Besieged!

Vicksburg, Mississippi

One of our last stops as we travelled back to Texas was Vicksburg, a city on the banks of the Mississippi River in western Mississippi. This was the site of the siege of Vicksburg, in which the Union forces successfully attempted to capture the city in order to gain control of the traffic along the river. Once this was accomplished, it was a great victory for the North, and an awful defeat for the Confederates.

Vicksburg today is, of course, much different than it was back in those days, but besides the changes that men have wrought, the river has changed position as well. It is perhaps well known that the Mississippi changes its course over the years, and here it has actually moved farther away from Vicksburg.

Our destination in this place was Vicksburg National Military Park, which we found to be very interesting. Unlike the small monuments we saw in Georgia (see "Southern Monuments") at Vicksburg we found very large monuments for states on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line. One of these worthy of mention was that of Illinois, which was modelled after the Parthenon in Greece. Illinois's claim to fame, of course, is that it was the home of the U.S. president Abraham Lincoln, and around the building one can read that famous quote from him, viz: "With malice towards none, with charity for all: Let us have peace." I don't believe Mr. Lincoln's character was quite as pristine as people make it out to be when they use that quote, but that's beside the point. The Illinois monument was very masterfully carved, and above the door was a golden eagle. Upon walking up the steps to the monument, one may walk inside and view the inscriptions within. It is fashioned as a dome, with a hole in the top. Altogether it was very interesting looking and majestic.

All the monuments were very large, and some bore interesting inscriptions. I have already posted the text of the Texas monument (see "Remembering Our Soldiers") and I found the text from the Arkansas monument to be interesting as well: "To the Arkansas Confederate soldiers, a part of a nation divided by the sword, and reunited at the altar of faith."

Besides the many great monoliths erected in memory of the soldiers who fell upon the battlefield, there is also a museum there which showcases an actual Union ironclad ship that was sunk in the waters of the Mississippi and pulled out years later. During the siege, several of these ironclad warships were sent past Vicksburg during the night, trying to sneak past the Confederates who were guarding the river. All but one of these made it, the U.S.S. Cairo being sunk by a mine.

Outside the museum we saw the ship itself, and although much of its wood has rotted away, some still remains to complement the iron armour, cannons, and engine. Inside the museum one may see all the different artefacts that were found in the ship when they pulled it up, and it all gives a sense for what life was like in those not so long ago days.

As we left the park, I photographed one last monument which gave a list of the states which fought for the Southern cause:

Confederate Army

Alabama
Arkansas
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
Louisiana
Missouri
Maryland
Mississippi
North Carolina
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia

"That's All, Folks"

This is the last of my thirteen blog posts about our trip to North Carolina! I hope you enjoyed reading them. However, now that I've gotten into this routine of blogging every Friday, I'm starting to think, "why not keep it up?" So, I will keep on posting every week on into 2007. I may post stories, poems, or songs that I've written, pictures I've drawn, narrations for school, interesting thoughts, and whatever else I think would make a good blog post.
Hope you have a wonderful new year, and please continue to read BenjaBlog!

(Not sure when the new millennium started? Read "The Y2K Bug".)

Cypress Trees & Bayous

(Originally published in the Wilderness Explorers newsletter)

Harrison County, Texas

We were glad to be back in Texas. After having gallivanted all over the southern states and as far east as North Carolina, we were overjoyed to see that sign on the state line as we left Louisiana—“Drive Friendly, the Texas Way”! Other places are nice to visit, but there’s just no place like the Lone Star State.

Our final camping-out destination for the trip was Caddo Lake State Park near Karnack, Texas, just across the border. Although off the beaten path, this was a place we really wanted to see, since Caddo Lake is the biggest, if not the only, natural lake in Texas.

By the time we got there it was dark, but the next morning we got a good look at the place. Being in far east Texas, the trees were very tall, and there were so many kinds! It was just neat to actually be in a forest, since we don’t really have those in our neck of the woods.

