My Feb. 10 column

Our yearly trip into the past

The 15th Annual Chickamauga Civil War Show was in Dalton last weekend. As usual my Uncle Gene drove over to check out the book dealers and eat lunch with me.
Despite the more than 450 dealers on hand and the usual cornucopia of war-related items, this year’s show was also a cause for sadness. It’s the first time we’ve been since my uncle and Gene’s brother, David, died.
David was a certifiable Civil War nut, as anyone who attended his funeral service can attest. (They’ll be talking about that service for years to come, which of course was David’s plan.)
For years David and Gene would come over the mountain together for the show, Gene to look for book bargains and David to check out memorabilia and to meet up with his pals from the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
I was expected to stay out of their way and (since I lived in Dalton) find a great place for lunch.
I’ve been keenly interested in the war since I was very young. You would think after 40-plus years of reading about the great American conflict that I would have tired of the subject. I mean how many times can the bloody surge of “Lee’s Texans” at The Wilderness stir the blood. It’s a question I can answer, as the thought of Lee, his warrior’s blood boiling, riding out to personally lead the charge, only to be forced to safety by his men, still makes me shiver.
And I still laugh at the cockiness of one of Brig. Gen. Patrick Cleburne’s soldiers yelling at some Federal troops at Missionary Ridge. Waiting quietly on the assault they knew was soon to come, the Confederates overheard a Union soldier refer to them as probably nothing more than cavalry.
The furious Reb infantryman sarcastically shouted down the soon-to-be-bloody hillside something to the effect of “Yeah, well we’re Pat Cleburne’s by God cavalry so why don’t you boys come on up this hill!”
Minutes later they did just that, only to be knocked for a loop by Cleburne’s battle-hardened veterans.
Cleburne’s success on the ridge was about the only Rebel success that day. Much of the line collapsed and began a pell mell retreat through Ringgold back to Dalton.
Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg called on Cleburne’s men again. They must hold the gap at Ringgold and give the army supply train time to escape.
Pat Cleburne’s “by God cavalry” did their duty again and today a statue of the Irish-born Rebel general stands on the side of the road, near where his men held their ground.
Northwest Georgia is rich in Civil War history. Dalton was a key point – the so-called Gibraltar of the West. The Confederate Army of Tennessee never really recovered after being maneuvered out of the town by the reviled Gen. William T. Sherman. It was in Dalton that Pat Cleburne formally pushed the idea of freeing slaves who would fight for the Confederacy. The Great Locomotive Chase, made famous by an entertaining if not -too-realistic Disney film, passed through the town.
But the whole region, including Chattooga County, was affected by the war. Few communities were not touched by its fury.
It’s a heritage all Americans share and worthy of more study and deeper understanding.
Somewhere in this county I suspect there’s a youngster of 10 or so who is fascinated by the war. That interest will grow as the years pass and one day he’ll by 49 and still in love with the subject.
I envy the little booger.

Jimmy Espy is a staff writer for The Summerville News.