The number of monuments and marker you can find in some of the National Battlefield Parks preserving American Civil War battlefields can simply numb you.  Granite monuments form literal forests inside some National Battlefield Parks from the American Civil War.   Each monument does have a story, even those not as fancy, expensive and artistic as others.  If you want to see all of them, say in a day or so – a true monumental dash, you will need to put on your running shoes – boots, in some cases, depending on the weather. 

Pre-planning

It helps immensely if before you venture out onto one of the battlefields, say Chickamauga, you understand some of the history, some of the flow of action.  It also helps to lay that map out beforehand to plan your dash.  Now, if you live near to some of these park-battlefields, you can visit them repeatedly becoming ever more intricately educated as to the events, the men involved, the topography.  If, however, you live across the country – like I do – time becomes a major factor.  Planning emerges as key.  How to see as much as you can in a short time – not unlike other trips you may have involved yourself with.

My first trip to Civil War battlefields centered upon those found in the Virginia to Pennsylvania region, focusing, like the war, on Virginia.  Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, Lexington, Cedar Mountain, Ball Bluff, Monocacy, South Mountain, Antietam and finally Gettysburg all figured in my travel course.  The first battlefields gave opportunities to learn.  Nothing more fun than traipsing around on Henry House Hill at Manassas in the rain with shoes not made to repel water.

Battlefield differences

But I also noted a scale of difference between different battlefields.  Not many monuments placed on battlefields in Virginia as opposed to Antietam and Gettysburg.  The reason is simple, money.  Monuments erected came about from fundraising done by the veterans of the various regiments – most monuments remember individual regiments.  Many of the funds came from different States providing the monies, though others gained funding from the regimental veterans themselves.

The monument craze began in earnest in the late 19^th and early 20th centuries.  By this time, veterans had acquired enough political power and capital to undertake such ventures. A few monuments erected during and immediately after the war commemorating sacrifices made – Stones River, Manassas and the original surviving monument, that of the 32^nd Indiana Infantry Regiment also known as the August Bloedner Monument after the German American stonecutter-soldier who crafted the memorial.  But it really took some time after the war to get things going.  Most of the soldiers fighting during the war were still very young and there were more important things to do as they resumed “normal” lives after the long struggles they endured.

explosion at gettysburg

What really got the monument building started happened on the fields of Gettysburg with the memorial erected to the 2^nd Massachusetts Infantry in 1879.  During the middle and late 1880’s, things really took off as many other Federal regiments rushed to erect their own monuments.  About the same time, the federal government began to acquire lands encompassing several battlefields in order to create the beginnings of the national battlefield parks of today – Chickamauga and Chattanooga first, but Shiloh, Gettysburg and Vicksburg soon followed. 

Battlefields today

Today, there are seventeen battlefields under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service either as a National Military Park – Chattanooga and Chattanooga, Gettysburg, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Pea Ridge and Kennesaw Mountain; a National Battlefield Park – Manassas, Richmond, and Kennesaw Mountain; a National Battlefield – Antietam, Fort Donelson, Monocacy, Petersburg, Stones River, Tupelo and Wilson’s Creek; or as a National Battle Site – Brice’s Crossroads.  A special category would include interpretive centers like the one in Corinth, Mississippi which falls under the administration of Shiloh Park. 

Additionally, four sites of Civil War importance fall into the category of National Historic Parks – Abraham Lincoln Birthplace, Appomattox Court House, Cumberland Gap, Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie and Harpers Ferry.  National Historic Sites of Civil War wealth include Andersonville and others.  Further down the list fall the National Memorials like Arkansas Post, General Grant, Lincoln and Lincoln Boyhood sites.  National Monuments include Camp Nelson, Fort Monroe, Fort Union, Governors Island and Mill Springs Battlefield.

What makes a Historic Park versus a National Battlefield versus a National Military Park, etc.?  The National Park Service and the original Congressional legislation dedicating the site or sites.  It is easy to get confused.  Antietam, Stones River and Petersburg certainly played larger roles than Kennesaw Mountain or even Pea Ridge, but the important thing remains the site(s) are protected.

Monument Locations

The location of the monuments normally coincides with spots where the specific regiments fought.  The same goes for other monuments dedicated to individuals such as generals or individuals.  Individual monuments usually predated the preservation of a battlefield like sites where individuals fell in battle.

