Driving through and past American history
May 13, 2016 4:46:48 GMT -5
Post by rah on May 13, 2016 4:46:48 GMT -5
The route to Newport News, VA covers a lot of American history. First as one drives over I-70 in Maryland the pass over a spur of South Mountain. During Lee's first invasion of the North he divided his Army sending Stone Wall Jackson to attack Harpers Ferry in what is now West Virginia while taking the rest of the Army into western Maryland. McClellan was commander of the Army of the Potomac then and a troop of Indiana Calvary under his command found Lee's plans for the campaign wrapped around several good cigars. McClellan thus had the opportunity to destroy Lees Army in detail but squandered it by moving too slowly. Lee managed to delay the advance of the Army of the Potomac by defending the passes through the South Mountain range until Jackson's units returned. The result of all this was the single Bloodiest day in American history when the two armies joined in combat at Antietam two days later.
Continuing on the journey one turns off of I-70 onto I-270 to head for Washington DC. and then takes that down to I-495 to pass around the east side of the Capital to catch I-95 south towards Richmond. During the Civil war Washington was ringed by redoubts armed with heavy artillery. For most of the first three years of the war those defenses were manned by the scions of the rich and powerful. It was a way for the sons of the prominent to serve honorably but remain close to home and for the most part out of harms way. But in 1864 Grant decided there was little need for strong defenses around the capital anymore and most of those men thus marched off to war.
Almost all of the major battlefields where the Union Army of the Potomac and Lees' Army of Northern Virginia fought are close to that 100 miles of I-95 between Washington, DC and Richmond Virginia.
Manassas/Bull run where two battles were fought. Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville. The Wilderness where Bobby Lee gave Grant his first black eye. Spotsylvania Court House where probably the most desperate hand to hand fighting during the entire war occurred at the "mule shoe". There wounded men that fell into the knee deep mud were trampled and drown in that mud by their comrades as they fought the enemy hand to hand because the rain had soaked the gunpowder. And Cold Harbor where most those men that had guarded the Capital saw their first real combat and where Grant asked too much of his men and they were slaughtered until they refused to charge again in an impossible situation.
And that is when Grant finally realized he was going after the wrong objective. Richmond was what he had been after but Grant figured out that against a determined enemy the only objective that will win the war is to defeat enemies Army and either destroy it or force it to surrender. Lee was forced to defend Richmond and thus robbed of the ability to maneuver and sustain his Army off the land and for Grant, Bobby Lee being tied down and besieged in one place was a Godsend. If Lee had not had to defend Richmond then the Civil War may have lasted considerably longer. And that is a fundamental lesson that can be applied in many other aspects of life and competition if you think on it a little. Places and things are never as important as limiting or eliminating the ability of your opponent to fight on his terms.
From I-95 one takes I-295 around the north east side of Richmond to take I-64 east. In doing so one passes the places were some of the defenses of Richmond were located. Places where Robert E. Lee put in the defenses in 1861 and thus at the time before taking over the Army of Northern Virginia received the derisive names of "Queen of spades" or "Granny Lee".
Going down I-64 onto the Virginia peninsula one passes Yorktown, VA. It was here during the American Revolution that George Washington with his Continentals and militia combined into one large Army reinforced by French troops and with the help of the French fleet bottled up and besieged British Lord General Cornwallis and his Army forcing him to surrender and there by finally making the British understand that they could not win and retain their American colonies.
It was also on this peninsula that McClellan had the Army of the Potomac shipped in an attempt to attack Richmond from the east in March of 1862. As always McClellan moved to slowly and cautiously allowing the Confederates to time to gather their forces and the very defenses that Lee had been criticized for building saved Richmond from the Union advance. In the emergency, with Richmond threatened, Robert E. Lee was given command of the Army of Northern Virginia and in a series of battles named "The Seven Days" beat back McClellan and his Army. The result of these battles forever etched Lees name as a great general in the annuals of history.
