Gettysburg
Gettysburg National Military Park

Pennsylvania

Soldier statue at sunset near "high water mark," Pickett's Charge

The 'grand-daddy' of Civil War sites and certainly the best known battle, one can visit Gettysburg over and over. The three-day battle over 1-3 July 1863 ended Lee's final invasion of the North, and is often portrayed as the "high water mark" of the Confederacy. The battle's importance is often overrated [I rank it about 5th in Civil War importance] but the fights on Culps Hill, the Wheatfield, Devil's Den, Little Round Top, and Pickett's Charge are now staples of American history. A visit to the scene is dramatic, both for the geography and the statues & monuments to see. The visitor's center is good, the tour routes well-interpreted, and there are private museums and battlefield shops in the town. Look for unspoken keys to the fate of officers shown on horseback in statues: one hoof off the ground means the officer was wounded, but two feet in the air means he was killed.

Thankfully the out-of-place tower was removed some years ago. Still, urban sprawl encroaches at the park's edges. There is concern about over-commercialism but, on the plus side, the Civil War Trust continues to add property to this great battlefield.

Antietam
Antietam National Battlefield

Maryland

The battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg to the South) on 17 Sep 1862 was the single bloodiest day in American history. It ended Confederate General R.E. Lee's first invasion of the North, and was a major tactical victory for the Union, although Union General McClellan's failure to follow up brought on his final dismissal. President Lincoln used the victory to issue the Emancipation Proclamation and change the purpose of the war. As a battlefield site there are many places to visit, from the Cornfield, to Dunker Church, to the Sunken Road, to Burnside's Bridge. There are many monuments and statutes to seek out, including that of future President William McKinley carrying coffee to the front line.

On each anniversary candles are lit to mark the 23,000 casualties, no doubt a dramatic sight to see. It is unfortunate that the battlefield site itself is so constrained. Its smallish size is crowded with statues and markers.

Pea Ridge
Pea Ridge National Military Park

Arkansas

Franklin
The Battle of Franklin Trust: Carter House & Carnton Plantation

Tennessee

The Battle of Franklin, on 30 Nov 1864, was a full frontal assault by John Bell Hood's Army of Tennessee against the Union barricades of Union Gen. John Schofield at the little town of Franklin. At the time, Sherman was marching south into Georgia after the fall of Atlanta; the new Confederate General Hood tried to go north and retake Tennessee. "The annals of war may long be searched for a parallel to the desperate charge of the Army of Tennessee at Franklin, a charge which has been called 'the greatest drama in American history'," wrote one author. Five Confederate generals were killed in the failed assault and almost a quarter of the rebel army lost. The battlefield site has mostly been lost to urbanization but a non-profit trust has preserved the Carter House (at the center of the fight) and Carnton Plantation (where blood from the wounded still stains the floors), and continues to add more land to this endangered battlefield site. The museum at Carter House is superb, and so are on-line resources, including an astonishingly good animated map on the Civil War Trust site.

Vicksburg
Vicksburg National Military Park

Mississippi

Vicksburg, a commercial port on the east bank of the Mississippi River, was they key to Union victory in the West. Indeed, one recent history of the campaign is entitled simply: Grant Wins the War: Decision at Vicksburg. General U.S. Grant did so by running gunboats past the batteries of Vicksburg at night, marching his army down the west bank and crossing below Vicksburg on 30 Apr 1863, and winning battles at Jackson and Champions Hill, bottling up Confederate General Pemberton's army in Vicksburg. The town fell and the rebel army surrendered after a 2-month siege on 4 July 1863. It was Grant's most brilliant victory.

The battlefield site is long and narrow, following the siege lines, and is filled with many statues and markers. What sets this site apart was the recovery and reconstruction of the Union gunboat Cairo. One of 7 Union ironclads, it was sunk during the campaign. Its hulk was discovered in 1956 but not recovered until Congress allocated funds in 1977. Today, the gunboat can be viewed at close range, and its museum has recovered artifacts along with excellent interpretation of its part in the battle, its discovery, and its recovery.

Perryville
Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site

Kentucky

The confused fight at Perryville was one of the most important battles of the Civil War. It ended Confederate General Braxton Bragg's invasion to regain Kentucky for the South. Abraham Lincoln said in 1861 that “I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game." With the victory on 8 Oct 1862, that key would remain in the Union's pocket for the rest of the war. The battle was fought by Union Gen. Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio, but Buell did not even know it happened until it was over. It was the tenacious heroism of many smaller Union units that saved the day. Bragg would thereafter retreat all the way to southern Tennessee.

Yet the battle is little known, under-appreciated, and the site is not even federal property. Rather, the state of Kentucky maintains an exceptionally fine and well-interpreted battlefield. It is in the "new style" – very few statues or monuments but well-maintained woods and fields – so that one feels a part of the environment. Alas, during our Christmas Day visit, the museum and visitor's center were closed..

Shiloh
National Military Park

Tennessee

At the time it occurred on 6-7 Apr 1862, Shiloh was the biggest battle every fought in America. General U.S. Grant's army was encamped near Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River when General Albert Sydney Johnston's Confederates launched a surprise attack. He was hit in the leg during the attack and bled to death before his aides understood what was happening. General P.G.T. Beauregard inherited the rebel attack. They almost pushed the northern troops into the river the first day, but Grant organized a late-afternoon stand. The next day, with new forces arriving from across the river, Grant counter-attacked and retook the field. Losses were astonishing: about 14,000 casualties of ~103,000 men engaged (a 23% casualty rate).

The battlefield drive takes one to famed sites like the Peach Orchard, the Hornet's Nest, and Bloody Pond. The landscape is heavily wooded, and the primary battle locations must constantly be cleared of new growth to give any sense of the circumstances. This is a classic site covering a very important early battle in this national conflict.

Appomattox
Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

Virginia

Ft. Sumter
Ft. Sumter National Monument

South Carolina

Harpers Ferry
National Historical Park

West Virginia

With Maryland on one side, and Virginia on the other, the West Virginia point of land at the confluence of the Shenandoah & Potomac Rivers is the little town of Harpers Ferry. In the 1850s it was important as a U.S. munitions factory & armory. John Brown's raid on the U.S. Armory in 1859 alarmed the South, and help lead to the Civil War. "Stonewall" Jackson led Confederate divisions to capture Harpers Ferry during the Sep 1862 Antietam campaign.

Today, the entire old town is reconstructed and preserved. Visitors take buses down into the town, where the fire station at which John Brown was captured is restored. There is a superb museum on the John Brown raid, its participants, and its impact. Another museum interprets the historic town. Upslope is a preserved battlefield with good explanatory signs and regular interpretive walks. Plus, amid all this, Harpers Ferry is in an absolutely gorgeous location.