21 September 2012

LMRR'12 Dispatch #6: Memphis to Vicksburg.

Copyright © 2012 Bob R Bogle


A few ancestors of mine figure prominently in Memphis Blues Again.   One from Iowa came down to fight at Pea Ridge in northwest Arkansas.  After that, under the command of Samuel Curtis, they returned north to march across southern Missouri and enter northeastern Arkansas, where they had a rather amazing journey down to Helena.  Eventually they were absorbed into Sherman's army and fought around and in Vicksburg before going to Chattanooga and then down to Atlanta, on to the Sea, and north through the Carolinas to war's end.  One skirmish they had with Arkansas confederates took place near Cotton Plant, AR, in the Battle of Cache River.




The aforementioned ancestor, now with Sherman under the command of the ambitious McClernand, was involved in the capture of Arkansas Post.  The thrust up the Arkansas River had not been approved by Grant, who added it to his lengthening indictment against McClernand, although Grant later learned the expedition had been Sherman's idea.




The Rohwer and Jerome War Relocation Centers were concentration camps for Japanese Americans during WWII.  Among those incarcerated at Rohwer was a very young George Takei.



 

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