"Down the highway through the cradle of the Civil War . . . "
Aug 3rd, 2006, 04:25 PM
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"Down the highway through the cradle of the Civil War . . . "
Getting nostalgic about a trip I took 40 years ago this summer as a young kid. At the time, I was a complete Civil War freak and read everything about it that I could get my hands on. My dad had to work that summer, but after Little League season was over, I begged my mom to take me to see some of the battlefields I'd read so much about. Unbelievably, she was game and packed me, my grandmother, and my sister in our old station wagon and we took a twelve day loop throughout the South.
I sat in the front passenger seat and my mother let me navigate using old Enco maps. We stopped at battlefields at Vicksburg, Shiloh, Fort Donelson and Fort Henry, Nashville, Murfreesboro (Stone's River), Chattanooga, Chickamauga, and Atlanta while my grandmother patiently knitted and my sister read books in the back seat. My mom let me pick the motels we stayed in from a Mobil travelguide.
I still remember walking those hot battlefields, wondering what the deal was with segregated restrooms at the filling stations, getting on and off partially completed Interstate highways, the old man who took us through the Hermitage in Nashville, eating shrimp remoulade for the first time at an above-average Holiday Inn in Alabama, seeing a cannon ball from the war still lodged in a Vicksburg building, eating at what seemed at the time to be an upscale restaurant in Atlanta called "Mammy's Shanty" that my mother had eaten at when she was in college, and anticipating the inevitable swim in the pool at the motel each night. It was a very different America to travel in back then, in both good and bad ways. Of course there was no Internet or Fodor's forum where I could talk about that trip, but it sure inspired a lifelong love of travel and history. Thanks Mom.
I sat in the front passenger seat and my mother let me navigate using old Enco maps. We stopped at battlefields at Vicksburg, Shiloh, Fort Donelson and Fort Henry, Nashville, Murfreesboro (Stone's River), Chattanooga, Chickamauga, and Atlanta while my grandmother patiently knitted and my sister read books in the back seat. My mom let me pick the motels we stayed in from a Mobil travelguide.
I still remember walking those hot battlefields, wondering what the deal was with segregated restrooms at the filling stations, getting on and off partially completed Interstate highways, the old man who took us through the Hermitage in Nashville, eating shrimp remoulade for the first time at an above-average Holiday Inn in Alabama, seeing a cannon ball from the war still lodged in a Vicksburg building, eating at what seemed at the time to be an upscale restaurant in Atlanta called "Mammy's Shanty" that my mother had eaten at when she was in college, and anticipating the inevitable swim in the pool at the motel each night. It was a very different America to travel in back then, in both good and bad ways. Of course there was no Internet or Fodor's forum where I could talk about that trip, but it sure inspired a lifelong love of travel and history. Thanks Mom.
Aug 3rd, 2006, 05:40 PM
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MRand - What a wonderful memory to share with us.
I am married to a Civil War buff. We have visited many battle fields. I have walked the fields at Gettysburg many times on a very hot summer day too.
Thanks for sharing!
I am married to a Civil War buff. We have visited many battle fields. I have walked the fields at Gettysburg many times on a very hot summer day too.
Thanks for sharing!
Aug 3rd, 2006, 07:20 PM
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Hello MRand, your thread is beautiful, interesting and heartwarming.
I am sure your dear mother enjoyed the trip as much as you did. Travelling with ones child or children is what memories are made of. Thank you for sharing your experience!
I am sure your dear mother enjoyed the trip as much as you did. Travelling with ones child or children is what memories are made of. Thank you for sharing your experience!
Aug 3rd, 2006, 07:35 PM
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MRand, you are so lucky. You have a good Mom and she has a good son.
Some tidbits you will like if you haven't yet read:
"Widow of the South" (Franklin, TN)
"March" (Sherman and more- the foot soldier in reality)
"Youngest Living Confederate Widow Tells All"- fiction that isn't forgotten years and years after the read.
Some tidbits you will like if you haven't yet read:
"Widow of the South" (Franklin, TN)
"March" (Sherman and more- the foot soldier in reality)
"Youngest Living Confederate Widow Tells All"- fiction that isn't forgotten years and years after the read.
Aug 4th, 2006, 08:33 AM
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As someone who is very interested in history, particularly the Civil War, I greatly enjoyed reading your post. Unfortunately, my family didn't travel all that much when I was growing up, but I remember that one of my highlights whenever we went to the beach was visiting Ft. Fisher here in NC.
I took my kids on a couple of long trips of this nature. Can't say they care as much as I do about these things, but I am guessing my 3-yr old son will one day, and the older daughter will appreciate the memories (she loves travel very much).
Speaking of reading about these things, you really need to read "Confederates in the Attic" if you haven't. It is all about traveling around the South and experiencing Civil War sites and history - funny and informative!!
I took my kids on a couple of long trips of this nature. Can't say they care as much as I do about these things, but I am guessing my 3-yr old son will one day, and the older daughter will appreciate the memories (she loves travel very much).
Speaking of reading about these things, you really need to read "Confederates in the Attic" if you haven't. It is all about traveling around the South and experiencing Civil War sites and history - funny and informative!!
