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Thursday, August 22, 2013

Bentonville Battlefield - The trip - A date with my wife. Pt 4 of 4 Signs, Memorials, and Cemeteries

Amidst all the soldiers fighting, one must remember the people also. If you like to go though cemeteries, here are the shots for you This is the family cemetery for the owners of the house. There are also 24 graves of Confederate soldiers the Union left behind when they left and these died before the other Confederate forces could arrive. (Old cemeteries have always fascinated me.)



  Anna Harper 1770 - 1841 
Wife of John Harper 



John Harper ???? - 1839 
Son of John Harper 
(Husband of Ann?? - Note the only two headstones shaped like this.) 



John Harper 1803 - 1897 
Son of John Harper 


 Amy Ann Harper 1828 - 1900


 Marion Francis Harper 
Son of John and Amy A. Harper 1850 - 1867 
(17 years old) 



 Paschael Cornelius Harper
Son of John and Amy A. Harper 181 - 1884

Jasper Harper Son of John and Amy A. Harper
1856 - 1885 



Minnie May Harper 
Daughter of John J. and Aritta A. Harper 1871 - 1872 
(1 year old) 



Joseph Harper
Son of John J. and Aritta A. Harper 1880 - 1882 
(Two years old) 


Lawrence Henry (Harper?)
Son of John J. and Aritta A. Harper 1883 - 1884 
(Sad he only lived less than one year. With no antibiotics life could be short.) 

Lots of questions.Who was John J Harper. His children are buried here but I did not see John J or Aritta A. Harper. Why is Lawrence shown as Lawrence Henry with the last name Harper omitted when his parents are John J. and Aritta Harper. Was Amy Harper John Harpers wife. Dates of death are close but the birthdate of John Harper could not be determined. Why so many John Harpers with no middle initial to distinguish? 
  
****** 
Here are the graves of the 24 Confederate soldiers I mentioned earlier. 






*****
And now the signs and memorials. My dear departed mother in law loved me because I always loved to stop and take pictures of the signs for sites. My father in law wanted to get on to where they were going and it always frustrated her.  First trip we made together she immediately loved the fact I wanted to stop for the signs. So here are some signs.














And on the way back toward Smithfield NC, if you come upon a little fruit and peach stand on the right side of the road, just a couple of miles away - STOP and get some fresh peaches and some homemade peach ice cream made with those peaches fresh from the field. Some of the nicest people you can meet work there.

And that ends my date with my loving wife who wasn't bothered I spent so much time on the old camera and I didn't mind spending so much time on all the history. (I am a science person, she is a history person). After all, we really spent time on each other.






















Bentonville Battlefield - The trip - A date with my wife. Pt 3 of 4 The Troops and the home

Ok, now that we have seen the canon, onward to that peach ice cream.

The site was actually the home of the Harper family. When the troops arrived for the battle, the downstairs part of the home was used for the hospital and the upstairs was where the family stayed. And the house was not that large.






Loved this shot of the upstairs window. 


The slave quarters. 







As some point the home served as a hospital for either sides. 



As you enter the house, they have several rooms set up as re-enactments of what the rooms looked like (ok, the face bloody bandages are a little cheesy but I thought there were needed to make the point.) 


Those instruments pale in sophistication to today but that was all they had. I am not sure I really want to know what that circular instrument was for. 


Samples of the bullets. (It is now against the law to remove any bullets or the like form the grounds as they are not part of the site.) (And no I didn't look for any.) 


The doctor's kit. Wonder what Dr. McCoy (Star Trek) would have thought? (There was a episode where he encountered medicine later than this an was appalled at the primitive medicine.)  


A wide variety of medicines. 


The doctor's desk. 


Another I don't want to know what it was used for device. 


A poison used to save lives. Glad it was not ether as ether is highly flammable whereas chloroform is not, meaning you could have a fire going in the cold without the risk of blowing everything up. 



Loved this image. Could not help but think how many soldiers looked out that window, perhaps through a  torn curtain similar to this and thought about the future. 


Marvelous old tree outside. 

Now for the troops and the rifle firing. 


The troop commander. 


The troops at attention. 


The troops at Present Arms. 


The troops at Shoulder Arms. Notice the unique placement of their fingers on the rifle. 


This was done to keep their fingers off the trigger and prevent accidental firings. 


A variation of Shoulder Arms. (I cannot remember why there was a difference.) 


How they carried the rifles in the rain to keep water from entering the barrels. 


Inspection Arms. 


A form of Parade Rest. It was said this was preferred as it was more comfortable. 


The other form of Parade Rest. Note the difference in the placement of the hands. 

Now to prepare to fire. They could fire three rounds well aimed and a fourth in a furry in approximately one minute. Don't see how they did it but I guess when folks are shooting at you, you can move quickly. 


Biting off the end of the paper wad container that holds the powder. 


Loading the powder 


Tamping the powder down (They did not load bullets during this event for obvious safety reasons. They only shot powder.) 





The hand is placed such that only the little pinkie finger is on the rod as the pinkie finger is the most expendable if the gun goes off. You don't want your thumb on the rod as you could get a hole blown in your hand. 



At this point the commander marched the troops out to an open area for the firing. 




Fix bayonets and prepare to charge. -- Charge!! 




























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