Stones River Cleanup Oct 3

[Busterbuttonboy]

Stones River cleanup reset for Saturday, Oct. 3

Posted: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 9:52 am

Local volunteers will roll up their sleeves and devote their day to restoring lands affected by the April 10 tornado at Stones River National Battlefield as part of the rescheduled 16th annual National Public Lands Day.

The makeup date is Saturday, Oct. 3. Volunteers will meet at the Stones River National Battlefield visitor center at 8:30 A.M., and work until noon.

They will build fence and trail and clean up debris from the tornado. Sponsored for the 11th consecutive year by Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. these national cleanups give Americans a yearly opportunity to make public lands in their communities cleaner, prettier and safer.

All around the country, the national parks hosted visitors and volunteers for a special day of service and celebration on National Public Lands Day.

“The American people have created 391 national parks and entrusted their care to the National Park Service. With the help of volunteers and park partners, we are proud to preserve these places and to share their stories with more than 275 million visitors every year,” said Dan Wenk, Acting Director of the National Park Service. “We hope everyone will come out and join us to celebrate the parks and our shared commitment to make America’s Best Idea even better.”

“This will be a memorable day for Americans everywhere to volunteer and participate in the vitality and preservation of our national parks,” said Neil Mulholland, president and CEO of the National Park Foundation, a core partner and funder of The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. “This day and Ken Burns’s film are powerful invitations to all Americans to reconnect to our national parks, to share their legacy, and to join us in helping fulfill their most critical needs.”

National Public Lands Day is a great opportunity for people of all ages to help preserve Stones River National Battlefield for the enjoyment of future generations. To see a list of NPLD sites, activities, contacts, and downloadable photos from past events visit www.publiclandsday.org. Stones River National Battlefield is located on the Old Nashville Highway, northwest of Murfreesboro. Additional information is available at the visitor center, at the park web site (http://www.nps.gov/stri) or by calling (615) 893-9501.

http://www.murfreesboropost.com/stones-river-cleanup-reset-for-saturday-oct-3-cms-19552

[Busterbuttonboy]

Re: Stones River Cleanup Oct 3

How the Battle of Stones River can be perceived

Posted: Monday, September 7, 2009 7:04 am

On Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 12-13, Stones River National Battlefield will present programs that highlight how the Battle of Stones River can be perceived in many different ways.

This battle was one of the most important battles of the Civil War. The Union victory bolstered Northern morale and set the stage for decisive military campaigns into the
heart of the Confederacy. Soldiers and civilians had different reactions to the battle and its outcome. During the weekend, their stories will come together to give visitors a fuller understanding of the how individual circumstances shape our perception of historical events.

The program schedule is as follows.

9 AM – It Could Not Be Well Avoided - Visitors will gather at the rostrum in Stones River National Cemetery and listen to the stories of several soldiers and civilians from Murfreesboro as they describe their experiences during 1862. All of them characters are drawn from the diaries and letters of people who lived through one of the most tumultuous years in Murfreesboro’s history.

10 AM - It Could Not Be Well Avoided – (Part 2)

11 AM – Rutherford Rifles - Watch an infantry unit drill as you listen to the story of the Rutherford Rifles and their desperate fight to save their homes and families from the northern invaders. (Includes a Musket Firing Demonstration)

1 PM – Carnes’s Battery – Watch a cannon fire as you listen to a soldier who fought with Carnes’s battery. (Includes an Artillery Firing Demonstration)

2 PM - The Mayor’s Men – Watch an infantry unit drill as you learn about the men who served in the 18th and 45th Tennessee units under Joseph Palmer, a Murfreesboro native. (Includes a Musket Firing Demonstration)

3 PM – Wright’s Battery – Watch a cannon fire as you listen to a soldier
talk about his battle experience serving with Wright’s Battery. (Includes
an Artillery Firing Demonstration)

These programs are part of a series of interpretive programs offered at the battlefield during the year. Stones River National Battlefield is located on the Old Nashville Highway, northwest of Murfreesboro. Additional information is available at the visitor center, by calling (615) 893-9501 or at the park website (http:/ /www.nps.gov/stri).

http://www.murfreesboropost.com/how-the-battle-of-stones-river-can-be-perceived-cms-19089

[Busterbuttonboy]

Re: Stones River Cleanup Oct 3

Artillery Monument currently undergoing renovation

MIKE WEST, Managing Editor
Posted: Sunday, August 2, 2009 8:15 am

Artillery Monument currently undergoing renovation | Civil War, Stones River

Workers rehab Stones River Battlefield's historic Artillery Monument. Dating back to 1903, the monument was erected by the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad.
An oft-forgotten part of Stones River National Battlefield is the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad monument built in 1906.

