American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

I arrived at Stones River, on my way to TILLERCON III, on Wed, May 26th. The battlefield site is very nice and well kept up.

The site is spread out over 3 separate areas, but all are easily accessible. I did not go to the area of Rosecrans Fort.

You can see some pictures of Stones River at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/erniesan1/

<b><font color="gold">Ernie Sands, General
4th Brigade, Cavalry Division, XIV Corps,
Army of Cumberland, USA


ACWGC Records Site Administrator
</b></font id="gold">

nice photos-thanks for sharing

Col. Elkin
Chief Engineer AotT



“I have come to you from the West, where we have always seen the backs of our enemies. . . . Let us study the probable lines of retreat of our opponents, and leave our own to take care of themselves. Let us look before us, and not behindâ€

I hope you had a great time Ernie and I enjoyed the pics!

For anyone else headed down to Stones River I have the following travel tips and info:

I used to live next to that battlefield for a number of years so I know most every part of it and the town. The new visitor center is really nice! The 9-minute video they have on the battle is pretty poorly done though. I think they tried to make it appeal to even the youngest child and in the end it came off as very vague and bland. But the exhibits are great and the bookstore top-notch. If you visit the Hazen Monument you will notice two graves on the outside of the monument. One belongs to a former slave who helped maintain the battlefield after the war and owned some land adjacent to it. The battlefield offered to bury him in the National Cemetery but he wanted to be buried on his own land next to the monument. His grandson's grave is next to his and he was killed in WW1 I believe.

If you get into Murfreesboro the Courthouse is always a great stop. As my history professor told me at nearby MTSU, "a southern town is not a 'southern' town unless it has a Rebel monument on the square and a cannonball in the courthouse from the dreaded Yanks!" Murfreesboro qualifies then as they claim to have a cannonball or two embedded in the courthouse walls and has a Confederate Memorial outside of it. A number of other monuments to soldiers from various wars also stand outside the courthouse. Back in the 50s there was a man who randomly came to town declaring himself to be the "Human Fly." He told people he could climb anything. Local folk challenged him to climb the courthouse. It stopped traffic and a crowd gathered as he attempted it. Needless to say he did not make it up and fell to his death at one point. Is it true? I really don't know. Small southern towns have lots of these stories!

If anyone else is going through Murfreesboro this weekend be sure to eat at the Stones River Grill (across from the Ford dealership on Broad Street about a mile south of the battlefield) or on the courthouse square at Mariana's Italian Eatery or the City Cafe. All three are locally owned and serve fantastic food! I always try to support the local business when I can so I thought I would give them a plug here.

Hope everyone is enjoying Tillercon! Keep us posted.



Col. Blake L. Strickler
Army of the Mississippi
Chief of Staff
6th Bd/4th Div/IV Corps

Its definitely a well-kept park. How many acres Ernie?

Maj.Gen. Drex Ringbloom,
AotS Chief-of -Staff,
2nd Division Cmdr, "Corcoran's Legion", VIII Corps
Army of the Shenandoah

Stones River... is nice.

My son and I walked it last year before heading to the UCLA Tenn football game. Didn't realize how spread out it was before walking...
Of course, had forgotten the charger for the camera and got zero pictures...

Lt. General Thompson
XIX Corps,
Army of the Shenandoah

"That's damn ungenerous! I shall take those guns for that!"

-General Phil Sheridan

Good deal Ernie!

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lieutenant General Scott Ludwig
Commanding Officer III Corps - Army of Northern Virginia


"Son only a Minie ball can dismiss me!"