That morning as we were packing up the tent, we found a very gigantic millipede. It was so big it looked like it must have escaped from the zoo! But there it was, crawling among the dry leaves. I did pick it up, knowing of course that centipedes sting, not millipedes.

After breakfast we decided to go canoeing. Upon inquiring at the park headquarters, we learned that Caddo Lake proper was a good distance down the bayou from the state park, and that it would take us a few hours if we expected to make it that far.

But we rented a couple of canoes anyway, and paddled out across Saw Mill Pond. This pond (a view of which is pictured above) was unlike any pond I had ever seen before. There was a great abundance of cypress trees, and estimating the size of the pond was very difficult due to this fact. As we were pushing off from the shore, we saw a great blue heron (Ardea herodias) standing among the lily pads, the same type of bird of which I wrote in the January 2006 issue. I was in possession of the camera at that time, and I was able to get a few pictures of the curly-necked bird.

Although much of the pond was covered with lily pads (whether native or not, I do not know), there was a path carved through them which led out of Saw Mill Pond to the bayou. You can ask Deborah about lily pads; she has a great dislike for them due to a bad experience at Fort Parker State Park.

Once we left the pond to paddle the bayou, however, there were no more lily pads. When we reached Big Cypress Bayou, we went to our left, the opposite direction from Caddo Lake. The bayou was very wide and deep, and lined with cypress trees on both sides.

Nearly all the cypress trees there were decked with Spanish moss, which gave them an old, gray appearance. Although the moss anchors itself to the branches of these trees, it is not a parasite, as might be expected. In fact, its roots serve merely to hold onto the branch, and the moss gets all the nourishment it needs from the air.

By all appearances, the bayou along which we were paddling seemed much like a river. In fact, until just recently I did not know the difference between these two terms. Although both bayous and rivers are channels of water, the difference is that bayous flow very slowly (some even contain stagnant water), whereas rivers are usually faster-moving. Also, bayous tend to be wide, and rivers come in all sizes.

After we had gone a good ways down the bayou, we went under a bridge. Shortly after that we decided to turn back and start heading back to the pond.

As we turned our canoes and reentered Saw Mill Pond, we spied a heron among the lily pads, presumably the same one we had seen earlier. As Deborah and I were fighting our way through the lily pads on an alternate route (how did Daddy talk us into that?), Mommy had the camera and was closely following the movements of the bird, waiting for it to take flight. Finally it did, and she was able to get an excellent photograph of the heron in mid-air, along with a splash of water.

Once the canoes were landed, we decided to go on the nature trail not too far off. The trail led through the forest among the tall trees, and here and there were interpretive signs, alerting us to the fact that we had just entered a different vegetation zone, and containing other pieces of information.

Having already looked at the map, I decided to take the trail labeled “Steep Rugged Footpath”, which led away from the nature trail. Daddy went with me, and Deborah and Mommy continued following the nature trail and went back to get the car. We agreed to meet them at the other end of the Steep Rugged Footpath, where it met the road.

Although the trail had a formidable title, for us who are used to hiking mountains in New Mexico, this one was easy to conquer. It did go uphill for a while, but it was nothing too difficult. As we went along, I marvelled at all the different types of trees and plants that were there, and took pictures of some of them. At one point along the trail I even spotted a five-lined skink (Eumeces fasciatus), with a bright blue tail. We don’t see skinks very often around here, and as far as I know there is only one species of skink in Parker County, the ground skink. It’s not every day that you see a lizard with a blue tail, and although I pursued it with the camera, it got away from me.

Daddy and I soon arrived at our point of rendezvous, and were soon picked up by Deborah and Mommy. Although we could have stayed longer at the state park, we had everything packed up already, and we were ready to head home. So once we were back in the car we left the state park, although we had one more stop we wanted to make before we headed west.

On the park map, I saw an arrow pointing north next to FM 2198, which was labeled “To Uncertain”. Having heard of that place before, I knew what it meant, and I was eager to go. There is nothing spectacular about Uncertain, Texas, but even though it was a little out of our way, we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to visit this little town when we were so close.

