Chickamauga AAR Thread

[LWhite64]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

We had nothing but good comments at the Visitors Center, just wish I could have been out there with you all. I did get some pics and will try to post some of them soon. As always we appreciate what you all did for the site, a Fed program would be most welcome, we havent had a large scale US program in a long time. Have to start thinking about that one, need to pick one to be able to be on battleline road since we are restoring that part of the field.

Lee

[Texyank]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

All,

From a spectator's standpoint you all did a wonderful job. I had never been to the battlefield before and it is a very beautiful site.

I was on the way back to VA from TX and planned the stop in on Saturday knowing that the event was going on (didn't know you were going to be there Doug).

My lovely and charming daughter had the meltdown of her life (she's 2) and had to be banished to the van during the presentation so she didn't ruin the other spectators' experience.

My bride took some pictures:

[KathyBradford]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

Here is an AAR from 1863. Tilden Kleckner was in the 21st Ohio, Co. A, with George Thomas. He was wounded September 20th. His brother Absolom had been killed at Stones River almost nine months before. This was written from the Camp General Field Hospital on October 26th, 1863, to his brother's widow.

In the previous letter, he had sent word that "if his Daddy votes for Vallandigham that he never wants to go inside of his house again and he wants you to tell his father." He and eight men in his company had had their picture taken and sent home. "...you must not let them look at that picture too much for it will not be healthy for a copperhead to look at it too much."

Dear Sister,

It is with a great amount of pleasure that I embrace this opportunity of answering your ever welcome letter which I received a few days ago and you can rest assured that it was a welcome messenger, especially to a soldier that has to lay on the flat of his back all the time and suffer the pain of a gun shot wound. But when I enlisted, I enlisted to fight for my country and do my duty as a soldier and it was my misfortune to fall in the great Battle of Chickamauga. I fell at my post doing my duty with a number of other boys out of our Regiment and now I will have to bear it as well as I can. My wound is a pretty bad one. The ball went in below the left knee and extended downward. The ball was in my leg five days before it was cut out. Since that time I have had my leg lanced twice and now it is discharging freely and doing as well as can be expected. I think from appearance at this time I will get along pretty well. I am in the field hospital two miles north of Chattanooga. I am taken as good care of as can be in a place like this is. Solomon Wells (brother-in-law of Steve Leonard) is here helping to take care of our boys. It is not like being at home, but I am a great deal better off than some other poor soldiers that fell in to the Rebels hands. No doubt you have heard before this time who was killed and wounded. John (Leonard) was taken prisoner, and Joseph Camp (Kampf). We all thought that the Battle of Stone River was a hard fight, but it was nothing to what this battle was. Cannonballs, shells and bullets fell around us as thick as hail. Our army is in and around Chattanooga. Our pickets and the Rebel pickets converse with one another every day and exchange papers. You spoke in your letter of sending me some money. You need not mind it. I have some money and there is no chance to buy anything here and if I need any I can get it of some of the boys. Give my respect to father and mother. I hope that father can see by this time the folly of voting for a traitor (Vallandigham). You tell mother that if she wants me to come home that as soon as I am able I will try and come home.

I will have to close my letter for this by requesting you to write soon as convenient if you please. Letters do as much good as anything I can get now days.

Written for Till by Rufus Fellers, member of Company A, 21st Ohio. For further particulars inquire of Joseph Pickett. Yours with respect. Direct to Tilden Kleckner, Co. A, 21st Ohio Regt, in care of Lieutenant Daniel Richards.

Her brother, John Leonard, was taken prisoner that same day. He was sent to Libby Prison and then on to Andersonville where he died of scurvy.

Tilden Kleckener died three weeks after this letter on November 18th, 1863, from his leg wound. He is buried in the Chattanooga cemetery under a Buckeye Tree. His cousin John Kleckner of the 49th Ohio who was killed at Missionary Ridge is buried close by.

[Kiev Thomason]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

Gents,
It was great seeing all my old pards and making some new ones.I thought all in all the event went very well.I want to say another BIG thanks to all of you who made the trip .With out you folks it would have never worked.Looking down the line and seeing Stiles and his men and also looking at the WIG in contrast....WOW!I wish there was more events like this.
I hope no one died of hunger ,but as some folks say....we tried to keep it real!

Please take time and sign up for our Outpost event:baring_te.It will be here soon !

