Frank D Baldwin

Frank D Baldwin is not related to me. But, I am rather proud of my namesake. He is one of only 19 US soldiers to be awarded the Medal of Honor twice.

His first award was for gallantry at the battle of Peachtree Creek near Atlanta Georgia. He was a Captain and commanded Company D of the 19th Michigan Regiment.  The citation reads that he  “Led his company in a counter-charge at Peach Tree Creek, Ga., 12 July 1864, under a galling fire ahead of his own men, and singly entered the enemy’s line, capturing and bringing back 2 commissioned officers, fully armed, besides a guidon of a Georgia regiment.”  

If you would like to find out more about theBattle of Peach Tree Creek there is a good article here.

This battlefield is now almost entirely obliterated by the suburb of Buckhead. However there are memorials and a trail in Tanyard Park. If you would like to visit the battlefield, there is a guide here.  

As a First Lieutenant, 5th U.S. Infantry. At McClellan’s Creek, Texas on 8th , November 1874. Frank D Baldwin  “Rescued, with 2 companies, 2 white girls by a voluntary attack upon Indians whose superior numbers and strong position would have warranted delay for reinforcements, but which delay would have permitted the Indians to escape and kill their captives. There is more on this action here.

McClellan’s Creek, is in Grey County, Texas. The battlefield is near McClellan Creek National Grassland.



Army Staff Ride 2018

It was a pleasure and a privilege to take part as a historian on the Operation Reflect Staff ride in 2018.  This was the last of the staff rides organised by the British Army as part of its reflections on the centenary of the First World War.   It was fascinating to see what lessons from 1918 might be relevant to 2018 and where the insights gained might help the modern army face future challenges. 

I had been a historian for the staff rides in 2015 and 2016, which looked at the lessons from the Somme. This time we looked at the operations of  the year from November 1917 to November 1918, from Cambrai to Sedan.  After the rumble of British tanks, the first sessions looked at the Germans from their counter attack at Cambrai in November 1917 through the spring offensives to the Aisne.  Then the French in adversity on the Chemin des Dames to the counter offensive in July – the turning point of the war. Then a British section from Le Hamel to Breaching the Hindenburg Line at Riqueval. The finale was the advance of the AEF from Vaquois to Sedan. Dotted around were a couple of TEWTS posiitoning participants as  divisional commanders in a hypothetical war against an aggressor over the same terrain. 

There is a difference between serving as a battlefield guide for a battlefield tour and a battlefield historian supporting a battlefield study or staff ride. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hchJCHSEsY