A Little Stop in Harper's Ferry

I really don't have anything political to write about today, so I'll post some photos and commentary about a family trip to Harper's Ferry that we took in August.  

Harper's Ferry is rich in history and is very beautiful.  AND it's in West Virginia.  Imagine that.  The small town is mostly well-known for John Brown's raid, but there are many other things that we found interesting.

The Appalachian Trail winds through Harper's Ferry.  Check out this sign.  I thought it was pretty cool.  Maine is only 1,165 miles away.  Georgia is actually closer.

This tie was used by Union Troops during the Civil War.  Troops hammered in the tie and tied ropes to it, swam to the other side and used it to ferry boats across the Potomac River while under fire from the Confederates.  The tie was hammered into the stone foundation of the railroad bridge and remains there 150 years later.

Most of Harper's Ferry was destroyed during the Civil War as it changed hands several times and was subject to plundering and reckless hooliganism.  I'll pretend that this is what it looked like in 1861.  Minus the Dodge Caravan in the bottom right hand corner.  And the window air conditioning units.

These are the two railroad bridges that span the Potomac River into Maryland.  Both are still in use, more than 150 years later.  There was a bridge on the Shenandoah River side, but only the stone piers remain.

I found this tid-bit of history interesting.  Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark fame passed through Harper's Ferry to get the boats that were used to explore the west, as commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson. Little did they know that their likenesses would be used on the back of the dime.

This series of pictures is really cool.  I guess someone had some extra rocks, some spare time, and a nice sense of creativity.  I wonder which brand of beer was involved.  I actually went into their yard to take these pictures, but I'm sure I'm not the only one to do this.

This is the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers.  It's hard to look at this picture and not sing Country Roads by John Denver.  Almost heaven, West Virginia, Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River.  You're humming it now, aren't you?

If you go to Harper's Ferry, make sure you stop at the Hannah's Train Depot and get some barbecue.  The restaurant is in an old Pullman train car.  It's amazing, the food that is.  And don't forget to get some ice cream at Scoops Ice Cream Cafe and shop at the little boutiques along the side roads.  Support small businesses!!!

Vicksburg 1863

I recently finished reading Vicksburg 1863 by Winston Groom and I was absolutely fascinated with this book. When it comes to the Civil War, living in Maryland offers a complex view of the war. Furthermore, I think our view may be somewhat distorted.

If you're dumb, you probably don't read this blog in the first place, but I'll give a short background to help you recall this from American history class. Many people consider Maryland a "Southern" state because it is below the Mason Dixon line. I say, "Whatever...". Maryland's economy is more like a northern economy. The weather is more like a northern state. The terrible drivers are more like a northern state.

Though Maryland was a slave state, she never seceded from the Union during the Civil War, or as they say in the South, 'the War of Northern Aggression'. This secession probably didn't happen because the Federal government is in our backyard in D.C. and many Southern sympathizers, like the Mayor of Baltimore and the Baltimore City Council, were arrested and held in prison until war's end. I wish we could think of a good reason to do that again!

Maryland's most famous battle, if not its only battle, was the Battle of Antietam in Washington County. The state did see some other minor skirmishes, but mostly the state provided the roads which Robert E. Lee, JEB Stuart, A.P. Hill, Jubal Early, and Longstreet used on their way to Harrisburg and Philadelphia, plans which were cut short at Gettysburg.

Living only 40 minutes form Gettysburg, we go up there at least once per year. It really is an interesting battlefield. There you will hear stories about how Gettysburg served as the turning point of the war. Never again did the Rebels try to cross the Potomac River. This may be true, but after reading Vicksburg 1863, I have a different opinion on the importance of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Interestingly, the Battle of Gettysburg occurred during the same weekend that Vicksburg surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant after a long siege. The difference between these two battles is that at Gettysburg, Lee's army was rebuffed and he lost a lot of soldiers and artillery that he could not spare. Vicksburg, on the other hand, saw the surrender of tens of thousands of soldiers AND artillery that were removed from the war. Additionally, capturing Vicksburg finally gave the Union control of the Mississippi River, thus giving the states in the central plains (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota) a way to ship out their goods.

I did not realize that the battle for Vicksburg took so long. The Union attempted to take this town on the bluff for many months, many times by water, from the north, then from the East. Thousands of soldiers on both sides lost their lives. Vicksburg was basically left in ruins after the siege, after which many towns and cities in the South also saw total destruction in the wake of General Sherman and his March to the Sea.

So, if you like history, or are even mildly interested in it, this book is really well written and is a great read. Check it out!

Trip to Gettysburg

With a four day weekend, I made sure it was action-packed. While the kids were at school on Friday, I began with a stunning marathon of reading and a DVD movie, I could hardly contain my excitement. Oh, and I did a little cleaning. If you worked on Friday, I know you're jealous.