Once more...THANKS !

[Eric Tipton]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

Here is a photo I took a few years ago at Chickamauga of the 125th OVI Monument on Snodgrass Hill. Dig the tiger.

One of the highlights of the weekend for me was actually camping ON Snodgrass and then attacking it... although I had mixed feelings about the assault since there are so many Ohio monuments up there. ;)

[Peachfuz]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

I for one thought the beef ration was pretty darn tasty. I grabbed a decent sized hunk moments before we formed up to move on Saturday morning. I regretted got getting more when I woke up hungry on Sunday, yet not hungry enough to take one of the chucks that were left over and the flys had been working on.
I had an amazing time, well worth the travel, time and money. One of my hopes for the event was that we would produce a “uniform” company to contrast our friends in the AOT and I think we did that well. Thanks again to Neil Rose who went above and beyond to get my English gear done and to me, I think it contributed greatly to the goal stated above. The drive back home was interesting as a bunch of fire ants had made it into the van and proceeded to munch on me was I drove down the highway. At least I didn’t get pulled over, right Jer?

[JohnBoy401]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

Great event! Had a blast.......By the way, does anyone have the recipe for that cornbread?

John Runyon
Co. A, 4th VA
SWB

[Iron Scout]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

Rich,

That's too funny regarding the ants. Having not seen an ant all weekend, imagine our suprise opening the van and finding ant trails in all directions. I'm sure the folks at Enterprise won't find it as humorous as we did!

Anyway, our group had a wonderful time and found the event well executed and above expectations. I stayed behind to do interp Saturday with Jim Ogden and Daryl Black and have to say the skirmish line across Dyer was something to behold. Even at the extreme distances from where we stood, the differnces between the AOT and ANV were very marked. When folks say it would have been easy to mistake Kershaw for Union, this is quite the understatement.

While not an AAR by any means, here's a few highlights for me personally:

-Seeing Dan Gidick carrying that huge slab of beef with thawing juices running in all directions. I literally could smell it in the rear of the column Friday evening.

-The overall uniform appearance of the Ninety-Six Riflemen including a large amount of English equipment.

-Cooking for the company Saturday evening. Call me crazy but I always enjoy this!

-Sitting around Sunday morning with fellow Believers and allowing God's Word to speak to us.

-The fantastic view of the skirmish line slowly progressing up Snodgrass Hill.

-Horse drawn artillery! Need I say more?

-Fantastic weather and good friends in both the AOT and ANV companies.

-Having a USMC Korean War veteran commenting on our uniforms as being "Yankee". Couldn't ask for a better way to open an interpretive discussion...

-Seeing the SWB vans roll up Friday evening with "JB Kershaw Rulez...and Chickamauga or Bust" written on the windows!

-Solid leadership across the board.

Hat's off to everyone who travelled so far and organized a great event.

Regards,

Neill Rose
PLHA

[coastaltrash]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

Wanted to also add that the rice so kindly provided by Neill and some of the other ANV guys was probably the best food item I have had at events next to a Carriecake.

[DougCooper]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

I forgot to thank Mark Timms for the turnip greens - after a day and a half of good beef and outstanding starch, my taste buds were startled at having vegetables suddenly thrown upon them :D

Kathy's letter reminds us of the real deal that keeps folks like us coming back to places where sacrifice and valor were common virtues. The Rangers thanked us for our work with the twin reminders that the veterans had created this first of all Battlefield Parks for two reasons:

1. As an eternal remembrance of what happened there, for both sides.

2. As an educational lab for future generations.

We revere #1 to the depths of our souls and we have an awesome responsibility to carry on #2. There is no higher calling in the hobby than that gentlemen.

Job well done last weekend. I hope we can continue to raise these kinds of numbers (battalion strength) as it greatly expands the interpretation possibilities...and enables us to practice battalion maneuvers regularly, something we need to keep us sharp.

See you at Outpost.

[toptimlrd]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

Well,

Let me first say that you definitely had to be in excellent condition at this one due to the heat and humidity. I will admit I was definitely one of the stragglers at Snodgrass and at the end of the day Sunday. I was rather chagrined as this is only the second time I have had to fall out of a march. bear in mind I live in Florida and am originally from North Georgia so the heat wasn't much of an issue but I had grown unaccustomed to the humidity. Spent a lot of time before the event hydrating and working on getting in shape but still fell out. I'll be trying to find somewhere to do quite a bit of hill climbing befoe Pickett's Mill next year, that one should be intense.

