An online
database of Union soldiers held for about six weeks at a prison in Georgia has
grown to 3,808, more than one third of the site’s population.
Through research,
online sites – such as findagrave and familysearch -- and the Andersonville
Departure Register, archaeologist Debbie Wallsmith has increased that number
from a listing of 399 prisoners who died at Camp Lawton.
Visitors at
Magnolia Springs State Park northwest of Savannah can assume the identity of a
POW at the state’s Camp Lawton History Center. They learn more about the experience of being at
Lawton and then find out that prisoner’s fate. The Confederate camp also was known
as Millen, a town a few miles away.
Exhibit hall at Magnolia Springs History Center (Ga. DNR)
In a recent newsletter from
the Georgia Historic Preservation Division, Wallsmith provided an update on her
ongoing effort to learn more about the prisoners and their Confederate guards.
She called the project an “obsession” ina 2014 interview with the Civil War Picket.
The average age of enlistment
for the Union captives was 24, although the range went from 15 to 45.
“Of 625 survivors with known
dates of deaths, 466 died before 1900, including 138 while imprisoned elsewhere
before the end of the war; and 10 others who died aboard the Sultana, a
steamboat that exploded on the Mississippi River while transporting soldiers
home.” One POW died in 1944.
Up to 10,000 Union men, most sent from the infamous Andersonville prison camp, were held at Lawton in late 1864 before
they were moved elsewhere. Death estimates range from685 to 1,330. The
database includes more than 3,400 Lawton survivors.
Wallsmith concluded her
update with a summary of a few of the most famous Lawton prisoners, including
Thomas P. “Boston” Corbett, who killed John Wilkes Booth, and Peter “Big Pete”
McCullough, a Missouri soldier known as the “Hanging Judge of Andersonville”
for seeking punishment for six fellow Union prisoners who were part of the “Raiders,”
a group that preyed on comrades.
Cpl. Alexander T. Butler of
the 7th Tennessee Cavalry, Company B, (above) lived to be almost 75 and
married four times after returning home. Butler farmed after the war and
received a pension because of illness.
Eppenetus Washington
McIntosh of the 14th Illinois Infantry survived the Sultana disaster.
McIntosh “found it difficult
to stay in one place and spent most of the remainder of his life as a traveling
minstrel, and sold post cards that featured a drawing of his emaciated
appearance after being released from Andersonville,” Wallsmith wrote.
Wallsmith asks those with questions or possible
contributions to the database contact her at 770-389-7864 or debbie.wallsmith@dnr.ga.gov
A moody photo
of the Chancellorsville battlefield in Virginia is the grand prize-winner in
the 2015 Civil War Trust photo contest. A dozen submitted images will grace the
organization’s 2016 calendar, which helps support land preservation.• See this year’s and previous winners.
Burning of Columbia, Feb. 1865 (William Waud, Library of Congress)
Historic
flooding earlier this month in Columbia, South Carolina, put a temporary hold
on the removal of objects from a river where Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman is believed to have dumped captured munitions.
“Prior to the
flooding, we did work on removing the metallic objects for several days,” said Ginny
Jones, senior public affairs specialist for SCANA, parent company of utility
SCE&G. “Nothing we found at that time was of historical significance. We
plan to resume work on the project on Nov. 2.”
The State
newspaper has reported that sonar and metal detection have located where the
weapons were likely dumped into the Congaree River near the Gervais Street
bridge. But no one is certain the objects are associated with the Civil War.
Sherman, on
his way to North Carolina after seizing the South Carolina capital, kept what he
wanted of Confederate ordnance and threw the rest into the river in February 1865.
“It is
certainly possible that historical objects could still be found; we still just
don’t know what’s there until we dig it up,” Jones said in an email to the
Civil War Picket.
Gervais Street bridge (NPS)
EOTI, a
Tennessee company, has been contracted to help deal with any Civil War-related
munitions that are found. “That likely would involve placing a cover over any
explosives consultants find, then detonating the material in place,” the
newspaper reported, quoting a SCANA official. “The cover would keep the
explosion contained to protect the public and the surrounding environment.”
EOTI referred
Picket questions to SCANA.
SCE&G is
conducting a remediation project in the Congaree River because of the detected
presence of tar. It says tests show it to be coal tar created by manufactured
gas plants that operated throughout Columbia more than century ago.
