The Hermitage, Nashville, TN Part 3 - 27 Apr 2014

Andrew Jackson was the first president born in the United States.  All previous presidents had been born prior to Independence.  His house, The Hermitage, was quite near our RV park in Nashville.

He was an unrepentant slave owner  This is a reproduction of a slave quarters on the grounds of the Hermitage.

 One of his redeeming characteristics was that he adored his wife, Rachel, despite the (true) allegations of her, initially, bigamous relationship with him.  These mannequins wear the garb they would have worn to a formal affair.  

They would have likely ridden there in this carriage, a real personal luxury vehicle in its day.

Penny had been here before and remembered this entry as being lined by much larger trees.  There was a reason for that.  Over a thousand trees were blown down in a 1998 storm.

 This is the front of the Hermitage.  This was its final iteration after several remodels.  Several tourists are greeted outside by one of the guides in traditional garb.  

 Once inside you are greeted by these beautiful murals depicting Greek legends.  Photos were not allowed inside, but we found this one online.

 It is, indeed, a beautiful, and beautifully restored house, as seen from the back.

It had several amenities, such as this comparatively large spring house.

The garden was Rachel's favorite spot.

Unfortunately, she sickened and died in April of 1828, shortly before Jackson's first Presidential Inauguration.  She was buried at the edge of her beloved garden.  Jackson joined her in 1845.

We thought that the Ladies Hermitage Foundation did a masterful job.   Here, modern amenities, such as air conditioning, transformers, and other modern mechanisms were hidden behind this hedge.

Andrew Jackson was a controversial figure at best.  He is considered the founder of the Democratic Party, but was also responsible for the Trail of Tears which was the result of the forced displacement of several tribes of Native Americans.  He avoided, for a while, the breakup of the Union due to his masterful handling of the Nullification Crisis, but his demolition of the Federal Bank resulted in a severe economic downturn for which Van Buren's subsequent administration was blamed.  What can't be denied was that he was an important part of American history.  His home was well worth visiting. 

Nashville, Franklin, and the Civil War in Tennessee 24 - 30 Apr 2014 Part 2 of 5

Nashville is probably most often associated with music, but it is also rich in history.  We've visited several Civil War battlefields, but in many ways, the battles of Nashville/Franklin were some of the more pivotal.

 Our first day in the area, we went to the small town of Franklin, south of Nashville.  We had understood, that regardless of its history, it was a cool town, and we wanted to walk its streets.  Unfortunately, a festival was underway there, and even finding a place to park would have been difficult, so we simply drove through and went directly to where fighting opened.

 The Carnton plantation, shown here, was at the far eastern flank of the Union Line.  While most of the fighting in this area took place at night, the McGavock family, the occupants at the time, could easily see the explosions of the cannons and muskets from their front porch. This house became a hospital caring for around 300 casualties.  Before the evening was over, four Confederate generals lay dead on the back porch.

One of the Union's artillery emplacements was situated here.  It had an excellent field of fire.  It's easy to see why this battle is often called the Pickett's Charge of the West.  Perhaps one of the pivotal moments of this campaign occurred when General John M. Schofield, after inflicting devastating casualties on the attacking Confederates, was able to slip away and rejoin General George H. Thomas force in better fortified Nashville.

It's hard to imagine trying to cross this creek under withering Union Fire.  The steps in the foreground indicate that this side of the creek was as steep at the far side.



General John Bell Hood, leader of the Confederate forces, could never have been faulted for his courage and audacity.  Unfortunately, his strategic and tactical abilities were questionable, at best.  His blunders were many and crucial during this campaign.  This is Shy's Hill, site of one of the largest blunders.  Today, as then, it commands a fabulous view of Nashville.

Confederate forces established a position at the peak of the hill.  Unfortunately for them, they chose to entrench at the physical peak rather than the military peak.  This meant that the Confederate forces could not, from this position. see, let alone fire down hill, Union forces were able to scale the hill with little resistance and overrun the position, thus, effectively, putting an end to the battle and to Confederate hopes for a negotiated peace.  Hood came here with twenty thousand troops and left with eight thousand.

The sad end of the Nashville campaign may well reside here, steps away from the McGavock mansion at Carnton plantation where it all began.  This graveyard contains over one thousand Confederate Troops.  At the conclusion of fighting, many of the confederate dead were buried in hastily prepared and poorly marked graves.  Colonel John McGavock had them exhumed and re-buried near the family cemetery in better prepared and better marked graves. He and his wife cared for this cemetery until their deaths in the late 1800s, hosting many families seeking to find the last resting place of their loved one.



