I'm not sure where to post this but being new to reenacting (January 2007) I was excited to have been able to live a promise my father made to me when he retired in 1963 which was to visit Civil War Battlefiels.  Well,  we never did that but recently my wife was very patient with me on a recent trip to Florida (for vacation with our recently married son & wife) and back.

We first visited the site of Andersonville Prison and what a moving site and tour it was.  Seeing the tombstones "shoulder to shoulder" was about as moving as anything else I've seen.  While there we bumped into a number of reenactors in both the Blue and the Gray visiting as well.  I was thrilled to be able to strike up a conversation and find out they were doing a reenactment at the fair even though we did not have adequate time to stick around for an extra three hours to see it.  When I asked a rebel first sergeant if he had to get a pass to be there (obviously I wasn't in uniform) he looked at me like "how would you know that" and then shared that he was safe as their Lt. was with them.

Anyway,on the way home we hit Stone Mountain Georgia followed by Kennesaw Mountain, Pickets Mills, Ga. (which for some reason had their gates locked at 3:30 PM on a Monday.  we then travelled to Chattanooga and hit Chickamauga (AWESOME!), Lookout Mountain and the location of Missionary Ridge where the 6th OVI was an integral part.

With the help of the folks at Chickamauga I was able to locate nearly all the markers denoting where the 6th OVI would have been during the battles and the markers in Chattanooga & Missionary Ridge.

I've already sprung on Bonnie that my next hope is to hit Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Antietam, etc. but we'll see.

When I lived in GA, we did 2 events a year at Andersonville.  It was a little battle down behind the town, but I also took a chance to get over to the prison site.

It was just a mindblowing experience to be standing at the top of the stockade area just inside the deadline marker and looking over the property.  Trying to wrap my head around how they fit all those soldiers in there and what it must have been like.

The POW museum and National Cemetary is also a neat experience to walk through and see all that.  I was there back when the museum was in a little tiny house type building before they built the new larger more modern facility.

Quote :

hamiltonjoe1950 wrote : I'm not sure where to post this but being new to reenacting (January 2007) I was excited to have been able to live a promise my father made to me when he retired in 1963 which was to visit Civil War Battlefiels.  Well,  we never did that but recently my wife was very patient with me on a recent trip to Florida (for vacation with our recently married son & wife) and back. We first visited the site of Andersonville Prison and what a moving site and tour it was.  Seeing the tombstones "shoulder to shoulder" was about as moving as anything else I've seen.  While there we bumped into a number of reenactors in both the Blue and the Gray visiting as well.  I was thrilled to be able to strike up a conversation and find out they were doing a reenactment at the fair even though we did not have adequate time to stick around for an extra three hours to see it.  When I asked a rebel first sergeant if he had to get a pass to be there (obviously I wasn't in uniform) he looked at me like "how would you know that" and then shared that he was safe as their Lt. was with them. Anyway,on the way home we hit Stone Mountain Georgia followed by Kennesaw Mountain, Pickets Mills, Ga. (which for some reason had their gates locked at 3:30 PM on a Monday.  we then travelled to Chattanooga and hit Chickamauga (AWESOME!), Lookout Mountain and the location of Missionary Ridge where the 6th OVI was an integral part. With the help of the folks at Chickamauga I was able to locate nearly all the markers denoting where the 6th OVI would have been during the battles and the markers in Chattanooga & Missionary Ridge. I've already sprung on Bonnie that my next hope is to hit Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Antietam, etc. but we'll see.

I didn't think to tell you in my earlier post that Pickett's Mill is closed on Mondays.

Ahh...too bad the Parks person at Kenesaw Mountain didn't think to tell me that since I asked for directions and he even gave me a map!!