Main Page > 2007 Havin' Fun on US 1
Waking up Joisey-Style the Boys boogied around 6:30 in the morning, out of the last vestiges of Tri-State Metropolitan Area, and into rolling meadows and bucolic countryside of south New Jersey. Shortly after passing the surprisingly pretty campus of Rutgers, Mike an Bone came up to the quaint town of Trenton, the Capital of the state and the site of one of George Washington's most epic Revolutionary War victories, the Battle of Trenton and the first US-1 stop of the day for the Boys.
Battling Trenton
It made sense that the Kings Highway, the major Continental thoroughfare, would be the site of several Revolutionary War battles, most notably George Washington's desperate Battle of Trenton.
In the fall of 1776, Washington was in desperate straits, having been defeated in Long Island, and having to retreat from New York City. By November 21st 1776, Washington and his army had moved south with the troops from Fort Lee, desperately ordering the rest of the troops, under General Lee in Westchester, NY, to join him. Lee, probably seeing a chance to make himself look good in comparison to Washington (it was a continuing problem to get people to act for the good of the country and not for themselves in all areas of government during the war) and also wanting an independent command, acted very lackadaisically, and moved very slowly to join him. Lee wanted to show he could succeed against the British where Washington could not, by attacking their flank and rear, and leaving Washington out on a limb.
Washington moved south first to Newark, and waited for the NJ militia to rally. Few showed up. For the past several months the men of NJ were supposed to alternate serving a month on duty in the militia, and now they were fed up with it, and stayed with their families. Many states had a hard time getting anyone new to serve in the army, as the British seemed to be unbeatable. The revolution seemed to be failing, and most people wanted to not get involved, faced with invasion by the famed British regulars. Every kind of support for the war was failing, and all over, troops even had a hard time getting permission to sleep in barns or buying food and clothing.
Washington moved to New Brunswick, leaving Newark on the 28th with the British entering the town as the Americans left. While in New Brunswick, two Brigades of the "Flying Camp" a unit set up to respond quickly to attacks from Staten Island by the British, had their terms of enlistment expire, and 2026 demoralized men refused to reenlist, even with the enemy just a short march away. Many more deserted. Washington has 3000 men left to him, not all fit or able.
On the 1st of December, the British forces moved to New Brunswick, and Washington orders the troops to begin moving to Princeton. While a few units hold the bridge, the rest escape, finally followed by the rear guard. Washington himself leads the pioneers at the rear of the march, destroying bridges and cutting down trees, to delay any pursuit.
The scene was set for the Battle of Trenton.
Washington Monument
On December 22nd 1776, Washington had 4707 rank and file troops fit for duty.
Washington had a staff meeting and decided to attack. At first he wanted to attack von Donop at Bordentown, but the militia in the area, under Col Griffin were too weak. The Hessians in Trenton were in an exposed position, and it was known that they would heartily celebrate Christmas on the night of Dec. 25th. Washington decided on a predawn attack on the 26th, while the troops and officers were tired, and hopefully some suffering hangovers. It is a misconception that the Hessians were expected to be drunk. Some of the officers might have been expected to party late into the night, not the troops.
Washington ordered the troops ferried across just after dark, but a storm arose, first snow, then freezing rain, snow and hail. Washington's aide, Col. John Fitzgerald wrote at 6 PM as the troops started across: " It is fearfully cold and raw and a snowstorm is setting in. The wind northeast and beats into the faces of the men. It will be a terrible night for those who have no shoes. Some of them have tied only rags about their feet: others are barefoot, but I have not heard a man complain." Col. Glover's reg't from Marblehead, Mass, who were primarily sailors, manned the boats at McKonkeys Ferry. They managed to get 2400 men, their horses and 18 cannon across the icy river. Two other units, one to cross to the south of Trenton at the Trenton Ferry, and one farther south at Bristol, were unable to cross, or unable to land on the other side, due to the storm and ice.
These southern crossings were to prevent the escape of the Hessians and to prevent von Donop from supporting Trenton. Fortunately, von Donop at Burlington, had moved south in response to the group of Jersey Militia troops under Col Griffin raiding towards him a few days earlier, and was out of position to support Rall in Trenton.
Delayed by the storm, Washington's troops did not get across until 4 am, well behind schedule for a predawn attack. They marched south to Trenton in two columns, one along the river, the other along the Pennington road, with Generals Sullivan and Greene commanding, Washington commanding overall, and riding with Greene.