Nashville, TN 24-30 April 2014 Part 1 of 5

Our RV park in Nashville was just down the road from the Opryland  Hotel.  Ted had stayed here before during a business trip, but saw little but hotel restaurants and convention rooms before he had to leave.

OK. ho-hum, that's just a grocery store, but we were pleased to once again to have access to one of our favorite grocery chains.  The first thing Ted had to do was run inside and buy a container of their delicious potato salad.

 Still, despite all of the other attractions, and there are many of them, this is what the town is known for today.

 Just down the road from us was this McDonald's, disguising itself as radio station WMAC.

Inside was this mannequin songster at her mike. 

Next to her was the McJukebox.  It actually worked, and all of the plays were free.  Note the mannequin DJ behind it.

I mean, where else but Nashville would there be live music at a McDonald's.

 As earlier mentioned, there were a number of other attractions.  Nashville has been called the Athens of the South.  The Parthenon, in a downtown park. is a full scale reproduction of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece.  Originally built in 1897, it was a part of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition.  Today, it serves a an art museum. 

 Inside is this reproduction of the Athena Parthenos statue.

 In her right hand she holds, now pay attention Portland, Nike, goddess of victory.

At the traffic circle where 16th and 17th Avenue converge  is the controversial Musica statue.  The nude figures are occasionally clothed in a garb that is representative of some high profile events. 



Huntsville, AL 22 Apr 2014

We had originally came to Decatur, Alabama to search for genealogical records. Unfortunately, we discovered that the courthouse that would have contained those records burned in 1892 and all of the pertinent records were destroyed.  That left us with a bit of time on our hands, so we explored the area.  Nearby Huntsville was one of our destinations.

We had stayed in Twickenham for a week when they were in England, so were interested in why the name appeared so frequently around town.  It turns out, that the city was originally named Twickenham after the city in England.  Anti-British sentiment was, however, high at the time, so it was renamed Huntsville in honor of John Hunt, an early resident. 

Many wealthy plantation owners and merchants moved into the area and it grew quickly becoming Alabama's first capitol.  This building once housed the Huntsville Inn.  President James Monroe stayed here during a visit in 1819. 

This gorgeous woman was, perhaps, the most famous person ever to come from Huntsville.  Classic film fans will recognize her as Tallulah Bankhead.

This is the Schiffman Building where she was born here on January 31, 1902.  Her father, then city attorney, had a brilliant political career, but Tallulah's career on stage and screen was the stuff  of legends.

Perhaps, Huntsville's greatest claim to fame started here at the Redstone Army Arsenal.  After both the Navy and Air Force failed in their attempts to launch the first U.S. Satellite, the Army program, then under the direction of Dr. Werner Von Braun, succeeded in launching Explorers I and II before the space program was shifted to NASA.

The Nike-Hercules system, in which Ted worked during much of his time in the Army, was also developed here.

 Spectacularly visible, as we approached town, was the Huntsville Aerospace museum, adjacent to the Redstone Arsenal and the George C. Marshall Space
Flight Center.

 You would expect a town which housed a lot of highly intelligent people to have a vibrant arts community.  Of course, Huntsville is full of, well, rocket scientists, so this magnificent arts museum in a town of fewer than 200,000 is no great surprise.

 Sculptures such as his were common along the downtown streets.

Huntsville was a neat, clean town with many beautiful old homes.  It was a very pleasurable excursion.

Tupelo to Decatur 20 April 2014

 We enjoyed our time at Tupelo.  The RV park was quiet and pleasant.

 Bird feeders were placed throughout the park and we enjoyed watching the activity at them.  This finch was a frequent flyer.

 This was one of two male cardinals that were vying for the attention of a female.

 The park was less than a mile away from the beautiful and historic Natchez Trace.

 This rather plain looking spot was the site of the Chickasaw village of Pontotock.  A nearby county and its seat continue to bear the name.  When the Chickasaws were forced off the land, they carried the name with them to Oklahoma where Pontotoc County lies in what was once Chickasaw Tribal land.

The food we enjoyed while we were here was also outstanding.  These catfish were delicious, 

 as were these hush puppies, 

 which we enjoyed at the historic Catfish Hotel on the banks of the Tennessee River near Shiloh.  Note the barge passing outside.

