Considering how bad this battle was, I'd never heard of it. I'm sure it's taught in Tennessee history, maybe in southern history, but I don't remember it.
We rode a short bus to Franklin, TN to the Carter House and then to the Carnton Plantation after lunch. The photos above show the back of the house with the kitchen being the smaller, brick out building. The log building in the middle photo was not part of the original farm. It is a 200 year old building that has been moved onto the property recently. The last photo shows the front of the house.
The battle came about because the retreating Union troops could not get across the river in Nashville because the bridges had been burned down. Both sides converged in Franklin, southwest of Nashville. This was the Confederates' last ditch effort to win the war, almost a suicidal attempt. The Union soldiers had been in the area long enough to dig trenches - two lines of them - with walls of dirt in front of the trenches. On top of that dirt they placed piles of Osage Orange branches full of thorns. November 30, 1864, the Confederate General Hood, threw wave after wave of men into those trenches to break the Union's hold on the area. The Union did retreat to Nashville the next day leaving behind 2,500 bodies, 1,750 southern boys, to be buried by the 750 residents of Franklin.
All of these trenches were around the Carter House, a really nice home on the edge of Franklin. The family took refuge in the basement during the entire 5 hour battle. They came out the next morning to thousands of bodies - dead and wounded - about 10,000 young men and 500 horses. The photos show only a small number of bullet holes in the brick wall of one of the out buildings, in the red building that was the farm office and in the home (these were under the roof on the back porch). The really unusual part of this battle was that it started at 4:00 pm and went on into night. Very few Civil War battles were
fought at night.
At this battle, so the stories went, one man had been shot several times but the Union troops managed to haul him back to their lines and nurse him back to health. He was General Douglas MacArthur's father. Another man was laid into a mass grave but someone saw him move an arm so they pulled him back out and found he was still alive. He would later father Helen Keller.
One of the Carter's said they couldn't even walk among the causalities - there were so many that there was no earth to step on. There were more lives lost in this 5 hour battle than in the first day of the D-Day invasion at Normandy. One of many sad stories, was the Carter's son, Tad, had joined the war at the beginning and ended up back here at his home for this battle where he was killed.
After touring this home, we went downtown to Monell's for lunch. This is a family style serving restaurant set in the original jail house of Williamson County. The food was excellent - pan fried chicken, meat loaf, 3 different salads, cheese grits with sausage, corn pudding (creamed corn to me), mashed potatoes, green beans, sweet potatoes & apples, field peas, biscuits, cornbread, peach preserves and bread pudding for dessert.
There were 49 field hospitals set up in and around Franklin with the Carnton Plantation, owned by
the McGavick family - still today, being the largest of them. There were around 400 wounded men laid around in various rooms in this home which is located about 1 mile from the Carter house. Four dead generals were laid out on the porch. Many more had to be placed in the surrounding yard in the cold weather. There was so much blood in different rooms of the home from the areas where the surgeons stood trying to save lives and perform amputations that there are permanent blood stains in the floors. Historians feel that these were areas of surgery because they usually worked in front of a window where they could discard the amputated limb outside immediately after being removed. Carrie McGavick, the mistress of the home, walked among the wounded and dieing trying to administer aid and comfort. She was so well known for the work she did that one man she talked to years later said he had named his first born daughter after her.
For all you Kansan's, this is a photo of an Osage Orange on the plantation. It's about 150 years old. I don't know about any of you, but I've never seen one this big. This one is a little more than part of a wind break in a row of trees around a wheat field.
As the men died, they tried to identify and bury them on their property. Many were buried in mass graves around the battlefield. The McGavick's had them reburied on their property and spent the rest of their lives tending and caring for this cemetery. She had a book that she carried with her that was the locator of graves in the cemetery. The markers are about 6" square
cement headstones with a number, sometimes initials, on them. She could reference the number to a name in most cases. There is also an area 
where many "unknowns" are buried. The cemetery is laid out by states - all southern. Mississippi had the most causalities at this battle. A total of 1,481 Confederate soldiers are buried in this special place along with the McGavick family.
