Civil War South

02/08/2022

Dalton, GA'S, newest Civil War heritage site/park now open!

15/02/2022

Although there weren't any black troops with the Army of the Cumberland when it fought at Chickamauga, there were large numbers of African American men serving in it as teamsters, cooks, etc. One of those men was John Hines. Jack escaped enslavement and found paid employment as a cook with the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry, acting as es**rt for General William Rosecrans. Hines, no doubt, felt safety being part of the headquarters of the army, but that all changed just before noon on September 20, 1863, as Confederate forces broke through the center of the US defensive line. Hines jumped away from his cooking and rushed to mount his horse, when it suddenly bolted away, throwing him violently to the ground, injuring his hip. Fearing capture and the prospects of death or re-enslavement he managed to work through the pain and escape.

(This photo of John Hines in his US uniform is courtesy of the NPS)

27/11/2021

20/11/2021

November is viewed as a month of thanksgiving. During the Civil War, many people wrote letters home expressing their thanks to loved ones for surviving battles and the drudgery of camp life. However, in November 1862, as the Army of Tennessee made its way back through Chattanooga after their withdrawal from Kentucky, Confederate Captain C. Irvine Walker of Colonel Arthur Manigault's staff did not feel so thankful. He wrote: "I had looked forward to a successful ending of the Kentucky campaign and the establishment of peace this winter. I may be low spirited, but I can't see any end to our difficulties yet. One month ago everything was bright, our arms were everywhere successful, and I was in the ranks of a victorious army, but now everything has changed. I can see no hope of peace until some decided event occurs to change our destiny. I hope next time I write I will be able to write in better spirits, hope that I may have something to make me think differently. I feel at present as if we were now going to make a feeble blow somewhere or other, to cover up our late disgrace. Our Brigade starts tomorrow a march of 48 miles, our horses have gone round another road, we coming by Railroad, so I will have to walk it, so my next will speak of blistered feet, etc."

(Photo Source: NPS)

13/11/2021

12/11/2021

We tend to think that a soldier wounded in a Civil War battle was an immediate death sentence, but is that truly the case? Here are two examples that break that rule (Warning, these are graphic and not for the faint of heart), and stand as incredible instances of survival.

Sgt. Thomas Scott of the 25th Illinois Infantry, on September 19, in the fighting at Viniard Field:

"Scott was in the very front where the firing was hottest and his comrades, without his knowledge, during his excitement had retreated leaving him alone as a target. The bullets flew around him like driving rain and soon he was struck in the side with a ball, felling him to the ground. His blood flowed freely from what he feared was a mortal wound, but calming himself and bracing his mind for the inevitable, he struggled to his feet to seek a place of safety. He had almost reached a ravine when the sound of what appeared to him a thousand rifle shots echoed in his ears and simultaneously he again fell pierced by a dozen Rebel bullets. With his life’s blood coursing from 13 wounds, he lay helpless upon the battleground. His right arm was the only limb not disabled. During the night, four of his comrades found him, tenderly conveyed his prostrate form in a blanket to camp, where the surgeon intimated that his case was hopeless. He however extracted some of the balls and dressed his wounds. Besides his first wound, two balls had entered his hip, another broke his collar bone, another took away his right heel, another in the leg above the knee, and others lodged in different parts of his body. His belt was also pierced on the left side, the ball coursing around his body to the right side, cutting his shirt and waist band but making no mark upon his body. The following day, the hospital was captured, hence Mr. Scott received better treatment, it being believed he had no chance to live. Thirteen days later, he was exchanged and the want of medical treatment had about completed the work so nearly accomplished by Rebel lead. Already maggots had found a lodging place in his gaping wounds. He was carted across the mountains in an ambulance to Bridgeport some 90 miles- a four day trip- exposed to a Southern sun and the miseries he endured cannot be truthfully described in language." Scott survived the war and lived until 1902.