But, all good things must come to an end, so it was on to a considerably less esthetic setting in Decatur, Alabama, near Winston County where Ted's great-great-grandfather had received a land grant.



Shiloh and Corinth

One of the pivotal battles of the Civil War was Shiloh. 

This quiet, peaceful place, which provided an alternative name for this battle, is Pittsburg Landing. 

This, courtesy of  www.civilwar.org is what it looked like a little over 152 years ago when General Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Tennessee disembarked from a flotilla of riverboats.

 This reproduction of the Shiloh Meeting House gave the battle its better known name.

There is still an active United Methodist church and an active cemetery on this site.

The Hornet's Nest, so called because the constant whizzing of bullets sounded like an angry nest of hornets, was the site of the fiercest fighting on April 6, 1862, the opening day of the battle.  Each foot of ground changed hands several times. The dense woods and the rolling terrain, made both attack and defense difficult.  How frightening it must have been to the very green troops who fought here, often, not knowing the location of friend or foe.

Union forces fought stubbornly, but yielded ground.  This artillery emplacement marks the site of Grant's last line at the conclusion of fighting that first day.

Perhaps the greatest Confederate loss was the death of General Albert Sidney Johnston who was killed on this spot in the early afternoon of April sixth.  He was the highest ranking general of either side killed in action during the Civil War.  Jefferson Davis considered him the South's most capable general and often called his death the turning point of the war.

Despite their gains, the Confederates failure to turn Grant's left flank, which ran from this area down to the Tennessee River, sealed their fate.  The evening, of April sixth, General Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio arrived to reinforce Grant.  On April seventh, Confederate forces, now commanded by General P.G.T. Beauregard, expecting to finish the battle and capture Grant's army, charged, but found the Union Army in countercharge.  The Confederates were routed.  The battle claimed 23,746 casualties, slightly more than one fifth of the soldiers who fought here.  It was the bloodiest battle ever fought on American soil.  Unfortunately, scarcely more than a year later, it would be eclipsed by the Battle of Gettysburg which would be marred by nearly twice as many casualties.

It is very difficult to find positives coming out of such a tragic event, but perhaps there was one here.  This was the site of one of the first field tent hospitals.  Established much closer to the front than previous practice, it saved many lives that might have been lost had a longer trip to a hospital in the rear been required.  In the present day, the same principal has also been applied to reduce casualties resulting from a number of natural disasters.

Dogwoods, redbuds, and sand plums were in bloom throughout the park as if in commemoration of those who died here.  We had to wonder how many of these beautiful trees marked the exact spot where a soldier fell. 

This interpretive center in Corinth, Mississippi marks the real objective of this campaign. It was a crossroads of two railroads vital to the Confederacy. The Mobile and Ohio railroad ran north and south from here while the Memphis and Charleston ran east and west.  Less than a month after the battle of Shiloh, Grant, understanding that a direct attack was a pointless waste of resources, laid siege to the town.  The confederates suffered almost as many losses here as they did at Shiloh, but only a few to battle wounds.  The water was bad, and most of the losses were due to typhoid and other camp diseases.  After a month, the Confederates abandoned this position.    

Bronze reproductions of soldiers' items were imbedded on and beside the walk to the interpretive center as if they had remained there for 150 years.

This depiction of the union battery stood at the top of the hill above Corinth.  Six months after its fall, Confederate forces, under the inept leadership of General Sterling Price, attempted to retake Corinth.  Despite the equally inept leadership of General William S. Rosecrans, the Union repulsed the attack.  Casualties were high, but nowhere near the same magnitude of those suffered at Shiloh.   

Almost on cue, this Norfolk Southern, train passed.  The Southern railroad, which later became the the Norfolk Southern obtained the assets of the Memphis and Charleston, in 1894.

A few miles northeast of here, a camp of liberated and runaway slaves was established.  This sculpture depicts a union soldier teaching a female slave to read.

 

 

While the central issue of the Civil War was the egregious institution of slavery, it was far from the only factor leading to this conflict.  It was the result of decades, indeed centuries, of inability of our leaders to right a horrible wrong.  Even such great minds as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson admitted defeat in their attempts find a solution.  It remained for brave men on both sides to suffer and die here in order to resolve this conflict.  We come here to honor their memory.     .