Lakes and cannons

Tuesday, May 7

A "rainy day in Georgia" can easily be a "rainy day in Tennessee."  The Park is an official NOAA weather station so we keep track of rainfall.  Since April 25 we have recorded over 8.25 inches of rain.  We continue to watch the new waterfowl inhabiting "Lake Garesche," the recently formed body of water just east of the Visitor Center.  Named for the Union General Rosecrans' assistant adjutant general who quite literally lost his head in one of the confrontations here at Stones River (thanks to a cannon ball intended for the general himself), the lake may well be around for quite a few weeks, especially if the weekly precipitation of 1-3 inches continues.  The resident mallard pair love it; they were merrily swimming along this afternoon when I left to post this.  In addition I spotted a heron in flight, several other too-far-away to recognize ducks, and a couple sandpipers earlier in the week.  Given the fact that the particular area of the battlesite is known as "Cotton Field," this really isn't intended for pond life.

The booming roar of cannons firing brings visitors to the Park!  Last Sunday as part of the planned weekend activities we had cannon firing demonstrations at 1:00 and at 3:00.  Attendance hadn't been all that spectacular on Sunday, but about 2:45 fourteen men in town for a church volunteer project rolled in to visit the Battlefield.  They were really interested, so Hillary took them out on the plaza to introduce them to the site as well as the museum in time for the 3:00 firings.

About 2:55 a tour bus rolled up, much to everyone's surprise.  Usually those things are scheduled in advance.  But not so with this one.  Some 26 folks dispersed off the bus and when they spotted the preparations for the cannon firing they made a beeline for the back door.  As they flew past, their tour director informed them they needed to be back on the bus by 3:25.  Right!!  About 3:20 they made their way back into the museum and promptly took their places in the theater at the back of the museum for the nine minute video.  Ten minutes later most of them headed to the gift shop, some of them having noticed the "sale items" table and the 2 for 1 tee shirt sale.  A good time was had by all, save the tour director who finally rounded up her charges shortly before 4:00.

Funny piece of this whole story came when I found out where the bus was from - R and J Tours out of Willmar, Minnesota!  How funny was that.  (Some of you may not know that's my home town; no relatives nor recognizable faces were on board.) 

More photos

Miss Holly is thinking of a career as a Park Ranger, but given her age (11) and sequestration limitations, it isn't so like.  She has, however, become the darling of the Park Rangers and staff.

On our trek into the farther south this weekend, we noticed all kinds of signs on lawns - green Jesus signs.  Hillary decided that Jesus must be the green party candidate for something.  I decided to endorse him!

We visited the Civil War battle sites in Shiloh, Tennessee, and Corinth, Mississippi, this weekend.  The top photo was absolutely striking in its "pieta" effect.  Such terrible carnage everywhere.  The third photo is also from Shiloh, the monument to the Minnesota units that died.  We don't have the numbers but it is incredible and so, so sad.

In the midst of these two two battle scenes, you will see turkeys in spring.  Mr. Tom is in his full glory in our backyard, Ms Turkey could hardly care less.  Such signs of potential new life at the same time.

Wednesday, May 1

Hillary’s ponderings “Whose History?”

That question has become a primary question:  who tells the story and how is the story told.  For example, the Park holds “living history” events, almost every month.  These events feature different aspects of life during the time of the battle, the previous event focused on civilian life “under the guns.”  This weekend will be held at Fortress Rosecrans, a military outpost created after the Stones River Battle, in early 1864, to protect the community of Murfreesboro after the Union took over the town when the Confederate soldiers retreated from the battlefield and the town making this a Union Victory.  Primarily the fortress then became a depot through which troops, equipment, supplies, etc. moved for the rest of the war in middle Tennessee and for the ongoing progression toward Atlanta.  We will post photos after the event; one of the big draws will be the cannon firing held three times during each day.

As we move through each day, we are teaching visitors about the battle, and, of course, as a National Park, we teach a particular point of view:  slavery was the cause of the Civil War, official policy since 2000 when Jesse Jackson’s legislation was passed mandating the NPS to present that perspective.  We are, however, regularly engaged by individuals whose perceptions of the Civil War are not only different, but considered to be the “real truth.” 

Just this week, a young man and his family arrived at the park.  He identified himself as a re-enactor for the Confederacy and reported that he would be going to Gettysburg for the Sesquicentennial celebration.  One of his ancestors fought for the South.  He also announced that he is a member of the organization Sons of the Confederacy.  I checked their website where I was promptly informed that the real cause of the CW was economics and that the idea that slavery was the cause was the result of “Marxist theories” of the 1960s. 