So to Uncertain we went, although we weren’t sure how far up the road it was. We knew for sure that we had reached it, however, when we saw the city limit sign. We couldn’t resist the chance, and we all got out to take our picture by the sign.

After that, we were really ready to go home. We bade farewell to east Texas, and drove west, back to our home in Parker County.

Tsalagi

Cherokee, North Carolina

It was raining and foggy as we drove through the mountains and crossed the border into the Cherokee Indian Reservation. Through the mist I spied a torch burning upon a sign which read, in Cherokee letters, "Detsvyadanilvga — Tsalagi Aniyvwiyasdv Atselovi". Under this, in English, it said "Welcome — Cherokee Indian Reservation". I had been looking forward to going to this place, and I was certainly not disappointed. I was delighted to see the bilingual sign welcoming us, and as we drove through town there were even more signs in Cherokee. The Cherokee Hardware & Building Supply had "Tsalagi Anesgesdodi" emblazoned at the top of its sign, and nearly every street sign in the reservation was bilingual! I thought it was so cool to see "Tsali Tsuwasohisdi" printed under "Tsali Boulevard", and "Lii Tela" under "Lee Taylor Rd".

The interesting thing about the Cherokee language is that it is not written with the Roman alphabet, but has its own syllabary. The Cherokee syllabary was most likely devised in the early 1800's by George Guess (Ssiquaya), a monolingual Cherokee. He borrowed some letters from the Roman alphabet, but gave them completely different sounds. An example of this is the word "Tsalagi", which means "Cherokee". In the syllabary it looks very similar to "CWY".

While in Cherokee we worshiped with the congregation of the Lord's church there, and found that several of the members were native speakers of the language. That afternoon we visited the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, which we found to be very interesting. It followed the history of the Cherokee people, from the time when they lived in their ancestral homelands, until most of them were forced to go to Indian Territory on the Trail of Tears. The Cherokees that are in North Carolina today are descendants of those Cherokees who were able to remain, for various reasons.

After we went through the exhibits, we had to look in the gift shop. My sister bought a hat with "Tsalagi" embroidered on it, I found a patch, and also—the most exciting of all—I bought a Cherokee New Testament! It is a reprint of the original that was printed in the 1800's, and is printed entirely in the Cherokee syllabary. It is black, with gold letters on the front reading "Itse Kanohedv Datlohisdv". Although I do not know Cherokee, I can read (but not understand) it with some difficulty.

As we left the reservation continuing our journey, we saw a billboard encouraging speakers of Cherokee to speak the language at home. Visiting the Cherokees was a very interesting experience, and I am glad that they are working to preserve their language for the generations to come. For more information about the Cherokee language and other Native American tongues, visit my website at www.hello-oklahoma.com.

Wow! Look at that!

We were in the cafeteria visiting at Freed-Hardeman University in Tennessee, when we spotted a very unusual sight. It was an 18-wheeler truck, hauling a flatbed trailer full of logs—big long logs! Of course it was just a logging truck passing through Henderson, a common sight there, but it was so foreign to us Texans because the only trees in Texas big enough for logging are in east Texas, and we don't even go there very often.

On our trek throughout the southern states, we saw a few more logging trucks, and even some lumberyards. This was just one thing that makes Texas different from the rest of the south. It seems that as you travel east from where we live, the trees get taller and taller, especially when you cross the Mississippi. We were constantly amazed by the great height of the trees in Tennessee and North Carolina.

Another thing that makes Texas unique (or makes everywhere else unique; it depends on your perspective) is the meaning of the word "barbecue". Mention this in Texas and people will get visions of brisket and chopped beef sandwiches, slathered with barbecue sauce. However, we have discovered that back east, barbecue is a whole 'nother deal. Sure, it has barbecue sauce, but they put it on pork! Can you imagine that?

