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| Posted: Sat Apr 19th, 2008 09:08 am |
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21st Post |
ashbel
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The thickets and underbrush in this area were so thick I have a hard time believing anyone could see what they were shooting at. Another irony of the war is that Longstreet and his staff were fired on by his own troops in similar circumstances at the Battle of the Wilderness a year later. This was in the same area and the same "mess" of underbrush. In fact, if you stand on the spot where Longstreet was wounded, you can see the monument where Jackson received his fatal wounds.
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| Posted: Sat Apr 19th, 2008 02:05 pm |
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22nd Post |
PvtClewell
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The monument to Jackson at Chancellorsville, hard against the Orange Plank Road, actually is the site where his wounds were initially tended. In 1996, Krick documented and pinpointed the actual wounding site, which is about 50 yards northeast of the 1888 monument, on the east side of the visitors' center.
In 2003, our roundtable went to Chancellorsville for the 140th anniversary of the wounding (we were actually there to spend the weekend in Fredericksburg). We gathered at the site, with a park ranger, at the hour of his wounding. I was surprised how late at night it was, around 9 p.m. if I recall. We had a moment of silence. It was a haunting experience.
I didn't realize we were so close to Longstreet's wounding, though. Nobody mentioned it. I'll have to check it out next time I'm up there. Sometimes it's hard to separate Chancellorsville from the Wilderness even though they are essentially the same battleground.
While we're discussing Jackson, Sedgwick and Longstreet's woundings, we can add: who shot Gen. Reynolds at Gettysburg?
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| Posted: Sat Apr 19th, 2008 02:27 pm |
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23rd Post |
| Posted: Sun Apr 20th, 2008 10:55 pm |
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24th Post |
ashbel
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I just returned from my Shiloh Battlefield trip. Let's add this to the list.
Albert Sidney Johnston's mortal wound was a shot in the back of the leg. There appears to be quite a bit of speculation that this came from a Confederate stray bullet. Does anyone have thoughts or information on this?
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21st, 2008 12:43 am |
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25th Post |
ole
Member
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There's nothing solid nor certain that I've heard Ashbel. It could have been, as he was riding in front the troops. Then again, he could have wheeled his horse to face them while shouting encouragement. I don't believe anyone saw the actual bullet, which wouldn't have proved anything anyway. Nobody saw him hit, either. It's possible that he didn't know it until he started feeling faint.
ole
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21st, 2008 01:29 am |
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26th Post |
Bama46
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All accounts of the wounding of Gen Johnston that I have ever read state that he was wounded by a spent minnie. that could have come from anyone anywhere. If you look at the location of the wounding and the location of the fighting at the time, it would be practically impossible to acertain the source of that spent bullet MHO!
Ed
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21st, 2008 04:42 am |
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27th Post |
ole
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have ever read state that he was wounded by a spent minnie.
Do we know that it was a minie? Will agree that the chunk of lead was probably spent, as one that wasn't would have done some serious damage to his knee.
It would have had to come from directly behind him or to the right of behind. As we don't know which way he was facing when he was hit, we can't know from which side the missile came.
There are still a couple of questions: A spent ball penetrates his uniform and has enough force to perforate the artery behind his knee. From what distance might a ball travel to have enough power left to do that without blowing his knee off? I don't know that we're ever going to reach a conclusion, but it is fun to speculate. Isn't it?
ole
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21st, 2008 01:57 pm |
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28th Post |
Bama46
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Ole,
everything I have read says minnie, at least according to my memory which used to be, but no longer is, infallable!
