Day 15 Week 3

I visited the Chickamauga Battle field this morning. Chickamauga is inside the Georgian border just south of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

On my way to the battle field, I came across a fellow, Matt Fox, who collects old Jeeps. He mainly strips them and sells the parts on Ebay now. Although he had a couple in restoration while I was there.  He has the biggest collection of jeep parts I have ever seen.

I spent about an hour talking to Matt and at the end he pulled out his bucket of war relics he had collected from around the countryside near his property. He gave me a few interesting bits and pieces as souvenirs.

These three bullets are particularly interesting. They are Union .58 calibre minie balls. The one on the left has been stuck in the barrel and has been 'pulled'. There is a tell tale corkscew hole in the top where they have screwed a puller into the bullet and pulled it out.

The second is a Type 3 Williams 'Cleaner'. It has a zinc plate on the bottom which when fired, is pushed forward and expands on the bottom of the projectile and drags out any build up of black powder residue and lead. The troops were supposed to use one of these after every three normal bullets but they were very prone to failure. The zinc plate would often come off and get stuck in the barrel causing an obstruction. The troops rapidly lost confidence in these and most are found as 'drops' from where the troops threw them away.

The third is a 'chewed' bullet. The troops on both sides would regularly chew bullets because the lead juice tasted sweet. These are mostly found around encampment sites.  I have to admit, I used to chew air rifle slugs when out plinking.

This is a button that was used as a replacement for lost uniform buttons. It was carried by 'hawkers' who would follow the troops around selling them supplies. It is called a 'Cowboy' button.

After visiting Matt, I continued on to the Battle field and Visitors centre. The Battle of Chickamauga has been referred to as the south’s Gettysburg.  It is has the 2^nd highest casualty rates of the War, 2^nd only to Gettysburg.

The battle lasted two days and involved 66,000 Confederate troops and 58,000 Union troops. In the end the Union had lost approximately 16,000 troops, dead, wounded, captured or missing. The Confederacy had won the battle but had lost about 18,500 troops dead, wounded captured or missing.

The reason for the battle was the Union's attempt to capture the city of Chattanooga on the Tennessee/Georgia border. Chattanooga was considered the gateway to the south with the Tennessee River and all roads and railway lines running through the city. The South won the battle and pushed the Union troops back into Tennessee. The Confederates held the surrounding mountains for the next two months before they were finally pushed back after the Battle of Missionary Ridge. This opened up the south for the Union General WT Sherman’s ‘March to the sea’, burning and pillaging everything in his wake. Including Atlanta.

Visitors centre

Small portion of the Fuller gun collection in the Visitors centre

I spent about 4 hours poking around the battle field and visitors centre. I then went for a drive to Chattanooga in Tennessee, via Missionary Ridge.  While I was in Chattanooga, I had a $10.00 hair cut at a little barber shop I found.

I drove back into Georgia because I wanted to travel east through the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains into North Carolina. So that’s where I am tonight. Ellijay, Georgia, at the southern end of the Appalachian Trail and the beginning of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

This is a web site of the region,

http://www.gilmerchamber.com/default.htm

The country is beautiful around here. I found the most amazing antique store which I would have loved to have gotten inside for a look around  but it was about 18.20hrs and they were closed. It must be a really honest community around here because heaps of stuff was just left outside for anyone to look at.

I pulled over in a nearby town to check my maps and accommodation guide because it was getting on to that time of evening. I had stopped in a 'no stopping' zone but I could see no reason for it and  I had to decide which way to go fairly rapidly or I would be pushed out of town and have to double back etc. Anyway, I got busted. A State Trooper pulled up behind me to check me out.

Tomorrow I am heading off into the mountains towards North Carolina or somewhere that way.