Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1903-05-01
WAR HEROES H0NORED
Federal Governments Work In
Restoring Battle Fields.
SCENES TRUE TO OUR HISTORY.


heinE Done at shiloh and vick.-
burg-Curious Experience In Lo-
eating Sites of Engagements.
Under the authority of congress the
FEDERAL government has purchased
/ 1000 acres of land covering the battle
Held of Chickamauga and has restored
II as nearly as possible TO the condition
IN which it was at the opening of the
fight on Sept 10 and 20. 1863, between
the Union forces under General Rose
Grams and the COnfederates under Gen
eral Bragg, says William L. Curtis the
! Chicago Record Herald's correspond
ent, writing from Chattanooga, Tenn.
/ The government has also purchased
strip of land running the entire
length of Missionary ridge. including
the site of the intrenchments which
were captured by assault by the Union
troops on the 25th of November follow
ing. Eighty miles of roads have been
constructed from Chattanooga through
these parks and other battle fields in
the neighborhood of the city, and the
landscape has been beautified as much
as could be done without effacing land
marks that existed before the battles
and altering the topography. The
movements of both armies have been
traced with great skill and fidelity
throughout the entire series of engage
ments, and the locations of important
struggles and other episodes have been
marked by monuments and iron tab
lets containing historical notes and sta
tistics. More than S1,750000 has thus
been expended for the purpose of pre-
serving the scene of one of the most
desperate and heroic conflicts in hui
man history and perpetuating the evil
dences of bravery and devotion in both
armies.
In similar manner the government
is now laying out the battle fields of
Shiloh and Nicksburg, and interesting
dedicatory ceremonies were held at the
former a few days ago.
The old roads of the battle field have
been reopened. the underbrush has
been cleared from $500 acres upon
which the fighting took place, five steel
observation towers each seventy feet
high, have been erected in order that
visitors may get birdseye view of
the field; G43 historical tablets of iron
containing explanatory inscriptions
have been erected to mark the move
ments of corps, divisions, brigades and
regiments of both the armies, and 36S
istn nd 20
placed as guides for those who desire
to follow them as they moved forward
and back in their assaults and retreats.
The old lines of earthworks and forti-
fications have been restored exactly as
they were at the close of the battle.
The position of each battery of artil
lery that participated has been marked
with guns of the same pattern and cal
iber of those actually used. Forty
three Union batteries are represented
by 10i guns and 40 Confederate bat
teries by 96 guns. Some of the guns
were actually engaged in the battle.
Nine monuments in the form of pyra-
mids of shells mark where five Union
and four Confederate brigade COM
manders fell, and similar pyramids
mark the positions occupied by the
fourteen army and corps commanders.
The location of these spots has been Il
work of great interest as well as pains
taking labor, and there have been some
curious experiences. For example,
some years ago Colonel Bishop of the
Second Minnesota, with one of his SER
geants, came down to assist General
Boynton in determining the position
occupied by that regiment, which had
an important part in the engagement.
They knew that it was intrenched at
the top of hill and that it repelled
several assaults by the enemy. The
Confederates charged again and again
to drive the Second Minnesota from
this commanding position and capture !
a battery which was doing terrible ex-
ecution under its support. Colonel
Bishop picked out the hill without diff
ficulty, but new trees had sprung up,
the surface was covered with under
brush, and the exact position or the
regiment was difficult to determine.
Finally the sergeant said:
81 remember that | lay on my belly
in the grass at the end of little ra-
vine. and | think this is the ravlne.
Our ammunition was almost exhaust
ed and we crept around to gather up
whatever we could find on the bodies
of the dead and wounded that lay
around us. | got my pockets full ana
crawled back to my place. put the
cartridges on the grass on one slde OF
me and the caps on the other ana hred
away until the enemy withdrew. re-
member leaving the unused cartridges
and cans upon the ground" And as he
said the word he began to sur up lhe-
leaves that covered the soil. In rev
moments he found q handful OF OLD
fashioned cartridges and caps which
he had left on the ground that day'
beautiful group of bronze by Lorauo
Taft of Chicago. representing the color
bearer of the Second Minnesota Wouhu-
ed and defended by some OF MS cohi-
rades. marks the place today.
Tn TO date seventeen states WHOSE
citizens participated in the pattie La1o no
erected monuments costing from S'oo
to $4,000. The United States govern
ment has spent $1,225,oo0, and the totai
contributions of the states now re'cn
$551 900. .uo+o mo.
In addition to these, two private me
morials have been erected in honor Oh
Landrum's and Carnes batteries anu
49, foderal government has erecteu