The Sword Returns to Chickamaug

Book excerpt: The Confederate sword of Lieutenant Colonel Axalla John Hoole, 8th S.C. Infantry, was engaged in many of the most important battles of the Civil War. Responding to the first call to arms, it was present at Fort Sumter and saw action at First Manassas, the Warwick-Yorktown Line, Williamsburg, Savage's Station, Malvern Hill, Harpers Ferry, Sharpsburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. It fell silent on the last day of the Battle of Chickamauga, September 20, 1863, in the fierce fighting on the slopes of Snodgrass Hill. Fourteen decades and four generations later, the sword has returned to Chickamauga. Today it is handsomely displayed at the Chickamauga Battlefield Museum and Visitor Center, Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. This is its remarkable story, told by Dr. Elizabeth Hoole McArthur, educator, author, historian, and great-granddaughter of the soldier who carried it.