In a severe winter storm, the troops advanced south. By 6AM they must have been complaining, in fact it is reported that two men froze to death, but Washington is determined. Gen. Sullivan sends word that the men's muskets will not fire due to being exposed to the storm all night. Washington sends word back to rely on the bayonet "I am resolved to take Trenton."
In Trenton, Hessian Major Dechow decided because of the severe storm not to send out the normal predawn patrol, including 2 cannon, to sweep the area for signs of the enemy. Though the storm cause extreme misery for the troops, it allowed them to approach undetected.
The Hessian Troop Barracks
The early Morning Battle: At 8 AM Washington's party inquires of a man chopping wood where the Hessian sentries are, just outside of Trenton. He points to a nearby house, and the Hessians pore out and begin to open fire. The battle of Trenton is on.
Moving quickly and driving in the pickets, both columns move in on the small town of Trenton. The Hessians are caught completely unprepared. Col. Rall, who was up late at night, is slow to awaken and dress.
The Hessian officers tried to rally and form their troops, but the Americans moved too quickly for them. The Hessians are constantly disrupted by fast moving American units, charging in and moving to cover all routes in or out of the town. American cannon are placed on a rise that controls the two main streets of the town, and the Hessian formations are unable to form properly. They try to get some of their own cannon into action but these are captured before they can do any damage. The Americans moved rapidly and aggressively, closing in on the Hessians, breaking up their formations, blocking all exits from town, seeming to be everywhere to the Hessians. The Hessians move around in town trying to make a front, but some orders are misunderstood, and the von Knyphausen regiment is separated from the Rall and von Lossberg regiments.
The Rall and von Lossberg Hessian regiments are forced out of town and form in an apple orchard. Rall orders them to attack back into town, trying to force a hole to the road to Princeton. Now the Hessians have wet guns from the storm, and have a hard time firing. When they get again into the streets of the town, the American troops, joined by some civilians from the town fire at them from buildings and from behind trees and fences, causing confusion, while the American cannon break up any formations. Rall is badly wounded, and resistance falters. They retreat back to the orchard, but are surrounded by the fast moving Americans. The Hessians surrender.
The third regiment of Hessians, on the south end of town, trying to get across the Creek to head towards Bordentown are delayed by trying to bring their cannon through a boggy area and suddenly find themselves surrounded and surrender as well. Many Hessians escape in small groups, but 868 are captured. 106 are killed or wounded. The American army lost perhaps 4 men wounded and 2 or 3 frozen to death, captured 1000 arms, several cannon and ammunition and stores. The fighting lasted only 90 minutes. About 600 Hessians, most of which had been stationed on the south side of the Creek, escaped.
After the battle, Washington had the captured men and stores shipped across the river, then followed with the army across to Pennsylvania. Washington had turned the tide, from desperate waiting for the axe to fall, to aggressive victor, chasing the British forces from the Delaware river and putting them on the defensive for a few days.
Mike and Bone had a very quick tour of Washington's bloodless victory, far different from the battle site the Boys visited later in the day. By 8:30 the Boys where flying through the northern suburbs of Philadelphia.
Flying through Philly
Right over the New Jersey Border on US-1, the Boys stopped for a "Blue plate special " at the counter in Ruby's Diner, experiencing the true East Coast Diner "experience". By 9:00 in the morning the Boys were moving through northern Philly with never seeing downtown and the Tempting Irish Bars of their earlier visit to the City of Brotherly Love".
The did pass through some very nice suburban areas, similar to Rye New York and eventually came out west of the City into the Pennsylvania countryside and past their second Revolutionary Ware Battlefield. The Battle of Brandywine Station.
Brandishing it in Brandywine
Seven months after the Battle of Trenton, in late July 1777, an armada of more than 260 ships carrying some 17,000 British troops under the command of the British General Howe landed at the head of Maryland's Elk River, on the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay near present day Elkton, approximately 40–50 miles southwest of Philadelphia. Unloading the ships proved to be a logistical problem because the narrow river neck was shallow and muddy. General George Washington had situated the American forces, about 10,600 strong, between Head of Elk and Philadelphia.
