Random Thoughts

The summer is slipping past and battlefield hiking in the cooler weather of fall beckons. My kids tramped across Shiloh, Franklin, Murfreesboro, and Ft. Clinch with my parents while on their summer vacation. I wish I could have been there with them, especially for the always haunting visit to Shiloh. The ghosts of Shiloh still echo the commands and cries from those bloody two days in 1862. The kids enjoyed the visit to Shiloh, tracked down a couple of our ancestors' regiments to include the 52d Tennessee, 4th Tennessee, and 9th Tennessee, gazed at the Bloody Pond, pondered the attacks on the Hornet's Nest, and asked the inevitable what ifs about Albert Sidney Johnston. This well preserved and marked battlefield is the example for all. It is easy to track the ebb and flow of the battle. We can walk in the steps of a regiment or a brigade as it fought across the West Tennessee fields and woodlots. We can see and understand how the terrain, troop dispositions, and command decisions affected the battle's outcome. If you choose one Civil War Battlefield to visit in your lifetime, make it Shiloh.

Spotsylvania - The Mule Shoe

This past Sunday, the sound of cannon fire boomed across the valley between the Confederate Mule Shoe Salient and the Landrum House Ridge. The modern day version of the Stafford Light Artillery stood by their bronze Napoleon, executing the battle drills of a bygone era. The noise, smoke, and confusion of a misfire clearly demonstrated the battlefield ordeal of a Civil War gun crew. All that was missing was an enemy bent on their capture or destruction.

If we multiply this single cannon by a hundred, add the continuous rattle of musketry, the shouts of men, and the explosion of case shot, we might have witnessed the carnage of 12 May 1864.

Fire! The noise is deafening. Flame leaps from the cannon muzzle. Smoke rolls across the landscape. Imagine a case shot bursting over the heads of charging Union soldiers. Or canister exploding in their faces as they close the distance to the Confederate trenches. If we close our eyes, we can see into the past and hear the exploding shells, the zip of lead balls fired from a thousand rifled muskets, the dull thump of rounds striking home on poor, unsuspecting soldiers.

But to imagine the horrors of past battlefields, we must visit them. We must stand where soldiers fought, where our ancestors fought. As I watched the Stafford Light Artillery with my wife and youngest son, I could hear the ghosts of Spotsylvania Courthouse calling to me. I could see my great-great grandfather standing in the trenches with the 14th North Carolina Infantry Regiment. I could see the past and the sacrifices made on both sides. I could understand the roar of battle just a bit more.

Preserve their memories by protecting battlefield land today. We are the last generation capable of securing these sacred Civil War Sites. Let us not fail.

Technology and History Part 2

Having recently re-read an article on the L.A. Fire Department's use of Web 2.0, I found myself looking at applications for past events. If we tell a simple story using the context of the past, then maybe we can better design solutions for the present.

Close your eyes and step into H.G. Well's time machine with me. We are bound for 1862. We find ourselves on the banks of Antietam Creek on the 17th of September. The Armies of Blue and Gray surround us and America's Bloodiest Day is about to begin. We bring with us the social networking and webification technology of the 21st Century. Our mission: To provide dynamic, web-based updates on the historic 1862 battle for an American History Class in 2008.

We start by roaming the battlefield with our digital camera. We capture images of dirty soldiers, inspiring leaders, troop movements, rifle and artillery fire, startled civilians, death, and destruction. We post these images using Flickr on our laptop with a wireless internet connection through time. We use Real Simple Syndication (RSS) Feeds to update our American Civil War Blog. The Blog is easily accessed via the History Class's Web Site. We also use Google’s web-based Blogger software with FeedBurner, an RSS feed to deliver real-time imagery via Podcasts to History Classes across the world. The images provide a dynamic view of the battle's progress and its impacts on the land and the men involved.

At the same time, our roaming correspondents use Twitter to provide short burst updates on the battle. We embed our correspondents with Union and Confederate Units. The Twitter updates track progress as units move, engage, and fall back in the mighty struggle for the Cornfield and the West Woods. We utilize Twitter's Short Message Service (SMS) to provide updates to subscribers with cell phones. We provide Instant Messaging (IM) updates via the web. We include links using tiny URLs in the Twitter updates for access to Flickr images, battle maps, troop orders of battle, and casualty reports. In an instant, thousands can track the battles' progress and focus on units or people of interest. Our History Class and other subscribers can visualize themselves on the battlefield at each critical point in time. We can watch the battle unfold, in real-time, from either side's perspective.

As the battle progresses, and chaos overtakes the smoldering landscape turned red, we switch to Jott and use our cell phone to convert voice messages to text and deliver the messages to our subscribers using RSS feeds. The feeds are accessed via the History Class Web Site and are published to external web sites.

We quickly develop mapping mashups using Google Earth and Google Map to display troop movements, battle lines, headquarters locations, hospitals, roads, bridges, and other lines of communication. We embed information about each location in the mashup and develop Java applications to replay the battle for class discussion and after-action analysis.