The State, in
a preview of this phase of the work, said workers will go through soil in the
river and remove 74 objects.
Officials
previously told the newspaper that any recovered cannonballs, scabbards, sabers or
cartridges will likely be housed at the S.C. Confederate Relic Room.
The Civil War Picket this week spoke with Julie
Morgan, archaeologist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Savannah, Ga. We
asked her about concerted efforts since January to recover the CSS Georgia ironclad, a
Confederate vessel, and associated artifacts from the Savannah River as part of
a channel-deepening project. Responses
have been edited for brevity and organization by topic.
Q. When do you expect mechanized
recovery to wrap up?
A. We expect Oct. 23 (today) will be the last day for the
mechanized. We are striving for 100 percent coverage of the site. It is highly
likely that we will have left some artifacts down there. We are trying to get
up as much as we can.
Q. What has been the biggest surprise?
A. The grapple bringing up the (9-inch Dahlgren) cannon is
right up there, No. 1. In this part of the project, I am amazed by the variety
of artifacts we are getting, with the techniques we are using. This is
definitely not the norm to use clamshell or grapple. It would not be how you
normally do it (previous phases in the project included retrieval of items by hand, baskets and lifts). We are just finding items from the smallest – a few buttons,
marbles -- to 24-foot long foot railroad iron (armor). Machinery, large
timbers, we have found the whole spectrum. We are getting a lot of ceramic, whiteware, spoons, everyday items. It is very surprising we are finding
such small artifacts and these very large pieces.
Q. The biggest disappointment?
A. We were not able to recover the large casemate section.
We are not doing it this time. We just really weren’t prepared with the
equipment that we have. We will step back and reassess and come back in the
future. We had a methodology, using the best information possible. As we got
more involved, we realized the way we had planned was not the best way. We did
not have the assets to recover the west and east casemates. We have recovered a
few pieces of the east casemate. I think we have some really get data. We can reconstruct
a section of the southeast casemate. Although we are using unconventional
methods, we are recording everything. We will have a very good idea of how the
vessel was constructed: the interior considerations, how the wood backing was
put together, a lot more about the vessel itself.
Possible Civil War medallion that may have been attached to strap (USACE)
Q. How have the artifacts, at least
preliminarily, informed you of the
operations of the CSS Georgia?
A. I think we can all agree that based on the machinery we
have recovered it was definitely underpowered. That was alluded to in archival
research. We know just from the pieces. The Georgia was a large and heavy
vessel. We are scratching our heads, thinking, ‘Why did they use this (item)?’
A lot has to do with maybe they were using what they could just find, products
that were readily available. There is no way to know at this point why they
chose what they did. We have no estimate on the ship’s length.
Railroad iron was used for armor (USACE)
Q. Any evidence of measures taken to
combat the constant leaking on the Georgia?
A. No. And you have to realize when we find this machinery
it is not like the whole engine falls on the deck. There are so many pieces. We
will have to figure out how they go together. At this point, we are getting
pieces to the puzzle but we have not had chance to do that yet.
Q. How about the life of the crew? Did
you find evidence of types of food, alcohol?
A. We have found items that suggest it was a pretty dull
assignment. We found marbles and a domino. They had to find ways to keep
themselves occupied. We are finding spoons, whiteware (ceramic). We will have
an opportunity to look at our large database and we may get a better picture.
We are starting to confirm it was a pretty dull assignment. We found bits and
pieces of wooden barrels. We have found only one complete bottle of alcohol,
for extra porter and ale. I imagine sailors haven’t changed much over the
years.
Discovery of Dahlgren was a surprise for some (USACE)
Q. How can you describe the experience
the two dozen, mostly young archaeologists are receiving?
A. These are all professional archaeologists. Some may be
working on degrees. They do this for a living. If they were all terrestrial
archaeologists we would call them “shovelbums” who go around to different
projects. This is a very unique project. Because they are young, I can’t say
this will be the highlight of their career, but it will rank right up there,
working on a Confederate ironclad.
Q. What is like to go through all the
muck and debris?
A. Sometimes the pieces are very, very small. It was pretty
exciting to find something we can attribute to the CSS Georgia. The buttons are
very exciting, as were the bayonet and sword handles. We are getting
prehistoric ceramic. The crew is on its hands and knees somedays (on a recovery
barge) looking through the muck and clamshell debris.
Hilt for artillery short sword
Q. Can you describe a typical day out
on the barges?
