Civil War Trenches

Traveling down the road I might have missed this sign if I hadn't been looking for anything and everything that caught my eye. So, off the main road we went in search of Fort Mill Ridge. The road was a one lane paved road with no further signs to lead the way. No signs even if the road came to a fork which it did. Finally there was one sign explaining the site but again no arrow pointing where to look. We continued following the road which went from paved to gravel.

This, my friends, is a photo as we worked our way back some five miles from the rivers edge. That's railroad tracks you see ahead of the Jeep. In this middle of nowhere it was stop and listen carefully! At this point we assumed we were going to miss it. However, a lovely couple looking for the river came along in a truck and we both exchanged a little knowledge and bid our farewells. We, with hopes again of finding the site and the couple to the river to fish.

The couple had pointed us in the right direction and after a short walk we came upon what is called the redoubt of the site. It is a square earthen platform with earthen walls. The artillery was positioned in the central redoubt and the infantry in the surrounding entrenchments.

Looking down the line of leaves you can see where the entrenchments are. Remember in 1863 there were probably few trees and what was there was probably cut to help construct the site. This photo was coming down from the redoubt looking right.

For this photo I walked a little to the left trying to get a good angle to show the entrenchments. Follow the line of leaves and the sunlight in the photo toward the back of the redoubt. The trenches go back further for protection from that end. Looking at my photos and deciding which ones to post got me to thinking that it would have been nice to have a raised platform at the center of the redoubt so one could actually be able to look down on the site.

This photo shows the raised redoubt and you should be able to make out the entrenchments. At the beginning of this walkway the outer entrenchments were still visible as well. First the Confederate and then the Union infantry had operations here during the American Civil War.

The remains of the fortifications have been undisturbed over the past 135 years and are among the most intact and best preserved Civil War earthworks.

Who knew a two day trip to see my son would give me so much "blog fodder" as I like to call it. Today's post is the last of the major stops I made along the way between home here in Parkersburg, West Virginia and my son's home in Leesburg, Virginia. I hope those of you who have followed along have enjoyed the trip. Many of you have commented that you have and I appreciate each and every one of you and the kind comments you have left.

I do have some individual photos left that you'll see here and there.

Remember the trucks hauling the blades for wind turbines? (here)

Tomorrow I'll show you the row of wind turbines in place on the mountain. We got pretty close after leaving the main road and traveling off the beaten path!