As the sun sets on the rolling fields of Washington County, Maryland, we use BlogTalkRadio to facilitate a class discussion on the battle, its role in the American Civil War, and its outcome.

We make the return trip to 21st Century America, hoping to have proven the utility of today's web for those non-believers amongst us. Somewhere in the sands of time, we could have used Web Alerts, Online Groups and Distribution Lists, Translation Services, and possibly even MySpace or Facebook. Could you imagine a Robert E. Lee MySpace page?

Gettysburg - 1 July 1863

Today is the 145th Anniversary of the opening engagement of the Battle of Gettysburg. Was this the South's missed opportunity to crush the Army of the Potomac and win the American Civil War?

On several occasions, the Army of Northern Virginia was presented with an opportunity to defeat a significant portion of its adversary. Gaines' Mill, Glendale, Second Manassas, Chancellorsville, and North Anna come to mind. Some might even argue for Fredericksburg to be included in this debate. But the first day in July, 1863 may have been the best missed chance.

What was always elusive to the Southern Cause was total victory on the battlefield. The Confederates needed to destroy a large portion of the Union Army. They had to eliminate the Army of the Potomac as a fighting force. They needed a complete victory to fan the fires of dissent across the Nothern states. This dissent would force a change in executive leadership in 1864 and bring both sides to the peace table. We must accept the fact that International Recognition was never a feasible goal following Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Only battlefield success would bring peace and the recognition of a Confederate States of America.

Gettysburg was a classic meeting engagement with two Armies bumbling into one another. Even though the Union Cavalry did a spendid job in delaying the Confederate advance, the South was able to bring more troops to bear at the critical time and place on the battlefield. But did the South lose a chance to destroy the Union First and Eleventh Corps? Would this have resulted in the desired end state of complete victory?

Reality is that the Union First and Eleventh Corps were in effect destroyed on 1 July 1863. They were never again a capable fighting force. But could the Confederates have attacked with better coordination? Could they have saved some precious daylight to completely rout the First and Eleventh Corps? Could they have reorganized their forces to attack and defeat elements of the Union Twelth and Third Corps that were approaching Gettysburg?

What should Lee and Longstreet have done on the afternoon of 1 July 1863? Much has been made of Longstreet's desire to fight a defensive engagement and slide around the Union left, but should he have been more aggressive? What would Stonewall Jackson have done if he was leading the old Second Corps on this field?

The Confederate attacks on the opening day were piecemeal, uncoordinated, and lacked effective command and control. Poor leadership was the story of the day with Ewell, Heth, Oneal, Rodes, Iverson, Pettigrew, Daniel, Davis, and others demonstrating how not to lead a Confederate corps, division, or brigade command. Confederate losses were heavy, but should have been avoidable. Coordination and leadership by example were missing. The effects on an attacking force were clearly demonstrated in the pounding that Heth's and Rodes' divisions incurred.

Just becuase one might unite his army on the battlefield before his opponent, does not guarantee total victory. Gettysburg's opening day is the prime example. For the most part, Northern leadership and command and control at the divisional and brigade level complemented by Yankee resolve and sacrifice held the day. Yes, two Union Corps were wrecked, but the losses inflicted on the Confederates and Southern leadership failures mitigated the level of tactical defeat. If the South could do it all over again, maybe they would take an operational pause to develop the situation, coordinate their movements and battlefield maneuver, synchronize their fires and flank attacks and exploit success with a sizeable reserve.

Then again, history tells us that the South lost its fighting spirit on the fields of Adams County, Pennsylvania. That spirit was embodied in the thousands of irreplaceable Southern soldiers lost due to failed leadership, failed command and control, and a lost cavalry commander.

Chancellorsville - Hooker's Last Line

The woods behind my house hold a mystery.

On 3 May 1863, the Union Army of the Potomac fell back to the area bounded by the Mineral Springs Road, Ely's Ford Road, and the U.S. Ford Road. Federal troops dug fortifications and constructed a military road to facilitate resupply and movement across what became known as Hooker's Last Line.

The mystery?

Some of these surviving trenches face north rather than south towards the Confederate position. Why would Union soldiers dig trenches that faced the wrong way? Some of the trenches are even constructed in a way that half face south and the other half face north, away from the known danger. There is scant, if any, evidence in the Official Records of the Battle of Chancellorsville. There is no known evidence in historic writings or soldier recollections.

Were the Northern Soldiers concerned with yet another Stonewall Jackson flank attack from behind? Were they concerned that JEB Stuart's Cavalry would seize Ely's Ford or cut the U.S. Ford Road, which was the Union's lifeline and only avenue of retreat? Why would a soldier knowingly place his back towards his enemy as these Union Soldiers did?

Maybe we will never know why these trenches face the wrong way. Maybe the answer lies hidden and awaits discovery.

