Social Distancing Excursion and DOTS

"Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available" (whoistheleader2)
03/20/2020 at 15:37 • Filed to: walkaboutlopnik, social distancing, coronavirus, Hiking, photography

I finally got out of the house to go on a hike in the nearby Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. I chose to hike the Pigeon Hill trail up Little Kennesaw Mountain with a small group of equally isolated friends, so it was pretty low risk.

This mountain was where the remnants of the Confederate army entrenched to keep General Sherman out of Atlanta. He eventually circumvented the mountain, but a whole lot of fighting went on here. The nearby town of Marietta was mostly razed by fire as Sherman passed through, polluting wells, destroying homes, and generally causing untold misery on the local population. Of course, this was nothing compared to the damage he would do to Atlanta just a few days later.

!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! also passed through Marietta some time before. It’s a fascinating story which I cannot do justice in just a few words, but the gist is this:

Three Union sympathizers stole a train named The General and set course north towards Sherman’s advancing army. The conductor of the train and two other men ran on foot after them until they took possession of a hand cart, which he continued the chase with. Eventually, they were able to commandeer a smaller locomotive, which they used to speed up the pursuit.

The defectors on The General performed acts of sabotage along the way, which slowed them down enough to let their pursuers catch up. Stopped by a sabotaged track, the pursuers took possession of a southbound train and continued north in reverse. The conductor and his men were able to alert a town north of them before the telegraph lines were severed, leading to the eventual capture of the defectors.

But now, some brief DOTS, all coming from the same location days apart.

It’s been awhile since I last saw a vent-windowed Cherokee. Pretty good shape overall.

Then, all of a sudden a massive RV enters.

How ya doing, Oppo?

DISCUSSION (17)

dogisbadob > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
03/20/2020 at 15:41

I don’t see too much rust on that Jeep, and it looks like it runs under its own power, so it’s not Dave Tracy :p

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > dogisbadob
03/20/2020 at 15:43

To be fair, a clapped out Cherokee in Georgia still doesn’t have much rust. This one had vent windows and the much better looking old interior in good shape.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
03/20/2020 at 15:48

Lake Life = Death. Hmmm.

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
03/20/2020 at 15:50

Imagine having a gun battle on that hill. Jesus.

VincentMalamute-Kim > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
03/20/2020 at 15:51

Coincidentally, I just heard an NPR story about Buster Keaton’s silent movie “The General”. Apparently it’s an excellent movie , silent or not.

Brighammer > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
03/20/2020 at 15:54

Man... I drive an 85 daily. My drives a 98. Not gonna lie... I prefer her interior... But my seats.

Dakotahound > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
03/20/2020 at 15:58

That looks like a great hike. We have never been to Kennesaw Mountain, but it is definitely now on our list.

A few years ago, my wife and I took a Civil War course at the local community co llege. After taking the course, we deci ded to visit as many Civil War battlefields as possible on our two-week vacation. We went to Gettysburg, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Chancellorsville, The Wilderness, and a couple that I am probably forgetting. Immersing yourself in history really gives you a new outlook.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Dakotahound
03/20/2020 at 16:11

Especially if you have merely to look out your door to see history.

All the good views are up L ittle Kennesaw, but the museum and visitor’s center is on Big Kennesaw.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI
03/20/2020 at 16:12

Imagine hauling heavy cannons up that hill by hand.

John Norris (AngryDrifter) > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
03/20/2020 at 16:16

I haven’t been there for a while but the trenches at Cheatham Hill just south of Kennesaw Mountain is an emotional place to visit. You can still see the berms and trenches where the confederates were dug in and took out a lot of union soldiers as they flanked around Kennesaw Mountain. Apparently the two sides called a local truce so they could bury all the dead and then went back and resum ed fighting. That had to be a really ugly battlefield.

There are trees all over Kennesaw Mountain and Cheatham Hill now . But they were all cleaned out by canno n shot during the war .

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > John Norris (AngryDrifter)
03/20/2020 at 16:23

I love the spot at the top of Big Kennesaw because they have kept it partially clear of trees like it was during the war. Most of the strategic vantage points had been entirely cleared, whether on purpose or, like you said, by cannons. Such an incredible place.

I can’t stand seeing people climbing all over the trenches. Don’t they know that erosion has wiped out most of them?

I hadn’t been in quite a while too, but I always love coming back. It’s a history buff’s dream combined with a hiking paradise. The trails are much more fun on the less visited rocky south side anyways.

Ash78, voting early and often > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
03/20/2020 at 16:56

Same reason I love to learn about the battles around Chattanooga that took place right before this part of the campaign to effectively split the Confederacy. The Union had been trapped for 2 months (Sep-Nov) and finally fought their way out. Interestingly, it was just a few days after the Gettysburg Address several hundred miles away.

Then everyone took a few months off, as was customary, and then Sherman did his thing over the next few months.

Under_Score > John Norris (AngryDrifter)
03/20/2020 at 18:03

Cheatham Hill is a simpler, less crowded Kennesaw Mountain.

There are TWO roundabouts on John Ward now.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Ash78, voting early and often
03/20/2020 at 18:57

Civil war history is especially fascinating if you see part of it every day. Having such a rich local history is great for a history buff like me. Sherman’s campaign is especially interesting because he accomplished a great thing by inflicting the maximum misery possible. My house probably wouldn’t stand where it is now if Marietta hadn’t been razed by his army. Well, a few homes and buildings used as field hospitals or owned by sympathizers were spared. . . at least until they caught fire from surrounding buildings.

Ash78, voting early and often > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
03/21/2020 at 10:19

He definitely got the job done, but in the worst way possible. The whole thing about that war, looking at it through modern eyes, is that it should never have escalated to violence (today abolition would be “Washington agrees to slave buyback, subsidized temp labor for plantations’ transition period”) and that Sherman was only enabled by Lincoln’s inability to end the war in VA within the first month or two. They had the resources, just not the will power with McClellan. So it all festered for years.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Ash78, voting early and often
03/21/2020 at 12:32

Of course, many northerners were afraid that an all out victory would result in droves of former slaves heading north. That didn't happen until the industrial revolution. One side had the resources, the other had the willpower. It was always going to be ugly. I'm actually reading a book about violence in Congress leading up to the war right now called the Field of Blood.

Ash78, voting early and often > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
03/21/2020 at 21:14

Yeah, it was definitely a contentious time In politics leading up to the war. Almost completely unconscionable by modern standards, even today’s divisiveness.

But at the end of the day, money talks. The South didn’t want slaves just to have them, their system was tolerated because they provided so much to so many (imagine the boycotts today!). And the North didn’t give much a crap about abolition except mainly as a political tool for maintaining US power as a single nation. There were definitely exceptions to the rule — people who genuinely believed it was horrible. But that was more of an era of looking out for self-interests. Today we have the collective wealth and free time to be social justice warriors. That’s generally a good thing, but it didn’t really apply nearly as much back then — as much as people like to imagine the whole conflict was some righteous moral cause.

Either way, I’m glad for the outcome. But what a hard road.