When the Smoke Clears

The travel has started.

Yesterday, I did not travel too far from home. I spent the better part of a day touring the Chickamauga Battlefield. It was strange being there, free to go where I wanted, discover what I wanted when only a few weeks before I was standing on the same hills and in the same fields with my OCS class, disoriented and a little loopy from being tired. I said I would want to come back, so I did.

And now I have a whole different appreciation for the place, having been through the officer training.

One thing that used to be a good relative rule was that cities would only expand about as far as transportation could take one in 35 minutes. That is the average length most people are willing to commute. Yes, plenty commute farther these days, but the actual bounds of a city generally stay within a 35 minute travel time of the main business areas.

I applied the same lesson to the battlefield. The size of the areas of engagement were generally just outside of the effective ranges of the handheld weapons of the time, where one could somewhat safely view the enemy. Several locations considered good places to retreat under cover at the time of the battle I would never consider to be so today considering the range of weapons. Even I could pick people off from that distance with little trouble.

And I was able to get a look in the cabins and houses. There’s really not much there, wooden floor, fireplace, stairs to the upper level. Naturally the ceilings are too low for today’s standards, but I am sure they were just fine for back then considering the average height was shorter.

Such a difference in a few short generations.

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