Park commissioners had responsibility for monument placement.  The sites normally lay where a regiment or person primarily engaged in battle – the main battle line.  However, most battles involved regiments fighting at several spots during a specific battle – both Gettysburg and Chickamauga occurred over several days, for example.  Regiments tried to place their monuments at sites where they considered their best fights took place.  That did not always coincide with what the commissioners thought, and political battles took place before some monuments became erected.

Visiting the Civil War parks, you quickly notice a dearth of monuments to the Confederate units.  The common explaination, the economic condition of the South in general for the fifty years plus after the war ended.  If the battlefields lay in the North – Gettysburg or Antietam, for example, commissioners were reticent to place monuments close to where Federal monuments are set.  A good example here is the attempts to place a marker for the 11^th Alabama on Little Round Top where they fought hard on 2 July 1863 against the 20^th Maine.  Most times, Confederate actions gain representation from a state monument versus individual units though there are exceptions, Shiloh being a good example though individuals and regiments gain representation here too.

Organizing a Monumental Dash

So, what are the first steps in organizing a monumental dash?  First, find accommodation nearby so you do not spend a large part of the day driving.  When I was at Shiloh, I noticed Grey Line buses driving around the fields.  I am not sure where the buses originated from, Nashville or Memphis.  From Nashville, it is a three-hour drive one way.  From Memphis, it is still a two-hour drive one way.  That leaves little time for one to explore the battlefield.  The buses did not seem to stop much either.  Of course, most of the tourists were probably not interested in an in-depth tour, just the basics, thank you, and that is what they got.

On some battlefields, there are so many you literally need to have a map to find them all.  While websites like the Historical Marker Database can get you to many of the monuments and markers.  But for those of us who like paper maps, Trailhead Graphics offers a series of maps to different Battle Parks – Gettysburg, Antietam, Chickamauga, Shiloh, Kennesaw Mountain, Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania, Pea Ridge, Petersburg and a map cover multiple smaller affairs “Civil War Campaigns Across the Potomac”.  A map, a bike or someone manning a car for you and those running shoe/boots ready you for this years’ version of the Monumental Dash.

Not every Battlefield is a Granite Forest

In my study of Civil War battlefields taken now over many years, I started out not really knowing much.  At least I had a digital camera with me when I began and my first visits were to battlefields with not that many monuments – Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Cedar Mountain, Ball’s Bluff, Monocacy and South Mountain.  But later, Antietam, Gettysburg, Shiloh, Chickamauga and Chattanooga went to another level.

Many of the parks have trail systems and the trails are important for finding several of the monuments, again you need a map to preplan your routes.  A lot of monuments one can note simply from a quick dismount from your car or bicycle.  Others, however, only are found only by walking – Chickamauga and Lookout Mountain are good examples there.

Digital good, iPhone better!

Digital cameras are good, but they have been largely superseded for hikers by the wonderful increases in phone camera technology.  I see people with their big 35mm SLR digitals – nothing says “tourist” like those.  Being a climber and avid mountain hiker, those are simply too big to lug around.  The improvement in phone cameras has been such that I do not carry one of those beasts around anymore.  I might have a simple outdoor version camera – Olympus Tough TG-7 or something like an Insta350 – but my camera of choice is my iPhone.  A monumental dash is all about mobility.

So, let’s take a look at specific battlefields and figure how much time is needed to hit every monument – the park service markers elevate matters to a whole different ballgame.

Antietam and Manassas

Regiments only had so much money whether because of the effort to gain money they gathered or their state.  With one monument, they wanted to place it on the battlefield where they felt their most conspicuous actions occurred.  Again, we are talking Federal regiments.  For those fighting in the East with the Army of the Potomac, Gettysburg became the field of choice.  With the Granite Forest of Gettysburg far attracting more visitors – battle importance and closer proximity for travelers – those regiments of the Army of the Potomac chose that site for their monument.

Manassas

But not all of the regiments comprising the Army of the Potomac fought at Gettysburg.  Many units did not enlist for three years or did not take part in that battle.  Antietam served as a great second choice.  Also, several of the units may have monuments at Gettysburg, but their actions at the battle of Antietam represented as big a challenge or more so.  For example, here we have the Philadelphia Brigade.  Or at Second Manassas, the efforts of three New York regiments, 5^th and 10^th New York and the 14^th Brooklyn all put monuments up where a 30 August late afternoon assault by James Longstreet’s command overran them.  Those units simply became crushed in ten minutes of action.

