A Civil War Road Trip of a Lifetime: Antietam, Gettysburg, and Beyond

by John Banks

Join author John Banks on a captivating journey through America's rich history as he explores famous battlefields, historic homes, and forts across the country.

Over more than a year, John Banks crisscrossed the country, exploring battlefields, historic houses, forts, and more. He rode on the back of an ATV with his “psychotic connection” in Mississippi, went under the spell of an amateur hypnotist at a U.S. Army fort in Tennessee, admired a sunset from the grounds of the notorious Andersonville prison camp in Georgia, prayed during a tense boat ride in Charleston Harbor in South Carolina, and briefly interviewed Louie the wild boar in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Join him on a road trip like no other.

Table of Contents

The road less traveled
Acknowledgments
CHAPTER 1: A ‘lobster claw’ and three little demons
CHAPTER 2: Meet Mrs. B, Civil War Mission Control
CHAPTER 3: Charleston, South Storming a Rebel fort with an Englishman
CHAPTER 4: Columbia, ‘Murder’ and marriage in the Mule Capital of the World
CHAPTER 5: Sharpsburg, Tales from my Civil War poppa
CHAPTER 6: Memphis, Tennessee and Lives lost and a passion found on the mighty Mississippi
CHAPTER 7: Hinds County, Exploring Champion Hill with my ‘psychotic connection’
CHAPTER 8: Vicksburg, ‘Whoa, he’s a Black guy’
CHAPTER 9: Resaca, Characters, coonskin caps, and cognac ‘cee-gars’
CHAPTER 10: Perryville, ‘What a pisser’
CHAPTER 11: Thompson’s Station, Alice’s 15 seconds of fame
CHAPTER 12: Ashwood, The ‘lost’ mansion site of ‘The Fighting Bishop’
CHAPTER 13: Philadelphia, My very own ‘Philly Special’
CHAPTER 14: Shepherdstown, West In the footsteps of a Civil War badass
CHAPTER 15: Franklin, ‘Hypno-history’ at a U.S. Army fort
CHAPTER 16: Middle Spies, gaps, and graves
CHAPTER 17: Roberts Switch, Exploring graveyards with a moonshiner’s son
CHAPTER 18: Andersonville, Voices from America’s saddest place
CHAPTER 19: Deatonville, ‘The House With Nobody In It’
CHAPTER 20: Farmville, A vow to be buried on his battlefield
CHAPTER 21: Virginia’s Shenandoah The Mother Road
CHAPTER 22: Sharpsburg to Frederick, Abraham Lincoln and The Oreo Cookie Lady
CHAPTER 23: Middletown, Rambling with ‘The Chief’ at Cedar Creek
CHAPTER 24: Nashville, On the trail of a Medal of Honor recipient with an ex-roadie in an all-girl band
CHAPTER 25: Murfreesboro, Carnage in a construction zone
CHAPTER 26: Middletown, A love story in a house with a presidential suite
CHAPTER 27: Henrico, Guardian of a Medal of Honor recipient’s legacy
CHAPTER 28: Richmond, Talking Turkey Hill at Cold Harbor
CHAPTER 29: Sharpsburg, Mayhem and monarchs in the 40-Acre Cornfield
CHAPTER 30: Gettysburg, My first ghost walk and investigation
CHAPTER 31: Gettysburg, A collection that got out of hand
CHAPTER 32: Trevilians, Where Custer lost his underwear and love letters
CHAPTER 33: Henrico, ‘It’s always an honor to be on that ground’
CHAPTER 34: Marshall, North Four hours in ‘Bloody Madison’
CHAPTER 35: Sharpsburg, ‘The Shadow King’
CHAPTER 36: Lessons learned
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Index

Genres: Civil War, History, Travel

320 pages, Paperback

Published July 7, 2023

Reviews

[Mark Merritt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, took me awhile to finish it. There is much to like in this book, the author is a land preservationist which is good because we have lost a lot of this ground. But I’m not a big fan of all the metal detecting for fun and profit. A good read anyway.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book brought me back to my love of Civil War studies. Thank you John Banks.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

As it combines two of my favorite genres, travel writing and the American Civil War, I wanted to love this book. I hoped it would be one of my new all-time favorites, that I would re-read time and again, and recommend to anyone who'd listen. Alas, it was not to be.

