Video
Brian C. Pohanka Intern Hayden McDonald - 2023
Transcript
Well, going to school at Gettysburg, you get a taste for a lot of the big Eastern battles, but you don't really hear a whole lot about what's going on on this side of the Appalachian Mountains. So, I figured coming out here would be a good way to get a taste of what's going on.
Well, before I came out here, I heard that old phrase the war was won and lost in the Western Theater, but since coming out here and getting a better grasp of everything, I think the importance is, even when it is covered, is often understated, just how much the Western Theater changes the course of the American Civil War in favor of the Union and against the Confederacy.
Yeah, one story that has always stuck out to me about this battle at Chickamauga is the story of Bernard Liaboldt's Brigade, the monuments to which we see right behind us. When they go into battle, they're in column formation, one regiment stacked behind the other. So, they don't have that linear front you usually have, and as such, they suffer heavy casualties and are repulsed in a matter of minutes during the Confederate breakthrough on the 20th, and seeing these monuments stacked in column formation just as the troops entered into the battle on that day, September 20, it gives you a good grasp of just what you're looking at. It's hard to visualize a lot of things on battlefields while looking at monuments, but you can tell what you're looking at here.
Description
This summer, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park hosted two Pohanka Interns from Gettysburg College. One of those Interns was Hayden McDonald, a rising junior, double majoring in English and Classics.
Duration
2 minutes, 9 seconds
Credit
NPS
Date Created
09/18/2023
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