What a wonderful visit, Jim! I wish you had had more time, and could have called me to join you. Maybe another time. I apologize for delaying my photo mission, but we are still moving things from our old house to the new one, and getting the old one ready to sell. There is one thing in your story that makes me go hmmm..."monument to a C. H. Coffey, First Sergeant, Commanding Co I, 22nd Indiana Inf marking the exact location of his death. This was not only my uncle's same regiment, but his same company. Standing there I felt that I was in close proximity to the very location where my uncle must have breathed his last." Though the main battle took place on the 27th, Sgt Coffey's monument says he was mortally wounded on the 25th, and died on the 29th. There may have been skirmishing before the big day, and your uncle may have died when Sgt Coffey was shot, and your having heard he was killed earlier than the 27th may have some factual basis. I guess we'll never know.

A couple of other facts of interest: "Wave after wave of Federals advance towards the salient in the Rebel line on Cheatham Hill. Withering gunfire kills hundreds of boys, mostly from Illinois and Ohio. Incredibly, McCook and some of his men make it to the Rebel line, only to be shot, stabbed, or captured by the Graybacks. Later both sides would refer to this area as "The Dead Angle."

Just to the north of Cheatham Hill some woods catch on fire during the attack. Wounded Union soldiers, left during the hasty retreat, scream as they burn to death in the blaze. A colonel from Arkansas steps on top of the entrenchments with a white flag and calls to the opposing force, "Come and get your men, for they are burning to death!" Rifleless Federals approach and begin to remove the bodies, aided by men in gray. The two forces that had been killing each other less than fifteen minutes earlier now were working together to save the lives of fallen men. The next day the Union commanders present the Colonel with a matching pair of ivory-handled Colt .45 pistols." It would be nice to think the Colonel from Arkansas knew a least one of his men had relatives on the other side. This sort of gallantry makes our squabbles seem petty.

Then there is this item: " Today, visitors can explore this battlefield, thanks in part to the foresight of Lansing J. Dawdy, an Illinois veteran of the battle. In 1899 Dawdy purchased sixty acres of land near the Dead Angle. The property was transferred in 1904 to the Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield Association. In 1914, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the battle, the organization erected a monument dedicated to the Illinois soldiers who fell in the assault on Cheatham Hill. However, unable to restore the battlefield as planned, the association transferred ownership of the property to the federal government in 1916, and during the next year, Congress authorized the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield site." Sometimes, the world is smaller than we think. And if I hadn't been delayed in getting your picture, you might not have made your visit. BTW, your pictures are very good. Stan