Pretty cool, thanks for sharing! -------------- Original message -------------- From: "Linda Trent" <lindatrent@zoomnet.net> > A few weeks ago Hank and I attended the Ohio Genealogical Society annual > conference in Cincinnati, afterwards we had the opportunity to go over to > Covington, Ky. to Fort Wright to see Battery Hooper (one of the fortresses > built for the defense of Cincinnati). Battery Hooper has a fine little > museum, and a very nice gentleman that works there by the name of Dan. I > got to talking to him about my great grandfather who was at Battery Coombs, > and how someday I'd love to be able to find it. As we were getting ready to > leave, Dan gave us directions to Ludlow Hill upon which the battery stood > 150 years ago. What a joy it was to look up the hill upon which my great > grandfather had served. > > Dan and I continued our correspondence and I sent several primary sources > about the 1st OVHA, including several letters my gg grandfather sent to my g > grandfather while the latter served in the war. Dan told me to set a date > and he'd accompany us up Ludlow Hill to try to find Battery Coombs. Not > realizing that I choose Memorial Day weekend (rather fitting, I'd say) Hank > and I drove to Covington on Thursday and met Dan and his friend Paul, and > headed up Ludlow Hill. > > An archeologist gave Dan a modern topographical map, and had marked the > location of the site of the old battery, Dan had his compass, and we had the > original layout of the battery showing the rifle pit, the sunken battery and > all that sort of stuff. Up the hill we went, and it was STEEP. There were > no paths up (at least not that we could find), and heavy vegetation had > entirely taken over. We followed the big ravine that was to lead up to the > site and sure enough after a while we reached a large flat area. Still the > vegetation was heavy, but I found what appeared to be the rifle pit. Just > about the time I found that, Dan found what appeared to be the old military > road and we followed it out a ways and using his compass discovered that > indeed the road was leading toward Battery Bates. There was no doubt that > we had found Battery Coombs. I'd still like to return again sometime and do > a little more investigating, look over the area a little more, we also have > some drawings of what the buildings around it looked like and I think a > little more walking over the area might reveal a bit more stuff, but it was > thrilling enough to know that I was standing in the very area that my g > grandfather no doubt walked. The First Ohio Heavy Artillery spent nearly a > year of the war at this site, so that made it even more fun to see. > > The climb up was bad enough, but coming down was even harder. I pretty much > sat down and slid down as if sledding, though still I couldn't do that the > whole way down. We chose to follow what appeared to be a wash coming off > the end of the military road, and it was wicked. I was happy to get to the > bottom of the hill. NO snakes were seen, and NO ticks or poison ivy were > picked up/contracted. :-) > > I took a picture of the rifle pit while standing in it (another way cool > thing), and Hank took one of me standing on the ground of Battery Coombs, as > well as one of me standing in the road. I put the pictures up on a website, > and if anyone's interested they can be seen by going to > http://lindatrent.homestead.com/BatteryCoombs.html The original "Letters > from the Homefront" that my gg grandfather to his son will appear in an > upcoming edition of the Ohio Civil War Genealogical Journal later this year. > > Linda Trent > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > OHGALLIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in > the subject and the body of the message