Whose history, who tells it, how is it told?  We were also informed today by another visitor that the social studies texts of both Tennessee and Texas, until very recently, taught that the CW was indeed all about economics, and never mentioned slavery.

Three women from Nebraska came to the Park while in town for a sister’s funeral and wanted to see the grave of their relative who died in the Stones River Battle.  He fought for the South; Hillary had to tell them that his gravesite was not in the National Cemetery across the street.  Their response?  “Is the National Cemetery only for damn Yankees?”  I answered, ‘No, it is for anyone who served in the US Army” and had to direct them to Evergreen Cemetery at the south end of Murfreesboro where 2000 Confederate soldiers are buried in a mass grave.

It is fascinating to hear the different ways the story is told by visitors.  If your great, great – someone was a soldier for the CSA, or if you attended a southern school, slavery was not a major factor in the war.  Nor do you refer to this battle as the Stones River Battle; this is the Battle for Murfreesboro.  Union troops refer to battles by geography; Confederates by town.  If you are black and from the South, the war means something completely different to you.  Not so incidentally, the Emancipation Proclamation, when it took effect on January 1, 1863, in the middle of the Stones River Battle, freed the slaves only in the slave states, not all of which had seceded.  In fact, no one really “freed” the slaves; they had to free themselves – get up and leave the familiar and strike out on their own.

This past Saturday we visited the Bradley Academy, primarily a school for blacks prior to integration.  It now houses a museum dedicated to telling the story of the USCT (United States Colored Troops) and the emerging black community of Cemetery after the war.  I wonder how many of us have heard the history of the USCT; 180,000 African Americans served in the Union Army, with over 33,000 killed.   We had heard of the Buffalo Soldiers, black soldiers post-Civil War, so-named by Plains Americans because “their wooly heads are so much like the matted cushion that is between the horns of the buffalo” (Roe, Frances M.A., Army Letters from an Officer’s Wife, 1871-1888).  All I can say is simply that the more we learn, the more we realize how much we don’t know!

So, the questions “whose story,” “who tells the story,” and “how is the story told,” are daily conversation as we volunteer in the Visitor Center.  Is it the “War between the States”?  Is it the “War of Northern Aggression”?  Is it the “Civil” War?  Is it a war for states’ rights?  Is it a war caused by economic hardship for the southern land-owners?  Is it a war to protect the constitution? Is it a war to prevent slavery from expanding?  Is it a war to re-unite the Union?  What is your understanding of the Civil War? 

Saturday, April 27

Oracle, Meat and Three Sides, and Guitar Shaped Flyswatters

Connections?  I think so, but it will be up to you, readers.

First of all, David Blight, who spoke at the Minnesota History Center on the Civil War and Civil Rights, suggested and has now written a book of that title that the Civil War is (or at least should be) America's "oracle."  The Urban Dictionary indicates that an "oracle" is a place or person who can present an "authoritative revelation," often an "ambiguous or enigmatic utterance."   If one looks at the Civil War with any hope of finding some meaning, I think it safe to assume at best it will be "ambiguous or enigmatic."  The more I read, the more I hear, the less I know.  But I do believe the Civil War can provide a powerful window into thinking about contemporary American life, from the rhetoric from Washington to the current hot topic in Murfreesboro - the recent posting of a copy of the Ten Commandments on the wall of the county jail lobby.

Blight also pointed out that the prepared text of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream speech" does not included that oft-quoted, much admired section.  The speech itself, as King wrote it, is a reflection on the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation (1863 -1963) and rings with the phrase, "One hundred years ago, but today..."  It is a powerful speech about the Civil War and Civil Rights.  January 1, 2013, was the 150th anniversary of the date the Proclamation took effect.  2011 - 2015 is the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.  Many academics are publishing new studies on all phases of the topic - the Civil War itself, the Emancipation Proclamation, and Civil Rights.  The bookstore here at the Park carries several "hot off the press" books, and they are all worth reading.

But what about "meat and three sides"?  We have now learned that is southern comfort food style of cooking.  For example, at the Bell Buckle Cafe, last evening I had barbequed pork with three sides - baked beans, creamy cole slaw, and turnip greens.  Other options included catfish sticks, grilled chicken or pork chops, meat loaf, roast beef, just to name a few under the meat category.  Sides included carrot souffle, pickled beets, white beans and ham, vinegar cole slaw, new potatoes, and sometimes broccoli/cauliflower salad.  All of this comes with a biscuit or cornbread, the latter as a pancake.  The food is delicious, and you don't leave hungry!