Manassas does not represent a difficult problem for a monumental dash.  Especially First Manassas where the monuments focus on the actions at Henry House Hill easily seen from a walk out from the Visitor Center.  Second Manassas brings a car into play.  There are only a couple of regimental monuments to find here, those of the New York monuments overrun by Longstreet.  To see the rest of the battlefield minus monuments you have to drive to the north to find the railroad cut where John Pope’s forces assaulted Confederate defenders under Stonewall Jackson repeatedly or the actions around Groveton on 29 August 1862.  Again, however, there are no monuments to see.

antietam

Antietam is another step up.  Here are several monuments to regiments present here, but not at Gettysburg.  Here are seventy-five monuments to Federal units, six to Confederate, the State of Maryland, Clara Barton, William McKinley (he served as a quartermaster bringing soldiers hot food onto the battlefield), four individual markers and four mortuary cannons dedicated to general officers who died here.

The battlefield is best explored with a car or bicycle.  The monuments are not a far walk away.  A few of the regimental monuments remember units which have monuments at Gettysburg, as well.  You can follow the battle from north to south much like the way Federal units attacked in a piecemeal fashion. 

Antietam by state – delaware, indiana, maryland and Massachusetts

Connecticut has four monuments to regiments not present at Gettysburg – only the 14^th has a monument on both fields.  Of the three Delaware regiments, two have monuments also at Gettysburg – the 3^rd is remembered only here.  All five of the Indiana regiments have monuments at Gettysburg.  Here they are remembered with small blocks and on a large State monument. 

Maryland has a large, elegant State monument, four infantry regimental and two artillery battery memorials – one of the artillery batteries and two of the infantry regiments also have monuments at Gettysburg.  For Massachusetts, there is a State monument and four infantry monuments – one to the 29^th Massachusetts is a shared monument with three other regiments from New York (63^rd, 69^th and 88^th) which fought together in the Irish Brigade.  Only the 35^th – as do the Irish – has a Gettysburg monument in addition to the one here. 

More antietam – New Jersey, new york and ohio

New Jersey has a State monument in addition to a monument to the 13^th New Jersey, Hexamer’s Battery and one for the regiments of the New Jersey Brigade.  All are duplicated further north at Gettysburg.  New York is remembered with a State monument, the Irish Brigade, and eight other infantry regimental monuments stand here at Antietam.  The Irish Brigade, 59^th, 84^th and 104^th all have second monuments at Gettysburg.  The 84^th, also known as the 14^th Brooklyn has a monument to their efforts at Manassas, too.  You will find the monuments of the 4^th and 20^th New York in the National Cemetery.

Ohio has several regimental monuments at Antietam.  There is one combined monument remembering the service of the 5^th, 7^th and 66^th fighting in the morning around the Dunkard Church.  They each have separate monuments at Gettysburg.  Of the other Ohio regiments with monuments at Antietam – seven of them, the 8^th has a monument at Gettysburg, while both the 11^th and the 36^th have monuments at Chickamauga.  This leaves the 12^th, 23^rd (Rutherford Hayes was their colonel) and the 28^th with the monuments here at Antietam as their main remembrance. 

more antietam – Pennsylvania and vermont

Pennsylvania has 17 infantry regiments and one artillery battery with their own monuments at Antietam.  Only one – the 90^th – has another monument at Gettysburg.  There is also a monument to the Philadelphia Brigade (69^th, 71^st, 72^nd and 102^nd).  Each of these regiments has their own monument at Gettysburg. 

With Vermont, the Vermont Brigade (2^nd through 6^th regiments) has another monument at Gettysburg.  Plus, there are two monuments to companies of Vermont Sharpshooters which are replicated at Gettysburg.  Here you find the monument for Company F, 1^st US Sharpshooters is in the National Cemetery.

So, a monumental dash is possible here at Antietam, but if you stop taking all the tablets – plus walking to the top of the stone tower at the end of the Sunken Road, you will need to add a day.

Cannons

If you come across an upturned cannon, you are either in a National Cemetery or you have come upon a site where a field grade officer – colonel or general, usually – was killed or mortally wounded. 

Coming across a normal cannon means the actual site of an artillery battery during the battle occupied that position.  There was a huge surplus of cannons left over from the war.  What better use of them than to let them tell their stories in person.

Tablets

Which brings up the many tablets found throughout these parks.  Markers were originally placed by the War Department – they administered the battlefields until the 1930s – to help visitors interpret the battle, gaining more information about the actions at particular places.  At Antietam, there are 124 Federal tablets and another 88 explaining Confederate actions.  In addition, there are markers from the Park Service and the civilwars.org group.  If you do check out all of the tablets, you are ready to give tours and lecture on the battle. 

