[September 1982: My sister Linda and I proceeded from Corinth, Mississippi, to Shiloh, Tennessee:]
Shiloh battlefield. Small Indian burial and temple mounds . . .
Steaming with sweat by 11 a.m. -- worked all of Samuel [France]'s lines [great great grandfather, Company E, 31st Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment, 1861-1865]. Saw white tailed deer in Hornet's Nest. Found 31st Indiana after circling it forty times on foot by different approaches.
[I recently mentioned Bobbie Ann Mason's Elvis Presley as a good read. Her story "Shiloh" is discussed in many writing classes, including at Macomb Community College. It's very accessible. Norma Jean and Leroy Moffit and Norma Jean's meddling Flannery O'Connorish mother Mabel Beasley existentially battle over marriage, gender issues, personal identity, and the stresses of modern life -- what's not to love? "Shiloh" first came out in The New Yorker (October 20, 1980) and again in 1982 -- about the same time Linda and I were hiking around the battlefield -- with Mason's collection, Shiloh and Other Stories.]
Today's Rune: Flow.
3 comments:
Oh yes leaving the deep antebellum south for the more radical nationalist one. Strange the differences that caused young men to go to that war.
Lots of antebellum homes here in Louisiana. Some friends of ours recently got married at a haunted plantation. Was pretty cool. And you can usually see where the old carriage roads were because of the lines of Oaks planted along them.
I remember going to Brooke Green Gardens and Boone Plantation down south. The large oaks lining the entrance made for great pictures. I'll have to dig some up ... pics that is ... not trees.
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