On the Confederate side, another soldier's ordeal was so incredible that it was published in a Confederate Medical Journal. Again, be warned, it is not for the faint of heart. A Surgeon reported Corporal Marcus Brown, 24th Alabama was wounded on September 20:

A "ball passes through abdomen; passed f***l matter from both orifices for fifteen days; finally both healed, and f***s passed naturally; no peritoneal symptoms; sent to rear, in safe condition, October 31." Remarkably after a length stay in several hospitals he returned to duty in April of 1864 and survived the rest of the war.

So, we cannot always assume a gunshot wound was fatal, even when it was as great as these, and to live by the old adage to never give up.

(Photo Source: Wisconsin Historical Society)

30/04/2021

On the banks of the Etowah river, which runs through the beautiful north Georgia landscape, stood the historic Etowah Heights mansion, the only building for miles around not destroyed by General Sherman when he made his fiery march through Georgia. The question was often asked: “Why, amid all this...

05/03/2021

Next weekend The Tunnel Hill Heritage Center will have a Living History Weekend! Period soldiers will give guided tours through our Field Hospital Exhibit discussing Medical History. Reserve your tour by calling (706) 876-1571! | RailroadTunnel.com

12/02/2021

Nursing was not a woman’s job before the Civil War, but by 1865, there were over 3,000 nurses serving the Union and Confederacy. In the North, most female nurses worked in military hospitals. African American women serving as nurses were not included in those numbers, nor were they recognized for ...

09/02/2021

Tidbit Tuesday!! The extra crazy part of this story is that Meadows and the man who shot him became friends later in life.

21/01/2021

During the Civil War, a group of young women in their teens and early twenties in Rhea County, Tenn., formed a cavalry company to deliver food, clothing and supplies to their boyfriends, husbands, fathers and brothers who were stationed nearby. This Confederate aid society on horseback organized in 1862 with Mary Elizabeth “Mollie” McDonald (Sawyer) as captain – and they called themselves the Rhea County Spartans.

Rhea County Historical & Genealogical Society
Main Street Dayton, tn.
Southeast Tennessee Tourism

During the Civil War, a group of young women in their teens and early twenties in Rhea County, Tenn., formed a cavalry company, the Rhea County Spartans, to deliver food, clothing and supplies to their boyfriends, husbands, fathers and brothers who were at battle.

04/09/2020

We have started having some rotating displays in the museum. This is one of our current ones, courtesy of David, one of our best tour guides.

It features a Model 1840 Artillery Saber and a CS Griswold & Gunnison 44 caliber revolver.

Come check this out and learn the history behind them!

06/12/2019

Can anyone please give me more information on this picture? I'm a huge history buff but I have scowered the internet and cannot find anything on this. I'm so interested and its killing me. If ANYONE has info on this picture please let me know.

18/04/2019

Free Entrance to Point Park for First Day of National Park Week | Sat., April 20 | 8 a.m. - 8:30 p.m. | 110 Point Park Rd, Lookout Mountain, TN | Free | Ranger-guided walking tours of Point Park will be given at 11 a.m., 2 p.m., and 4 p.m.

12/02/2019

IT'S HERE! A group of local historians has published a hardbound book detailing Dalton and Whitfield County’s role in the Civil War. The book, Dalton in the Civil War: A 150th Anniversary Retrospective is a compilation of research and articles written during the Civil War Sesquicentennial Commemoration, which took place from 2011-2015.

The books are now available for purchase at the Dalton Freight Depot located at 305 South Depot Street in Downtown Dalton and the Dalton Convention & Visitors Bureau online store, https://squareup.com/store/dalton-convention-and-visitors-bureau. The cost for the book is $30.

For more information regarding the Dalton Civil War book, please contact the Dalton Convention and Visitors Bureau at 706-270-9960 or visit their website at VisitDaltonGa.com .

01/02/2019

The 1939 film is making its way back to the big screen 80 years later.

22/12/2018

In 1922, a writer for The Atlanta Constitution recounted “the snowball battle fought at Dalton which has been overlooked by history.”

13/12/2018

One of the city’s longest-running attractions, the Cyclorama painting, is being readied for the public at the Atlanta History Center. And while the enormous painting and diorama are being installed for an opening in early 2019, its longtime roommate, The Texas locomotive, is now on display in the Atlanta History Center.
One of the remarkable things about this new exhibit of this very old locomotive is that you don’t even have to go inside the Atlanta History Center to see it!