Gettysburg has over 100 markers helping explain the battle throughout that park.  Chickamauga has even more.  Tablets are different between some of the battlefields.  They are made so you can tell the difference at a glance whether you are looking at a Federal or a Confederate action.  While they are invaluable for really getting into the details of a battle, they can seriously impede a monumental dash.  Possibly save the tablets for future visits.

Gettysburg

Gettysburg represents the epitome of Civil War monumentation.  The number of regimental and other monuments here is staggering.  And that is before even trying to consider the many markers put up by the park commission to represent the ebb and flow of battle over the three days.  The vast number entails a pre-knowledge of the battle over the three days. 

A monumental dash here requires some sort of vehicle – bicycle or car.  I only had a day and part of that was spent at Emmittsburg to the south to see the Catholic memorials to John Reynolds and to Sister Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first saint canonized from the United States, as well as a quick drive by Camp David.

brigades or regiments

On that day, I considered trying to take at least one photo of each of the Federal brigade monuments, with extras if the monument tickled my artistic conscious.  My focus wound up being on Little Round Top, Sickles’ Third Corps 2 July protrusion (Peach Orchard, Devil’s Den, Stony Hill, Wheatfield), Cemetery Ridge, Culp’s Hill, the veterans’ cemetery, actions of the first day to the northwest and Seminary Ridge.  That left out the areas where the 11^th Corps was overrun on the first day of battle to the northeast of Gettysburg – Barlow Hill. 

stories on stone

Since that time, I wished I had planned a bit differently.  There are so many stories associated with each monument.  Therein lies the reason each regiment put up one, to be remembered.  Brigades are fine, but stories do devolve to regiments.  As it was, my three quarters of a day filled up quickly. 

I probably lost time – the photos seem to have disappeared as well – visiting the mostly forgotten memorials to the regiments on the extreme right flank of the Federal army north of the Baltimore Pike – 61^st Pennsylvania, 46rd New York, 7^th Maine, 49^th New York – and the monuments of the Federal batteries atop the hill north of the Granite School House Lane along with the 77^th New York and 4^th New Jersey – all units of Slocum’s 12^th Corps which did not figure into the battle much only as late coming reserves.   Also, the Vermont Brigade and 6^th Corps units of the 5^th Wisconsin, 6^th Maine, 119^th Pennsylvania set out as extreme left flank guards.

Most of the monuments can be accessed directly from a car.  That said, there are a lot where you have to walk with a map in hand to uncover.

Chickamauga

My first visit to Chickamauga, my MO continued to be the same – at least one monument from each brigade.  Even that can be difficult because of the vast spread of the battlefield.  Many monuments you find off trails taking more time and effort.  It was on subsequent visits to Chickamauga, now with an iPhone, I decided to try a grab a photo of each regiment’s monument.  With varied amounts of time available, it was only after three trips I was able to capture most all of the monuments on the vast fields of battle at both Chickamauga and around Chattanooga.  Tablets are a whole different thing.

Shiloh

It was with this new mindset I went to Shiloh.  Driving to Shiloh, after spending some time in the morning on Tunnel Hill in Chattanooga, then stopping at Stones River before finally taking the Natchez Trace Parkway to see the site where Meriwether Lewis committed suicide did I get to Shiloh.  With only the late afternoon, I focused on the Visitor Center, the National Cemetery and a few other monuments. 

shiloh – day two

The next day was taken up by a true monument dash starting with the first day battle monuments in the south of the park and moving towards the north with monuments from both day’s battles intermixed.  Here, again, an idea of what actually happened helps dramatically to make sense of it all.  My pre-trip ideas were a bit hazy.  The battle did make sense afterwards with more reading and looking back on the pictures taken.

Shiloh is possible in a long day, but it is made much easier if you have a driver resigned to the fact you are trying to take a picture of every doggone monument in the park.  To find such an individual is not always easy!

A quick note on tablets here.  Different colors denote different groups or reasons – yellow means the Army of the Ohio; Blue means the Army of the Tennessee (both of those are Federals); Red is Confederates; Black for camps.  The shape of the signs denoted day one – square – or day two – oval.  Plus, the writing on the tablets appears on the side that those particular soldiers faced in battle, a trick also replicated at other battlefields.

