial service and ladies’ tea.
“That is the
reason we held the whole battle (re-enactment), because of the cemetery, in
appreciation of what they did before they even knew what their dreams were,”
said Lay.
The
historical society is a co-sponsor of the re-enactment, which is getting
special attention this year because of the 150th anniversary and the
new parks. Gordon County also is hoping for an economic boost.
Sarah
Husser of the
Gordon County Convention & Visitors Bureau said the promotion effort includes a billboard on
I-75 north a few miles below Exit 320, flyers, a re-enactment program and new
lamppost banners (below) in downtown Calhoun, the county seat.
“We
are encouraging the local stores to decorate their windows and hope to have a
couple of volunteers in period attire walk around downtown Calhoun during lunch
time the week of the re-enactment,” she said. “We hope to build interest for
locals and visitors.”
 |
| Calhoun lamppost banner |
What visitors will see
The event
kicks off Friday, May 16, with visits from school groups.
“It is
letting them to look and see the guns fire and hope when they get to that point
in American history school, they will say, ‘Wow I went to Resaca. I went to
that and they showed me that,’” said Padgett.
Of course, it
wouldn’t hurt if a few decided to take up re-enacting when they become older.
“It is
getting the young people interested to do it. You will see a lot of gray heads
in the field,” he said. “We have young people coming into the hobby, but it
does not seem as many as it used to be. The impact of the war is not taught in
the school like when I was taught.”
Organizers
said they could see 10,000 spectators over the weekend. “It all depends on the
weather,” said Padgett. In 2013, six inches of rain slammed attendance.
He and others
in the Georgia Division have spent several months preparing the site, assembling
massive quantities of firewood for soldier camps, doing electrical work for
vendors and gathering hay and bedding straw for horses and mules.
This year’s
re-enactment will probably be the largest in Georgia and Padgett is excited about
the increase in re-enactors.
Most years,
there are 12-16 artillery pieces. This year will have at least 21.
“We have four
so far that have been horse-drawn, maneuver, unlimber and hitch. As the battle
progresses, they will change positions,” said Padgett.
One of three
original cannons on site will be a Noble gun, forged at a foundry in Rome,
Georgia, in 1861. “It makes a sound like no other gun in the field. It is a
bronze cannon. Even the spectators turn to look because of a distinctive ring.”
 |
| 1864 Battle of Resaca (Library of Congress) |
He said he
did not have an exact number of re-enactors who have registered, but it appears
2,000 to 2,500 could take the field. “It is so seldom they get to re-enact on
an original battlefield.”
Among the
units coming are the S.C.A.R. Battalion, the 125th Ohio, the Georgia Division and Rambo’s
battalion from Alabama.
New this year
is a display and discussion of period medical instruments.
After a
nondenominational service Sunday morning, organizers will have a period
baseball game.
“We are using
1860s rules and period-correct instruments (rawhide ball and sticks),” said
Padgett. “We hope to have a friendly game between the Rebs and Yanks.”
“(Also) after the church service, spectators
can go on the main field and watch the cavalry competition, where they take
their sabers and ride through, in demonstration of precision.”
 |
| Terre Lawson at Chitwood Farm in 2010 |
Meanwhile, back at Interstate 75
Resaca Battlefield State Historic site, built by the state and to be
operated by Gordon County once open, will have loop trails, interpretive signs, pulloff areas, picnic tables and a comfort station, though no museum, due to
budgetary limitations.
Construction, which has seen delays,
continues on the site, said Kim Hatcher, public affairs coordinator with the
parks division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
“Hopefully, most will be done in
May. There are plans to allow visitors into the site for a 150th
event May 16-18, even if it’s not completely finished,” she said.
Padgett said
he expects the new site will be nearly complete by May 16.
“I am very
pleased. We knew there were going to be snags,” he said. “You cannot go into a
site that large and not have some problems. We had wet areas and different
things like that. The trail system goes down one ridge and up another ridge.”
An elevated
roadway will keep traffic above flood-prone areas on the south part of the site
and the six miles of interpretive trails are on high ground, he said. “They
will be able to go through nearly 100% of it,” he said about May visitors.
 |
| Portrait time at Chitwood Farm |
The state
also has been widening a road that goes above I-75 and doing bridge work
adjacent to the new site, at times limiting or slowing access to the site.
Charlie
Crawford, head of the Georgia Battlefields Association, was dismayed all work
may not be complete before the Resaca re-enactment and associated events.
“If the state cared enough, the agencies involved would
have arranged for the road work to be complete and the park to be finished in
time for the event, rather than having to make an exception and then finishing
the work after,” he told the Picket.
The Fort Wayne
site, which opened last summer, is also just off I-75 Exit 320, on Taylor Ridge
Road.
It was built
in 1862-1863 by the Confederate militia to protect the railroad and bridges
over the Oostanaula River, said Crawford. For much of the war, Fort Wayne was
used as a staging area for reinforcements there were sent north by rail.
Artillery in
the fort fired the first round toward Federals advancing on Resaca.
‘Camps stirring to life’
 |
| Riders in 2010 |
Padgett said
he will be stepping down as leader of the Georgia Division in the coming months
and will become an adviser, rather than a primary organizer, of the annual
re-enactment.
He said he is
pleased there are nearly 600 acres protected at Chitwood Farm through various
preservation and conservation efforts.
“I don’t
think anything is more pleasant than walking through the campfires at night,
talking to the troops and exchanging a few kind words.”
Padgett, who
has been Georgia Division commander for nearly 15 years, said he will continue
to research the battle and educate the public.
And he will
savor just being there.
“My favorite
time is to get up at dawn and just look down at all the campfires from the hill
and the camps stirring to life,” he said. “It is always so quiet. Sometimes
there are deer. It is strange knowing anything that beautiful and peaceful
could have had so much carnage during that period.”
B*ATL is a charter member of the Atlanta Civil War
Sesquicentennial Commission, which has a kickoff event scheduled to begin at 10
a.m. May 3. (Click here for details)