Why not? Because, sadly, unlike the title suggests, this really isn't a book about Civil War Road Trip. Sure, in each chapter Banks writes about a museum or battle field that he'd visited somewhere in the past couple of years, and all of it is Civil War related, but only occasionally does it actually feel like he's traveling, encountering people along the way. The entire volume is mainly a collection of seperate stories about different places, often meeting with old friends who show him around battlefields that he has visited before. Very rarely does he meet people organically, spontaneously, or does Banks write about driving around and making observations along the way -- instead of just being on a battlefield or in a museum and spewing facts, often with too little story in between those facts to make it a pleasant read. There were exceptions, to be sure, which only served to illustrate what a nice book this could have been.

Worst of all, were Banks' sentences at the end of each chapter -- attempts to connect subsequent chapters -- which felt forcefully inserted, apparently mid-conversation or story. It merely resulted in awkward transitions to the next anecdote about another battlefield. The book would have been better without them, just as it could have done without the final chapter about "lessons learned." He merely sums up some stuff that the reader has already read in the past 300 pages, except for some questions Banks somehow raises without answering, or the kinds of restaurants he'd visited along the way on his travels. An editor could perhaps have suggested he'd use these thoughts and incorporate them into the chapters themselves, to add a little depth or make the traveling aspect come to life.

[noreast_bookreviewsnh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Civil War Roadtrip of a lifetime: Antietam, Gettysburg and Beyond by John Banks
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Join civil war enthusiast and author John Banks on a cross country trip to both well known (i.e. Gettysburg, Antietam)and obscure civil war sites (Thompson’s station, New Market Heights). Banks masterfully showcases fellow civil war enthusiasts passion for preserving history by bringing their personal stories and connections to the forefront, many of them with ancestral connections to the civil war. Join Banks on a ghost tour at Gettysburg, a trip to Andersonville prison (the saddest place in America), for a ride on Sid Champions ATV near Vicksburg and to so many more interesting and little known places and learn important stories that have been all but forgotten to history. All along the journey the reader is fully entertained by the colorful cast of characters whose stories deserve to be written down and preserved. The author is able to make the civil war come alive for the reader and is able to maintain the seriousness of the topic while having fun and inserting humor along the way, making this book highly readable and entertaining. A great read!
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#history #gettysburg #antietam #civilwar #civilwarhistory #roadtrip #usa #usa🇺🇸 #north #south

[Pat Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, and not just because John Banks is a former work colleague and friend. He's passionate about history and the Civil War and its people, and it shows. His ability to weave individual stories from the past into present-day treks through sacred battlefields is unique, and special. He also brings Mrs. B, back home in Nashville, into every tale in some humorous or snarky way that makes me wonder if the door was locked when he returned. John meanders through towns and cities to learn about people and places touched by the horror of warfare. You'll learn about forgotten Black regiments, unknown heroes, a Lincoln Oreo, a Civil War photo museum, and the steep price paid at places like Antietam and Gettysburg. At times he makes you laugh, at times he makes you cry, and at times he makes you angry. But the biggest thing he does is bring to life our nation's history through personal and intimate stories that are meaningful and poignant. It's a journey well worth taking with him. And a book well worth reading. Well done, Mr. Banks.

[W Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Civil War reading is almost exclusively in the areas of strategy, tactics, politics and biography. John Banks provided a marvelous break from my normal reading list. The Civil War Roadtrip of a Lifetime is a masterpiece of Civil War literature. Banks, a career journalist, expertly weaves Civil War history with how we of the 21st century remember the seminal event of the 19th century. In each chapter he introduces us to the people who remember the war in a variety of ways and are richly described with both awe and humor. Banks demonstrates a keen awareness of what the young men of the 1860’s experienced and how sacred the ground they fought over. Altogether this is a great book and well worth the read even if you are only casually interested in the American Civil War.

[Art · Rating 5 out of 5]

The biggest compliment I can give this book is that I limited myself to reading one chapter at a time to savor it instead of plowing through it like I normally would to prolong the reading experience. Like Mr. Banks I have a strong interest in Antietam and the Civil War history of this area of middle Maryland where I live. I enjoyed this book very much and not just because I know two of the people mentioned in it. I was really looking forward to this book coming out and I wasn't disappointed. It's a great journey told by a good storyteller. I hope one of these days to run into Mr. Banks while I'm out and about on my own explorations. A solid read.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very different sort of read. Modern traveler meets Civil War geek as John Banks takes us to little known and long neglected places where our nation was forged event by event through the struggles of a nation coming to grips with who they are and who they want to be. Many great vignettes woven into a single tapestry as John weaves his way around the places where history was made. The promise in the title is fulfilled in its pages.

[Renee Howe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely phenomenal. I loved every step.