His forces were able to reconnoiter the British landing from Iron Hill, about nine miles to the northeast. Because of the delay debarking from the ships, Howe did not set up a typical camp but quickly moved forward with the troops. As a result, Washington was not able to accurately gauge the strength of the opposing forces. Washington chose the high ground near Chadds Ford to defend against the British, since Chadds Ford allowed a safe passage across the Brandywine River on the road from Baltimore to Philadelphia. Accordingly, on September 9, Washington positioned detachments to guard other fords above and below Chadds Ford, hoping to force the battle there. Washington employed General John Armstrong commanding about 1,000 Pennsylvania militia to cover Pyle's Ford, a few hundred yards south of Chadds Ford, which was covered by Generals Anthony Wayne's and Nathanael Greene's divisions. General John Sullivan's division extended northward along the Brandywine's east banks, covering the high ground north of Chadds Ford along with General Adam Stephen's division and General Lord Stirling's divisions. Further upstream was a brigade under Colonel Moses Hazen covering Buffington's Ford and Wistar's Ford. Washington was confident that the area was secure. The British grouped forces at nearby Kennett Square. Howe had no intention of mounting a full scale attack against the prepared American defenses. He instead employed a flanking maneuver similar to those used in the Battle of Long Island. A portion of the army, about 5,000 men under the command of Wilhelm von Knyphausen, were to advance to meet Washington's troops at Chadds Ford, while the remainder, under the command of Lord Charles Cornwallis, were to march north to Jefferis' Ford, several miles to the north, which Washington had overlooked, and then march south to flank the American forces.
September 11 began with a heavy fog, which provided cover for the British troops. Washington received contradictory reports about the British troop movements and continued to believe that the main force was moving to attack at Chadds Ford. The British appeared on the Americans' right flank at around 2 p.m. With Hazen's brigades outflanked, Sullivan, Stephen, and Stirling tried to reposition their troops to meet the unexpected British threat to their right flank. But Howe was slow to attack the American troops, which bought time for the Americans to position some of their men on high ground at Birmingham Meeting House, about a mile north of Chadds Ford. By 4 p.m., the British attacked with Stephen's and Stirling's divisions bearing the brunt of the attack, and both lost ground fast. Sullivan attacked a group of Hessian troops trying to outflank Stirling's men near Meeting House Hill and bought some time for most of Stirling's men to withdraw. But Sullivan's men were cut down by return British fire, forcing them to retreat. At this point, Washington and Greene arrived with reinforcements to try to hold off the British, who now occupied Meeting House Hill. The remains of Sullivan's, Stephen's, and Stirling's divisions held off the pursuing British for nearly an hour but were eventually forced to retreat. The Americans were also forced to leave behind most of their cannons on Meeting House Hill because most of the artillery horses were killed. Knyphausen, on the east bank of the Brandywine, launched an attack against the weakened American center across Chadds Ford, breaking through Maxwell's and Wayne's divisions and forcing them to retreat and leave behind most of their cannons. Armstrong's militia, never engaged in the combat, also decided to retreat from their positions. Further north, Greene sent Colonel Weedon's troops to cover the road just outside the town of Dilworth to hold off the British long enough for the rest of the Continental Army to retreat. Darkness brought the British pursuit to a standstill, which then left Weedon's force to retreat. The defeated Americans were forced to retreat to Chester where most of them arrived at midnight, with some stragglers arriving until morning.
Although Howe had defeated the American army, the unexpected resistance he had met prevented him from destroying it completely. The American morale had not been destroyed; despite losing the battle, the Americans had good spirits hoping to fight the British again another day. After a VERY brief stop which allowed Bone lay a "tribute" to Washington and his Troops with his heavily coffee-laddened "sword," the Boys moved on south towards the Mason-Dixon line !
Heading South through the Pennsylvania Countryside on US-1
By 11:00 AM the Boys had crossed the legendary Mason-Dixon line and entered the South and into Mary's Land, or the Home of the Terrapins, and the not-so-nice city of Baltimore.
The Cup Runneth Dry in the Susequenna River
Right after they crossed the border, the Boys crossed the normally mighty river of the Susequenna. Both Mike and Bone were shocked at reduced state of the river as a result of the severe drought that the Eastern Seaboard had been experiencing. Shortly there after Mike and Bone started to drive on US-1 into the slums of Baltimore, or as better known, Crakamore !
