Tweet
Efforts on to preserve Civil War site
Alabama soldiers fought for Union at north Alabama battlefield
Thursday, June 03, 2004 KENT FAULK
News staff writer
BATTLEGROUND - As day broke on April 30, 1863, dozens of Alabama soldiers fighting for the Union Army were finishing breakfast at their overnight camp in a Staples Hollow farm pasture.
Other Union troops had left earlier, heading up the mountainous gap by the Day family's farm to continue a raid across north Alabama. Alabama units were allowed to linger as a rear guard - a few from the area likely saying their last goodbyes to relatives.
But the boom of a Confederate cannon broke up the reunion; those Alabama units scampered up Day's Gap, and a battle erupted between Confederate and Union forces.
Nearly a century and a half later, a quieter battle is being fought on this same turf. This time, it's a fight by descendants of both the blue and gray to preserve the battleground on the Cullman and Morgan county line from relic hunters and development. Some fear the area will see more houses and businesses pop up once the widening of Alabama 157 into a four-lane highway through the community is completed.
"I think if some action is not taken then it definitely is endangered," said Dan Fulenwider, a historian. "It's part of the history of our state and nation."
In February, the Washington-based Civil War Preservation Trust named Day's Gap to its list of 15 "at risk" Civil War battlefields. No other Alabama site made the list.
Of the 10,500 battles or skirmishes in the Civil War, 384 conflicts were identified in 1991 by a congressional committee as principal battles. Day's Gap and sites at Fort Blakely, Spanish Fort, Selma, Athens, Mobile Bay and Decatur were among the Alabama battlefields identified in that study.
Paul Bryant Jr., immediate past chairman of the preservation trust board, said several of the Alabama sites already have been saved from development. He said Day's Gap is "the only site that could be lost that we've got a chance to do something about."
Fulenwider has pushed local governments for nearly a decade to preserve and mark the route through north Alabama of the running battle between Union forces led by Col. Abel Streight and Confederates led by Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest. The battle started at Day's Gap and ended May 3, 1863, in Cherokee County with Streight's surrender. Much of the route followed old Indian and wagon trails that today are paved roads.
Fulenwider, who walked the entire route four years ago, is working to get Streight's route marked and to have pull-off areas for tour buses. He's also been working with the Cullman County Commission to buy land for a park at Hog Mountain, site of one of the biggest battles during that running skirmish.
Fulenwider is working in concert with the preservation trust, which is trying to negotiate with landowners in an effort to preserve Day's Gap and other spots along the route.
"What we're trying to do is get a Forrest-Streight trail that tracks their movements across the state of Alabama ... and to mark where specific things happened," said Henry Simpson, a Birmingham lawyer who heads the battlefield preservation committee on the trust's board.
At Day's Gap, the trust is trying to get conservation easements from the owners of three pieces of property to prevent housing or commercial development on the land.
Staples Hollow is still untouched by development, with only a gravel road leading down the mountain to a farm. Among the pastures stands a chimney from Richard Day's cabin. Two log outbuildings from the era still stand around the site where Day's sister had a cabin. There's also a family cemetery.
Some houses have been built at the top of the gap where the main battle of Day's Gap took place in the community now called Battleground.
Battleground residents have gotten into the preservation effort.
A Confederate battle flag flies below the American Stars and Stripes at the Battleground Volunteer Fire Department, and two residents have gotten into the spirit of the battle.
Mack Carter, whose home sits on a hill where Confederate forces set up their cannons, flies a Confederate flag on a pole; next to it is a cannon pointed at Andy Thomas' home, about a quarter mile away. Thomas flies two American flags, with a fake cannon pointed at Carter's home.
Thomas said he's had people from as far away as California stop in his driveway to look around the battlefield.
Heritage tourism on all aspects of American history has been "huge," especially since the 1990s Ken Burns series about the Civil War, Bryant said.
Earlier this month, Ed Bearss, chief historian emeritus for the National Park Service and a narrator on Burns' PBS series, and Fulenwider led a tour-bus load of history buffs on a tour of Day's Gap and other Cullman County sites along the battle route. Each member of the tour paid up to $2,025 for the seven-day Riding With Forrest journey through Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi.
"It is important because it adds to the Forrest legend," Bearss said of the Forrest-Streight route. "I'm impressed by what has been accomplished here."
Streight, who had about 1,500 men, was trying to drive across north Alabama to destroy a railroad that was supplying Confederate troops. Forrest, with about 500 men, came in from southern Tennessee to try to block Streight.
Streight, while stationed in Decatur in 1862, had recruited men from the hills of north Alabama, where many Union sympathizers lived. That probably is why a year later the colonel chose that route, Fulenwider and others said.
And that lent one unusual aspect to the Day's Gap battle, Simpson said.
"Seven of the Union troops were from that hollow or right around there, so they were fighting in their own back yards for the Union in Alabama," Simpson said. "I don't think that happened anywhere else in Alabama."
And the battle also was the seed for at least one major event that added to Forrest's legacy.
By the time Forrest arrived for the battle on April 30, forces led by his brother, Bill Forrest, had already been repelled and Forrest's two favorite cannons captured by the Union. Bill Forrest was wounded in the thigh during the battle, Fulenwider said.
An irate Forrest is said to have picked up a Lt. Gould and pushed him against a tree "and said you had better get those cannons back by nightfall or else," Simpson said. The Confederates got the cannons back, although there's still a debate as to exactly what happened to them.
Two weeks later, a still-embarrassed Gould shot Forrest in Columbia, Tenn., Simpson said. The story has it that the wounded Forrest chased Gould outside and stabbed him to death with a penknife, he said. "It's one of the most bizarre stories of the whole Civil War," Simpson said.
