- Saturday, 10AM--5PM
- Sunday, 12Noon--4PM
148th PVI Company C |
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The "Battle for Greenwood Furnace," and 23rd Annual Old Home Days Heritage Festival, will be held August 2--3, 2014.
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Rise and shine for an adventure into history. The Civil War Riders embarked on their fifth annual ride with four friends who had never ridden with us before. These four additional 148th PVI reenactor-bikers expanded our core group to seven. Together we traversed approximately six hundred miles of Civil War history in two days. I joined the other six at Shade Gap, PA at 7:00AM on the 27th, and we rode to Chambersburg for our first fuel-up. I’m not going to give a blow by blow account of the journey; because for me the journey is partly the ride to and from any destination. Each person on the ride could give you a different view of what they enjoyed most and they would certainly be correct. Our ride first would take us to Gettysburg. You know Gettysburg! It’s that place in Pennsylvania where many people think was the only battle fought during the entire war. NOT; it may or not have been the turning point of the war, but it certainly wasn’t the only battle. (Keep up with the weekly battle listing, and those KIA-DOD-WIA from Juniata County, on my facebook account at Red Husler.) At Gettysburg, the new visitor’s center is on Baltimore Street extended. We spent about three hours viewing the introduction film then the revitalized Cyclorama, and finally spent some time with their vast collection of battlefield artifacts. The Cyclorama to me is always a highlight when I visit town. Next we went to the Wheatfield, where the 148th fought so valiantly 151 years ago. Here we sat reverently and discussed what they did there. Then it was on the road again. We next rode to Monocacy, Maryland. This little known battle had an important railroad junction and bridge that was vital to both sides. At this site is an electric map highlight troop movements for a good visual and sound effect of what happened. It was also the site that General Lee’s aid lost General Order #191. This would change the outcome of the next couple weeks. From Monocacy we rode the Leesburg, Virginia, the site of the Battle of Ball’s Bluff early in the war. It was here that California Senator Edward Baker was killed. After trying to raise the 1st California, Baker then raised the 2nd California from poor Irish from Philadelphia. When Baker was killed at the bluff, the 2nd became the 24th PVI. It’s a strange and long story. From Leesburg we rode to Hagerstown, Maryland to our hostess for the night. The next morning; some of us rose very late. This won’t happen again. Our group of riders likes to ride from sunrise to sunset. That’s the way we’ve been doing it, to maximize the amount of daylight hours as possible. 9:30 AM Saturday, we rode through Funkstown, Maryland, which was part of Lee’s retreat after Gettysburg. We didn’t stop because we were on our way to Boonesboro for the Battle of South Mountain. This Union victory won two important mountain passes, Turner and Fox Passes. South Mountain also had an electric map. At this park we climbed about a ¼ mile to the original Washington Monument, built in 1827. From Boonesboro, we rode to Harpers Ferry, Virginia. This was my fourth visit, but for some others, it was their first. This of course was the site of John Brown’s raid and where he was hung for this act of treason. We left Harpers Ferry and rode on a rather interesting road named Sandy Hook Road. It’s just on the other side of the Shenandoah River, next to the C& O Canal. The road is like being on a roller coaster with many twists and turns, ups and downs, making for a very nice ride to our next destination. Sharpsburg is the site of the deadliest single day of the war. It was this battle September 17th 1862, that, twenty three thousand casualties occurred in just twelve hours of fighting. We didn’t really tour the battle field; but instead visited the cemetery where many of these guys are buried. To me this is the sobering part of the war. It’s the place and the honor we pay to those who died to defend and preserve the union which we still have. At Sharpsburg, Maryland we rested a while, then departed for home, taking as many back roads as practicable. 65-63-68-75 then I road on 75 till I got home. The rest of the crew returned on 641- 522 and 22 till they got closer to their home base. All in all it was a fairly safe ride on our part. We sincerely feel bad for those four wheel vehicles who found it necessary to leave their brain at home and then got behind the wheel. I guess we live in a free country and they have the right to act stupid if they want. I just wish they would kill themselves on the road instead of risking-taking us with them… While at Sharpsburg I picked up a tour book we’ll use on our next ride. From Petersburg to Appomatox is an interesting three day, two night trip. The first day will probably be just getting to Petersburg and tour around the city battle sites. Then we’ll ride most of the next two days getting to the end of the war… REMEMBER MOTORCYCLES ARE EVERY WHERE… IT’S OUR ROAD TOO… Donald “Red Hagar” Husler PS: More photos here Note: Boalsburg, PA has a legitimate claim as birthplace of Memorial Day. These notes share that event, as well as a dedication to that event posting the memorial shown in this image. ------------ The Sister's Story History May 29, 1864 Three women -- Emma Hunter Stuart,16, her friend Sophie Keller Hall, 16 and Elizabeth Weaver Myers, 46 -- carried flowers to a cemetery beside what is now Zion Lutheran Church. They were honoring Emma's father and Elizabeth's son, both killed in the Civil War.
