Monday, September 22, 2014

Brandywine Battlefield


View near Battle hill I believe
Now starting my segments on the battlefields I visited this summer. Other then the heat and humidity which was high I had excellent weather for my entire vacation which I'm very grateful for since I spent a lot of time walking up and down the the battlefields which was a real treat.:-)

I won't describe the entire battle of the Brandywine which can be found here other then to say it was one of the largest battles of the American Revolution and a serious defeat for Washington's army losing them the capital which normally spells defeat for a nation, but to Washington's credit he kept the army together to fight another day.

I had a chance to visit the Brandywine battlefield museum, but I have no pictures as you not allowed to take any. I always thought it might be hot wearing hunting shirts, but in truth the linen is quite thin so probably no problem in the heat, but the wool coats would no doubt be pretty darn hot for those unfortunate enough to have to wear one. The muskets themselves are very large and by the look quite cumbersome to have use and carry.

The battlefield is very large and requires some time to traverse and gives you a real appreciation of the effort it took by the men involved to march around to both do an outflanking march and to counter it in full gear in the heat and then fight a battle.

The grounds are very lush and green albeit I've been advised the undergrowth wasn't near as heavy in the time of the battle which would have made traversing woods a bit easier then today. The creek isn't very deep, but they would need to use the forded areas to get across safely without having to swim which would be hard to do in gear.

 I had a lot of fun and highly recommend visiting the grounds if you get a chance.:-)
Stone marking Washington's Headquaters
Front of Washington's Headquarters


Rear of Washington's Headquarters
Lafayette's Headquarters
Front of Lafayette's Headquarters
Rear of Lafayette's Headquarters
Center of Battle Hill near Birmingham meeting house
Left of Battle Hill
Right of Battle Hill
One of the fords of Branywine creek
Brandywine Creek
Looking towards a ford of Brandywine creek

Friday, September 12, 2014

Back from battlefields and family


A very happy me in front of General Lee's Memorial at Gettysburg.
I just got back from vacation yesterday hence the lack of posts(not that I'm a prolific poster anyhow) and lack of comments on other blogs which I'll try and catch up on as soon as I can.

My vacation was fantastic! It consisted of two vacations the first in Pennsylvania/Maryland (battlefields) and the second in Minnesota(family). Other then seeing family which was of course a wonderful joyous occasion in itself  I also got a chance to visit the holy grail of ACW enthusiasts  that being the Gettysburg battlefield! If that wasn't enough I also visited Antietam(Sharpsburg) and Brandywine battlefields as well!! To say I was on cloud nine would be an understatement!

It's too many pictures and thoughts to put into one post so I'll be breaking them down into several posts until finished. I may do them close together or spread them out depending on energy levels.

It's great to be back and I'm super charged to get painting as one would imagine!:-)

A view from the Little Roundtop behind Gen. Warren's Statue again at Gettysburg.
My lovely wife and daughter on Burnside's bridge at Antietam.
Washington's HQ at Brandywine.