I’ve been fascinated by the Civil War as long as I can remember.  Wish I could say that’s as long as it used to be.  As to being Civil War obsessed,  it’s me amid millions.  If I ever claim to be unique, send me an e-mail and I’ll apologize.

Sometime in what we called Junior High I read a book about the 20th Maine at Gettysburg.  Been standing on the side of that hill ever since.  When Grandpa found out, he handed me a stack of soldiers’ letters.  It took over 30 years to figure out who they were and what they were talking about.  Sold them last year to fund a trip with the Civil War Fortifications Study Group.  Whoever has them owns a piece of my soul.

I thought I’d be full of answers after 50 years of studying, but just when I think I know a bit about this or that, I talk to someone really smart.  That’s why this blog.  Questions, lots and lots of questions.  No expert on anything here.

Each one of us perceives the Civil War through a personal lens.  This is my journey to understand the Civil War in ways which make sense to me.  I’m an auditor by training, a skeptic by nature.  My questions tend to swirl around the mythology, iconography, template treatments, over-simplification and hyperbole encountered in a walk through my book shelves.

The biggest reward will be input from you.  We welcome your ideas.  The more ideas the better.  Hopefully, the items posted will be unusual, interesting, entertaining and provocative.  I’ll be looking foolish at times [infrequent, we hope].  Laugh with me if you can.  Correct me when I’m wrong.  This is, first and foremost, an attempt to get it right.

Help me out, here.

Pick a topic.  Stay focused.  Write.  Rewrite.  Sounds simple enough.  Here goes….

We’re going to do a series of posts on Petersburg.  Sometime in the Fifties, one of the two best Grandpas ever gave me a stack of civil war soldiers’ letters.  One described in vivid language an assault on a Confederate fort, the surrender at Appomattox and the writer’s reaction to Lincoln’s assassination.  Stuff to capture a kid’s imagination.

No one in the family knew the man who wrote the letter.  The battle itself was a mystery.  Only bit of solid evidence was the return address:  39th Illinois.

The next piece of the puzzle arrived in the mail April 1965.  High school graduation was weeks away.  First one home after school, nothing on our mind but a peanut butter sandwich.  Check the mail and …. there it was.  The umpteenth consecutive monthly delivery of the National Geographic.  In our family, compensatory reading -  Mom’s way to open a window to the world beyond our small town in the middle of nowhere.  I liked it in spite of the naked natives.  That’s what I told Mom and that’s what I’m telling you.  Back to point.  There was a big article on the 100th anniversary of the end of the Civil War.  With an inset – a mural painted from eye witness accounts showing an officer with the regimental flag of the 39th Illinois mounting the parapet of Confederate Fort Gregg April 2, 1865.  Exactly precisely perfectly described in my letter.  It..was..my.. guy.  I believed it in 1965, I believe to this day.  Here’s the stuff, make up your own mind.  Don’t waste your time contacting me if you don’t agree.  My mind’s made up.  Gonna be really rich some day, too.

Homer Plimpton, Captain commanding the 39th Illinois Volunteers, taken from a letter written 4/27/1865 to an Uncle in Lake County, Ohio:

The 6th and 9th corps broke the enemy’s line on the morning of the 2nd inst. when we were called upon to hasten to the assistance of the 6th corps, the principal part of which after breaking through the works had swung to the right toward Petersburg.  Our Division, the 1st commanded by R. S. Foster of Ind. went through the line on the double quick & passed the 6th Corps, charged two of the enemy’s redoubts capturing them and turning the guns upon the flying foe.  We advanced up to within a short distance of a strong work called Fort Gregg where the enemy made a bold stand.  This was the key to all the forts about Petersburg and its capture necessitated the fall of the city as well as of Richmond.  It commanded five other forts. It was built upon a high prominence; It was an inclosed [!] fort. Surrounding it is a ditch 10 or 12 ft deep & the same in width.  It was garrisoned with nearly five hundred picked men who swore to hold the fort against all odds or die in the attempt.  Gen. Lee visited the fort about two hours prior to our arrival and exhorted them to hold it at all hazzards [!] for the salvation of Petersburg and the safety of Richmond depended upon the fate of that fort; and nobly did they endeavor to carry out his instructions but it was all in vain.