There were 650,000 deaths in the entire Civil War. According to our tour guide, this would equate to 6 million deaths world wide today. This entire blog is a short version of all that Larry and I heard today. I won't say "learned" because a lot of it went over our heads. There were lots of battle and strategy discussions. Lots of statistics and stories and my brain will only retain so much. I still had to look up some of this information on-line to refresh my memory.
Later this evening, Larry and I built a small fire and roasted some hot dogs. Mighty good eating. I
wanted to take pictures of the fire flies in our camp area. There are tons of them but they didn't seem to show up too well in photos. I have found out that the Ladybug and the Fire Fly are the state's insects.
I had heard how beautiful the Opryland Hotel was and had seen
pictures but nothing compared to seeing it in person. Parking is $16 so we parked at the Opry Mills Mall parking lot for free and walked. I couldn't get far enough back to get a photo of the front of the building. If you go on-line, you can see photos of this outstanding hotel.
The first thing we did was ride the Delta boat. The "river" of the Delta was formed when the hotel
had its' grand opening. Gaylord Enterprises mailed out 1700 two-ounce bottles around the world. The first one back was the River Jordan in Israel. 
Water came in from 30 other countries - some sent several samples. Kansas sent 10 and most from places I'd never heard of--but the Arkansas is represented. On opening day, they combined all of theses 2 oz samples of water with 450,000 gallons of water from the Cumberland River and that's what's flowing in the Delta water system. They called this "The merging of the waters".
We thought this would take us around the area and then we would walk around to see the shops and restaurants. Boy were we wrong. The Delta boats take you around the Delta area only. Then there's the Magnolia, Garden and Cascade areas. They don't have boat rides but you can walk the entire area. In each of these areas there is a different hotel to step into and look at the shops and restaurants that each of these has to offer. 
We pretty much got lost but did a lot of looking while we were trying to find our way back to the Delta. There are maps every where saying "you are here" so that helped us. The center sky light was 350 tons of three 1/2" thick pieces of glass. Made to withstand golf ball size hail and around 150 MPH winds.
After we got back to the Delta area, we decided that ice cream was in order. Outside of the
Haagen Dais store was Ms DeVine. This was really amazing. She strolls the area on stilts (on a schedule that we just happened to be 
on hand for) and has long arms and beautiful makeup. She formed an arch for everyone to walk under - that's Larry's back as he walked under her. Sometimes she would cling to the side of a building, other times she
would cozy up to the hanging plants.
And speaking of plants, the entire area was beautifully landscaped. These purple flowers were growing out of some moss hanging from trees. There were many more and would have liked to tour with the gardener.
There are 5 Presidential Suites in this hotel and they go for $3500 per night. Dolly Pardon stays in the only one that has two levels, a complete dining room and a grand piano that plays by itself. You can see this particular suite in the picture (second one down on the left) with the boat in it - it's the bay window looking out over the Delta. These rooms are booked a year in advance.
After spending several hours here and reading almost all of the menus that
are posted outside each restaurant, we determined that we really couldn't afford to eat there so we walked over to the mall and ate at a buffet. Then we drove back downtown to see the capital building.
Today, we stuck around camp. Took the jet ski out for a short trip. It was windy and way too many boat waves for me to be comfortable. I did sit around and take photos of the many birds that come to Larry's bird feeder. I haven't been able to get a photo of the Tufted Titmouse (that is one in the bottom of the feeder in the middle picture with the Chickadee) but I will because for some reason they like to fly at our window and cling to the edge and look in. Also saw a Cat Bird that I haven't seen when I had a camera. There's always tomorrow.
The Opry House is all that I thought it would be. I found out that we weren't at the Grand Ole Opry House. We weren't even at the Grand Ole Opry. We were at the Opry House for the Friday Night Opry. 
The Grand Ole Opry is only on Saturday night. Before the doors are opened at 7:00, there is a small band outside that perform some songs to keep hundreds of us entertained until they do open. They were good too. There were greeters outside talking to everyone - that's a gig I want. You get to dress in a long fringed skirt, cowboy shirt with lots of embroidery, boots and a hat. You get to visit with everyone outside and get your picture taken with them. We met Texas Ruby but I wasn't bright enough to take a photo with her until it was too late.
