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Battlefields |
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Our Ghostly Encounter at Shiloh Battlefield Fetterman Massacre, Banner, WY Little Bighorn, Crow Agency, MT
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As a retired Marine, former school teacher and long time history buff, it's no surprise that I'm fascinated with battlefields. They are great for learning, exploring and honoring the fallen. The tactics, the terrain, the weapons, the personalities, the mistakes, the what-ifs or might-have-beens are all subjects of study, conjecture and learning for me. I've been to battlefields all over the world - Okinawa, Ie Shima, Saipan, Guam, Singapore and Narvik just to name a few. (Narvik, BTW is in Norway and was the site of Nazi Germany's first tactical defeat of WW II in 1940. It was a pitched, close quarters naval surface battle in the port and surrounding fjords. Over 20 ships were sunk. The Narvik area has some great wreck diving, but man that water is cold.) Likewise, I've visited many in the US. I was raised in south central Pennsylvania, one of the main battlegrounds of the French and Indian War. Braddock's Defeat, Fort Ligonier, Fort Pitt, Bushy Run and Fort Necessity (where George Washington surrendered to the French and was released) were all a short drive from home. It was also the site of the Whiskey Rebellion, the only time a U.S. President (George Washington again) has personally led troops on a mission. My real passion is the Civil War. This was the period where modern warfare grew its roots. Weapons technology advanced at least a generation in four years and the Napoleonic tactics of the previous 200 years went right out the window - but not before thousands were slaughtered marching shoulder to shoulder into massed fire. I've been to most of the major battle sites in the east. Of course, the big ones are a no brainer - Manassas, Gettysburg and the like. But given my tendency to explore Off The Beaten Path, I like to seek out the ones that don't get a lot of attention. They are all unique with lots of details to be learned. Brandy Station, the largest cavalry battle in US history. Cold Harbor, where U.S. Grant lost 7,000 men in 20 minutes. Monocacy Creek, where a washed up general named Lew Wallace stopped a Confederate incursion into Washington. Years later, Wallace wrote Ben Hur. So where does geocaching come in? Simple-battlefields were made for geocaches. Most sites prohibit placing actual containers on the grounds. However, there are lots of virtual caches, where you have to find information or features that are there. There are always regular caches and letterboxes to be found in the surrounding areas as well as geodashing points. There are also webcam caches. In these, you find a webcam, open it with your trusty laptop that has broadband access, open up the camera's web site and take a picture of yourself.
There's one at the Alamo called 13 Days in 30 Seconds. You can see the results to the right. That's me and KidsRN in the front. We love webcam caches. They're like high-tech detective work. We never pass one up. You can find them at geocaching.com. Speaking of KidsRN, how lucky am I to have found someone who actually likes this stuff too? We are comparative newlyweds and empty nesters and we love this stuff. I've walked, biked, bus toured and scuba dived on fields of battle and historical sites. Now I have geocaching and KidsRN. It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it. In the following pages, you'll find battle sites that we have visited, photographed and found caches on in the last two years. We'll concentrate on little known facts or stories to give them some perspective and reality and hopefully pique your curiosity. There'll be lots more in the future. We hope you enjoy these brief tours and come back for more.
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