When I gaze across these trenches and think about the events that unfolded on my property on 3-5 May 1863, I always ask myself, why? What was the danger? What was the Union Army's situational awareness? Did the Army of Northern Virginia possess the resources to seize the river fords or sever the roads?

Then again, maybe these trenches had their origins in Confederate defenses built to watch Ely's Ford and U.S. Ford and block or delay a Union attack on Chancellorsville. The evidence may lead to this conclusion.

Where is Indiana Jones when I need him?

The Killing Fields of Cold Harbor

Cold Harbor - In June of 1864, the Army of the Potomac bloodied itself in several fruitless frontal assaults against prepared defensive works. The American Civil War had become a war of attrition and trench warfare. Men, wearing Blue gallantly rose up from their trenches to march across open Virginia fields to attack their fortified Gray opponent. In most cases, these assaults did little to break the lines of the Army of Northern Virginia. The gain? Thousands of soldiers added to the casualty rolls. On June 3rd alone, 7,000 Union Soldiers fell in 30 minutes. This one attack haunted General Ulysses S. Grant. He regretted ordering an attack that amounted to nothing more than murder on the Killing Fields of Cold Harbor.

Some will say that the Union Army knew that these attacks would end only in death. Soldiers would pin their names and hometowns on the backs of their uniforms in the forlorn hope of being identified among the dead and returned home for a proper burial. Most of those killed never made it home. They received a quick soldiers burial where they fell. They rest today in a National Cemetery not far from where they took their last breaths.

But what made these men rise up and attack a Confederate position that was virtually impregnable? The Confederate position was engineered based on the terrain, was built in depth, and its interlocking fields of fire could annihilate most attacks. Was it valor? Was it hope? Was it trust in their brothers in arms? Was it a belief that their lot in life was to fight and die for the Union and Emancipation?

The Heavy Artillery Regiments from the Washington, DC garrison made their debut in the Army of the Potomac during the 1864 Overland Campaign. In each of these regiment's inaugural battles, carnage and heavy losses were the end result. This was no different at Cold Harbor. These regiments, numbering more that most brigades in either Army, rose up and attacked the vaunted Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Their heroism was demonstrated at the point of the attack. Their deeds told in the killed, wounded, and missing added to the newspaper accounts - the butcher's bill. Their memory kept by loved ones in hometowns across the North.

But what makes a man rise up and attack an entrenched opponent? What makes a man stand to amidst the hail of musketry and cannon fire? What makes a man grit his teeth and charge an opponent with the cold steel of the bayonet?

This past weekend, I found myself asking these questions as I walked across the Cold Harbor battlefield. Only fragments of this field and its extensive fortifications remain. But what a story these trenches do tell. Take a walk through these Virginia woods. Stand beside Union and Confederate trenches that in some cases remain 6-8 feet deep. Look across Bloody Run and the fields separating each Army's works. Think about the madness and carnage of war. Think about the soldiers, their heroism and their sacrifices on this field. Study the battle, walk the ground, and gain an appreciation for how the battle was fought as entrenchments began to rule the day. The lessons not learned at Cold Harbor were to be repeated time and time again during the First World War.

The terrain, the trenches, the fields, the graves, the ghosts of Cold Harbor beckon you.

I challenge you to get involved with battlefield preservation. Let's save what we can in this last generation before development runs its ugly course. The land where our ancestors fought, whether they wore Blue of Gray, is sacred. Their struggle helped to define America as we know it. Study your past, tell your children their links to these great historic events, and honor the memory of these soldiers of old.

A Technology Approach to Revising History

Have you ever thought about how a certain battle in history might have turned if one side or the other had access to modern technology? What about focusing on information technology and the web vice access to modern weapons?

For those of us that support Department of Defense Customers, the inevitable response from leadership is always "how will this system or web-based solution win future wars....or how will this gadget enable me to think faster, decide faster, and execute faster?" We must put technology into terms that they can understand - warfighter speak.

A great approach to providing this warfighter-focused answer lies in our ability to take a historic battle where we know the sequence of events, the ebb and flow of the fight, and the end result and apply technology, especially Web 2.0 solutions, to one side or the other. How might this access to data and services have changed the course of the battle? How might commanders of old have applied Web 2.0, net-centric concepts, and service-based solutions to gain better access to required information? How might they have gained better awareness and visualization of the emerging battle? How might they have applied this greater access to information and services to inform their decision-making? How might this access provided better opportunities to plan and react to events as they unfolded on the battlefield?

If we can replay a past battle using today's information technology, then we stand a better chance of speaking in warfighter terms. Only in speaking this dialect can we truly tell our defense customers how new gadgets, gizmos, and the ever-expanding web will better enable or rather equip them for the future fight. They can see from a military perspective how to apply new solutions to command, control, and execution capability needs. We must move away from our geek-speak and move into understanding history, revisiting history with today's technology, and proving the value in this technology for future fights.