Category Archives: US National Parks

CALDERA DE TABURIENTE – MAGIC IN THE CANARIES

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Northern and eastern rims of the Caldera de Taburiente.
Northern and eastern rims of the Caldera de Taburiente.

A recent trip took me to the Caldera de Taburiente on the island of La Palma on the western edge of the Canary Islands.  The Canaries – not named for the birds but for dogs the pre-Spanish people kept and ate – are hugely popular destinations for sunseekers from northern Europe.  The interesting geology of the islands is not what brings in the plane loads of tourists, though what they seek for a large part, results from geological processes.  Beaches, sun and alcohol, not necessarily in that order.  Fuerteventura, Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote all promise kilometers of beaches for the sun-deprived northerners to escape the long winters with.

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BORDERS TO THE BATTLE LINE – FEDERAL REGULAR ARMY AND THE CIVIL WAR

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Popular view of the men making up the US Regular Army.
Mick Moloney’s version of “The Regular Army O!“. The song provided a popular view of the men making up the US Regular Army.

For neophytes to the study of the American Civil War, the function played by the pre-war Federal Regular Army before, during and after continues to reside a bit in obscurity.  Officers from the antebellum army played large roles on both sides during the war, though they rarely achieved greatness remaining a part of the Federal Regular Army, even if staying true to their oath as army officers.  Those officers usually took up new commissions in the many militia units raised by the different States – again on both sides.  Rapid promotion and the chance to play much larger roles than they played before the war represented key factors in the exodus.  Which comes back to the question, what role did the Regular Army play during the war?

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MONUMENTAL DASH – DAY’S RUN TO UNCOVER ALL MONUMENTS IN A NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD

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Monument glut deep in the forests on the slopes above Cravens House on Lookout Mountain.
Monument glut deep in the forests on the slopes above Cravens House on Lookout Mountain – complexity inserted into a monumental dash.

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. 

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DEFT OF HAND AND A KEG OF WHISKEY: MAGIC AT CUMBERLAND GAP – JOHN DE COURCY IN AMERICA

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Drawing by a Union soldier of Federal camps at Cumberland Gap after its capture in 1864.
1864 Drawing by a Union soldier of Federal camps at Cumberland Gap after its capture by John De Courcy.

I knew before that a certain Captain George Pickett, a thirty-four-year-old veteran of the Mexican War and graduate of West Point – albeit, last in his class – served on San Juan Island in the Puget Sound just before the American Civil War.  What I did not know, was one of his opposites in the whole Pig War ordeal in 1859 was an Anglo-Irish peer by the name of John De Courcy.  Like Pickett, De Courcy would figure in the next war, as well.  Pickett’s role would be bigger and better known, but De Courcy’s role was big enough for someone involved in command. And not even as a citizen of either side.

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KENNESAW MOUNTAIN – A MORNING DASH IN GEORGIA

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Cannon sits in an emplacement atop Big Kennesaw Mountain.
Cannon sits in an emplacement atop Big Kennesaw Mountain.

Kennesaw Mountain saw the third time during the American Civil War in which William T. Sherman employed a direct assault upon entrenched Confederate positions.  The attack failed as much as his previous two attempts.  All through the Atlanta campaign, Sherman had gotten around the Confederate positions set out by Joseph E. Johnston through flanking maneuvers.  Sherman wrote to Washington, “The whole country is one vast fort, and Johnston must have at least 50 miles (80 km) of connected trenches with abatis and finished batteries. We gain ground daily, fighting all the time. … Our lines are now in close contact and the fighting incessant, with a good deal of artillery. As fast as we gain one position the enemy has another all ready. … Kennesaw … is the key to the whole country.”  For the key, Sherman decided to open it with a direct frontal assault.

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HOOKER AT CHANCELLORSVILLE – CONCUSSIVE AMENDMENT TO THE CIVIL WAR

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Major General Joseph Hooker, Commander of the Army of the Potomac at Chancellorsville.

