Video
Brian C. Pohanka Intern Wesley Lill - 2024
Transcript
My name is Wesley Lil. I go to school at Gettysburg College up in Pennsylvania. I am a junior I have two years left.
I am a history major at the college.
I chose an internship at the park because I've always been kind of interested in the overlooked side of history. I like to look where everybody else isn't. When people talk about the Civil War, almost always, they're talking about General Lee with his Army of Northern Virginia fighting the Army of the Potomac over in Virginia or Pennsylvania, especially up at Gettysburg, and so, I've always kind of been interested in observing
and talking about all these experiences that are often left by the wayside in this historical setting.
Well, it certainly has. Even as I do like to look at the overlooked side of history, coming out to Chickamauga and down here has been vitally important in understanding just how the Western Theater was important. I never knew about any of the logistical importance of the city of Chattanooga before coming out here, and what's more, even on top of like this grand strategic scale, I've been kind of interested in all the personal stories that I see here, and so, when I read about how hard these soldiers are fighting, they are believing that this Western theater is as important, even more important, than some of the other places where the battles are going on, and so, they are fighting with no less vim and vigor than anywhere else in the war. They believed that it's important, and I do too.
Well, yes. The story that I'm interested in sharing is that of William Lytle here.
Lytle was a Union soldier, a general, at the time of the battle, and he was not married, he did not have any kids, but he was beloved by many because he was a known poet. In his time before the war, he had written many good poems before the war broke out, including one called "Antony
and Cleopatra." This poem tells the historical story of Antony, a Roman general, who is lying, dying by his own hand, in the arms of his lover, Cleopatra, and it tells of his sorrow over his death, and all the past glories that he had attained as he lay dying. Well, Lytle comes out here, and he enlists in the, well he's fighting for the US army, and he is on the field of Chickamauga at the fatal day, September 20, and when the breakthrough happens, he is one of the first generals to respond, and he is receiving the full brunt of the Confederate onslaught here. They break against his position, and they press against him hard. His is one of the only few units that manages to withstand, for a time, the Confederate attack, and for a while they are the only Union regiment on the entire field that is managing to stand up against these attackers, but their defense breaks when Lytle is killed. He is shot, mortally wounded. A bullet hits him in the mouth, and as he falls off of his horse, his soldiers bring him over to a tree in the area around here, and they lean him up against it, and he is unable to speak. He has blood running from his mouth that is hindering his ability to talk, and so, this poet who is you know renowned for his ability to make all these beautiful words, he is not saying anything at the time of his death. After the Confederates overrun the position, drive the Union forces back, they recognized his body. He is someone who was known both to the North and the South, and in a show of reverence, these Confederate soldiers who fought against him, who killed him, they post a guard over his body. He is one of the only bodies who is returned to the Union army after this battle, and there is a funeral held for him in Cincinnati where many thousands of mourners turn out honoring his legacy. And despite the fact that he was unable to say anything at the time, that he was dying, he gets a few last words in as some of his siblings read a letter that they had found in his pocket at the time of his death, and this is the last poem that he had written at around the time of the Battle of Chickamauga, and it is a way that they honor his memory. Unfortunately, his memory, over time, has been ebbing and flowing, I'd say. The monument here, for a while, it is off the beaten path. It is not next to any major roads. It is not on any historic battlefield changing site like Snodgrass Hill. It is in the middle of a copes of trees, out of the wayside. But over time, this monument was laid low in fact, as the cannonballs here were used to replenish other, more prominent, sites around the Chickamauga Battlefield. However, for the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Chickamauga, the site here was restored, and it now stands at its full height, commemorating the sacrifice and the memory of William Lytle.
Description
During the Summer of 2024, Gettysburg College student and Brian C. Pohanka Intern Wesley Lill worked at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park providing interpretive programming and assisting visitors with questions at the Chickamauga Battlefield and the Lookout Mountain Battlefield Visitor Centers.
Duration
6 minutes, 40 seconds
Credit
NPS
Date Created
12/13/2024
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