Southern Monuments

Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia

As we drove through the Chickamauga battlefield at the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park, we noted the monuments that had been put up in honor of all the soldiers who had fought in that battle. There were simple and ornate ones, monuments of great size and others that were smaller. Some were in honor of all soldiers from a certain state, whereas others were in memory of those who fought in a certain brigade. All monuments, however, clearly displayed the pride of those who erected them in their fallen heroes, whether Union or Confederate. One very large monument is the one for the northern Wilder Brigade, pictured above. This colossal tower contains steps which lead up to the turret at the top. Much money and effort were apparently expended in order to create this magnificent memorial.

As we drove along one road through the park, the Union monuments were all placed on the right side of the road, and the Confederate ones on the left. We could not help but notice that those monuments erected by Northern states were very much more numerous than those on the other side, and also that the Northern monuments were often bigger and more elaborate.
As we speculated why this might have been the case, especially since we were in Georgia, we figured that most likely it was due to the Southern states not having money to built great and numerous monuments, as had the northerners done. Even though most of the monuments were built years after the war, the devastation was so great in the south that money for such things was not allocated.

As we drove through the park viewing all the monuments and the battlefield itself, we remembered our ancestors, who fought for what they believed in: the lost cause.

Across the Smokies

Tennessee & North Carolina

The day was fairly sunny in eastern Tennessee as we drove towards the Smoky Mountains, part of the Appalachian range. The great peaks loomed ahead of us, columns of mist rising from their slopes, as if many bonfires were raging there.

‘Twas from this that the mountains received their name, and it became no wonder to us as we entered the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Upon entering the park, we took Laurel Creek Road, which, as we figured, would take us straight to the Sugarlands Visitor Center. Although not as straight a shot as we expected, the winding road finally brought us there. In that area of the park, the mountains were not apparent since we were not yet in them, but the scenery was fantastic. One thing that never ceases to amaze us Texans is the size of the trees back east. They tower over you! You really have to put your head way back to see the top! And the trees here were no exception.

Besides the trees, there was also the roaring creek which the road followed. The water continuously rushed over the rocky stream bed, and many a family was fishing or playing in the water. We were content to watch as we drove by, since we were hoping to get to our campsite before dark to set up the tent.

Having visited the visitor center and procured a map, we set out on Newfound Gap Road. If you look at a map of the park, you will see that the national park is situated on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, and includes a good portion of both these states. Our campsite was located on the North Carolina side of the mountains, so we took this road, the only one which crosses the highest ridge of the mountains.

As we traveled in a south-easterly direction, we could tell we were getting higher in elevation, and every once in a while there would be an overlook where you could look out at the mountains. Also as we ascended, it was clear that it was getting more and more foggy. As we neared the top, there were even more overlooks, some of which we stopped at to take pictures.

By the time we reached the top, we were in the middle of a cloud. We could hardly see anything out the car windows, but finally I spotted the sign by the road—“North Carolina State Line”. We were finally in North Carolina! I had never been to this state before, but now I was in it.

From that point we were going downhill, with the road as windy as ever. At one point we were astonished to see a yellow diamond-shaped sign depicting a loopty-loop, roughly the shape of the path commonly traveled by a roller coaster. We then found the sign had not deceived us—soon thereafter the road turned a full circle, and we went through a tunnel going under the point in the road where the curve began! I had never seen the like before.

At length we finally arrived to our campsite—Smokemont—and set up our tent. Even there it was misty, causing a very interesting effect—I do not know how to describe it. The Oconaluftee River roared not far off, and although everything was very wet, the temperature was moderate.

We had, for the first time, crossed the Appalachians into one of the original thirteen states—North Carolina, where the Bruces lived back in the 1700’s.

         View more photos from the Great Smoky Mountains

I Have Returned

Or as I might say in the language which I am fond of using, ¡He vuelto! Yesterday we arrived home from our two-thousand mile trip in which we went through nine states and as far east as North Carolina. I had never seen four of the states we visited (North & South Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana), and it was truly a southern vacation. I guess the only southern states we missed were Virginia and Florida, which I would certainly like to visit someday.

