Well, another successful Seminar in the Woods concluded on Saturday, March 10, 2018. We have now been doing this for more than 15 years, but not quite 20 – making this the moody teenage years of the Seminar. Perhaps that explains our recent weather.:)
On Friday we finished our exploration of the Battle of Resaca, focusing on the action east of I-75. We stopped in Dalton, visiting Johnston’s Headquarters (now owned by the county historical association) and also took the time to view the Joseph E. Johnston Statue in Dalton.
From there, we traveled to Resaca, visiting the Civil War Trust properties (as best we could – some of those properties have only easements) but we were able, after lunch, to dismount and spend an hour and a half emulating Ward’s Brigade of Butterfield’s Division, 20th Corps, as we stormed the Confederate outwork defended by Max Van Den Corput’s Cherokee Artillery Battery.
Friday was cool but not wet.
That was not true on Saturday.:)
On Saturday morning we followed Hans Heg’s brigade of Davis’ Division, the Union 20 Corps, into the timber east of the LaFayette Road and just north of Viniard Field. We emulated the advance of Heg’s small brigade as it encountered the two divisions of Hood’s Confederate Corps – Bushrod Johnson and Evander Law. The underbrush, especially the dreaded and hated privet, was already a bit of a tangle, but we departed from the 15th Wisconsin and 8th Kansas Monuments, reached the 8th Kansas advanced position marker, and then entered the Confederate lines of Gregg’s Brigade.
We also spent much of the morning enduring a steady, soaking rain.
we finished the day on Saturday atop Horseshoe Ridge, following the 21st Ohio, first on Hill One, then Hill Two, and finally; Hill Three. There they were joined by two more regiments, the 22nd Michigan and 89th Ohio, and discussed how they came to grief at the end of the day on September 20, in the dark and confusion of the Federal retreat.
At least the rain abated, and we were marginally more dry in the afternoon.
It was a fine weekend. We had 50 folks sign up for the bus, of which about 43 were able to attend (an unusual number of cancellations this time) and we had 42 or 43 people for each of the walks on Saturday.
Next year we intend to return to McLemore’s Cove on Friday, with Saturday’s walks to be finalized at a later date.
I have already contributed $500 in the group’s name to the Civil War Trust, and expect to contribute another $1000 to the Jewel Monument Repair Fund via the Friends of the Chickamauga-Chattanooga Parks.
Thanks to all who participated.
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