Most of you know that many, if not all, of my books have a beginning with the Roundhead Regiment (100th Penna.), and the experiences of my great Uncle James and his comrades. I'm traveling this morning, but I found this description on Facebook and decided to pass it on. I had forgotten that the Roundheads spent some time in Tennessee and Kentucky -- just where I am. So here, thanks to David Welsh, the regimental webmaster, is a seasonally appropriate account: 150 years ago the Roundheads are spending much of their time marching and camping throughout the lush late summer/early fall landscape of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, including Cumberland Gap, where the junction of three states (KY, TN and VA) come together. The are doing so much marching and travelling by train during this time that William Taylor of Co. G. mentions that one of the days THEY ONLY MARCHED 10 MILES. In a letter dated September 27th, 1863 he writes: "The next day "Sunday the 20th." (one week from today) we started again and passed the Gap, encamping one mile beyond it in Tennessee. I cannot describe the wildness or grandeur of the scenery on these mountains or the strength of the fortifications at the pass. How the rebels came to give it up, I cannot imagine, unless they wanted to. A thousand good soldiers should be able to hold it against fifty thousand. On the top of the mountain the three states of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee meet, and a store marks the point at which their boundary line joins. By walking around it you can be in the three states in half a minute". In late September when they were supposed to be travelling to Knoxville by train, the regiment boarded and ended up heading the opposite direction toward Greenville because of a dispatching error--the error was corrected and the regiment arrived in Knoxville at 4am on September 24th. The rest of September is spent marching and maneuvers leading up to the next major action at the Battle of Blue Springs, Oct. 10, 1863. |