The women also put flowers on the graves of other war dead, including Revolutionary War and War of 1812 soldiers. They agreed to meet the following year to do the same. Memorial Dedication, May 29, 2000 On Monday, May 29, the three women who made Boalsburg "The Birthplace of Memorial Day" were honored with a life-size bronze sculpture depicting the first Memorial Day in October 1864, six months before the end of the Civil War. The bronze sculpture's was unveiled at noon by the man who conceived the idea and help make it a reality, Col. James V. Dearing, commander of Battery B, 3rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Light Artillery, the Boalsburg-based Civil War reenactment unit. Beginning in 1993, he found a sculptor who shared his enthusiasm, Lorann Jacobs, and began the process of raising the nearly $ 100,000 needed for the project. Laran Bronze Inc., a foundry in Chester, PA took Lorann's life-size clay model and then made a rubber mold, wax copy, ceramic shell and finally a silicon-bronze piece that was ground and finished. On hand for the dedication were more than 100 "Civil War troops," both Union and Confederate, along with Maj. Gen. Walter Pudlowski, commander of the 28th Division whose shrine is in Boalsburg, and several local, state and possibly national politicians. This included Rep. Kerry Benninghoff and Rep. Lynn Herman - himself a reenactor with the 148th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Also in attendance were members of the Hunter and Myers families along with the sculptor, Lorann Jacobs. In the 1930's the Smithsonian recorded Civil War Veterans performing the Rebel Yell used in battle. Hearing thousands of attackers emitting the Rebel Yell in battle was described as a "peculiar corkscrew sensation that went up your spine when you heard it." Historian Shelby Foote is quoted as saying "if you say you heard it and weren't scared, that meant you never heard it." Links
Canadian-born Emma Edmonds did not want to get married as her father directed, so she changed her identity to Frank Thompson to slip away. This was the first of many alias Emma adopted as she served the Union as soldier, spy, and nurse during the Civil War. In the link below, Carl Senna briefly introduces readers to Ms. Edmonds' biography "Nurse and Spy in the Union Army, Comprising The Adventures and Experiences of a Woman in Hospitals, Camps, and Battle-Fields, Illustrated.” The biography sold over 175,000 copies to benefit disabled veterans. Ms. Edmonds is the only woman to be buried with full military honors in Houston’s Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery. Links
Prisons during the Civil War generally suffered high rates of mortality, even as high as 33%. Selma, Alabama's Cahaba Federal Prison is unique with a mortality rate less than 3%. Peter Cozzens analyzes the successful administration of this more humane prison in the link below. Other links are provided for further reading. Links
05May1864: The hand-to-hand fighting was atrocious during the Battles of Wilderness and Spotsylvania, including a particularly devastating fire that swept through Saunders Field. Before the fire. however, both sides stopped to observe and cheer a Confederate and Yankee that had gotten into an old fashioned fistfight after discovering the other in a gully in which both had sought refuge. Both removed hats and coats and proceeded to duke it out. It was reported that the Confederate won the fistfight, taking his captive back into the gully, as a signal for the vicious fighting to commence. MORE: http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/civil_war_series/25/sec3.htm#3 Allegheny (Pittsburgh) Arsenal Explosion Seventy-eight young women were killed in the worst civilian disaster of the Civil War on Sept. 17, 1862. These women assembled paper cartridges from paper, highly explosive black powder, and lead bullets. MORE: http://civilwarwomenblog.com/allegheny-arsenal-explosion (by Maggie MacLean, 03Apr2014) April 3-4 1864; The Battle of Elkin’s Ferry, Okolona, Arkansas occurs. During the Union’s Camden Expedition, the Confederates fail to prevent Union forces from crossing the Little Missouri River. April 8th 1864; The Battle of Mansfield/ Pleasant Grove/ Sabine Crossroads, Louisiana. When Gen. U.S. Grant took command of the Union Armies in early 1864, he makes plans for several offensive actions. He decided to embark on a campaign up the Red River. He envisions a combined effort with army, navy moving up the Red River with troops on gunboat. The Union forces are moving too slowly and the Confederates set a trap and defeat the Union forces at Mansfield south of Shreveport. Union forces fail to support the original plan and retreats back to New Orleans. During the retreat the flotilla is stranded by a falling river level at Alexandria. It takes nearly 3,000 soldiers, sailors and marines to free the strand boats and allows then to escape. The red River campaign ends in a complete failure. April 9th 1864; The Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana occurs. Union forces retreating after the Mansfield defeat are rallied and turned to face a major Confederate attack. Both sides lose over 1,500 troops. Also in 1864
Contribution by Pen Teller The National Geographic Society is selling maps of the Battles of the Civil War. The maps are available with or without lamination. This map shows major land campaigns, Union and Confederate troop movements, major Union naval campaigns, roads, railroads, battle outcomes and their impacts on the war, dates of capture by Union forces and more. Two inset maps are included:
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ContributorDon "Red" Husler (dehirishATcenturylink.net) is a veteran reenactor and journalist from Mifflin County, Pennsylvania. Archives
November 2019
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