Saturday we planned on going to my SIL's for steamed crabs. She asked us to come early so that the kids could play together. My nephew is always begging for the kids to come over and play. I borought the Darjeeling Limited thinking that my almost 16 year-old niece would want to watch it. Instead, she wanted to watch Instant-Runway (I think), and then some other garbage. What is with kids these days? Doesn't anyone want to watch reruns of the Rockford Files anymore? What's with all this "reality" crap? I broke ranks and went downstairs in the basement and took a nap. I needed one anyway.

The crabs were good. I engorged myself. I think I ate a dozen. I'm still suffering the side-effects of that one. In fact, anyone that's within a 6 foot vicinity of me is still suffering, too. Dear God! There went another one.

Sunday we spent at home. My wife did the laundry and I spent most of the morning trying to finish my book on Oppenheimer. I did finish it. But apparently my digital mind-reading phasers must be on the fritz because later that day she hollered at me for sitting around reading all day rather than helping her. "Why didn't you just ask me to help you?" "You know there's work to be done!" "There's also 65 more pages of Oppenheimer that need to get read. Just tell me these things!"

At the end of the day I suggested that we go somewhere on Monday. At first she brought up Gettysburg. (I didn't even bring it up. The hypnosis must still be working!) She then suggested Hapersferry, WV, which was fine. After searching on the Internet for things to see and do, she changed her mind and went back to Gettysburg.

We left around 9am and strolled into Gettysburg around 10-ish. A new Gettysburg visitors' center and museum just opened to take the place of the perfectly fine Gettysburg visitors' center and museum 2 blocks away. Just our luck. A tour bus from a senior center pulled up as we were walking to door. Again, we'll be jockying for position with the Rascals. The museum was nice, but a bit narrow and when you add a couple hundred Mildred's, Ethyl's, and Herbert's, it was a very claustrophobic.

At one point my 6 year-old son points to a portrait on the wall and asks, "Is that Thomas Jefferson?" You can only image the pride in my heart. I even felt the wetness of a tear in the corner of my eye. At another point, my daughter asks, "What houses have we visited so far this year?", to which my son quickly responded, "James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington." He's already smarter than the average American.


We finished the tour and strolled through the bookstore and gift shop. My daughter picked up her usual souvenir spoon. My son was torn between the miniature parrot gun and the Cavalry hat, but that didn't stop him from asking about every other item in the entire gift shop. "Ooo! Can I get this, too?!!!" He decided on the parrot gun. (No, it has nothing to do with parrots). I found some books that I wanted - four to be sure. And my daughter coaxed me into getting some crafty sign that said something like, "Great kids always have wonderful mothers." Is this to mean they have absentee fathers? What's the deal?

After the museum we toured the battlefield. I've been there before and I think we were there last year. I think we've toured a different section each time. This time we were on the south side of Cemetary Ridge. The Minnesota and Pennsylvania militias each have impressive monuments there. We even went up in the Pennsylvania Monument, which has a small metal spiral staircase, which totally freaked out my son and wife. My daughter, on the other hand, thought it would be funny to lean over the side when we got to the top. My wife's heart was racing and her legs were jelly. She said she couldn't walk right for 1/2 an hour. We broke for lunch at Pizza Hut and downed the best Pizza Hut pizza we've had in years.

After lunch we headed over to the Gettysburg Outlets, the most exciting part of our trip. I spotted a Civil War store there and my son and I browsed. The patron of the store was a bit fancy, to say the least. However, he was in dire need of some free advise on how to dress - even from a straight guy. What's that new show on Fox? Straight Eye for the Queer Guy? After leaving the store my son commented how funny the guy was dressed. He had on bright yellow short-shorts (who wears short-shorts?), a turquoise 1/2 sleeve shirt, turquoise socks pulled all the way up the calves, and turquoise Crocs. Oh, and the 70's Freddie Mercury mustache. Super fancy. And this in a store that sells Conferderate flags and bomb shell fragments. Based on this experience, I fully expected to see an overweight biker dude working at Limited Too.

My son was begging me to get something. I decided against the Confederate Flag hat and the framed calendar pages. We did spot some authentic ammunition. Each was labeled: grape shot, bullets, musket balls, and dropped shot. I asked him was dropped shot was. In the most condescending tone, "(sigh), it's ammunition that they drop as they are marching." Well, duh!!! Okay, I thought maybe it had to do with the production process or something, but I'm just a dumb old tourist in a non-offending outfit.

So I got my son a regular old bullet. It was $3.18. I handed the guy a $5. Then before I could get change, he had already rung it up. $1.82 in change. I handed him the quarter and told him this would help save some of his change. Here's how it transpired:

"(sigh!) 5-25?"
"Yes." (long pause - he's just standing there staring at the cash register) "that's 2-0-7 in change." "Let's see.....25......"
"2-0-7"
"(sigh)...what?"
"5-25 minus 3-18 is 2-0-7."
"(Sigh), (with nose scrunched up and the condescending voice), if you say so!"

