South Carolina, Kershaw County, Camden
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Donald Leroy Truesdell
Aug. 26. 1906
Sept. 21, 1993
Medal of Honor Recipient
Place/Citation: Costancia,
Northern Nicaragua 1932Truesdell, serving in Nicaragua as second in command of a guardia national patrol, was sent out on mission with orders to make contact with a previously discovered group of outlaws on the 24th of April 1932. During the search a rifle grenade fell from its carrier, struck a nearby rock, and ignited. Seeing that several patrol members were in danger, Truesdell rushed forward, grasped the grenade and attempted to hurl it away. The grenade exploded blowing off Truesdell’s hand, part of his arm, and inflicting several other major injuries on his body; however by taking the brunt of the explosion he saved the other members of his patrol from serious injury or loss of life.
(Military) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Donald Leroy TruesdellAug. 26. 1906
Sept. 21, 1993
Medal of Honor Recipient
Place/Citation: Costancia,
Northern Nicaragua 1932Truesdell, serving in Nicaragua as second in command of a guardia national patrol, was sent out on mission with orders to make contact with a previously discovered group of outlaws on the 24th of April 1932. During the search a rifle grenade fell from its carrier, struck a nearby rock, and ignited. Seeing that several patrol members were in danger, Truesdell rushed forward, grasped the grenade and attempted to hurl it away. The grenade exploded blowing off Truesdell’s hand, part of his arm, and inflicting several other major injuries on his body; however by taking the brunt of the explosion he saved the other members of his patrol from serious injury or loss of life.
(Military) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Union Colonel Dunham's Brigade tried to silence Forrest's cannon by a frontal assault into the face of cannister and rifle fire. The Confederates repulsed the attack, inflicting heavy casualties. Forrest's troopers then attacked the Union battle line from the front, flank and rear. Dunham ordered the brigade to face about and charge the attackers coming at the rear. Only part of his brigade heard the command because of the deafening cannonade and rolling volleys of musketry. Forrest's troopers faded south to a line east of this spot and then surrounded Dunham's southward-charging group. The remnants of Dunham's Brigade who did not hear their commander's call stayed at the split-rail fence line, but they too soon waved white flags in surrender.
Union Colonel Cyrus L. Dunham's Brigade marched south from Clarksburg, Tennessee, and then, turned northwest from Parker's Crossroads to block the path of Forrest's troops. Dunham's move would ensnare the Confederates between his brigade and two pursuing Union brigades; Colonel John W. Fuller's Second Brigade, pursuing Forrest from the north, and Brigadier General Jeremiah C. Sullivan's First Brigade, moving eastward from Jackson, Tennessee.
Roanoke River Lighthouse established by US. Lighthouse Service 1866, Plymouth North Carolina
Built by Charles Latham who occupied the house until 1882. Home was occupied for decades by descendants of its builder, a Lawyer, County Sheriff, and State Representative. During the battle of Plymouth, town residents sought protection in the basement. Musket ball holes remain in the house.
The iron clad ram, the CSS Albemarle was the most successful Confederate ironclad of the Civil War and twice defeated the Union Navy. Build in a cornfield on the Roanoke River near Scotland Neck, the Albemarle played a pivotal role in the Battle of Plymouth by sweeping the 5 gunboats of the Union Navy from the Roanoke River on April 18, 1864. In that battle the Albemarle rammed and sank the USS Southfield. Also in the same battle, the Union Navy Commander, Charles Flusser, was killed when his own shell bounced off the Albemarle and back at his feet on the deck of his flagship, the USS Miami.
Late in 1862, the Union army under Ulysses S. Grant threatened Vicksburg, Mississippi. Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg ordered Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest to sever Grant's West Tennessee supply line which extended from Columbus, Kentucky, via the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, Forrest led his cavalry brigade on a raid to destroy track and bridges in West Tennessee, Dec. 15, 1862 - Jan. 3, 1863. He and his men crossed the Tennessee River at Clifton, defeated Union Col. Robert G. Ingersoll's cavalry at Lexington, captured Trenton and Union City. and ranged briefly into Kentucky. On Christmas Day, Forrest led his brigade back into Tennessee. To stop him, Union Gen. Jeremiah C. Sullivan sent brigades under Cols. Cyrus C. Dunham and John W. Fuller in pursuit. Here at Parker's Crossroads on Dec. 31, Forrest narrowly avoided defeat. He and his men crossed the river again at Clifton on Jan. 1. This successful raid led Grant to move his supply base to Memphis.
