Monday, April 15, 2013

Walking Shadows at Marks' Mills


Marks' Mills (Arkansas) is one of my favorite spots of the Little Rock-Camden Expedition of 2013. The battleground itself is a haunted place, but thanks to the extended Marks' family and other area historians and cultural mavens, Marks' Mills as a place to visit has a lot to check out. I like its eccentric details.


An obelisk with details of the 1864 situation and also noting the Saline Lumber Company Tramroad "built about 1898."


Homesite of John H. Marks. "I saw them shoot down the driver of the first wagon in front of our house . . ." 


On-site battlefield map of Marks' Mills (April 25, 1864). Jeremiah France (1840-1865) served with the 43rd Indiana, which was decimated here.


A marker in the Marks' Cemetery, Marks' Mills, Arkansas: "LIFE IS BUT A WALKING SHADOW."

To the living and the dead -- and to Boston on this day.

Today's Rune: Journey.
  

2 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

I always enjoy studying such battle disposition maps. Gives some details to my own writing of course, but they are powerful in their own right.

Erik Donald France said...

Macbeth (Act 5):

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.