And then there are the guitar shaped flyswatters at Ernest Tubbs' Record Shop on Music Lane in Nashville.  With his signature on the back, you must admit they would be effective!

Friday, April 26

Here are a few of the photos from our spring, as it looks across the street at the Visitor Center.  Can you find the mockingbird in the second photo????  They are everywhere down here; I suppose that's why the mockingbird is the state bird.

These photos are from the Volunteer in the Park event when we and 40 volunteers scrubbed over 200 gravestones.

Miss Hillary is hauling the rinse water for all of us.

And then it was my turn.

And the the super's came to supervise the supervisors.

Monday, April 22 update

Gravestones, picket fences, and invasive plant removal

Over 100 Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) students arrived at the Park at 8:30 Saturday morning as part of Park Day, a variation on Earth Day, I expect.  Most were there as part of course requirements for a biology class, others day because they liked the idea of doing some volunteer work at the park.  Divided into three groups, students worked with Park Rangers to construct a new picket fence along one of the roads in the park.  Another group worked to remove invasive species from the floor of the forest.  That was a formidable task, but those biology students are smart – most were wearing Wellingtons! 

The third group was asked to work with one of the grounds crew and Hillary and me to scrub gravestones.  That was a task.  As you may or may not know Stones River National Cemetery, part of the Park, has about 7200 gravesites, of which 6100 are from the Stones River Battle.  That means they have been there since 1865.  That means there is a fair accumulation of mildew, moss, and overall dirt from that much history.  Some national cemeteries simply power wash the stones, but it is the policy here to hand scrub each stone with a gentle antibacterial type cleanser.  The 40 students worked in pairs using a soft brush, a spray bottle of the cleaning solution and clear water to scrub at least 50 stones per pair over the 2 hours they worked.  Do the math; barely a dent in the work to be done.  But what a difference it makes.

For all their work the students received a tee shirt and a lunch of pizza and pop.  Park staff was delighted with the turn-out and all the work accomplished.  Here are some of the photos:

Community Theater not 20 miles away

Springhouse Community Church hosts a The Lamplighter Theater, a community theater company that performs five different plays each season.  We were fortunate to get tickets for Saturday night’s performance of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” What a fine production that proved to be.  We were told by one of the other volunteers here at the park that the pastor is a professional actor, his wife a costume designer, and there are several other theater types involved with the congregation and its ministry.  Given our work and the context in which we are doing it, I was most interested to see how this production of Mockingbird would be presented and how it was received.  It was excellent, from Atticus to Scout, from Calpurnia to Bo, each character was wonderfully played and created a most engaging performance.  The audience’s sympathies were clearly with the falsely accused Tom Robinson and his lawyer.  I was stunned; my prejudices are challenged most every day down here.  This was the company’s closing performance for the year, but next year’s season tickets are already available – “Pride and Prejudice” to “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” on the docket.  What a gift that outreach ministry is to the communities of Smyrna, Murfreesboro, LaVergne.  Smyrna, TN, is the home of a huge Nissan plant, by the way.

"Miscellany" on Friday, April 19

What a week this has been, from Monday's horrendous event in Boston to today's news with the gigantic fertilizer plant explosion in between.  Our sole information source is the Nashville NPR affiliate and it is a good station, although I must confess I miss Kathy Werzer in the morning!  Our innate preoccupation with weather is not shared down here, so we are grateful when we can simply get the morning's temperature.  But we can report to you daily on the traffic "heading north on I 24 just past the Highway 96 entrance" or any other such chatter.

At the risk of offending you all still in winter's grasp, I do apologize, but I will give you a brief update on spring in Murfreesboro.  It arrived this week.  Redbuds, magnolias, and fruit trees are in full bloom.  Hillary has pictures to upload so you get a sense of our view out the Visitor Center.  The 84 degree temperatures of this past week broke last night in a heavy rain and this morning we awakened to 44 degrees with a predicted high mid-50s. 

Tomorrow morning we have pulled extra duty; we are usually off on Friday and Saturdays, but 120 volunteers are expected to roll in by 8:30 for "Park Day."  Grounds clean-up is the objective, and we have been recruited to supervise a group of some 20 younger volunteers to clean up the entrance landscape beds at one of the offsite areas.  We had our own field trip on Wednesday morning for a brief introduction to what weeds are to be removed and what are local plants needing to be saved.  The Tennessee coneflower is the state flower and they are just showing up in the gardens so they cannot be weeded!  Hillary will post a photo she has taken of them; they do look much like our kind of coneflowers, but because of location they have a different species name. For our efforts we are being given an extra day off next week - so we will enjoy Thursday - Saturday!

