Civil War Block of the Month - Late September 1863 - Hunter's Star

This block is not one prescribed by Barbara Brackman's Dixie Diary series. It is known as Hunter's Star, and I chose it in honor of the 82nd Indiana's colonel, Morton C. Hunter.

I have always been interested in this block.  It is usually made in just two fabrics because when the blocks are set together, block-to-block,  the stars form at every intersection, as seen in this 3x3 block "quilt" I made in software:

It is a rather intricately pieced blocks with those many trapezoid shapes. I made my job slightly easier by sizing the block to finish at 8 inches, instead of the 6 inches I have been making the blocks of this Dixie Diary series.

With the Hunter's Star block I chose to remember Colonel (later Brigadier General) Hunter, who was a lawyer and later a U.S. Representative from Indiana, because of the role he played during the battle 150 years ago.

From Wikipedia:  ".... when Confederate Gen. Longstreet routed the right wing of the Army of the Cumberland, Hunter on his own initiative was the first officer to form a new position on Horseshoe ridge that was to become the line that saved the army from destruction. His commanding officer John Connell wrote of Hunter's stubborn resistance on that ridge 'which truly and most fortunately changed the fortunes of that disastrous day, and saved the army from worse than defeat.'"

I blogged about the 82nd's role in the Battle of Chickamauga on our joint blog a few years ago, with photos from our visit to the battlefield that can be see at this link.  There are no published letters from Billy during the entire month of September, but  I know that my great grandfather John was among the soldiers who held the line on Snodgrass Hill against the onslaughts by the Confederates all afternoon with no food or water. We do have a first-hand account of the events of September 19th and 20th as seen by the members of Company B that Billy and John were in, written by A. W. Brown in letters to his wife dated the 22nd, 150 years ago today.  At the time of his writing, Brown and the other men were waiting for another attack by the Confederates that never came.  He assured his wife they had plenty of rations and ammunition, so he thought they would be able to hold them.  He reported that the Rebels got all their knapsacks and oil cloths and blankets and dog-tents, but he was able to get more blankets and he and my great-grandfather John managed to get a tent, though not many others in the company had them.