Cruising through Crakamore
The Boys had toured Baltimore before, visiting Fort McHenry and Obrycki's Crab House, but US-1 goes through some of the worst slums of the city's eastside, and created quite a bit of confusion for the Boys as US-1 sort of disappeared near Camden Yards. After driving around in the 90% mid-day heat they were able re-connect with US-1 which is called the Washington-Baltimore Parkway in Maryland.
Capitalizing the Trip
Back on track the Boys gratefully left Baltimore behind and 30 minutes later entered our Nations Capital Driving right downtown (unlike Philly), past the always spectacular view of the Capital building and using TREMENDOUS restraint, avoiding the usually mandatory stop at The Dubliner. As the Boys crossed the Bridge into Virginia (their 4th state of the day!) on US-1 they snaked their way through Alexandria's Old Town and onto the US-1's Virginia name, the Jefferson Davis Highway ?!?
US-1, passing the Marine's Headquarters in Quantico
By 2:00 PM the heat and day were beginning to wane. With the Boys objective of making through the three major metropolis's (Philly, Crakamore, and Washington) complete, and Richmond achievable, the Boys let up a little and search for a late lunch at one of Bone favorite Virginia haunts. Five Guys, Burger and Fries !
A fine Surprise !!
Five Guys, Burgers and Fries !!1
Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries began as a family run business in the Washington DC area back in1986, focusing on serving the best burgers possible. Based on Mike and Bone's experience they where near the top !
With a few hours of "free time" the Boys who had previously visited Fredericksburg, decided to visit two of the four big central Virginia battlefields: Chancellorsville and Spotsylvania Courthouse.
Chancing it in Chancellorsville
Forces and plans
After the disastrous Fredericksburg Battle in 1862, President Lincoln replaced the Army of the Potomac Major General Ambrose Burnside with another incompetent "Fighting" Joe Hooker.
The Chancellorsville campaign began with the potential of leading to one of the most lopsided clashes in the war. The Union army brought an effective fighting force of 133,868 men onto the field at the start of the fighting; the Confederate army numbered less than half that figure, at 60,892. Furthermore, the Union forces were much better supplied and were well-rested after several months of inactivity. Lee's forces, on the other hand, were scattered all over the state of Virginia. In fact, some 15,000 men of the Army of Northern Virginia under Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, stationed near Norfolk dealing with a Federal threat at Suffolk, failed to arrive in time to aid Lee's outmanned forces.
Moreover, the engagement began with a Union battle plan superior to most of the previous efforts by Army of the Potomac commanders. The army started from its winter quarters around Fredericksburg, where it faced Lee across the Rappahannock. Hooker planned a bold double envelopment of Lee's forces, sending four corps on a stealthy march northwest, turning south to cross the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers, turning east, and striking Lee in his rear. The remaining corps would strike Lee's front through Fredericksburg.
However, despite its superior forces and sound strategy, the Army of the Potomac's lack of competent leadership doomed its forces, as in earlier campaigns of the war. The superior tactical skills of the Confederate leaders Lee and Jackson won the day.
On April 27 and April 28, the four corps of the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers in several places, most of them near the confluence of the two rivers and the hamlet of Chancellorsville, which was little more than a large mansion, owned by the Frances Chancellor family, at the junction of the Orange Turnpike and Orange Plank Road. In the meantime, the second force of more than 30,000 men, under Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick, crossed the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg, and Stoneman's cavalry began its movement to reach Lee's rear areas. By May 1, Hooker had approximately 70,000 men concentrated in and around Chancellorsville. From his Fredericksburg headquarters, Lee decided to violate one of the generally accepted Principles of War and divide his force in the face of a superior enemy, hoping that aggressive action would allow him to attack and defeat a portion of Hooker's army before it could be fully concentrated against him. He left behind a brigade under Brig. Gen. William Barksdale on heavily fortified Marye's Heights and one division, 12,000 men under Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early, on Prospect Hill to resist any advance by Sedgwick's corps, and he ordered Stonewall Jackson to march west and link up with Maj. Gen. Richard H. Anderson, assembling 40,000 men to confront Hooker at Chancellorsville.
Fortunately for the Confederates, heavy fog along the Rappahannock masked some of these westward movements and Sedgwick chose to wait until he could determine the enemy's intentions.
