Alan J. Pitts
Battlefield preservation in Alabama....
Sat May 5 20:34:24 2001


For those of you interested in preservation of battlefields in Alabama, a major article appears in today's Birmingham Post-Herald. It can be viewed at this URL:

www.postherald.com

It's interesting to note that grants for preservation planning are available in the $5-10,000 range.

Here's their list of Alabama's primary battlefields:

Day's Gap on Sand Mountain, where Union cavalry repulsed an attack by Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's Confederate cavalry on April 30, 1863.

Athens, where Union troops repulsed a Confederate Cavalry attack on Jan. 26, 1864.

Mobile Bay, where a Union fleet under Adm. David Farragut forced the surrender of Confederate naval forces, closing the last important Confederate port, from Aug. 2-23, 1864.

Decatur, where Union forces prevented Confederate forces from crossing the Tennessee River, Oct. 26-29, 1864.

Spanish Fort, where Union forces took a Confederate stronghold on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, March 27-April 8, 1865.

Selma, where Union cavalry defeated Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's troops and captured the city, April 2, 1865.

Fort Blakely, where Union troops captured a heavily fortified Confederate encampment near Mobile in the last major battle of the war, April 9, 1865.

Perhaps others can name more CW sites in this state that are deserving of recognition.

I'm probably being too nit-picky, but placing the action at Athens on this list bothers me. This was a two-hour attack staged by the 53rd Alabama and a few other troops from Roddey's command on a Union garrison numbering less than a hundred. There are no Confederate reports of this action, and Union accounts list about twenty casualties. I'm all for marking every skirmish site that can be identified, but if this is among the seven most significant in Alabama, we don't have much to discuss.

Is it possible they really meant Forrest's capture of Athens, Sept. 23-24, 1864? Just mentioning that Forrest was in command here make it worthy of attention. The Confederate commander brought almost five thousand troops to surround the town and overawe the Federal commander. Federal units involved would be just over a thousand, including a relief force that tried to break through Forrest's cordon about Athens. Forrest reported five killed, twenty-five wounded; Federal reports list upwards of a hundred killed and wounded, the rest surrendered to Forrest.

Also worth mentioning, a significant portion of the Union garrison consisted of black soldiers. Of course no massacre took place, as some might have expected. If nothing else, a memorial on the site of the Federal fort at Athens might counterbalance the negative image many have of this great Confederate leader.