On November 17, our newest exhibition, Locomotion: Railroads and the Making of Atlanta, opens to the public at Atlanta History Center. The cornerstone of the exhibition is the restored locomotive Texas. The engine was built in 1856 for the Western & Atlantic Railroad, which had established its term...

19/11/2018

New book on the horizon! "Dalton in the Civil War: A 150th Anniversary Retrospective" is a compilation of research and articles presented by historians during the Civil War Sesquicentennial Commemoration.
To celebrate the completion of this hard-bound book, historians, volunteers, and support staff will join the Dalton CVB in a pre-publication roll out of the book on Tuesday December 4, 2018 from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm at the Dalton Freight Depot in downtown Dalton, GA.
The cost for the book will be $30 however, for advance purchases made on December 4th a special rate of $25 will be extended.

01/11/2018

Atlanta History Center announced that the locomotive Texas exhibit will open to the public on Nov 17, 2018. Texas was removed from its Grant Park location in December 2015, given a thorough restoration at the North Carolina Transportation Museum over the next 15 months, and transported to its new home in the Atlanta History Center in May 2017.

In July 2014, Mayor Kasim Reed announced the relocation of The Battle of Atlanta cyclorama painting. At that time, the Atlanta History Center entered into a 75-year license agreement for the relocation and long-term preservation, restoration and maintenance of the cyclorama painting, the Texas ...

10/10/2018

It’s that time of year again! Tickets are available at the Englewood Textile and History Museum and will soon be available at the Etowah Chamber of Commerce. Contact CAGE at 423-887-5455 for more information.

09/05/2018

Tennessee Valley Genealogical Society

“The Worst Court House Ever: Finding Treasure in the National Archives”

by Professor Robert S. Davis, Jr.

Thursday, May 31, at 7:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Huntsville-Madison County Public Library, Huntsville

No charge for the program

Visitors welcome. 256-278-5533 for info.

More detailed news article…

Many are familiar with the use of published Federal records in genealogical research. However, much information remains unknown (and unused), even in original Federal records. We all know, or are at least acquainted with, the use of Federal census records, passenger lists, military records, land grants, and Indian records for research. These records and many others are covered in various guides. Nonetheless, the Federal records and the National Archives, which house these documents, are underutilized as sources for genealogical research. Bob will open these doors.

Professor Robert Scott Davis, director of the Genealogy Program of Wallace State Community College (Hanceville, AL), will speak on the possibilities for research in the National Archives, including guides to research, facilities, and types of Federal records. Many genealogists, amateur and not-so-amateur alike, have found this trove a challenge for genealogical mining, but Bob will sort through various techniques for us and show that with a little effort and know-how, the rewards are many and great.

Bob is no stranger to us. He has spoken to us on numerous occasions, as well as to the Tennessee Valley Civil War Round Table. Professor Davis holds a Master of Education degree in history from North Georgia College and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Bob is also a graduate of the Institute of Documentary Editing of the National Historical Records Publications Commission. His more than 1,000 publications on records and research include a number of books and more than 100 articles and reviews in professional historical, library, education, and archival journals, including Prologue: The Quarterly of the National Archives, Gulf States Historical Review, Agricultural History, The Journal of Military History, Documentary Editing, The Journal of Southern Legal History, Gulf States Review, The Alabama Review, Georgia Historical Quarterly, and The South Carolina Historical Magazine. Robert S. Davis has been quoted in Time, Smithsonian, CNN, NBC, and the Wall Street Journal. He also wrote the chapters on Alabama and Georgia for the current edition of Ancestry’s Redbook. His genealogical articles have appeared in such periodicals as Ancestry, The American Genealogist, Heritage Quest, The North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal, and The National Genealogical Society Quarterly.

In Alabama and Georgia, Bob has worked to raise public awareness on saving local government records and has been a member of the Alabama governor’s historical records commission. He has been the guest speaker at hundreds of meetings of civic, genealogical, and historical organizations.