At the same time the Jackson was marching west to join with Anderson on the morning of May 1, Hooker ordered an advance to the east to strike Anderson, pushing his men out of the impenetrable thickets and scrub pine that characterized the area. This was seen by many Union commanders as a key to victory. If the larger Union army fought in the woods, known as the Wilderness of Spotsylvania, its huge advantage in artillery would be minimized, since artillery could not be used to any great effect in the Wilderness. Fighting began between the Confederate division of Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws and the rightmost division of Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's V Corps, under Maj. Gen. George Sykes. Sykes began an orderly withdrawal, covered by Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock's division.
Despite being in a potentially favorable situation, Hooker halted his brief offensive. His actions may have demonstrated his lack of confidence in handling the complex actions of such a large organization for the first time (he had been an effective and aggressive division and corps commander in previous battles), but he had also decided before beginning the campaign that he would fight the battle defensively, forcing Lee, with his small army, to attack Hooker's larger one.
Hooker knew Lee could not sustain such a defeat and keep an effective army in the field, so he ordered his men to withdraw back into the Wilderness and take a defensive position around Chancellorsville, daring Lee to attack him or retreat with superior forces at his back. Lee accepted Hooker's gambit and planned an attack for May 2. On the night before, Lee and Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, came up with a risky plan that would once again split his already divided army. Jackson would lead his Second Corps of 28,000 men around to attack the Union right flank. Lee, on the other hand, would exercise personal command of the other 12,000 (the other half of Longstreet's First Corps, commanded directly by Lee during the battle) facing Hooker's entire 70,000 man force at Chancellorsville. For this to work, several things had to happen. First, Jackson had to make a 12-mile march via roundabout roads to reach the Union right, and he had to do it undetected. Second, Lee had to hope that Hooker stayed tamely on the defensive. Third, Early would have to keep Sedgwick bottled up in Fredericksburg. And when Jackson launched his attack, he had to hope that the Union forces were unprepared. Incredibly, all of this happened. Confederate cavalry under Maj. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart kept the Union forces from spotting Jackson on his long flank march, which took almost all day. The only sighting came shortly after Jackson's corps disengaged from Union forces south of Chancellorsville, and this worked to the Confederates' advantage, Hooker thought that his cavalry under Stoneman had cut Lee's supply line and that Lee was about to retreat. Therefore, he stayed right where he was and never contemplated an all-out attack, sending only his III Corps of 13,000 men under Maj. Gen. Daniel Sickles forward. Sickles captured a handful of Second Corps men and then stopped.
Mike and Bone in the Chancellors Farmhouse "Parlor"
Over at Fredericksburg, Sedgwick and Hooker were unable to communicate with one another because of a failure of telegraph lines. When Hooker finally got an order to Sedgwick late on the evening of May 2 ordering him to attack Early, Sedgwick failed to do so because he mistakenly believed Early had more men than he did. But what led most of all to the impending Union disaster was the incompetent commander of the Union XI Corps, Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard. Howard, whose 11,000 men were posted at the far right of the Union line, failed to make any provision for his defense in case of a surprise attack, even though Hooker ordered him to do so. The Union right flank was not anchored on any natural obstacle, and the only defenses against a flank attack consisted of two cannons pointing out into the Wilderness. Also, the XI Corps was a poorly trained unit made up almost entirely of German immigrants, many of whom did not speak English. At 4:30 p.m., Jackson's 28,000 men came running out of the Wilderness and hit Howard's corps by surprise while most of them were cooking dinner. More than 4,000 of them were taken prisoner without firing a shot, and most of the remainder were routed. Only one division of the XI Corps made a stand, and it was soon driven off as well. By nightfall, the Confederate Second Corps had advanced more than two miles, to within sight of Chancellorsville, and was separated from Lee's men only by Sickles' corps, which remained where it had been after attacking that morning.
Hooker's Headache: Hooker suffered a minor injury during the peak of the fighting when a Confederate cannonball hit a wooden pillar he was leaning against at his headquarters at the Chancellors Farm (which caused the Farm to burn down).
. Although practically incapacitated, Hooker refused to turn over command temporarily to his second-in-command, Maj. Gen. Darius N. Couch, and this failure affected Union performance over the next day and contributed to Hooker's lack of nerve and timid performance throughout the rest of the battle. Both Hooker and Jackson made serious errors that night, and for Jackson, his mistake cost him his life. Hooker, concerned about Sickles' ability to hold what was now a salient into the Confederate lines, pulled the III Corps back to Chancellorsville that night. This gave the Confederates two advantages—it reunited Jackson and Lee's forces, and it gave them control of an elevated clearing in the woods known as Hazel Grove, one of the few places in which artillery could be used effectively.
