August 13, 1863 Abbott writes to Roe and laments the fact that Roe hasn’t been receiving his letters as of late. Today’s letter is the fifth one Abbott has sent to his brother since July 4. He gives a quick overview of what he wrote about in his previous letters, since Roe evidently has not been able to read any of them. One of the fights he mentions participating in was the Battle of Hoover’s Gap. The Battle of Hoover’s Gap started on June 24, 1863. The leading Union officer was Major General George H. Thomas and his Confederate counterpart was Major General Alexander P. Stewart. According to the Civil War Trust website, Hoover’s Gap was the “decisive engagement of the Tullahoma Campaign.” Indeed, “The Battle of Hoover’s Gap secured the Union wedge between the Confederate forces and the city of Chattanooga, compelling the Southerners to fall back to and eventually abandon the city.” A fun fact about this battle is that it was one of the first times the “Spencer” rifle was used in battle. These guns could fire twenty rounds/minute compared to the typical muskets, which fired two or three rounds per minute. Having reliable weaponry clearly was a major advantage in battle, as General Thomas himself commented that he hadn’t expected “to get this Gap for three days.” The number of casualties is unknown though it is considered a Union victory. Clearly, this was one of the more important battles that Abbott took part in. However, he doesn’t elaborate at all on the battle, merely stating that he was there. This seems to be a fairly typical tendency of Abbott’s. He’ll mention a battle in a rather offhand fashion and later on, that battle will turn out to have been really significant. Though it is true that we have the advantage of hindsight, so we know as we read about the battles he mentions which turn out to be big deals. Obviously, Abbott would have had no idea at the time that he was in a major conflict. That’s one of the many reasons why this collection is so important. We’re really getting the chance to look at the Civil War as it progressed and was happening, rather than looking at it from a contemporary perspective. Works Cited: Heritage Preservation Services, CWSAC Battle Summaries. “Hoover’s Gap.” http://www.cr.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/tn017.htm (accessed January 10, 2014). The Civil War Trust: Saving America’s Civil War Battlefields. ”The Battle of Hoover’s Gap: The Road to Chickamauga.” http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/chickamauga/chickamauga-history/the-battle-of-hoovers-gap.html (accessed January 10, 2014).
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AuthorTessa Wakefield, student intern at the Concordia College Archives, assembled these blog entries in 2013-2014 for the Isaac Mark Abbott Civil War Letters Collection. The posts summarize the content of the letters, interpret Abbott's experiences and place them in the larger context of the Civil War. Archives
March 2014
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