Inside we walked upstairs and around to the far end. We were close to
the stage but clear around on the side. I took the picture of Larry so you could see where we were. That black hole in front of him is the stage. Note the space in front of the stage that's empty. When Trace Adkins came out, that space completely filled in with people (mostly women) wanting a close up photo. I was too lazy to walk that far. I took the next photo so you could see that the seats filled up - 4400 people.
You might be able to see the special circle of wood in the middle of
the stage. This was taken from the Ryman Auditorium where the Grand Old Opry was held from 1925 until 1974. Loretta Lynn says she won't stand on it - she crosses it as quick as she can - because she knows the really famous people who have stood there and she doesn't think she comes up to that level of famous. Riders in the Sky came out for the first half hour (each half 
hour is sponsored by a different company) and they sang Back In The Saddle
Again, Cool Water and Happy Trails. I couldn't have asked for a better selection of my favorite cowboy songs. Next half hour was Little Jimmy Dickens. At 87 he's still going strong and still tells corny, funny jokes. Marty Stewart had the 3rd half hour and Trace Adkins MC'd the last half hour.
Other entertainers that evening were Jimmy C. Newman with his great Cajun music, Darryl Worley, Connie Smith, two blue grass groups and T.G. Sheppard. He is doing a new album with Engelberg Humperdinck and invited him out on stage just for an introduction. I didn't get the camera out fast enough to get a photo of him. During one song, "Rocky Top", the band told everyone that we could sing and jump in the isles if we wanted to. This is the University of Tennessee fight song. One guy got up with a beer in his hand and ran around the whole center section and I'm guessing he - "Didn't spill a drop".
Larry is now listening to WSM AM on the truck radio which is the home of the Grand Ole Opry. In 1925, the National Life and Accident Insurance Company built a radio station as a public service to the local community. The reasonably new media would advertise their policies. The station's call letters, WSM, stood for the company's motto, "We Shield Millions". This program was originally called the WSM Barn Dance. In 1927 it became the Grand Ole Opry. In 1932 the radio station went to 50,000 watts and can still be heard over much of the country and into Canada. It's also broadcast on channel 11 on XM radio and on the internet.
There are so many things to do in Nashville, that Larry and I stayed
at camp today to lay down a game plan. Yesterday, we went to the Visitor's Center to get brochures on what's in the area. We walked Broadway which is the Beale St. of country music. Lots of bars with live shows where many legends got their start. We went into the Ernest Tubb Record Shop and I bought another music book. Larry bought a steel guitar CD. As in most old towns, the new and the old run up against each other. We walked by the Ryman Auditorium (the old Grand Old Opry) but didn't take the tour. The photo of Minnie Pearle and Roy Acuff was taken in the lobby of 
this great old music hall. We ate lunch at the Wildhorse Saloon and then headed back to the parking lot to go to Opryland.
Opryland acres houses the Grand Old Opry, The Opryland Hotel and a huge shopping mall called Opry Mills. We're going to the Grand Old Opry Friday night (Trace Atkins and T.G. Sheppard, not to mention Little Jimmy Dickens and Riders of the Sky); and the Opryland Hotel is on our agenda for
Saturday. We did go to the mall. It's anchors are Bass Pro Shop (note the photo of Larry and a big ole catfish), Barnes & Noble, Apple Barn Cider Bar and General Store, among several more. The restraurants were the Aquarium Restaurant, Rainforest Cafe, Romano's Macaroni Grill and Tony Roma's Steakhouse, not to mention my favorite Johnny Rockets. There is also a Gibson Guitar store complete with a shop where they make them. It would cost about $300 to replace my $30 
guitar I bought 40 years ago. So I just bought new strings. We ate at
the Aquarium as you can tell by the photos. The big flat nosed fish is a shovel nosed guitar shark named Gibson. The theater in the mall houses 20 theaters one of which is an IMAX complete with a 3D show.