Joseph Hooker, the commander of the Federal Army of the Potomac, stated before the battle of Chancellorsville, “I have the finest army on the planet. I have the finest army the sun ever shone on. … If the enemy does not run, God help them. May God have mercy on General Lee, for I will have none.”  Such braggadocio did not go well with Hooker’s Confederate counterpart, Robert E. Lee.  Lee kept a scrapbook of newspaper clippings and was not at all amused by what he read.

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DROPPING THROUGH HISTORY IN THE FORESTED SLOPES OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN

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Monument to the 111th Pennsylvania Regiment's fight on the upper slopes of Lookout Mountain. The monument - as with the 29th Pennsylvania - is in place on the cliffs below Och's Observatory.
Monument to the 111th Pennsylvania Regiment’s fight on the upper slopes of Lookout Mountain. The monument – as with the 29th Pennsylvania – is in place on the cliffs below Och’s Observatory.

Lookout Mountain is an amazing place to discover nature, history and enjoy vistas reaching out to a claimed seven states.  The Mountain is best explored on foot along its myriad of trails traversing the dense forest slopes of this quintessential Appalachian prominence.  Surrounded to the north, east and on top by urbanity, it is easy to forget you are never far from civilization if not for the subtle roar of traffic on Interstate 24 far below.

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MISSIONARY RIDGE – ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND CONFOUNDS GRANT

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Illinois State Monument stands at Bragg Reservation atop Missionary Ridge with guns representing Massenberg's Georgia Battery which were overrun.
Illinois State Monument stands at Bragg Reservation atop Missionary Ridge with guns representing Massenberg’s Georgia Battery which were overrun.

The battle of Chickamauga severely troubled the Federal Army of the Cumberland.  Mainly due to a failure in command, the Army suffered a stiff rebuke on 20 September 1863 losing over 16,000 casualties.  Routed, the force made its way back to Chattanooga thanks to the steady defense shown on Horseshoe Ridge by men scrabbled together by General George Thomas.  Luckily, their antagonist, the Confederate Army of Tennessee suffered even more casualties in victory – over 18,000.  More problematic for the Confederate commander Braxton Bragg was a large loss of horses for an army already suffering mobility problems before that epic confrontation.

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TUNNEL HILL – MAGIC OF SHERMAN; GONE FOR A DAY

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The small Pennsylvania Reservation at the bottom of Tunnel Hill with monuments and tablets telling the story of Sherman and his repulse 25 November 1863.
The small Pennsylvania Reservation at the bottom of Tunnel Hill with monuments and tablets telling the story of Sherman and his repulse 25 November 1863.

The Chattanooga section of the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park consists of several disparate sections separated by over a century of urbanity.  Two of the lesser-known parts of the park lie at the northern end of Missionary Ridge – the Sherman and the Pennsylvania Reservations.  These two reserves remember the heavy fighting of 25 November 1863 on Tunnel Hill.  Tunnel Hill, so-called for the railroad tunnel for the Chattanooga & Cleveland Railroad.  Here, the better part of the Army of the Tennessee, led by Major General William Sherman, with additional troops provided by the division of Jefferson C. Davis and the Federal 11th Corps hit the northern flank of Braxton Bragg’s Missionary Ridge position.  The goal was to gain Tunnel Hill and roll up Bragg’s position from that end.

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ORCHARD KNOB – DRESS REHERSAL TO GAIN THE HEIGHTS

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Monuments and cannons crowd the top of Orchard Knob.
Monuments and cannons crowd the top of Orchard Knob.

REHERSAL TO GAIN THE HEIGHTS

The battle of Chickamauga over the last days of September 1863 delivered a severe blow to the Union Army of the Cumberland pushing that army back into the fortifications of Chattanooga while the victorious Confederate Army of Tennessee stood upon the heights surrounding the city – Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge.

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