New book alert:  Drew Gilpin Faust, president of Harvard, has just published a fascinating read:  This Republic of Suffering, a look at how the Civil War radically affected the American view of death mid 19th century.  As you know, death and dying was essentially a family event, and the preparation for and actual burial was often a family activity in the early 1800s.  As the Civil War grew to exceed its expected ninety day duration and the number of dead and dying increased, it became apparent that the process of dying and burying and identifying was a battlefield event.  Initially, unit comrades tended to their fallen brothers, but with increasing numbers, that wasn't possible.  Ultimately, the US government did create national cemeteries; about 1863 initial legislation was passed but it took until much later for the final legislation to be set in place.  Even so, the burying of Confederate soldiers was a separate, and private, event.  Faust's book reckons with all this change and provides an incredible insight into just one of the myriad effects the CW had on American culture.

Other books we have read include James McDonough's Battle of Stones River and Larry Daniel's 2012 release The Battle of Stone River.

Junior Rangers and Special Programs

One of our fun tasks down here is to introduce younger visitors to the Junior Ranger Program.  Initiated by the National Park Service, perhaps as early as 1920’s, the JRP blossomed in the late 1960 as a way to interest visitors especially between ages 7 and 11 to national parks.

At Stones River we use an activity booklet prepared by a former park volunteer with age specific projects.  For example, for those ages 6 and under, they are asked to complete a map contrasting Confederate states with slave-holding states; not all slave states seceded.  A wall map helps with that project.  Older ones are asked to reflect on the effect that the Union occupation may have had on Murfreesboro residents after the Confederate soldiers retreated and Union military men moved in.  Completing six activities results in a badge and a Junior Ranger certificate.  Ten completed activities earn each participant a badge, a certificate, and a patch.  I am totally amazed at the number of young visitors who are engaged by this program and work their way through each of the booklet projects.  Upon completion we “swear” each one in as an official Junior Ranger.  I can’t imagine how many family photos we are already in, even some videos, as their children participate in this fun activity

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One seven-year-old was reported by his grandmother to have said as he visited the Hazen Brigade Memorial, one of the oldest still standing Civil War memorials in the country, “This is so sad.”    Please note the bookstore in the back of the picture above; we also work there.

Special activities occur at the Park once a month throughout the year.  Over the December 31 – January 2 timeframe, the 150^th anniversary of the battle was noted.  Last month, the first weekend we were here, the cannon and musket drill teams were at work – resulting in that earlier photo of me at the cannon.  This weekend re-enactors were on hand to present information on the topic of “Living under the Guns,” civilian life during the battle and occupation of Murfreesboro.  In addition to candle and soap-making, twenty to thirty minutes talks were presented, focusing on individuals living in the community.  For example, one woman (of that period) talked of what life was like for the “young ladies” of town, and a local businessman spoke of the effects that Union occupation had on his business.  The last talk of each day told the story of William Holland, a Murfreesboro slave, at the beginning of the war, freed by the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, who then became a land-owner on property now part of the park and whose grave remains on the property he owned.  Born as a slave, someone else’s property, he insisted on being buried on his own land, his own property.

I think the issue of occupation is one that we never explored in our history classes and yet the impact continues today.  On a tour of the area with one ranger, he pointed out a house that was taken over by the Union Army. The family grand piano was used for a surgery table; the ivory keys are still pink today.  The family who lives in this house has a daily reminder of what the occupation meant for their family.  Murfreesboro was under Union occupation until 1866 one year after the war ended.  Martial law was imposed and life was very difficult for white families.  However, for black men, like William Holland, the occupation provided the opportunity to become free because no one actually freed the slaves except the slaves.  When the Union came into town former slaves often joined the army and became part of the US Colored Troops.  As you can imagine for the white people of Murfreesboro to see the Union Army marching into town - your former slaves, armed and dressed in Union uniforms - was very unsettling to say the least.  If any of the US Color Troops was captured, he was tortured and murdered by Confederate soldiers who had no respect for these troops and took almost no prisoners even when they surrendered.  I think we who live in the northern states have no idea of what it meant to have your home, way of life and everything taken from you and/or live under martial law.

