Date: 2008-03-18
From: Practice Hikes Over Hallowed Ground...

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Miles today: 0.0

Time is growing short now, but I must also tell you that as I continue my training hikes around the Fredericksburg Battlefield and Spotsylvania County, I would be remiss if I failed to tell you that I stand in awe of a man that nobody has ever heard of, but whose name can be found on the roster of Civil War Era soldiers who served the Commonwealth of Virginia and who fought not five miles from my home while in this part of Virginia.Confederate Private Friedrich (Fred) Meyer was a very recent German immigrant when he was called to arms as a volunteer by the Commonwealth of Virginia. He was only 18 and didn¢t speak much English at the time, but he was mustered into a company that would very soon be formed of Virginia Militia and placed eventually into Thomas ¢Stonewall¢ Jackson¢s Corps, A.P. Hill¢s ¢Light Division.¢ Shortly after hostilities commenced, he and others had raced to Harpers Ferry to remove weapons, tooling, and ammunition from the Armory before Union troops could claim them.He was assigned to The Crenshaw Battery (formed in Richmond) and participated in every battle in which the Army of Northern Virginia participated from Gaines' Mill (Part of the Peninsula Campaign) in 1862 all the way to Lee¢s surrender. He fought the entire Civil War and came out of it without a scratch.   He was one of the hundreds of soldiers mustered out of service at Appomattox Courthouse in 1865, and he died, years later, one of the last of his generation ¢ and a forefather of my wife and sons.I wonder as I trek past the remains of gun emplacements on the exposed hill overlooking the Confederate Extreme Right, ¢Which one of these four did Fred Meyer help to dig?¢ ¢What was it like to hold your fire as the Union batteries placed, ¢exploratory fire¢ all around your position?¢ ¢What kind of terror did you experience as Meade¢s Division came pouring through your lines below, having been at first mistaken by the Infantry for ¢friendlies?¢¢ ¢What was it like to be almost constantly on the move ¢ never really knowing where the next battle would be, but hoping to survive the War¢¦and what was it like to make that long trek home from the Appomattox Courthouse ¢ without pay; with only the clothing on your back and the rations that had been issued by the conquering Union troops; and to pick-up life as a shoemaker in Richmond after all of that failed effort?¢¢¦Over 6,000 men served in the Stonewall Brigade during the course of the War. At Appomattox, after 39 engagements, only 210 ragged and footsore soldiers were left ¢ none above the rank of captain.¢ [The Stonewall Brigade by James I. Robertson, Jr.]Fred Meyer remained a Private throughout the 'War of Northern Aggression,' ah-hem, I mean the Civil War, and though eligible for a pension after the war, never drew a dime. He simply swore an oath to the Union and put the War behind him. Rest in peace, Grandpa Meyer. I¢ll not only be thinking of you on my practice hikes, but also as I trek through the many gaps you and Old Stonewall used to surprise and to repel the Yankees in the early days of the War... My fellow trekkers might not realize it, but I might just spend a couple of extra minutes near the ruins of the Armory you helped to liberate¢¦I'm guessing you and your compatriots chose to use the road into Harpers Ferry rather than the rocky path followed by the Appalachian Trail through that glacial scree field above the Louden Heights... *lol*Perhaps tomorrow we¢ll talk about another rather obscure individual from that time period. Did I mention that I really like Civil War History?More Appalachian Trail Corollaries to Murphy's Law:- Second Law of Thermodynamics applied to a thru-hiker¢s trek: Backpacking Gear is neither created nor destroyed. It simply sinks into the distant corners of one¢s backpack.- At 2:00am, one¢s snoring partner sounds amazingly similar to an irritated bear¢¦- Some view the Urine Bottle as half full. Others view it as half empty.- Dense Fog is nature¢s way of telling you to slow down and enjoy the journey.- The open end of the Trail Shelter tends to attract any passing extreme weather¢¦Yes, I promise that we'll finish the Appalachian Trail Song eventually...