Although the final destination of our journey was Flat Rock, North Carolina, we took our time getting there and getting back, and saw a great many interesting places along the way. We were going to Roundhouse, a family encampment for homeschoolers who are members of the church. Although we had long known of the event, until now we had not been able to go. However, this year we decided to make the journey east, in order to meet some like-minded folks and see what it was like.

The whole trip was both fun and interesting, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. As we traveled, things kept popping into my head that would make good topics for blog posts, so now that I’m home, I’m going to try something new. Every week, beginning Friday, I will have a new blog post about something interesting I encountered on our trip east. I have a list of thirteen things to write about (thirteen is a lucky number, at least for me), and I’ll try to do it every week. I will also be sharing some pictures from the trip. So check back often! I hope you like it. And by the way, how do you like the new blog color?

An activity

You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, but here it is: From my description of the places we went, which nine states did we go through? Here’s a hint: the number includes the state where I live, and it might help to look at a map of the Confederate States of America. Add a comment if you can figure it out!

Mission Tejas State Historical Park

Nearly thirty years before the Alamo was built in San Antonio, the Spaniards built a mission in an Indian village of East Texas. It was a village of the Nabedache Caddo, people who the Spaniards called Tejas after hearing the word táysha?, which in the language of the Caddo means “friend”.

The Spaniards called the mission San Francisco de los Tejas, and it was founded on the 24th of May, 1690—the first Spanish mission in Texas. Back then Texas was a province of the Spanish colony of New Spain, and the Catholic Spaniards were eager to begin converting the Indians to Catholicism. Although at first things went well for the new mission, after epidemics of European diseases broke out the Indians were not too pleased with the Spaniards. They reasoned correctly that the sickness was the fault of the foreigners, and after only three years, the Spaniards were forced to leave due to the hostility of the Indians, and they burned the mission as they left.

However, they would not be so easily chased out by the Indians. Having a mission in that part of Texas had two advantages—not only did it spread their religion to the people, but also it showed their dominance of the land, reminding other countries such as France that Texas was part of Spain. So, in 1716 they returned and rebuilt the mission. However, this one was also abandoned, and although it was established a third time in 1721, it was moved to San Antonio in 1731 and renamed San Francisco de la Espada.

* * * * *

Last month, we went on a short two-day vacation to East Texas. We visited three state parks. First we went to Caddoan Mounds State Historic Site in Cherokee County, Texas, and saw the three mounds that were made by the Caddo who once lived there. After that, we went down the road to Mission Tejas State Park, in Weches.

The state park was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1934, near the original mission that was established in 1690. The site for the park was chosen after a Spanish cannon was found at Weches, although since then they have found out that the original site was probably about a mile from the park. The CCC built a replica of the mission there, and although it is not entirely accurate, one can easily imagine the Spanish priests teaching the Indians there.

Besides the history of the park, the landscape is also very fascinating. The park is in the Piney Woods of Texas, in Houston County. There are pines everywhere, as well as maple and many other types of trees. There is a pond with turtles, and also several trails, one of which Daddy and I went on while we were there.

As we hiked through the pine forest, we went through deep ravines and steep places, and I could see channels down which water flows when it rains, ever flowing to lower ground. The landscape reminded me much of places I’ve seen in Arkansas.

The redbuds were in bloom when we were there, with bright purple blossoms, and although many of the deciduous trees were still bare, the forest remains green throughout the year because of the pine.

Mission Tejas is a very pretty park, and if you’re ever in that “neck of the woods,” you ought to go see it. It’s a great place to get out and enjoy God’s creation.

References:

1. Bowman, Bob. “Mission Tejas.” Online, April 1, 2006.
2. “Mission Tejas State Park.” Online, April 1, 2006.

This article was originally published in the Wilderness Explorers newsletter.