The north-south tree line parallel to today's Highway 22 marks the roadbed of the old Huntingdon-Lexington road. Union Colonel Cyrus L. Dunham's Brigade marched south to Parker's Crossroads on December 31, 1862 to block the route of the Confederate cavalry. South of this point is the site of Reverend John A. Parker's home (3).
The parting of General Lee and Stonewall Jackson on the eve of Chancellorsville.
They were great Generals and Christian Soldiers and waged war like gentlemen.
John Shelton opened the first tavern at the permanent site of Hanover Courthouse about the 1750s. The current tavern’s earliest segment dates from about 1791. The tavern prospered with the establishment of the stage coach line until the railroad diverted business in the 1830s. An essential component of the social life of Hanover County, the taverns attracted many important people, including Patrick Henry, Lord Cornwallis, and George Washington, among others. Several enslaved African Americans from the tavern complex were accused of participation in both Gabriel’s Rebellion of 1800 and the Easter Plot of 1802. In 1953, the Barksdale Theater was established here.
On November 30, 1864, Col. Joseph Conrad's and Col. John Lane's brigades of Brig. Gen. George D. Wagner's Federal Second Division, Fourth Corps, were placed east and west of the road near this position one half mile south of the Federal main line. Acting Federal field commander Maj. Gen. Jacob D. Cox had warned Wagner that if pressed too closely by the enemy to withdraw his two brigades into the main line. Instead of conveying this order to the forward line, Wagner commanded his brigades to stay in position and fight. Lt. Gen. A.P. Stewart's Confederate Corps flanked the Federal line to the east as Brig. Gen. Hiram Granbury's Texas Brigade pierced the center. The Federal line disintegrated into a stampede as the troops raced toward the main line near the Carter House.
Founded in 1889 as Battle Ground Academy, named for its location where the Battle of Franklin occurred in 1864, and dedicated in an address by Confederate General William B. Bate, later governor and U.S. Senator, this boys' preparatory school was located on Columbia Avenue across from the Carter House. The school was popularly called the Wall and Mooney School and the Peoples School for its early headmasters. After being destroyed by fire in 1902, it was moved to its present site.
Into this area rushed elements of four Confederated division on November 30, 1864 as they assaulted the Federal lines near the Carter cotton gin. Crossed largely by troops from Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne’s Division, the area was flooded by men from Maj. Gen. Samuel French’s Division, and some from Maj. Gen. John Brown’s and Maj. Gen. Edward Walthall’s division. The Southern troops charged forward, crashing into the section of the Federal line between Columbia Pike and the gin held by Brig. Gen. James Reilly’s Brigade. Two Pieces of Ohio artillery just to the north, near the cotton gin, inflicted horrific Confederate losses. Yet the assault le by Cleburne’s troops broke the Federal lines an vicious hand-to-hand fighting erupted.
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Southern troops from Tennessee, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, and Alabama poured through this area to battle their Federal opponents who hailed from Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, and even Tennessee. The power of the Southern assault caused the 100th Ohio and some of the 104th Ohio to abandon their positions and four pieces of Kentucky artillery were captured by the Confederates. However, a countercharge led by the 12th Kentucky, 16th Kentucky, 175th Ohio, 8th Tennessee, 44 Illinois, and 74th/88th Illinois retook the artillery and forced the Confederates back. When the Battle of Franklin end perhaps as many as 9,500 men were killed, wounded, missing, or captured.
The Carter cotton gin house, the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting of the Battle of Franklin, was located about 80 yards east of Columbia Pike. General Adams, Cleburne and Granbury were killed near here. The gin house, a weatherboarded, frame structure, was 36 feet square with massive 24” X 36” poplar sills to carry the weight of the heavy gin machinery. The sills rested on 8 -foot high stone pillars, thus providing headroom for horses, which powered the gin by walking in a circle pulling a boom pole. The Federal stripped the structure for materials to be used in the breastworks. About 20 yd. in front of the gin were breastworks with deep outer ditches.