Oh and one other little piece of history that occurred right off that peninsula where Newport News is located during what is now known as the "Peninsular Campaign" is the battle of Hampton Rhodes (roads). Right there is where the first "Ironclads", the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia (formally the USS Merrimac) fought and the 20th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment witnessed that famous battle. The 19th and 20th Indiana infantry regiments are the most famous of the Indiana civil war regiments. Toward the end of the war, decimated by casualties, the two regiments were combined. It is their stuff that was put into the time capsule ensconced in the corner stone of the Soldiers and Sailors monument in Indianapolis. And that monument is the tallest State civil war monument in existence. This is fitting because no state surpasses Indiana in the amount of manpower per capita supplied to the Union Armies during the Civil War. Just think! If Indiana had been part of the Confederacy the wackos would be talking about tearing that monument down now as they are doing to many Confederate monuments down south now.
Continuing on the journey one turns off of I-70 onto I-270 to head for Washington DC. and then takes that down to I-495 to pass around the east side of the Capital to catch I-95 south towards Richmond. During the Civil war Washington was ringed by redoubts armed with heavy artillery. For most of the first three years of the war those defenses were manned by the scions of the rich and powerful. It was a way for the sons of the prominent to serve honorably but remain close to home and for the most part out of harms way. But in 1864 Grant decided there was little need for strong defenses around the capital anymore and most of those men thus marched off to war.
Almost all of the major battlefields where the Union Army of the Potomac and Lees' Army of Northern Virginia fought are close to that 100 miles of I-95 between Washington, DC and Richmond Virginia.
Manassas/Bull run where two battles were fought. Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville. The Wilderness where Bobby Lee gave Grant his first black eye. Spotsylvania Court House where probably the most desperate hand to hand fighting during the entire war occurred at the "mule shoe". There wounded men that fell into the knee deep mud were trampled and drown in that mud by their comrades as they fought the enemy hand to hand because the rain had soaked the gunpowder. And Cold Harbor where most those men that had guarded the Capital saw their first real combat and where Grant asked too much of his men and they were slaughtered until they refused to charge again in an impossible situation.
And that is when Grant finally realized he was going after the wrong objective. Richmond was what he had been after but Grant figured out that against a determined enemy the only objective that will win the war is to defeat enemies Army and either destroy it or force it to surrender. Lee was forced to defend Richmond and thus robbed of the ability to maneuver and sustain his Army off the land and for Grant, Bobby Lee being tied down and besieged in one place was a Godsend. If Lee had not had to defend Richmond then the Civil War may have lasted considerably longer. And that is a fundamental lesson that can be applied in many other aspects of life and competition if you think on it a little. Places and things are never as important as limiting or eliminating the ability of your opponent to fight on his terms.
From I-95 one takes I-295 around the north east side of Richmond to take I-64 east. In doing so one passes the places were some of the defenses of Richmond were located. Places where Robert E. Lee put in the defenses in 1861 and thus at the time before taking over the Army of Northern Virginia received the derisive names of "Queen of spades" or "Granny Lee".
Going down I-64 onto the Virginia peninsula one passes Yorktown, VA. It was here during the American Revolution that George Washington with his Continentals and militia combined into one large Army reinforced by French troops and with the help of the French fleet bottled up and besieged British Lord General Cornwallis and his Army forcing him to surrender and there by finally making the British understand that they could not win and retain their American colonies.
It was also on this peninsula that McClellan had the Army of the Potomac shipped in an attempt to attack Richmond from the east in March of 1862. As always McClellan moved to slowly and cautiously allowing the Confederates to time to gather their forces and the very defenses that Lee had been criticized for building saved Richmond from the Union advance. In the emergency, with Richmond threatened, Robert E. Lee was given command of the Army of Northern Virginia and in a series of battles named "The Seven Days" beat back McClellan and his Army. The result of these battles forever etched Lees name as a great general in the annuals of history.
Oh and one other little piece of history that occurred right off that peninsula where Newport News is located during what is now known as the "Peninsular Campaign" is the battle of Hampton Rhodes (roads). Right there is where the first "Ironclads", the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia (formally the USS Merrimac) fought and the 20th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment witnessed that famous battle. The 19th and 20th Indiana infantry regiments are the most famous of the Indiana civil war regiments. Toward the end of the war, decimated by casualties, the two regiments were combined. It is their stuff that was put into the time capsule ensconced in the corner stone of the Soldiers and Sailors monument in Indianapolis. And that monument is the tallest State civil war monument in existence. This is fitting because no state surpasses Indiana in the amount of manpower per capita supplied to the Union Armies during the Civil War. Just think! If Indiana had been part of the Confederacy the wackos would be talking about tearing that monument down now as they are doing to many Confederate monuments down south now.