Today, after planning our week, we put the jet ski in the water and took a drive up the river. It was a beautiful day if you don't count the heat and humidity. We were on the water so it was comfortable.
Tomorrow and Friday are hang around camp days - laundry, grocery shopping, swimming and jet skiing. The Nissan plant tour was booked so we won't be making that one. We're also going to go to the Crook and Chase show Wednesday afternoon and a Civil War tour Monday. Hoping to work in the Purity Dairy tour sometime (free ice cream).
First off, we're in Nashville now, but I wanted to finish some things from our last camp ground.
The birds were extremely noisy - just the way I like it. We saw blue birds and one indigo bunting; but we heard many other warbles/song birds - they were beautiful. Also, we had a pair of house wrens trying to build a nest in our fifth wheel attachment. I stuck a T-shirt into the hole, but they were still building. Discovered there were holes in the bottom of the fifth wheel they were going into. Pushed the T-shirt further down so that the holes were covered but they found a niche around the T-shirt as shown in the photo. Larry had been trying to deter them by keeping it clean - but they were determined. So we finally let it go and just drove off the next morning - 240 miles and we haven't seen them since.
On our last day at T.O. Fuller State Park, which was originally built in the 1930's by the CCC and called the Shelby County Negro Park, I washed windows and we washed and waxed the front of the camper.
We had met a couple from Florida earlier in the week and they were tired from traveling so much and hadn't gone into town at all. I told them where we had gone grocery shopping so the next day they ventured out to buy food. When they got there, Doug told his wife "We ain't getting out of the truck." So they drove another 15 miles to a Wal-Mart on the other side of town. I don't think I have mentioned it, but the area we're in is at the edge of a very black part of Memphis (hence the original name of the park). Actually, I don't think we saw a white part of Memphis until we went to visit Larry's friend. That area reminded me of the College Hill area of Wichita. Made me think that Larry and I were pretty adventurous.
And I have found that I can't upload my blues band video - it's either a corrupt file or an unfamiliar format. Worked once - don't know why it won't now.
Now, on to our children, because they have lots going on in their lives too. I want to let you know that Larry's first born, Greg, lives in Washington close to Yakama. He married about 5 years ago and has been a diligent, hard worker, building and remodeling homes in the area. They just bought their first home. We are really proud of how well he turned out considering he got two parents who were not well versed in raising children. That he has turned out well is a credit to him and him alone (and maybe a good woman).
Our daughters have been busy too. Rebecca, the oldest of the two, for the last two years has been taking full college hours, with a full time job working 40 hours a week, and raising two boys - 3 if you count William, her husband, as most of us women like to count them as part of the raising process. She also joined Weight Watchers with me two years ago and lost 60 lbs while doing all of the above (I lost 50). Rebecca has now graduated from Cowley County Community College with a 4.0 GPA AND graduated Summa Cum Laude. Now she will be working with Wichita State University to complete her degree.
Trina, our baby, has been working really hard to get into the Wichita Police Academy. She passed all of the interviews and the obstacle course. All she had left was to run 1 1/2 miles under 14 minutes. She tried 4 times and finally made it today in 13.35 minutes. Classes start July 7th and last for 22 weeks. Her work has been very supportive of her efforts, too. After she passed the Command interview, the one with the police chief and several Lieutenants, the next morning she came into work where she was presented with a dozen donuts. If you want to keep track of her, a link to her blog is on this one. Trina attended Pratt Community College in 1997 on a volleyball scholarship and also graduated Summa Cum Laude.
We arrived here at Cedar Creek Corp of Engineer Park yesterday about 2:30, set up camp and went to eat. We're about 20 miles from downtown Nashville and 4 miles from the local Dairy Queen. Came right back to camp and went swimming. The park has a swimming area and a boat ramp. We're on the Cumberland River but it looks like a lake here - nothing like the Arkansas River or the Mississippi River. No current that we can see and much cleaner. It looks like Tablerock Lake - a wide river.
We did lots of stuff today and spent too much money, but I'll wait until tomorrow to put that in print.