Retrospect

Looking back on my visit to Gettysburg, as well as Chickamauga and Chattanooga, you need two days to cover all of the monuments; more if you want to include all of the markers.  Chattanooga truly spreads out if you include Moccasin Point, Lookout Mountain, Wauhatchie, the National Cemetery, Orchard Knob, Tunnel Hill and Missionary Ridge.  Walking around Lookout Mountain alone takes a good half day.  Missionary Ridge covers seven miles along a narrow road.  Regimental monuments focus only on a couple places, however.  But there are lots of park tablets to take in if you have the time.

Chickamauga is almost as big as Gettysburg.  It was a more confusing battle with both sides pushing forward and then retreating quickly.  Different units of both armies came onto the scene at different times.  Those units would fight at different areas on the battlefield, as well, just to make matters more complex. 

Chickamauga is made a little easier with its surfeit of regimental monuments.  Gettysburg is where Army of the Potomac units wanted to place their monuments and Chickamauga is where units of the Army of the Cumberland focused upon.  Chattanooga monuments tend to be either State, or units of the 12^th Corps brought over after Chickamauga from the Army of the Potomac or from units of Sherman’s Army of the Tennessee.

Other battlefields

kennesaw mountain, fredericksburg, chancellorsville, wilderness and spotsylvania

You can find regimental monuments on other battlefields.  Kennesaw Mountain has its magnificent Illinois moument atop the Dead Angle.  Fredericksburg National Cemetery has monuments dedicated to Pennyslvanians who fought and died at Spotsylvania.  There are several other regimental monuments remembering regiments raised later in the war – like the 127^th Pennsylvania monument in Fredericksburg – who fought at the Bloody Angle at Spotsylvania. 

Then there are battlefields where the odd one or two regimental monuments stand in memory of a particular regiment who only figured in those particular battles.  

Chancellorsville only has three regimental monuments:  the 114^th Pennsylvania (Collis’ Zouaves), the 154^th New York (Hardtack Regiment) and the 27^th Indiana.  Resaca had one – the 103^rd Ohio (which is remembered also on a huge monument in downtown Cleveland) but two more recent memorials have been added since the battlefield has recently been preserved – the 28^th Georgia and the 123^rd New York.  

cold harbor, petersburg and monocacy

Cold Harbor used to have a State monument (Pennsylvania) and one regimental memorial to the 8^th New York Heavy Artillery (they were used as infantry here at Cold Harbor) – both placed in the National Cememtery – but another recently remembers the 2^nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery. 

At Petersburg there is one regimental monument for the 1^st Maine Heavy Artillery and the 2^nd Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery while there are there is one large and two smaller monuments to the 48^th Pennsylvania who were responsible for created the mine explosion at the battle of the Crater. 

Monocacy has memorials to the 10^th Vermont and the 14^th New Jersey in addition to state monuments from both Maryland and Pennsylvania.  On South Mountain near Sharpsburg, Maryland, there are monuments to both the 17^th Michigan and a state monument for North Carolina – additionally, there are monuments to both General Jesse Reno (Federal) and General Samuel Garland (Confederate)

Other things to slow down your Monumental Dash

If your attempt to finish a monumental dash is tough enough, there are other sites which can seriously impede your path.  Visitor Centers offer a wealth of information – you can also pick up the monument maps there if you did not have one already – but maybe skip the movies.  Those monuments are waiting for you. 

National Cemeteries you find at several of the battlefields – Chattanooga, Gettysburg, Antietam, Cold Harbor are just the ones I have been to – there is also Confederate cemeteries like the one at Groveton next to Manassas and another at Resaca. 

battlefield towers

There are towers to climb up in to look out over the battlefields from.   These date from the War Department era when built so army officers could better understand the challenges topography played in the battles.  Towers have been removed with time but you can still find them at Gettysburg and there is a stone tower at Antietam and Chickamauga. 

staff rides

Which brings us to Staff Rides.  Staff Rides developed for army officers to see, in person, and learn the challenges of leadership on the battlefields.  In the 19^th century, they were actual rides, but today, you can see the men – in uniform – walking about the fields with a guide helping them understand the actions and the problems encountered by the officers of the past. 

Park rangers often lead members of the general public out over specific areas of the battles for more in depth looks, something I have found quite illuminating.  But a staff ride is definitely not a monumental dash.

Summary

So, to summarize.  Limited time, take lots of pictures of monuments, tablets, everything.  The wonder of digital is you can always delete.  And iPhones – or other equivalents – are extremely easy to carry, plus they now have the ability to resist the weather.  With time after the fact, your pictures and a little study can really help to explain better the monumental dash you have encountered.  Lastly, you will sleep better at the end of a monumental dash, because at the big battlefields of exhaustion