Trip to Tennessee with the Civil War Round Table

The two major battles at the end of the Civil War were likened to the big explosion of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ending WW2.  That's how significant battle of Nashville and Franklin was.  The Confederates were so slaughtered that the the will power was not enough to carry on.  Problems of poor leadership, weather, and supplies ended the war.  That's why Confederates resorted to band music and their rebel yell.   Be sure to click on the links I've provided for more details.

Here are my trip tales:

The bus passed through Lebanon, IL and I learned that Charles Dickens visited there and the hotel still stands.  He came to Cairo and St Louis in the 1840s and wanted to see the "inland"
Looking Glass prairies.  As the bus passed through Vienna, IL, we were pointed out that Paul Taylor Powell (January 21, 1902 – October 10, 1970) was born there and served as Illinois Secretary of State from 1965 until his death in 1970.

As we took off on our trip, our host announced a change in the itinerary.  We would stop at an 1850s home in Paducah Lloyd Tilghman House.  While the bus was in the wide open parking lot (unlike our crowded stop at McDonalds) the mayor of Paducah, Mayor Gayle Kaler, was driving by the museum and stopped in to welcome us and how proud she was of tourism and the quilt festival. I guess my pictures of the house will be not better than what others have taken in the past and posted on Facebook.  They won't have this one. 

 I asked about the table that resembled a sewing machine cabinet because of the fabric covered basket under neath. The table didn't have any foot peddle. The guide told me it was a bonnet drawer and pulled it out for me to see.  There's a flag scarf in it now.  Although this description was later countered as follows:
Vivian Murphy I've seen 3 or 4 sewing cabinets of various shapes at the homes in Natchez,MS and nearly all have a soft "bladder" space beneath to store sewing/fabric. The drop leaves also lends itself to a sewing table.
 I had my picture taken with a reenactor.  I have that well traveled look.

After dinner in the hotel, we had a group chat in the lobby about the battle of Franklin. 

April 15, 2016

Friday morning we toured Spring Hill and Rippavilla.  Below is a video from the History Channel.  Our tour guide, Ross Massey, is on the video at 9:30.  He told us that he got flack from relatives of Gen Hood for implying he took alcohol and laudanum for pain after getting shot up and loosing a leg.  He defends it because of the painful circumstances, availability and rash decision making yet has toned it down without proper documentation.

Confederate General Earl Van Dorn was murdered by Dr Peters at the Martin Cheairs Mansion for getting a little to friendly with his wife and 14 year old daughter. 

Our lunch took too long at the Buganut Pig in Franklin. Two cooks called in sick. We toured the Carter House museum but did not go inside the house.   Tod Carter died trying to get home after being discharged from the war in 1863.  Nearing his return home he fell back in with the fighting Confederates and was mortally shot.  We visited Winstead Hill.

Here is a good example of the Confederate slant on how brave they were.  There was very little emphasis on the Federals.

There's a wonderful relief map at the top of the hill overlooking the city of Franklin.

This is one of the few areas we saw on the other side of Franklin, opposite side of Winstead where the federals were. This is Ft Granger and I still yet to call this number.

 It's amazing how 2,000 soldiers dug these trenches.

We visited the Carnton Plantation (we did not go inside the house which got me curious about the blood stains it's reported to have). On the morning of December 1, 1864 the bodies of four Confederate generals killed during the fighting, Patrick R. Cleburne, Hiram B. Granbury, John Adams, and Otho F. Strahl, lay on Carnton’s back porch.
 I found this picture of the house with ghosts in the window.

The McGavock Confederate Cemetery is located in Franklin, Tennessee. It was established on land donated by the McGavock family.  In the spring of 1866, work began on the McGavock Confederate Cemetery. Nearly 1,500 Confederate soldiers were moved from graves on the Franklin Battlefield to their new resting place at Carnton Plantation.
The dogwood tree was in bloom at the unknown's obelisk.

There was a necklace on one of the graves in the family section.

  In the evening, our bus driver took us on a shopping trip to Walmart for those that may have forgotten something. 

 April 16, 2016

Saturday we visited "Travelers Rest" built in 1799  which doesn't look like the rest of the other old houses in TN because of the facade without a porch.  It was owned by John Overton, a revenue collector to Andrew Johnson.  The farm was known as Peach Orchard.  Little of the furniture was original because the house was later used as office space for the nearby railroad.  The dining room had a domed mirror so that wait staff could see the table without looking over the diner's shoulders. At one time, there were 7 Confederate generals at this dining room table.  Hood spent 2 weeks here.

This is the very good video that we watched in the visitor center:

Then we stopped at Ft Negley.  Ross told us that Nashville resented the federal fort and many of the stones were raided and re-purposed.

Here are some of my photos taken at Ft Negley.

We drove by the state capitol of TN and he pointed out statues of Sam Davis and Gen John Polk's tomb.  Then we toured the Tennessee State Museum (skipping the dinosaur era).  I took this with my cell phone at the museum because the name seems familiar on my husbands side of the family.

Our bus drove by the Battle of Nashville Monument dedicated in 1927.  It shows man pulling to opposing horses together symbolizing reunification.

We drove by Shy's Hill and were given a tour from the bus.  The street was narrow and we probably blocked traffic.

Here's a short video that I took of Ross Massey on the overlook of the Cumberland River.  Ross is a real "Hootie Hoot"  because he kept saying that.

Ross portrayed Richard Stoddert "Old Baldy" Ewell who is buried in Nashville Cemetery during a cemetery walk.  He told us of a lady that said he had a lot of hair to play Ewell.  Ross's quick wit said "it grew back along with his leg".

The final night there, Joe, our bus driver, took us to Culvers for ice cream. We sat outside and had a moment were we howled at the moon (1/2 moon). 
On the way home on Sunday, we had lunch at Cracker Barrel and I saw this cool Batman Polaris.

In fact I checked out the Polaris at World of Powersports in March.

I had bought a DVD on the battles at the Carter House and since the bus had a DVD player, we watched it on the bus on the way home.  I recommended the time for after lunch to make the flat lands less boring and the time go faster.  Everyone enjoyed it.
All in all, we had excellent weather for the trip.  The Drury Hotel was pet friendly helping me to pet a few and get over my withdrawals from lack of dog therapy.  I've learned to pronounce Nashville to sound more like "Nashfull".