Presented by the Tennessee Valley Genealogical Society, this free program will be held Monday, May 31, beginning at 7:00 p.m. at the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library, 1st Floor meeting room, 915 Monroe St., Huntsville. All are welcome; advance registration is not required. For more information, phone 256-278-5533 or visit us at www.tvgs.org.
Tennessee Valley Genealogical Society

04/05/2018

Relive the largest battle of the Atlanta Campaign! Held on the original battlefield! Battle of Resaca May 18-20, 2018

Battle of Resaca Reenactment

14/02/2018

In a gigantic room holding the 359-foot-long “Battle of Atlanta” cyclorama, workers perched along the 50-foot-high painting on lifts with paintbrushes and iPads. Using old photographs and state-of-the-art technology, they are bringing the 130-year-old painting back to life. The historic cycloram...

05/10/2017

Tennessee Valley Genealogical Society

“Chickamauga Cherokee"

by Rickey Butch Walker, noted historian and author

Monday, October 23, 2017, at 7:00 p.m.

Huntsville-Madison County Public Library, Huntsville

No charge for the program

Visitors welcome. 256-278-5533 for info.

More detailed news article…

Mr. Walker has done extensive research on the history of American Indians in the Southeast, and especially in the South. He is the author of several books on native heritage, family, settlements and the historical significance of the American Indian. At this meeting he will discuss two of his books: Doublehead: Last Chickamauga Cherokee Chief and Appalachian Indian Trails for the Chickamauga: Lower Cherokee Settlements.

From the 1600’s through the early 1800’s, five American Indian tribes claimed the area of and around Muscle Shoals: the Yuchi (Euchean), Upper Creek (Muskogee), Shawnee (Algonquin), Chickasaw (Muskogee), and Lower Cherokee (Iroquois). Portion of all these tribes became a part of the Chickamauga Confederation that fought against the settlement of their hunting grounds in the Cumberland River Valley. Members of each of the tribes making up the confederacy would live in Doublehead’s Town at the upstream end of the Muscle Shoals. Doublehead and his Chickamauga alliance would be the last Indian people to occupy and control this valuable piece of Tennessee River real estate. Despite previous conflicts among the tribes, Doublehead would work with all of them to form alliances to organize the strongest historic Indian confederacy to ever occupy the Tennessee Valley’s Great Bend. By far, Mr. Walker has written the most comprehensive historical document of the Chickamauga faction of the Lower Cherokees that occupied the Muscle Shoals, Big Bend of the Tennessee River, Warrior Mountains, and Coosa River Valley of northern Alabama.

Mr. Walker, native son of the Warrior Mountains descending from Cherokee, Creek, and Celtic (Scots Irish) people, is a member of the Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama. A graduate of the University of North Alabama (UNA), he earned post graduate degrees in science, education, and supervision from Tennessee Technological University (TTU, Cookeville, Tennessee), Athens State, Alabama A&M, and UNA.

He started work with the Lawrence County Board of Education in 1976. He served as Director of Oakville Indian Mounds Education Center and Lawrence County Schools’ Indian Education Program that was awarded a National Showcase Project by the U.S. Department of Education in 1995. In 2009, he retired after some 33 years with Lawrence County Schools.

Mr. Walker is the author also of Appalachian Indians of the Warrior Mountains, Celtic Indian Boy of Appalachia, Chickasaw Chief George Colbert, Hiking Sipsey, Soldier's Wife, Warrior Mountains Folklore, and Warrior Mountains Indian Heritage (student and teacher editions). He is currently working on a trilogy: Cotton was King, Cotton Kingdom, and King Cotton. He also plans to also complete a book called Black Folk Tales of Appalachia.

Presented by the Tennessee Valley Genealogical Society, this free program will be held Monday, October 23, beginning at 7:00 p.m. at the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library, 1st Floor meeting room, 915 Monroe St., Huntsville. All are welcome; advance registration is not required. For more information, phone 256-278-5533 or visit us at www.tvgs.org.

18/07/2017

A bicentennial kick-off event in Huntsville, AL.