As to the event itself, it was well done and impressive. From the ration issue (great job on the rations, the beef was great and the cornbread very tasty Kiev) to the last demonstration of skirmish on Sunday. The midnight march to our first camp was enjoyable and the incredibly long skirmish line up artillery ridge was a sight to behold. I've been doing skirmish drill for years and have NEVER sen it done on that scale. Although I was in the rear by the time we got to Snodgrass, watching you boys assault that (what seemed like) vertical slope had to leave the crowd in awe.

Bein on the 10:00 to 12:00 picket line was also one of those "moments". Looking across that field and only being able to see the next picket's sillouette in the monlight put me in the moment.

Huzzah's for Art Milbert, Tripp Corbn, Justin Runyon, Pat Landrum, Brian Hicks, Terry Sorchey and everyone else who took on a leadership role at this event, you all did an outstanding job.

It was great meeting many of you for the first time and to those of you whom I have known for some time. I look forward to seeing you again soon. Hopefully someone got some good pictures and may put this event in the Historian, I think it was a great event worth talking about.

[Daryl Black]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

Fellows,

Just wanted to echo the comments about the "yankees" we had on the field. It was amazing to see the dramatic contrast. A major point about confusion and ranges on the battlefield was driven home just before the first Sunday program. I stood on the tour road and looked at the battalion in the woods. At a little over 130 yard the line was nearly invisible -- and I knew where to look. The ANV company was IDENTICAL in appearance to Federal troops at this point. An incredible learning experience.

As to a U.S. event -- how about a unit from Willich's Brigade? Allows for movement on the field from Winfrey Field to Battleline Road. Also would provide an interesting set of interpretive opportunities to talk about Willich's "advance firing" move on Kelly Field. 15th Ohio? Good regimental out there on these boys.

[RelicRoomGuy]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

"Kathy's letter reminds us of the real deal that keeps folks like us coming back to places where sacrifice and valor were common virtues. The Rangers thanked us for our work with the twin reminders that the veterans had created this first of all Battlefield Parks for two reasons:

1. As an eternal remembrance of what happened there, for both sides.

2. As an educational lab for future generations."

Been great to read here how well the PLHA's SC impression went! Just an observation on the above:

During the Span-Am, troops trained on the old battlefield, among them more SC soldiers rather ironically wearing blue (real, official Federal blue that time); I notice that many of our SC 1898 ancestors took great pride in that, writing "Chickamauga" on their canteen covers, taking tourist photos there and so forth. Remembrance, and the deliberate continuation of the tradition - and union, for a common purpose, with the sons of their fathers' foes - were strong there. Certainly it was an "educational lab"...Span-Am logistics were a nightmare.

First battlefield set aside officially to preserve the soldiers' heritage - and soon called upon to help perpetuate the martial skills and spirit the nation needs. Thanks for keeping it up this weekend!

[NC5thCav]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

I must say I had a blast. I enjoyed meeting some people in person the first time. Seeing the diference in the ANV and AoT troops was a real eye opener. The Sunday morning service was one of my highlights of the weekend, thanks Neil. The only downside was that some critter tried to make a meal out of my CD as it aired on the clothes line last night. It now has two large holes that I have to figure out how to fix:cry_smile.

[bAcK88]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

This past weekend was a pretty neat experience for me. The 7th South Carolina fought a couple of blocks down from me at school at Fredericksburg and I visited Raymond countless times this summer so it was cool having that somewhat personal touch for me.

I want to thank all the men of Company C for a fantastic weekend. This event was the first one that I was ever an NCO. Even though I studied the duties prior to the event, I needed "on the job" learning, so 1st Section, 2nd Platoon thanks for putting up with me.

Many people said it before, but the highlight for my weekend was the contrast between the ANV company and the AoT companies was wicked cool. Also the skirmish line going up the to the South Carolina monument (what hill is that, because I thought that was Snodgrass Hill but I've been told wrong by others) and the rallying on the reserve Sunday was just something that is rarely seen at events.

I've only been doing this for 2 years, but Chickamauga was the finest living history that I've ever attended! I hope to see all you again next month at Outpost!

Bill