Monday 22 October 2018

Tennessee Battlefield Tour : Summary

So I wanted to do a short summary of my trip in case you all were interested, but mainly for me.


Here is a map of the route and main locations I visited, the majority in Tennessee, but also Mississippi, briefly in Alabama and Georgia. For those interested in such a trip. The distances are not too great but America can be deceiving and it takes longer than you think to drive about. The roads are great and only busy in the major cities. Most of the Parks are free and accommodation is plentiful and cheap (or expensive if you want) Petrol is dirt cheap compared to the UK ! I walked as much of the battlefields as I could but you can do much of it by car. The weather was great October was a good time to visit I had been told that summer is a little too hot as much of the area is forest there is little in the way of wind/breeze to cool things down. Buy some really good insect repellant 🐝

I of course approach things from an open minded historical perspective but did feel slightly uncomfortable not so much at battlefields but in a number of towns where Confederate memorials did feel a little insensitive, many of course were put up about 100 years ago and I understand the conflict this has/is causing. 

I can see me returning in the future Nashville has a wonderful vibe and with or without the Civil War there is plenty to do. The battlefields are on the whole beautifully preserved, almost all have visitor centres and facilities but for some reason none sell food or drinks so don’t expect a cafe on site ? You might get a tin of coke or bottle of water but that’s it.

The companion book for the trip is Company Aytch by Sam Watkins, if you don’t know the book it is one of the most famous first hand accounts by a private who fought in the 1st Tennessee Regiment.
From Tennessee he joined up early and fought in almost all the battles on my trip, it is very much a first hand perspective but it makes fascinating reading when standing in the actual location he is writing about.

Well if you made it this far thanks for following. It will be back to usual soon with more wargaming and we will certainly be seeing some of the Tennessee battles featuring in the future 😀

16 comments:

  1. Thank you for a most interesting and insightful report of your trip. I need to get Dave to put on an ACW game now.

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    1. Thanks Phil....I do hope to get some ACW games in over the winter

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  2. Well done! Following along on your Western Battles adventure has been great fun. Next time, let me know your plans and I will join you!

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    1. Thanks Jonathan it has been a real treat and hugely enjoyable. Not sure when I will be back to the ACW I need to plan out where else I might like to go....but I will be back sometime 🙂

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  3. A thoroughly enjoyable series of posts! Brought back happy memories of trips in days of yore! I shall oblige Phil next month with an ACW game as he asked so nicely.

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    1. Thanks David if nothing else if it gets your ACW armies on the field that is a good outcome 🙂

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  4. Enjoyed, thanks Matt, I know uploading posts was not always straight forward.

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    1. Thanks Norm....it was mainly the pictures when the connection was slow !

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  5. I've thoroughly enjoyed your tour around the western battlefields,very entertaining!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain hopefully somewhere I might have encouraged somebody to learn some more about the ACW to visit themselves it is well worth it 🙂

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  6. Glad you had an enjoyable visit, Matt. The lack of "fast food" may be intentional; possibly to instill reverence of the place and memory of the battle. BTW, back in the 90's I was able to visit the battlefield of Chickamauga. Very, very impressive - lots of beautiful larger-than-life unit memorials.

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    1. Yes I guessed the lack of food is a policy decision and more than happy to respect the decision. In some ways I quite like the approach but it contrasts with what I think would happen in UK and reflects the funding situation any similar facility here would need to maximise its income whereas in America there is obviously more central funding to keep these fantastic parks running. Chickamauga is certainly well preserved and a treat to visit....i’m Not going to get into rating them as they are all unique and interesting in their own way.

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  7. Wonderful series of posts and I’m still catching up on all of them. Thanks for taking the time to post the great pictures. 😀

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    1. Thanks Stew might have got the pictures up earlier if the Wi-fi in some hotels had worked , hopefully it might inspire somebody to visit a battlefield 🙂

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  8. I just stumbled across your blog. Wonderful and inspiring civil war battlefield tour travelogue. Well done!

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    1. Thanks Ed if I have encouraged somebody else to visit some of these beautiful and memorable locations then i’ll Be happy 😊

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