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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