Yesterday, while sitting around camp (after doing laundry), Larry and I decided to walk the park trail. The trail starts right at our campground site and I thought would end at the visitor's center. However, about a third of the way there we came out on a paved road. The trail wasn't very clean - lots of spider webs and some sort of green leafed plant than made us itch at the time but didn't amount to much later. So we decided to take the paved road and head back to camp. Took Clorox rags and wiped us down to get rid of any residue from plants. Did the tic inspection (which is always fun) and showered to get rid of anything we missed. So far, I have one chigger bite - not too bad considering the ground we walked.
Today we went to Beale Street. Beale Street has been around since 1841. 
It was the headquarters for Grant during the Civil War in the western Tennessee engagements. It's heyday was in the 1920's when the area took on a carnival atmosphere and gambling, drinking, prostitution, murder and voodoo thrived alongside booming nightclubs, theaters, restaurants, stores, pawnshops and hot music. Memphis is the home of the blues and the birthplace of rock 'n roll and it all started here on Beale Street.
We arrived there around 2:00 and headed straight to The Rendezvous, a BBQ place that came highly recommended. We had to go down an alley and then go downstairs. A really neat place and I don't think there was a waiter there under 40 - all black - all very friendly. The food was really good but I still like Hog Wild best.
I
expected to find at least a couple of good music stores on Beale St. Pretty much all that's there are blues bars. There was one music store but the selection of music books was pretty much narrowed down to blues - go figure. We did go to one general store call A. Schwab that has been there since 1876. They had a little bit of everything - from bras to candy - it was pretty interesting. Since we were there late afternoon, there really wasn't much happening. Most of the music doesn't start until around 8:30 or 9. Hard Rock said their band didn't start until 10:00.
We were really thirsty so we dropped into Hard Rock Cafe and sat at the bar. I had a beer (just to keep up appearances) and Larry had a Pepsi. Got a glass of water too and used the restrooms and we were on our way again. We went to the Pepsi Park, on Beale St, and found a place to enjoy an outdoor group. I had a short video but it wouldn't upload. I don't know if it didn't like the format or it was my weak signal. Maybe when I get closer to a town and can upload it.
Memphis also has trolleys so we rode one. These are the original
trolleys from early Memphis that have been refurbished.
This weekend we expect to sit around camp and head out for Nashville Monday morning.
fought at night.
After touring this home, we went downtown to Monell's for lunch. This is a family style serving restaurant set in the original jail house of Williamson County. The food was excellent - pan fried chicken, meat loaf, 3 different salads, cheese grits with sausage, corn pudding (creamed corn to me), mashed potatoes, green beans, sweet potatoes & apples, field peas, biscuits, cornbread, peach preserves and bread pudding for dessert.
the McGavick family - still today, being the largest of them. There were around 400 wounded men laid around in various rooms in this home which is located about 1 mile from the Carter house. Four dead generals were laid out on the porch. Many more had to be placed in the surrounding yard in the cold weather. There was so much blood in different rooms of the home from the areas where the surgeons stood trying to save lives and perform amputations that there are permanent blood stains in the floors. Historians feel that these were areas of surgery because they usually worked in front of a window where they could discard the amputated limb outside immediately after being removed. Carrie McGavick, the mistress of the home, walked among the wounded and dieing trying to administer aid and comfort. She was so well known for the work she did that one man she talked to years later said he had named his first born daughter after her. 
For all you Kansan's, this is a photo of an Osage Orange on the plantation. It's about 150 years old. I don't know about any of you, but I've never seen one this big. This one is a little more than part of a wind break in a row of trees around a wheat field.
cement headstones with a number, sometimes initials, on them. She could reference the number to a name in most cases. There is also an area 
where many "unknowns" are buried. The cemetery is laid out by states - all southern. Mississippi had the most causalities at this battle. A total of 1,481 Confederate soldiers are buried in this special place along with the McGavick family. 
Later this evening, Larry and I built a small fire and roasted some hot dogs. Mighty good eating. I
wanted to take pictures of the fire flies in our camp area. There are tons of them but they didn't seem to show up too well in photos. I have found out that the Ladybug and the Fire Fly are the state's insects. 
