As we started our journey along the Natchez Trace Parkway, stories of the Old South blossomed and I received the historical education which I have heard so much about. The Civil War's Western Theater unfolds in the battles fought east of the Mississippi with the bloodiest battle fought in Shiloh, and the siege of the major city of Vicksburg.
What a way to learn. I was never a good history student, but seeing the remnants of this bloody war, which took the lives of more than 620,000 Americans will forever be imprinted in my soul.
Starting at Natchez, we followed the Trace, the most significant highway of the Old Southwest. The Trace spans 444 miles crossing 3 states, starting in Natchez, MS, crossing the Tennessee River in AL and ending in Nashville, TN where Meriwether Lewis' monument stands commemorating his death along this Trace.
Our journey started in Natchez at ground zero. We veered off to the Vicksburg battle grounds, then back to the Trace. Missed Elvis' birthplace in Tupelo, but visited Shiloh, the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. Then veered off again to Memphis to see Graceland. Back to the Trace to pay homage at the Meriwether Lewis gravesite, and finally ending in Nashville to visit with the rest of the Pfuntner's!
What a trip this has been.
The Trace from | |
Up the Tennessee River to "Bloody Shiloh"
The horrible sights that I have witnessed on this field I can never describe. No blaze of glory, that flashes around the magnificent triumphs of war, can ever atone for the unwritten and unutterable horrors of the scene of carnage.
Brigadier General James A. Garfield, U.S. Army of the Ohio
(20th president of the United States)
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