A. It’s pretty fast-paced and the crew is very, very
efficient. We are averaging 50 to 70 grabs a day. In the areas we are getting
heavy machinery and iron it might be a slower day where we may have to use
cranes. We have an amazing crew that is dedicated and enthusiastic. It is hard
work, manual labor, but it is very rewarding. Saturday, we will start cleaning
off the barge and will go back to our base crew that started in January. We
will have reburial next week. Some of the final dives will make sure nothing
major is missed. Toward the end of the
next week we will take barges off the site
(near Old Fort Jackson) and start unloading.
Q. What’s next?
A. Once we are off site, we will finish up inerting
(rendering safe) the ordnance and getting all ordnance to Texas A&M
(University) for conservation. We have found with so much (material) it may
take in excess of three years for of all the conservation in this project.
Archaeologists will start writing up the report and start the analysis of these
artifacts. We will have a technical report at the very end of this project.
A shard of recovered pottery (USACE)
Q. When do you expect to research/write a
formal analysis? What variables will be included?
A. This is a data recovery project. We are going to be
reburying some of the artifacts. We will have to address those artifacts in the
report. It will be pretty straightforward. Because of the conditions of the
vessel, site, damage, (the remains) not being complete, there may be some
questions we may never be able to answer.
Q. What percentage of items will be
conserved?
A. I can’t speculate. Items that are unique are going to
the conservation lab in Texas. Railroad items that are bent, twisted or are a
segment, we bury those. Essentially, if it cannot tell us more of the story it
goes back to reburial (in the river).
Q. Recovery has been ongoing for
nearly a year. Can you summarize what’s been accomplished?
A. Looking at the sonar images we always had a pretty good
idea of what was left of the vessel itself. Through the past few weeks in
mechanized we are finding much more about the CSS Georgia. You look at the
images, now we are beginning to get pieces that will tell us so much more about
this vessel and the people involved.
Ceramic, bottle
Q. How many artifacts recovered thus
far?
A. Up to 1,700 before the mechanized phase (which brought
in many more). We don’t give individual numbers. We are giving them lot
numbers. Our last count was over 50 tons sent to Texas A&M, including five
cannons.
Q. Which artifact most speaks to you?
A. We found a bottle very complete. It was one of my
favorite artifacts. Just seeing the domino, marbles, things of daily life that
these sailors these had or used. We have found so much that after a while it
becomes a blur. What day did we find that or this? I like items that help you
learn more what life was like for these people, sailors.
To mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War,
The National Civil War Chaplains Museum at Liberty University in Virginia has
added two relics — a diary and a flag — to its exhibit on a group known as the
U.S. Christian Commission.• Article
A Civil War
statue placed in a famous Rochester, New York, cemetery is being restored. The
bronze sculpture was created by Sally James Farnham, a native of Ogdensburg in
northern New York. It depicts a flag-bearing soldier standing next to a bugler.
Erected in 1908, it stands in a section of the cemetery holding the graves of
hundreds of Civil War veterans. • Article
The Picket reported last week that the Burnside
Bridge at Antietam will undergo an extensive repair and stabilization
project. The structure closed over the weekend.
Officials at
Antietam National Battlefield say the Observation Tower at the Maryland park
also is closed. The 60-foot stone tower should reopen the first week of
November following roof repairs.
Superintendent
Susan Trail responded Tuesday to the Picket’s questions about the bridge
restoration project.
Q. When do you expect people will be
able to walk over Burnside Bridge again?
A. The bridge is now closed to pedestrian traffic and we
anticipate the first phase of the project to end sometime around the end of the
calendar year, but much depends upon the weather. The bridge will reopen at
that time and remain open until the second phase begins in early spring. Then
we anticipate it to remain closed through the summer.
Q. The National Park Service plans
in-stream work to strengthen the stone piers. Does that mean rebuilding
the piers?
A. Voids in the piers will be grouted and the piers will be
repointed. They will not be rebuilt.
Q. What kind of stones make up the
bridge? Are they local, or would you need to bring new ones in, if required?
A. The bridge is constructed of local limestone. At this
time we do not anticipate having to bring in additional stone, but we will not
know until the work is underway.
Q. Will the closure of the bridge
change the park's interpretation in the area?
A. Visitors can still walk down to the bridge. It should
not impact interpretation in this area too much, except that visitors will not
be able to cross the bridge.