They were not counting on meeting with western men in the coming conflict.  Our brigade, composed of the 39th Ills, the 62nd and 67th Ohio & 199th Pa. Vols, was soon in position in line of battle ready to try its mettle.  At the command “Forward” away we went for the fort.  As soon as we started the enemy arose up from behind their parapets where they had been compelled to keep down by our Sharpshooters, and poured into our ranks a destructive fire of musketry and grape which mowed down our men most unmercifully.  But we faltered not – on we went – we reached the ditch – the 39th reaching it first and first in placing her colors on the fort – and by the way our color is to be sent to Washington to have an eagle, cast for the purpose, placed on it by our corps commander Gen. Gibbon in honor of the event.

Into the ditch we plunged – it was there we encountered a difficulty unforeseen when we started.  The steepness and slippery nature of the sides of the fort for a time overcame all our efforts to scale them.  The excitement which now prevailed beggars description – the men were nearly frantic in their attempts to gain the top of the work – the enemy continued to fire grape and minnie balls at all who attempted to come to our assistance.  It was only by digging footholds with bayonets and swords that we were enabled to work our way up inch by inch – fighting all the time.  We finally gained the top of the parapet; and now the fighting was hand to hand and continued for 24 minutes by the watch.

It was the first time since entering the service that I ever thought it necessary to use my revolver in battle; this time I made good use of it as I stood near our colors and fought the enemy on the parapet.  I was one of the first officers to enter the fort and was not even touched by the missles [!] flying on all sides of me.  I knew I was in the hands of Him who closed the lion’s mouth and preserved the Hebrew children in the fiery furnace.

When we rushed over the top the sight was truly terrific – dead men and the dying lay strewn all about;  and it was with the greatest difficulty that we could prevent our infuriated soldiers from shooting down all who survived of the stubborn foe.  Not a rebel escaped.  Those not killed were captured.

Plimpton essentially repeated the phrasing in his diary [we have a transcript].  Years later, we believe, when the Surgeon who wrote the Regimental history asked for material, Plimpton provided the entry from his diary.  The regimental history is cited in several places in John J. Fox III, The Confederate Alamo, Bloodbath at Petersburg’s Fort Gregg on April 2, 1865.

Here is the mural – can’t see it well, but it really says 39th Illinois on the closest flag.

Life got in the way about then.  A year-long senior class trip to SE Asia paid for by the US Navy.  A pretty girl,  a stroll ending up ’til death do us part, one, then pretty quick two, bundles of guaranteed poverty.  Two amazing girls came along later.  An ordinary life, at least in the world I knew.

30 years later we finally got there.  Petersburg.  In the middle of a big field, a long way from the rest of the NPS properties, sits Fort Gregg.  On the park service sign that tells everything one needs to remember, the mural.  Homer Plimpton, Captain commanding what was left of the 39th Illinois, part of the 24th Corps assault toward town after the 6th Corps broke the Confederate lines nearby [in today's Pamplin Park].

The seed planted three decades before turned into a full-blown obsession.  It was like walking into an underground cavern.  Light a candle, see a little.  Light another, see more.  We’re still lighting candles.  We sent the letter mentioned with 20-odd others to www.soldierstudies.org.  They’re worth a read.

Enough.  Had to get it off my chest.  If you like the Civil War, you’ll like Petersburg.  Because the two armies were locked together for so long here, the layers of complexity offer everything a serious student could want.  After a series of posts providing context and background, we’ll explore the earthworks which, perhaps more than any other single aspect, still define the landscape.

G’day