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Telling the Stories

Telling the Story – an entry from both C and H

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

“What do you do?” is a fair question.  Quite simply, we tell the story of the Stones River conflict that took place December 31, 1862 – January 2, 1863.   But how does one tell such a story?

I’ve been thinking about that.  The Stones River battle has been called one of the ten bloodiest of the Civil War, and no doubt it is.  But how do we know that?  On what basis can we tell visitors that?   Eyewitnesses at the Battle of Stones River compiled and edited by David Logsdon is one of my best starting points.  Using excerpts from letters and diaries of both Confederate and Union soldiers, as well as those of civilians living in and around Murfreesboro at the time of the battles he tells the chronological story from the Federal encampment in mid-December at Nashville to the Confederate retreat south starting on January 3.  Details such as from an Illinois sergeant, “Some of the men had just put on their coffee to boil, others starting a fire and getting ready for breakfast when we heard light skirmishing on our flank, and immediately the firing grew heavier,” provide the human side of military history.

Each visitor or group of visitors arriving at the Center are greeted by either Hillary or myself, and after a bit of introductory comments, we orient them to the site.  I invite them to join me outside on the patio, at the edge of the “cotton field,” one of the many areas of fighting, to introduce the story and the museum, all within two – three minutes.  Each time we tell the story, and with anywhere between 100 and 300 visitors/day, we tell the story many times, I find myself adding a new detail, omitting something I had been using, all based on additional reading I have done.  We often change the details, and the question we usually ask is whether the visitor has any ancestors who fought at Stones River.  Each week three to five individuals indicate that they have a great-grandfather or some other relative who did fight for one side or the other.  We then ask if they know what regiment they were part of and if so, show them a map indicating not only where that unit fought, but at what hour of the day on December 31 or January 2.

In addition we have excellent secondary resources, of which we can provide copies to give more information about that relative’s unit.  Probably the most difficult part comes if a relative was killed at Stones River and he was a Confederate soldier; we cannot direct them to find a grave in the national cemetery across the road because Confederate soldiers were not Federal soldiers and thus ineligible for national cemetery burial and are buried in private cemeteries, once of which is on the south end of Murfreesboro.

Visitors then move into the museum and view an excellent nine minute movie that clearly and concisely tells the story of the battle, which is considered a Federal victory due to the Confederate retreat by 6:00 on the evening of January 2.  President Lincoln, in a letter to the Union General Rosecrans, expressed his thanks for the “hard-earned battle” which had it not gone as it did, the “country may well not have got over.”

Another aspect of our work is to engage children in the Junior Ranger Program, an effort of the National Park Service to encourage kids to learn more about history and nature.  We have now become photo items as parents record our swearing in of their children.

Hillary also works at the Eastern National book and gift shop, part of the Visitor Center.  In March after two days of work she won the award for most sales for the month - $1800!

Finally, since the site is over 400 acres in size we are sent “roving” on occasion.  That means we walk perhaps 2 ½ miles around the site checking in with park visitors, providing information, assistance, and who knows what all else.  As of today, we have been invited to hop on bikes to increase our range of roving!

To say the least, this does feel on occasion like boot camp.  We will return either very physically fit or casualties of the Civil War ourselves!

Stones River National Battle, April 5, 2013

Welcome to my newly created blog.  We have now been working as volunteers at Stones River National Battlefield for two weeks. 

This site became a national park in 1927, and the Visitor Center (middle photo) was constructed in the mid-1960s and upgraded nine years ago.

The first weekend we were here was drill training for cannon firing; of course, I needed to participate!  It was quite amazing; I can't imagine the roar and horror of 50 or 60 cannons firing, 3-4 rounds a minute, non stop throughout the battles.

There is so much to think about.  The other morning I wrote the following and will share it with you:

 Early morning fog rises
Sun burning through to the honey gold tall grass still standing.
Cotton did grow here, unpicked nobs stuffed into ears to block the booming cannons up ahead.
In the sunlight I scan and see the horror, the destruction, the dead and wounded men and horses littering the field as far as the eye can see.  
81,000 started New Year's Eve morning, predawn.  Nearly 1/3 of either side did not greet the morning of New Year's Day, 1863.  "God has granted a good New Year," General Braxton Bragg telegraphed Jefferson, Davis, President of the Confederate States. 
Union, confederate, animals all entangled with one another: dead, dying, cold, wet, they lay there.  One CFS soldier tripped over a near-dead Union soldier, asked what he could do, salvaged three blankets from fallen comrades to cover the shivering man and offered a sip of his canteen.  The blankets and the whiskey helped for a moment.