I hadn’t really though of all the parks I’ve visited until thinking about this thread… Let’s see, I can recall visiting:
In the Western Theater:
Franklin
Murfeesboro
Chatanooga
Chickamauga
Kennesaw Mountain
Peachtree Creek / Atlanta (mostly just a museum, cyclorama now…)
Charleston area battlefields
Natural Bridge and Olustee, Florida along with the major forts nearby in the state
Bentonville
Perryville
Andersonville (not a battle, but a very well done memorial now if you can get to it – a little out of the way, but is devoted to all POWs, not just the CW Prison)
In the East:
Gettysburg
Sharpsburg
Harpers Ferry
Manassas
Winchester
Front Royal
New Market
Fredricksburg
Spotsylvania
Chancellorsville
The Wilderness
Williamsburg / Yorktown area (but not the actual CW parks around the Peninsula – I’ve driven past but not stopped to visit for lack of time)
I had to list them so I could remember… and also so any readers who disagree can see that I haven’t been to a few of the big places like Vicksburg, Shiloh, Donelson, the Richmond area fields, etc.
My favorite field is Sharpsburg. It might not be the fanciest, but in a way, I think that is appropriate. I’d hate to see Sharpsburg turn into another Gettysburg-esque tourist trap with buildings and giant monuments everywhere. To me, Sharpsburg is the most hallowed ground of the way – moreso than Gettysburg because it hasn’t become a tourist trap – and beyond restoring some of the original woods areas, I’d like to see Sharpsburg stay more or less just the way it stands today. The ground speaks for itself. It is also just a beautiful area of countryside.
Chickamauga might be the best restored and have the best museum center. The interpretive show is great. It’s been a few years since I visited, but if I recall correctly, the show includes a great description of the night periods of the battle, with the auditorium lights off except for muzzle flashes from the walls and surround sound of fires, snapping twigs, gunfire, screams, etc. Very easy to imagine yourself lost in the woods between lines…
For places that need work, any of the major fields located in modern city limits could use much help – like Fredricksburg, Franklin, Murfeesboro, Nashville, Atlanta… et al.
Bentonville, though in the middle of nowhere now, and not as major as some places, has hardly anything on site for a museum, etc and could certainl deserve a little more TLC.
I didn’t get to stay long at Perryville, but I recall it having a nice museum and the field being relatively undisturbed as well. Another pretty area of the country around Perryville with the gentle rolling hills… Us flat-landers from Florida appreciate those sorts of things! [:)]
Regards,
Lt. Col. Alan Lynn
3rd Battery "Jacksonville Greys"
4th Div, II Corps, AoA
God bless <><
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