Jackson's mistake came when he was scouting ahead of his corps along the Orange Plank Road that night. Having won a huge victory that day, Jackson wanted to press his advantage before Hooker and his army could regain their bearings and plan a counterattack, which might still succeed because of the sheer disparity in numbers. He rode out onto the plank road that night, unrecognized by men of the Second Corps behind him, and was hit by friendly fire. The wound was not life-threatening, but Jackson contracted pneumonia after his arm was amputated, and he died on May 10. His death was a devastating loss for the Confederacy.
With his loss of nerve, Hooker felt he was out of options to save the campaign, and on the night of May 5 – May 6, he also withdrew back across the Rapidan River.
As Mike and Bone fried in the usually heavy evening heat, they retraced the steps of Jackson's flanking movement and marveled on how stupid Hooker was. Moving on to Spotsylvania Courthouse they "moved" to 1864 and the second engagement of Grant and Lee which was particularly bloody, especially at Bloody Angle.
Courting Spotsylvania Courthouse
For 20 hours on May 12, 1864,
soldiers shot, bayoneted and clubbed one another. "Rain poured down and the dead
piled up in the mud," the welcome sign on the grounds says of the Spotsylvania
Courthouse National Battleground. The last battlefield of the day for the Boys.
The Civil War had seen its share of horrors. The Bloody Lane at Antietam, the Stone Wall at Fredericksburg, that Wheatfield at Gettysburg were synonymous with carnage, They all paled when measured against the slaughter along the short stretch of earthworks where salient's western tip bent south. "It was the concentration of each party in the grandest struggles of the War, " a New Jersey officer asserted.
Close-range firing and hand-to-hand combat at the Bloody Angle in Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia, resulted in one of the most brutal battles of the Civil War between Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee on May 12th 1864.
The battle raged for over 20 hours along the center of the Confederate line—the top of the inverted U—which became known as the "Bloody Angle."
Around the Bloody Angle, the dead lay five deep, and bodies had to be moved from the trenches to make room for the living. The action around Spotsylvania shocked even the grizzled veterans of the two great armies. Said one officer, "I never expect to be fully believed when I tell what I saw of the horrors of Spotsylvania."
"At every assault and every repulse new bodies fell on the heaps of the fallen, The wounded were covered by the killed, and expired under piles of their comrades' bodies".
According to a Mississippian, on round of Yankee mortars exploded near the 16th Mississippi's flag, blowing a Confederate to piece and decapitating another. The headless body remained standing, blood spurting out in a slowly descending fountain. "Nothing can describe the confusion, the savage blood-curdling yells, the murderous faces, the awful curses, the grisly horror or the melee," a veteran remarked.
Standing in "Bloody Angle"
As the Sun began to set, Mike and Bone walked reflectively through the very trenches where a 143 years before on that rainy, blood-soaked day, Mike and Bone would have been up to their waist in blood, gore, mud, and gun-powered soaked water. It was a very sobering and eerie experience. It was Mike first trip and Bone's third to the Bloody Angle. On every visit that Bone had taken to the "Angle", as well as that of his other friends, everyone had sensed a heavy foreboding in the air. Mike as well felt it that evening.
Cut to the Quick
A further example of the ferocity the battle at the "Angle", where for 20 hours, from the afternoon and well into the night, Yankee and Rebel fought each other with relentless determination is a 22-inch oak stump pictured above, which was whittled in two by the incessant musket and artillery fire, giving testimony to the tenacity of both sides!
As the Sunlight faded, both Mike and Bone thought it wise not to wise to hang around at the Bloody Angle after dark !
Capturing the Capital: Richmond !
By days end the Boys started with Revolutionary War Battlefields, through three major cities (Philly, Baltimore, and Washington), and moved 500 miles and four score and seven years into the future to the Civil War. Tired from battle of the road they retired to bedlam in Richmond (oddly enough the Confederate Capital) !! to rest and refresh themselves at one of Bone's old haunt's Bailey Sports Bar on Broad Street, where after a few beers and orders of chicken wings, the Boys retired at midnight, ready for a romp through the South.