Bullet and Shell Civil War Projectiles Forum

General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: CarlS on June 28, 2014, 05:52:57 PM

Title: A Sense Of ACW History: Battle of Kennesaw Mountain
Post by: CarlS on June 28, 2014, 05:52:57 PM
This weekend is the 150th anniversary of the battle of Kennesaw Mountain.  Lots of living history, book signing, guided hikes, etc. going on Thursday thru Sunday.  The area is quite busy and they are offering parking at the local high school and other places and running busses back and forth.  They did a new monument dedication yesterday just up the road from me and will be rededicating the Illinois monument tomorrow.  This park only has a few monuments so getting a new one is quite neat.

My favorite part is the constant cannon firing.  It is not the same roar to be sure but a bit similar to 1864.  They have live demonstrations at a section of lines known as 24 Gun Battery.  It's known as that because, you guessed it, the Union army amassed 24 cannon to try to take out the guns on top of the Kennesaw Mountain (actually Big Kennesaw and Little Kennesaw).  The concentrated fire during the battle didn't seem to have worked but sure left a lot of Parrotts (10-lber and 20-lber), Hotchkiss (3-inch) and cannon balls (12-lber) as overshot in an area that high dollar homes have been built over the years.  My son found his first shell there, a Hotchkiss in what is now a road intersection and I found a 12-lber solid shot just a few feet away.  So about every 1.5 hours I can hear the rumble of the big guns about 1/2 mile away and it's kind of cool.

I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow but my wife has too long a to-do list for today.  I hope everyone is having a great weekend.