Flat marker that will go over grave (Springfield National Cemetery)
The soldier’s
identity went with him to a shallow grave following the second major battle of
the Civil War. More than four years after part of his remains were illegally removed by a relic hunter,
the soldier will be reburied Saturday
The
Department of Veterans Affairs will conduct the public service, in conjunction
with the National Park Service, at 10 a.m. CT at Springfield National Cemetery in
Missouri.
Re-enactors and staff members at
Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield will perform honors, including the firing
of a cannon and a 21-volley salute. A marker will state the identity of the
soldier remains unknown.
“I just want
to honor this soldier and give him proper burial rites,” Wilson’s Creek
Superintendent Ted Hillmer told the Picket. Gary Edmondson of the cemetery said the soldier will be buried among Confederate fallen and veterans who served during more recent conflicts.
Officials are
not certain which side the man -- believed to be at least 20 years old -- fought
with, but they believe he may have been a Confederate because of the manner and
haste of burial.
An NPS
investigation found the skeleton was about 29 percent complete. The recovered
bones were from the knees and below. There was not enough of the right material
to test for DNA, Hillmer said. “There is no confirmation or history of the
family.”
According to
the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the western district of Missouri, Coy Matthew
Hamilton, then 31, of Springfield, admitted to removing remains from the
Wilson's Creek battlefield.
Hamilton said
he and a friend found the remains on Feb. 27, 2011, while paddling down Wilson's Creek, looking for archaeological artifacts.
“Recent
heavy rains had eroded parts of the riverbank, and during the early afternoon,
Hamilton saw a bone sticking out of an eroded embankment by the creek,”
prosecutors said in a November 2012 press release. “Hamilton attempted to
remove the bone, breaking it in the process. He then began digging into the embankment,
removing additional bones. Ten days later, Hamilton, through an intermediary,
turned the bones in to the National Park Service.”
Confederates won a victory at Wilson's Creek (NPS)
A subsequent excavation of the remaining skeleton found eight
handmade, machine-tooled buttons made of bone, near the ankles. They were
manufactured between 1800 and 1865 and consistent with buttons used during the
Civil War.
The Battle of Wilson’s Creek, on Aug. 10, 1861, resulted in a
Confederate victory after its forces made multiple assaults on Union lines.
Eventually, Federal troops retreated to Springfield.
“The remains were found in a location that would have been in
an area of intensive fighting,” federal prosecutors wrote. “Mounted, infantry,
and artillery units were in and near the vicinity of the find, which was just
north of a road crossing the creek. The shallow grave suggested an expedient
but respectful interment, head to the west in concert with Christian practices
of the time.”
Hamilton
avoided federal prosecution for disturbing and removing items from an archaeological site by agreeing to pay $5,351 in restitution to the NPS
and performing 60 hours of community service.
Hillmer, who
said the park was involved in a similar burial in 2003, has invited the Sons of
Confederate Veterans and Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War to take part
in Saturday’s event.
A $1.7 million project will stabilize Antietam
National Battlefield’s iconic Burnside Bridge, which lost a section of stone
wall in January 2014 after the bitter “polar vortex."
Temporary repairs were made, but a deeper engineering
assessment found the 12-feet wide by 125-feet-long stone has substantial
deterioration of the walls and significant water infiltration, the park in western Maryland said in
a Wednesday press release.
The bridge over Antietam Creek will close Saturday (Oct. 10). It was not
immediately clear when the pedestrian structure is expected to reopen.
The investigation also found that the instability extended to bridge piers with voids
that need to be filled, officials said.
Phase
1 of the preservation will focus on strengthening the stone piers and arches, the
National Park Service said. Portable dams will be installed in the creek to
divert the water. Phase II will begin in early spring with repairs that require
selectively dismantling and rebuilding sections of the bridge walls.
Superintendent
Susan Trail last year told the Picket that rapid freezing and thawing after weather systems likely added to the natural wear on the stones.
NPS photo
Originally known as Rohrbach's or Lower
Bridge, the battlefield landmark was built in 1836 by John Weaver at a cost of
$3,200 as a wagon, horse and foot crossing southeast of Sharpsburg.
On Sept. 17, 1862,America's
bloodiest single day, a small force of Confederates on high ground for three
hours defended the critical crossing against troops belonging to Ambrose E.
Burnside's 9th Corps.