Aug 4th, 2006, 04:03 PM
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JJ5 and Dan - thanks for the book suggestions. I've eyed Confederates in the Attic for some time now and just need to get it.
missypie - it didn't take much more than a field with a cannon in it to impress me as a boy. As with any location, it's more knowing what happened there rather than seeing a visible re-creation in front of you that gives a place meaning, at least to me. That said, some of the battlefields were much better preserved than others, and the topography of some (Vicksburg, Shiloh) aided the imagination more than others. I haven't visited these places since then, and I wonder whether many have suffered from lack of funds or neglect.
Scarlett - my initial post describing my grandmother knitting in the backseat did her a huge disservice. She lived an amazing life - born in 1899, two weeks before the turn of the century and passing away two months into 2000, she lived in three centuries. On that trip she told me two fascinating stories about the Civil War that had been passed down to her by her ancestors: A marauding cavalry officer from one side or the other apparently broke into the home of one of her great great grandmothers who was a young woman in Arkansas at the time. When he wiped his muddy boots with her wedding dress, she tried to shoot or stab him but was restrained by family members. The remains of the dress were made into a blanket, which was passed down through the generations until it was cut into smaller pieces for a number of family members to share upon distribution of a family estate. My grandmother had one of the pieces of the cloth and gave it to me after the trip. I have no way to prove the truth of the story, but if it isn't true, it ought to be.
She also said that a great great grandfather on her father's side of the family had joined the army and taken a train to Richmond, where he was killed. That piqued my interest so I did a little genealogical research in subsequent years and learned according to the 1860 census he was a farmer with a wife and seven children. I then obtained his military record from the National Archives that indeed showed he enlisted, took a train to join the army near Richmond, fought in one battle, and died six weeks later in a military hospital. The cause of death listed on his military death certificate was "rubella." He was buried in an unmarked grave in a military cemetery there. Apparently farm boys who lived in relative isolation in the country did not develop much immunity to common infectious diseases due to lack of exposure. When they joined the large army camps and lived in close quarters, they were vulnerable to such illnesses. The Civil War has been romanticized to a great degree in the modern era; but my ancestor's story was repeated in hundreds of thousands of families across the country then. It must have seemed like an unimaginable calamity at the time.
missypie - it didn't take much more than a field with a cannon in it to impress me as a boy. As with any location, it's more knowing what happened there rather than seeing a visible re-creation in front of you that gives a place meaning, at least to me. That said, some of the battlefields were much better preserved than others, and the topography of some (Vicksburg, Shiloh) aided the imagination more than others. I haven't visited these places since then, and I wonder whether many have suffered from lack of funds or neglect.
Scarlett - my initial post describing my grandmother knitting in the backseat did her a huge disservice. She lived an amazing life - born in 1899, two weeks before the turn of the century and passing away two months into 2000, she lived in three centuries. On that trip she told me two fascinating stories about the Civil War that had been passed down to her by her ancestors: A marauding cavalry officer from one side or the other apparently broke into the home of one of her great great grandmothers who was a young woman in Arkansas at the time. When he wiped his muddy boots with her wedding dress, she tried to shoot or stab him but was restrained by family members. The remains of the dress were made into a blanket, which was passed down through the generations until it was cut into smaller pieces for a number of family members to share upon distribution of a family estate. My grandmother had one of the pieces of the cloth and gave it to me after the trip. I have no way to prove the truth of the story, but if it isn't true, it ought to be.
She also said that a great great grandfather on her father's side of the family had joined the army and taken a train to Richmond, where he was killed. That piqued my interest so I did a little genealogical research in subsequent years and learned according to the 1860 census he was a farmer with a wife and seven children. I then obtained his military record from the National Archives that indeed showed he enlisted, took a train to join the army near Richmond, fought in one battle, and died six weeks later in a military hospital. The cause of death listed on his military death certificate was "rubella." He was buried in an unmarked grave in a military cemetery there. Apparently farm boys who lived in relative isolation in the country did not develop much immunity to common infectious diseases due to lack of exposure. When they joined the large army camps and lived in close quarters, they were vulnerable to such illnesses. The Civil War has been romanticized to a great degree in the modern era; but my ancestor's story was repeated in hundreds of thousands of families across the country then. It must have seemed like an unimaginable calamity at the time.
Oct 26th, 2012, 06:13 AM
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I missed this the first time around also.
Like you, I have always been fascinated by the Civil War and have visited many of its battlefields although not on a single trip such as yours. Some are just of historical interest but some make me reverential. Shiloh, Antietam, and Gettysburg, for some reason, carry me back. As I walk the fields, I can almost hear the rattle of equipment, the rumble of artillery, and the sound of tramping boots marching toward the enemy and into history.
Thank you for sharing your memories with us.
Like you, I have always been fascinated by the Civil War and have visited many of its battlefields although not on a single trip such as yours. Some are just of historical interest but some make me reverential. Shiloh, Antietam, and Gettysburg, for some reason, carry me back. As I walk the fields, I can almost hear the rattle of equipment, the rumble of artillery, and the sound of tramping boots marching toward the enemy and into history.
Thank you for sharing your memories with us.
Oct 26th, 2012, 04:01 PM
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MRand, seriously if you come back here- I just read a GOOD one- and not just about "then".
Having just visited New Orleans and Oak Alley in Louisiana, as well- it was quite a read.
You would like it.
The Cutting Season: A Novel
Attica Locke
Having just visited New Orleans and Oak Alley in Louisiana, as well- it was quite a read.
You would like it.
The Cutting Season: A Novel
Attica Locke