Alabama soldiers fought for Union at north Alabama battlefield
Thursday, June 03, 2004 KENT FAULK
News staff writer
BATTLEGROUND - As day broke on April 30, 1863, dozens of Alabama soldiers fighting for the Union Army were finishing breakfast at their overnight camp in a Staples Hollow farm pasture.
Other Union troops had left earlier, heading up the mountainous gap by the Day family's farm to continue a raid across north Alabama. Alabama units were allowed to linger as a rear guard - a few from the area likely saying their last goodbyes to relatives.
But the boom of a Confederate cannon broke up the reunion; those Alabama units scampered up Day's Gap, and a battle erupted between Confederate and Union forces.
Nearly a century and a half later, a quieter battle is being fought on this same turf. This time, it's a fight by descendants of both the blue and gray to preserve the battleground on the Cullman and Morgan county line from relic hunters and development. Some fear the area will see more houses and businesses pop up once the widening of Alabama 157 into a four-lane highway through the community is completed.
"I think if some action is not taken then it definitely is endangered," said Dan Fulenwider, a historian. "It's part of the history of our state and nation."
In February, the Washington-based Civil War Preservation Trust named Day's Gap to its list of 15 "at risk" Civil War battlefields. No other Alabama site made the list.
Of the 10,500 battles or skirmishes in the Civil War, 384 conflicts were identified in 1991 by a congressional committee as principal battles. Day's Gap and sites at Fort Blakely, Spanish Fort, Selma, Athens, Mobile Bay and Decatur were among the Alabama battlefields identified in that study.
Paul Bryant Jr., immediate past chairman of the preservation trust board, said several of the Alabama sites already have been saved from development. He said Day's Gap is "the only site that could be lost that we've got a chance to do something about."
Fulenwider has pushed local governments for nearly a decade to preserve and mark the route through north Alabama of the running battle between Union forces led by Col. Abel Streight and Confederates led by Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest. The battle started at Day's Gap and ended May 3, 1863, in Cherokee County with Streight's surrender. Much of the route followed old Indian and wagon trails that today are paved roads.
Fulenwider, who walked the entire route four years ago, is working to get Streight's route marked and to have pull-off areas for tour buses. He's also been working with the Cullman County Commission to buy land for a park at Hog Mountain, site of one of the biggest battles during that running skirmish.
Fulenwider is working in concert with the preservation trust, which is trying to negotiate with landowners in an effort to preserve Day's Gap and other spots along the route.
"What we're trying to do is get a Forrest-Streight trail that tracks their movements across the state of Alabama ... and to mark where specific things happened," said Henry Simpson, a Birmingham lawyer who heads the battlefield preservation committee on the trust's board.
At Day's Gap, the trust is trying to get conservation easements from the owners of three pieces of property to prevent housing or commercial development on the land.
Staples Hollow is still untouched by development, with only a gravel road leading down the mountain to a farm. Among the pastures stands a chimney from Richard Day's cabin. Two log outbuildings from the era still stand around the site where Day's sister had a cabin. There's also a family cemetery.
Some houses have been built at the top of the gap where the main battle of Day's Gap took place in the community now called Battleground.
Battleground residents have gotten into the preservation effort.
A Confederate battle flag flies below the American Stars and Stripes at the Battleground Volunteer Fire Department, and two residents have gotten into the spirit of the battle.
Mack Carter, whose home sits on a hill where Confederate forces set up their cannons, flies a Confederate flag on a pole; next to it is a cannon pointed at Andy Thomas' home, about a quarter mile away. Thomas flies two American flags, with a fake cannon pointed at Carter's home.
Thomas said he's had people from as far away as California stop in his driveway to look around the battlefield.
Heritage tourism on all aspects of American history has been "huge," especially since the 1990s Ken Burns series about the Civil War, Bryant said.
Earlier this month, Ed Bearss, chief historian emeritus for the National Park Service and a narrator on Burns' PBS series, and Fulenwider led a tour-bus load of history buffs on a tour of Day's Gap and other Cullman County sites along the battle route. Each member of the tour paid up to $2,025 for the seven-day Riding With Forrest journey through Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi.
"It is important because it adds to the Forrest legend," Bearss said of the Forrest-Streight route. "I'm impressed by what has been accomplished here."
Streight, who had about 1,500 men, was trying to drive across north Alabama to destroy a railroad that was supplying Confederate troops. Forrest, with about 500 men, came in from southern Tennessee to try to block Streight.
Streight, while stationed in Decatur in 1862, had recruited men from the hills of north Alabama, where many Union sympathizers lived. That probably is why a year later the colonel chose that route, Fulenwider and others said.
And that lent one unusual aspect to the Day's Gap battle, Simpson said.
"Seven of the Union troops were from that hollow or right around there, so they were fighting in their own back yards for the Union in Alabama," Simpson said. "I don't think that happened anywhere else in Alabama."
And the battle also was the seed for at least one major event that added to Forrest's legacy.
By the time Forrest arrived for the battle on April 30, forces led by his brother, Bill Forrest, had already been repelled and Forrest's two favorite cannons captured by the Union. Bill Forrest was wounded in the thigh during the battle, Fulenwider said.
An irate Forrest is said to have picked up a Lt. Gould and pushed him against a tree "and said you had better get those cannons back by nightfall or else," Simpson said. The Confederates got the cannons back, although there's still a debate as to exactly what happened to them.
Two weeks later, a still-embarrassed Gould shot Forrest in Columbia, Tenn., Simpson said. The story has it that the wounded Forrest chased Gould outside and stabbed him to death with a penknife, he said. "It's one of the most bizarre stories of the whole Civil War," Simpson said.
Comment