Cycling the Underground Railroad
DAY 17: Counce to Crump, Tennessee
I'm finding that the day after a storm passes through is often a good day to ride. Today was cool, with a bit of a headwind, but sunny. No worries about rain today.
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| Antique Mall in Counce, Tennessee |
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| If walls could talk.... |
On the main thoroughfare for just a few miles, the Underground Railroad route took me on back country roads, the destination being Shiloh National Military Park. I passed the cabin above with an old well in front, and wondered what stories the wall could tell.
Last night's storms dumped a lot of rain, and there were weather alerts for flooding still in effect this morning. Twice my way was blocked. The white in the far left of the photo below is what one could see of the bridge over the creek. All told, these impasses cost me about 5 additional miles of riding.
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| That's my route that's covered in water (flooding) from last night's storm. |
The Battle of Shiloh was fought on April 6 and 7, 1862 (about the same time of year as now), at the beginning of the Civil War. It was the hope of the Union Army to cripple the major Confederate rail lines and control the Mississippi Valley, thereby bringing a quick end to the war. While the Union did defeat the Southern armies here, causing them to retreat, it would be three more years of bloody fighting before the war would end.
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| Interesting and sobering afternoon at Shiloh Battlefield, Tennessee |
110,000 soldiers participated in this two-day battle, and almost 24,000 were either wounded, killed or missing in action--more than all the casualties of all the American wars combined up to this point in history.
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| One of many memorials at Shiloh. |
I learned so much here, as I did in Montgomery. The Visitors Center presented an almost hour long film that takes the audience hour by hour through the battle, introducing key characters, along with dramatized first hand accounts.
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| Wonderful display and film at the Visitor's Center. Learned a lot! |
Several people who were part of this battle became well-known:
* General Ulysses Grant and Brigadier General James Harrison would both become President of the United States.
* Captain John Powell would lose an arm at Shiloh, still becoming one of the greatest explorers of the American Southwest, and the first American to run the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.
* Major General Lew Wallace would become famous for writing the great Biblical novel, Ben Hur.
* Henry M. Stanley, a Confederate infantry soldier, would become a reporter after the war, and find the missionary Dr. David Livingston in the jungles of Africa.
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| The Underground Railroad was present here, with Harriet Tubman and the "Contraband Camps" set up by the Union Army to protect escaping slaves. |
I found several connections to the Underground Railroad here as well. Prior to the Emancipation Proclamation in April 1863, when all slaves were given status as free persons, those slaves who escaped during the war, while not technically "free," were considered "contraband," and were protected by the Union Army. "Contraband Camps" were set up to house. feed and even educate Blacks who crossed over.
Harriet Tubman, perhaps one of the most well-known figures on the Underground Railroad, was featured in a display:
"* Known for ushering slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad.
*Set up a vast espionage ring for the Union during the Civil War.
*Traveled to South Carolina in 1862 where she served as a nurse and teacher for newly liberated slaves in Contraband Camps."
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| Some very informative first person accounts of those who escaped slavery. |
At the Park bookstore I found this booklet of first hand stories and other accounts of those who braved escaping to freedom on the Underground Railroad. I'm looking forward to reading a little of it every day for the rest of my journey.
Today's Mileage: 29.2
Total Distance to date: 625 miles
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