“Topography at the site heavily favored
the few hundred Confederates who defended it. The road approaching the east end
of the bridge swung on a course paralleling that of Antietam Creek; in the last
few hundred yards before reaching the bridge, the road plunged into a
funnel-like depression between the opposing bluffs of the creek,” the NPS says.
“Confederate troops were in rifle pits on the west bluff overlooking the bridge
and the approach road.” Critics say Burnside did not do adequate
reconnaissance before the attack, which cost him about 500 casualties.
"After taking the bridge at about 1 p.m.,
Burnside reorganized for two hours before moving forward across the arduous
terrain -- a critical delay. Finally, the advance started only to be turned
back by Confederate General A.P. Hill’s reinforcements that arrived in the late
afternoon from Harpers Ferry," according to the NPS.
Gen. Robert E. Lee's army was saved, but he had to
end his Maryland invasion and return to Virginia.
After the battle, the bridge was actively used
for traffic until as recently as 1966, according to the NPS.The last significant work occurred in the late 1980s.
Early model for Shiloh project. (Courtesy of Kim Sessums)
To capture a person's essence, Mississippi artist Kim Sessums wants
to know as much as he can about the subject’s circumstances, background and
outlook.
His works of figurative sculpture also strive to be anatomically
accurate. Clay is shaped through écorché, the practice of sculpture with exposed
muscle structure.
There are no artistic exaggerations, such as is the case with
the subjects’ hands and feet in Rodin’s “The Burghers of Calais.”
“It feels real because it has to be real,” Sessums says of his
finished products, which include bronze busts of Andrew Wyeth, Eudora Welty,
Sonny Montgomery and the Rev. Billy Graham.
That attention to detail -- where the viewer is not
distracted from the work’s central theme -- is reflected in a towering bronze and granite monument
that will be unveiled Saturday (Oct. 10) at Shiloh National Military Park near Savannah,
Tenn. Three young Mississippi soldiers converge to protect a flag during a
doomed attack on Union positions in April 1862. The monument will honor about
6,000 Mississippians who fought at Shiloh.
Dr. Kim Sessums
Sessums, 56, said that Carmel, Calif., artist Richard
Macdonald once told him he might be “cheating.”
That’s because Sessums is a physician in Brookhaven.
While “medical anatomy is different from artistic anatomy,”
Sessums says it has informed his work. He made a reference to artist Jamie
Wyeth, who studied cadavers at the New York City morgue.
The artist told the Picket he has parallel careers, as an
OB/GYN during the day, while spending time on his art early in the morning, at
night and on the weekends. He has created sculpture since 1995. “I would sculpt
my kids to get the human likeness and humanity.”
Sessums grew up in rural Scott County, Ms. At 4, Sessums lost
his father in an automobile wreck; his mother died of cancer a year later. He
was raised by grandparents and continued his interest in drawing, eventually
branching out into mixed media, pastels and bronzes.
The latter include former Ole Miss football coach John
Vaught, campus benefactor Frank R. Day and the African-American Monument at
Vicksburg National Military Park (below). That work consists of two black Union
soldiers and a field hand.
NPS photo
“The field hand and one soldier support
between them the second soldier, who is wounded and represents the sacrifice in
blood made by black soldiers on the field of battle during the Civil War,”
according to a National Park Service description. “The field hand looks behind
at a past of slavery, while the first soldier gazes toward a future of freedom
secured by force of arms on the field of battle.”
Sessums said he wanted to honor a people
who had been through a tremendous hardship.
The Mississippi monument on Rea Field at
Shiloh is not meant to show specific soldiers, but it is based on the 6th Mississippi, which suffered horrendous casualties in several assaults.
“They came up against the 53rd Ohio from a snake-infested
swamp. They were trying to make a surprise attack," he said. “This is to show the
dedication and valor of these young men.”
Sessums and Dale Wilkerson, superintendent at Shiloh, said
artistic sensibilities have changed since the first monuments went up at the
park a century or so ago.
Before the dedication of the Tennessee monument in 2005,
artistic themes at Shiloh were allegorical, said Wilkerson. “They are kind of
meant to represent a theme.”
NPS photo
The 1906 Iowa memorial (above) features a female figure at the base,
fashioning an inscription. A bronze eagle is affixed to a small globe at the
top of the monument.
“Fame” writes:
Brave of the brave, the twice five thousand men Who all that day stood in the battle’s shock, Fame holds them dear, and with immortal pen Inscribes their names on the enduring rock.
