The herald., 1898-07-15
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The interest 10 war "reminiscences created
hy the present difficulty with Spain has In
huenced me TO contribute something to the
numerous articles that have already APP
peArsd, but upon = subject not heretofore
touched upon. Through the courtesy Of
Capt. L. N. Kelley, the obliging deputy
commissioner Of pensions, was permitted
to unearth certain facts relating to the
civil war that will absolutely distinguish 1t
a. being conflict truly Titanic; and at the
same time II may furnish d surprise to those
who are only familiar with tho great bat
ties. Capt. Kelley. by the way. Is a, gall
liant Union soldier, and participated in many
Of the hard-fought battles that engaged the
armies in the west. He entered the SER
vice a. = private and emerged from the
conflict a. captain of Company A, Thirty
sixth Illinois infantry. A vast number Of
engagements were fought In states where
only few are ever spoken Of, and Of the
actual number but little is known. Fol-
instance, should civil service examination
require an applicant to name the state in
which the greatest number of battles took
place, excepting, Of course, Virginia, he
would naturally reply Kentucky or Ten
nessee, while as matter of fact more
battles were fought in Missouri than in
any other state. In Texas the fewest num-
Der took place Of any of the seeding states,
while Florida and Maryland come next in
the ascending scale. The actual number Of
engagements that occurred In each state
will doubtless surprise those who have not
investigated the matter. AS Virginia was
the great theater of that struggle, we hear
oftenest Of Bull Run, the Seven Days bat
tie, Fredericksburg, the Wilderness, Chan
cellorsville, Petersburg and the Valley cam
paign, but by actual count. taken from the
records, 6N battles were fought in
that commonwealth during the civil war
In Missouri the greatest prominence is
given to the battles Of Elk Horn and Will
sons Creek, while, as matter of fact, Ait
engagements took place altogether. Ten
nessee Is famous as the scene OF the battle
Of Murfreesboro, Lookout Mountain, Chick
amauga, Franklin and other importan.
struggles, but at the close Of the strife 37S
engagements were put down as her quota.
In Arkansas, one Of the border states,
there was much hard fighting, Pea Ridge
being one Of the important engagements.
but there were 2s4 battles in all. vicks-
burg was in the fury Of long siege, and
lIS UdttIcS u OOIlHlAp l1OlIy 0pIlu6S anu
Jackson also took place in Mississippi; add
to these. the other engagements that &C.
CURED in that state, and we have a total
Of 2S. Louisiana comes next in point OF
numbers, with 1871. among these being the
battles Of New Orleans Pleasant Hills and
the siege of Port Hudson, as events that
will live in history. Georgia, the route Of
Sherman's march to the sea, furnished
many Of the notable battles of the war,
among them Atlanta, Kenesaw Mountain,
Peach Tree creek, Resaca, Savannah anu
Ringgold, the total being 1852. In Ken
lucky there were 1853 battles during the war.
that Of Perryville being, perhaps, the most
important. In Alabama there were 1O5
engagements, notable among them being
the bombardment of Mobile and the Dat
ties around Selma and Montgomery. Next
on the list comes North Carolina, with a
total Of 102 battles, among them Benton
Vile, Wilmington and Greensboro. In West
Virginia So engagements took place. In
South Carolina, where the first gun of the
war was fired, there were Is battles, includ-
ing the capture Of Columbia and the numer-
Gus commandments Of Fort Sumter and the
assaults that were made upon the batteries
in Charleston harbor. In the Indian Terri
tory there were 40 battles, and in Florida
there were 80, the most important being the
battle of Olustee. Maryland is famous for
strategic Importance, because the battle
Of Antietam took place within her borders,
but there were also SO other engagements.
There were % engagements in Kansas dur
ing the war; and in Texas 70. Gettysburg,
the greatest battle of the war, was fought