Ed
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21st, 2008 04:32 pm |
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29th Post |
Bama46
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Ole,
A lot would have to do with the angle the bullet entered the flesh. A straight on shot would do a great deal of damage, an angled shot would not do as much. Was the bullet recovered, if not, I would imgaine only wound size would be used to determine bullet type. If the bullet was not recovered, it would be a good argument for an angled shot. I believe the bullet cut the popliteal artery and he bled to death before he knew he was wounded. He had been wounded in that leg during the Mexican war, I believe, and reportedly had limited or no sensation in the leg
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21st, 2008 04:50 pm |
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30th Post |
ashbel
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According to Stacy Allen, Historian at Shiloh in an article in Blue & Gray magazine:
"He (Johnston) had been shot just below the right knee. A .577 Minie ball from an Enfield rifle, possibly fired by his own men, had entered the rear of the leg and torn the popliteal artery."
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21st, 2008 04:54 pm |
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31st Post |
susansweet
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Bama exactly what I have read in Roland's biography of Johnston . He had been wounded in Mexico and that leg didn't have the feeling a normal leg would. Also with the battle going on he might not have felt it . He bled into his boot. Others notice he was wounded when he reeled from the saddle . Then it was too late .
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21st, 2008 05:27 pm |
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32nd Post |
Bama46
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Susan,
Today it is in storage, but when I was a boy I saw the tree Gen Johnston lay against as he died. It is down in a gully out of what was then the line of fire
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21st, 2008 05:32 pm |
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33rd Post |
susansweet
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Bama I have been to Shiloh three times and had looked for the tree stump. Never could find it although I visited the death site. Now I know why. It was in my guide book I had of Civil War Battlefields and said it was there. Last summer I knew it wouldn't be there but still visited the site. Thanks for the information .
Susan
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21st, 2008 05:50 pm |
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34th Post |
Bama46
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Susan,
That site is one of my favorites at Shiloh. I can't list all my favorites because there are so many, but that is definitely one. #1 of course, is the Confederate burial trench. My eyes leak every time I stand there.
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21st, 2008 05:54 pm |
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35th Post |
susansweet
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Confederate Memorial is awesome , as is the Iowa monument with the grieving woman . I was very impressed too last year with the new monument to Tennessee . First time I had seen it .
Susan
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21st, 2008 10:00 pm |
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36th Post |
ole
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I oughtn't continue this, but what the hey. Yes. The mass burials leave a bad taste. There are seven, are there not? And each represets a trench wherein some Johnny got his cold body dumped. Without hymns or music. This was not our finest hour, and we sometimes didn't have time to plant our youngest and finest in the fashion we might have preferred.
And they died for what? So some smarmy elitist could, with impunity, own another man. Don't give me state's rights. A lot of good boys lie under that sod for a really stupid idea.
ole
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21st, 2008 10:07 pm |
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37th Post |
ole
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Gotta learn not to hit that button twice.
Last edited on Mon Apr 21st, 2008 10:09 pm by ole
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21st, 2008 10:27 pm |
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38th Post |
ole
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Dang! Gotta come back. Never saw an account where Johnston was wounded by a minie. It was, certainly a ball of some sort (and a minie is, technically, a ball). But what has been determined is that an unknown missile cut General Johnstons's popltieal (whatever) artery and bled him out. He died. The question was, did a Confederate bullet do him in. We can't know.
He caught one from somewhere, and he died from it.
ole
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| Posted: Tue Apr 22nd, 2008 02:48 am |
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39th Post |
Bama46
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Ole,
There are 5 known Confederate trenches. After the battle, all the dead, union and confederate, were buried in mass trenches. The weather was warm, disease was a real concern, and so Grant had all the dead buried. They remained buried in trenches until after the war when the yankees were reinterred in the newly formed national cememteries, the Confederate dead were however not deemed worthy of such respect and were left in mass graves.
Ole, your halo seems a little tilted and tarnished.
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| Posted: Tue Apr 22nd, 2008 03:17 am |
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40th Post |
ole
Member
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Tilted and tarnished, Bama? Didn't know I had one. Will have to check more closely the next time I look in a mirror that doesn't self-destruct when I approach. Maybe, if I find I have one, a little Brasso will improve it to your satisfaction.
Meanwhile, I hope you don't mind that this Billy mourns for all the Johnnies that lie in the cold, cold ground for no good reason at all.
ole
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