Elsewhere at Shiloh, an angel cradles a Wisconsin soldier.
The 1917 Confederate Monument, the informal name for a work
sponsored by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, is very allegorical, said
Wilkerson.
Picket photo of Confederate Monument detail
According to the NPS, the central group in
this sweeping work represents a "Defeated Victory." The front figure,
representing the Confederacy, is surrendering the laurel wreath of victory to
Death, on the left, and Night, on the right. Death came to their commander and
Night brought reinforcements to the enemy, and the battle was lost.
“None of this was meant to represent real people, but ideas,”
said the superintendent.
NPS photo
The Tennessee monument (above) was meant to
represent what happened on the battlefield. It, too, depicts three men, one
cradling a dead or dying comrade.
Sessums’ new work, Wilkerson said, is even
closer to reality. “The 6th Mississippi did charge across the field
and had seven color bearers shot down. The one is the middle has been shot, one
of them is reaching for the colors and one is reaching to hold up the color
bearer.”
The artist said he first made smaller figures after “very
rough sketches" before crafting a miniature version. He focuses on physiology. “It gets in my
arms, brain and my eyes.” When he goes to the full-size figures, in this case 8
and a half feet tall, “they always take on a life of their own. You hope it
changes for the better.”
Sessums submitted a couple design ideas to the Mississippi
Veterans Monument Commission. They turned down a camp scene (below), choosing the one
that will be unveiled this weekend.
“I love it,” the artist said of the camp scene. “(It
is) very intimate and contemplative. Less heroic. Have thought about
finishing as a separate study for the monument. Would be a really moving small
bronze.”
In an essay with his submission to the commission, Sessums
included the story of a real Mississippian at Shiloh, Augustus Mecklin of Choctaw County.
The private wrote, “No day of my life has been so full of stirring terrible
events as this. Never may I see such another. Even now my mind is
agitated & as I think of what I have seen this day visions dark &
bloody float before my eyes & sounds of death & suffering fill my
eyes.”
The artist’s aim was
to give the man of the ranks “his rightful measure of consideration.”
His son, Jake, 32, helped with the
Shiloh project. Jake helped apply the clay, and then his father scored the
surfaces, using different tools.
Ed Bearss discusses Confederate trenches at Resaca (GBA)
John A. King
may have put it best when talking about the protracted birthing of a historic
site that will interpret the Battle of Resaca during the Atlanta Campaign.
“It’s been a
long time coming,” said the Gordon County administrator. “Sometimes, good things
take a while.”
That “while”
refers to a 20-year campaign to build and open a park just off I-75 in
northwest Georgia. Supporters have been frustrated by false starts, permit
problems, negotiations by state and local governments, construction delays and
a massive road project at the interstate interchange. Officials had hoped Resaca Battlefield State Historic Site
would be open well before May 2014 for the battle’s sesquicentennial – but that didn’t
happen.
Now there's good news.
David Clark,
chief engineer for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, recently told
the Picket that final items of additional construction should be completed by the end of
the month, with a transfer of the operations and maintenance to Gordon County after that.
Ken Padgett, a leader of the Gordon County Historic Preservation
Commission and Friends of Resaca Battlefield, said, “It looks like we are close, but the final punch list (to do
list) is in the very near future and hasn’t been agreed upon as yet.”
King says the
county will need a few months to inspect the site, ensure all infrastructure is
ready and have it up and running. He said he’d like to see it open by May 2016
for the battle’s 152nd anniversary. Officials may be able to provide some
access before a grand opening.
Master plan for the historic site (DNR)
Old GBA map shows visitors' center that was dropped
Initially,
King said, the 505-acre park will be open from 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. on the
weekends.
“What a
wonderful place to go on a Saturday afternoon and walk with your family,” he
said.
The
state has provided infrastructure, including a 2.2-mile road to the center of
the site and walking paths.
“There
is a lookout pavilion at end of the road, parking and roadside stops along the
way with parking,” said Clark. “Further, there is interpretive signage in
several locations to inform visitors of the historical significance of the
site. There are and over 5.5 miles of trails, mostly in the woods.”
The
state dropped plans for a visitors' center during the economic slowdown a few
years back.
King
said county officials will ensure the site is preserved and, in conjunction
with other facilities -- including Fort Wayne and the Resaca Cemetery --
educate visitors and schoolchildren about the Civil War’s significant impact on
Gordon County.
