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Category Archives: Civil War
Day 9: Ending the Trip Where It All Began
Today was a lazy day: a walk on the wide windswept beach of Sullivan’s Island, and a cruise around Charleston Harbor. The star of that show, of course, is Fort Sumter. Built by the federal government after the War of … Continue reading
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Day 8: Charleston, SC: Ellis Island of African-American Slavery
Charleston is as “ancient” as a U.S. city can possibly be, and today I took a wonderful walking tour of this gorgeous city. My incredibly knowledgeable tour guide could not stop talking, one story inevitably cascading into another. Everywhere we … Continue reading
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Day 7: A Cultural Tourist Meets His Tribe
I had one more stop in Savannah: the Georgia Railroad Museum. Train museums are repositories of great industrial beasts and fascinating human stories. The best ones not only collect stuff, they research, repair, and save our heritage from permanent destruction. … Continue reading
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Day 6: My Tour de Forts
Although Union General Sherman outnumbered Confederate General Hardee 7 to 1 (with troops that were better equipped, better led, and convinced of their destiny), it took Sherman 10 days of maneuvering to capture the city. The reason is the ring … Continue reading
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Day 5: “I Beg to Present to You the Gift of Savannah…”
It was painful to drag myself away from Dr. Bob and Milledgeville, but my longest drive beckoned. I had three hours of rural Georgia ahead of me—towns with names like Black Creek, Willie, and Social Circle, each with one or … Continue reading
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Day 4: Milledgeville, Where Dead Men Tell Tales
At 7am on November 15, 1864, General William T. Sherman and 60,000 Union soldiers started their 300-mile march southeast through Georgia. According to Sherman’s memoirs, “We rode out of Atlanta by the Decatur road, filled by the marching troops and … Continue reading
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Day Three: The Civil War Ends in Atlanta
The modern city of Atlanta has a fine history museum, with tens of thousands of civil war artifacts donated by world-famous collectors. I spent the morning there among the school children, retirees, and out-of-town descendants of soldiers who’d come to … Continue reading
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