In fact I do say so you dumb asshole. I shouldn't be mean. If he's was any smarter he wouldn't be working at the cash register, right?

Other highlights of the shopping included snagging 2 Nautica collared shirts for $14 a piece and some hot chick in a really short dress crouching down facing me split-leg, right next to my son to look at something on the bottom shelf. I mean, I had to keep an eye on my son, right? And it's not my fault she unabashedly showed me a clear shot to the moon and back, right? Perhaps she was hitting on my son. He is a good looking kid. Though I should probably be worried if hot girls in the early 20's are already hitting on him.

After about 3 hours we head home. On the way home after Littlestown and across the Maryland line we pass Charles Carroll High School, which is now Charles Carroll Elementary School. I convinced my wife to stop so I could take a couple pictures of it. She said it was like giving crack to a drug addict. Please. Just because I'm documenting history. I'll be the last one laughing when I write a book on the history of high schools in Carroll County and sign a million dollar book deal. Anyway, I didn't know there was an old high school up there. That makes 5 former high schools in Carroll County that I am aware of - Taneytown HS, Charles Carroll HS, Sykesville HS, Manchester HS, and the old Robert Moton HS for Negros in Westminster. Does anyone know anything about any of these schools?

How was your weekend?

Civil War In Maryland

I love history, but must admit that most of my history reading has been concentrated on the Revolutionary War and World War II. I have only read a handful of books about the Civil War, including The Civil War in Maryland by Daniel Carroll Toomey, Killer Angels, the historical novel by Michael Shaara, The Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, and Never Call Retreat, the historical fiction by Newt Gingrich.

And I think I have a unique perspective on the Civil War. I live in Maryland, which some consider the South (yeah, whatever!), while others consider it the North. I consider it the mid-Atlantic. Maryland was occupied by the Union during the Civil War, at least Baltimore and Washington, D.C. were. I went to college in South Carolina. And let me tell you, the Civil War is not over for many of them. And it is not called the Civil War (what's so civil about war, anyway?). They commonly refer to it as the War of Northern Aggression. And the war was not about slavery. It was about states' rights. Okay, if that's what you want to believe. It's a moot point because Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant, the United States won the war, and freed the slaves (at least in theory). This is why Republican President Abraham Lincoln is often considered one of the best Presidents ever. Yes, a Republican freed the slaves. Not a Democrat. The Democrats fought viciously to maintain slavery. Funny how that is, isn't it?

On Friday my wife informed me that there was going to be a Civil War Encampment reenactment in Westminster, Maryland. Maryland only saw one major batter during the Civil War - Antietam. There were, however, several skirmishes. And Maryland saw both the Union and the Confederacy columns rolling through prior to and after the Battle of Gettysburg. Many of these Confederate columns ran right through Carroll County. One of those columns was led by Major General J.E.B. Stuart of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.

When General Stuart's column got to Westminster, he came under fire from a Delaware regiment led by Captain Charles Corbit. Stuart's column had about 5,000 soldiers. Corbit's regiment had about 90. The skirmish lasted about 2 hours and ran through the streets of downtown historical Westminster. Obviously, Corbit was outnumbered and eventually defeated.

Some have said that because Corbit held up the column for 2 hours, the Confederates were exhausted from the fighting and decided to rest a day before heading the rest of the way up to Gettysburg (about a 20 minute drive north of Westminster). This prevented them from being engaged in the first day of the battle. Had Stuart been there when the battle started, the Confederates may have been able to push the union off of Cemetery Ridge and defeated them, thus possibly ending the Civil War early and on their terms. Fortunately, fate fell into the Union's hands that day in June, 1863.

By the way, these pictures were taken in Sepia on my Nikon D40x. Do you like?

Mayor of Baltimore Arrested

On May 25, because of political actions against the government of the United State of America, the Mayor of Baltimore, in addition to the Chief of Police, the Police Commissioner, 31 members of the Maryland State Senate, and judges and newspapers editors were arrested.

Again on September 13-17, members of the Maryland Legislature gathered in Frederick City with devious plans. These traitors were arrested for being disloyal to their government.

Unfortunately, this news is not coming to us in 2007. This news is from 1861, as told by Daniel Carroll Toomey in his book, The Civil War in Maryland. The actions of our current legislature could land many in jail during the 1860's, but not now. Their behavior is endorsed and supported. One could only hope that our treacherous politicians would be facing such charges here in the 21st century.

In addition, election shenanigans are not new to Maryland. We are all familiar with the fraudulent gubernatorial election in Baltimore City when Parris Glendening ran. Lots of dead people voted for him.

In October of 1861, Augustus W. Bradford was elected, with the help of many Massachusetts soldiers that were stationed in the area to keep the peace.

Funny how history keeps repeating itself. And did I mention that history repeats itself?