Pavilion and trail at new site (Photos: Georgia Battlefields Association)
“We see it as
a lot of different opportunities. Not only does it reinforce the value of the historical
significance of site, it gives us opportunity to promote greater tourism,
community development and recreation.”
Charlie
Crawford, president of the Georgia Battlefields Association, said visitors will
see well-preserved trenches from both sides and most of the battlefield on the
early afternoon of May 14, 1864. Late-afternoon action is on the east side of the interstate. The GBA helped pay for a conservation easement
in 2010 that protects the site.
On May 13-15, 1864, Union Maj. Gen. William T.
Sherman’s army and Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s Confederate Army of the Tennessee
bloodied each other at Resaca. There was no clear winner, but Sherman continued
his march toward Atlanta, which he took several months later.
The fighting at Resaca
demonstrated that the outnumbered Confederate army could only slow, but not
stop, the advance of Union forces. An annual re-enactment is held on a different portion of the battlefield, at Chitwood Farm.
Interstate 75 actually runs
through the middle of the Resaca battleground, making the Civil War site
literally just an exit ramp away.Exit
320 currently has no hotels and little fanfare.
Example of sign at Resaca historic site (DNR)
The state site at the Ga. 136 exit covers a
portion of the western side of the clash.
In March 2012, the Civil War
Trust closed on the purchase of 51 acres of another portion of the Resaca
battlefield, about three miles northeast of the new park.
Local residents began
pushing for the park in the 1990s and the state acquired the property. The
Friends of Resacaorganized support and raised money. Finally, Georgia appeared
poised to build the visitors center after a October 2008 groundbreaking.
The Department of Natural
Resources realized it did not have the money to finish the project.
Frustrated, Gordon County stepped in and
took over, agreeing to do the construction and staff and maintain the facility.
But in March 2010, citing costs and inherited permit problems, Gordon County
punted on building the site. The state agreed to take the project back, with
the caveat that the county would operate it once the work was done.
Fall 2008 groundbreaking was a tad premature (GBA)
The construction contract was awarded in May
2012 and the contractor started work in the fall of that year. The work was
mostly done a year later but the Georgia Department of Transportation project produced
some “complications,” including access to the site. A second contractor finished
work on a redesigned entrance, Clark said.
The ongoing DOT project includes interchange
widening and reconstruction on Ga. 136, two bridges and approaches. The DNR has
been able to install a main gate and front signage for the battlefield site.
“Because of its limited access, to a significant degree
this historic site is also a good nature preserve,” said Clark.
Resaca Battlefield State Historic Site is in a flood
plain and the state built a raised road.
“There have been some very heavy rain periods that have
flooded the site since construction was completed but the road has
remained well above the water level,” Clark said. “In the rare event
that water does raise to the road elevation, the site will simply be
closed for a week or two, cleaned and reopened.”
103rd Ohio is the only monument on the battlefield (GBA)
Padgett, a longtime advocate for the historic site, said he and King stopped by on Oct. 5.
“Several issues are still to be
addressed by DNR. I do think that we are close and DNR is having final site
work actively underway at this time,” Padgett said. “I appreciate the work that
Gordon County and DNR has done to ensure that the park is open to the public
very soon.”
(Padgett told the Picket on Nov. 3 that rain has delayed final site work, but he expects work to be done around the end of the month.) King said while the site will be self-guided he
expects a park guide to serve as a host and to provide maintenance. The
estimated cost of operating the site is $84,000. While no admission charge is
forecast, visitors will have an opportunity to donate to help the upkeep.
The administrator said Gordon County has worked
with the state to ensure the trails are easily identifiable and walkers don’t
get lost. The site will have controlled access so that employees can ensure
its cultural resources are not disturbed.
King said he expects a related website to be
built and the county will want some kind of billboard on I-75.
Clark said his agency has not had discussions
with the DOT regarding an I-75 sign. “There are criteria regarding
the projected number of yearly visitors to get a sign approved, which may
prove to be a difficult hurdle for this site.” Padgett said the Friends of the Resaca
Battlefield are seeking donations to complete the historic trails interpretation
signage and other projects, such as trail benches.
Gordon
County, King says, is excited about the park.
“It is going
to be a unique location,” he said. “(It’s) one of the few battlefield sites
that have not been available to the public. It is an untouched site.”