The Atlanta Campaign . . . part 1

Author's note: I am not trying to glorify my great-great-great-grandfather, but I am trying to emphasize his importance and that of the 9th KY in the Union army and the Civil War.

On Thursday we started my fall break: Merkin and I went to Atlanta to see the Dali exhibit, but because we're the Kingdom of Fife homeschool we're compelled to do a lot of other stuff. On the way to Atlanta we stopped at Chickamauga Battlefield. We went through the visitor's center. They have one of the best collections of Civil War arms, including Spencer's repeating rifles which we'll talk about later. The first thing we actually did on the battlefield was to stop at the Kentucky monument which had been vandalized along with many other monuments. In the visitor's center there was an exhibit about the vandalism of monuments. That shows you that people today have NO respect for history.

The monument for the state of Kentucky.

After that we passed several other monuments and saw a cabin where the confederate breakthrough was. It reminded Merkin of the short story by Ambrose Bierce, "Chickamauga." Then we went to the Wilder Monument where a small group of men equipped with Spencer repeating rifles held off the much larger Confederate force. The monument looked like a giant chess piece. You could climb up inside it and come out the top. There were several windows and we got great views of the battlefield.

The Wilder Monument.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel . . . let down your hair.

Then we went to Snodgrass Hill which was the very climax of the battle where George H. Thomas earned his name, "The Rock of Chickamauga." His stand here helped save the Union Army. The 9th KY was part of that stand, and we saw the simple monument to the 9th KY, marking their location.

The monument in the foreground marks the location of the 9th Kentucky on Snodgrass Hill.

Our Atlanta campaign continued to the Dali exhibit at the High Museum of Art. It was called "Dalí: The Late Work." Several of the paintings were new to me and several were old favorites. It was really neat to see them in person. It's different to see a painting in a museum instead of a book. Some of my favorites were: "The Skull of Zurbarán," "Santiago El Grande," "Fifty Abstract Paintings Which as Seen from Two Yards Change into Three Lenins Masquerading as Chinese and as Seen from Six Yards Appear as the Head of a Royal Bengal Tiger," and "Portrait of My Dead Brother." I'm really glad I got to see that exhibit because I don't remember the Dali exhibits I saw when I was a lot younger.

There was also a folk art collection that had several works I liked. One of my favorites was "A Friend in Need Is a Friend Indeed" by Henry Church Jr.

Apparently, birds have been targeting Dali . . . everyone's an art critic.