It stands at the point where 58 Union cannons poured grapeshot and canister into the advancing troops of Confederate Major Gen. John C. Breckinridge as they waded across frigid Stones River on the afternoon of Jan. 2, 1863.

The Artillery Monument is currently undergoing renovation thanks to the National Park Service.

Interestingly, the monument predates that national battlefield. It was actually built by the NC&StL Railroad, whose designer Hunter McDonald selected the Neoclassical image of a 34-foot-tall concrete obelisk to commemorate the battle.

In the early 1900s, the NC&StL Railroad used Civil War tourism as a way of increasing passenger traffic.

Advertising in Confederate Veteran magazine, the railroad listed Stones River among the sites that would be of interest to veterans and their families.

The railroad’s president, John Thomas, was friendly to the members of the United Confederate Veterans and promoted its reunions by offering special rates for participants. As part of its Civil War emphasis, the NC&StL published “Southern Battlefields” in 1890. This book and its successor, “Battlefields in Dixie land,” published in 1917, gave a brief history of the battles with maps noting their proximity to the railroad.

In 1904, the railroad acquired 4.64 acres just outside Murfreesboro that included Redoubt Brannan, a major installation of the earthen work Fortress Rosecrans, which was the largest earthen fortress constructed during the Civil War.

The redoubt was maintained by the railway company as a point of historical interest and was easily visible from the windows of its passenger cars as they moved to Nashville to Murfreesboro.

Redoubt Brannan was interpreted to railway passengers in a company-published brochure as “the remains of the earthwork placed there in Civil War times to guard the bridge. Cannon of the period have been mounted on this work.”

The earthwork was not identified as being Union in origin and no mention was made of Fortress Rosecrans in the train company’s brochures.

During that same period, NC&StL acquired a 1.55-acre site overlooking Stones River. In 1906, the company built the 35-foot-tall obelisk on the property to mark the most memorable event of the two-day battle.

Confederate Veteran magazine described the obelisk as “a monument of granite [sic] nearly forty feet high ... set immediately at the battery point, which may easily be seen by passengers on the train.”

The obelisk was the third major battlefield memorial constructed on the battlefield. The first, Hazen’s Monument, was actually constructed in 1863 by men of the 9th Indiana Veterans Volunteers. The 10-foot-tall and 10-foot-square monument was built from native limestone. The monument is surrounded by the graves of 55 soldiers and is enclosed with a limestone wall.

It is, probably, the oldest Civil War monument in the nation.

The second monument is the 1888 U.S. Regulars Monument. Located at Stones River National Cemetery, the Regulars Monument is a 15-foot sandstone column with classical details such as an egg-and-dart molding and carved floral and laurel motifs and is topped with a 300-pound bronze eagle.

It was built by survivors of the Regular Brigade, Army of the Cumberland, in memory of the 15th, 16th, 18th and 19th U.S. Infantry and Battery H, 5th U.S. Artillery, who were killed or died of wounds received during the Battle of Stones River.

Stones River National Battlefield exists as a result of commemorative efforts by the NC&St.L Railway, the Stones River Battlefield and Park Association and lobbying efforts by the Grand Army of the Republic and UCV. Although Stones River did not become a military park until March 3, 1927, attempts by these groups to create a park and mark important sites influenced the government’s eventual decision to establish a park and acquire land.

http://www.murfreesboropost.com/artillery-monument-currently-undergoing-renovation-cms-18429

[Craig L Barry]

Re: Stones River Cleanup Oct 3

Was there for "Fighting for Hearth & Home' and did the CS LH and historic weapons/artillery demos. Also saw the play "It Could Not Well Be Avoided" which had Todd Watts in it with that hand held cannon (US 1808 conv to percussion) he uses for his CS impression. He was actually pretty good in his role as a Confederate for a guy who does Federal 90% of the time. That was a pretty good weekend. 10/17-18 is the Fortress Rosecrans event. I think Patrick Landrum will be there, or he is threatening to show up. David Burt will be coming to Murfreesboro from the UK, and he is going to be coming out for the event with the Stones River crew as well. I think David hopes to get his new "Barnett" marked de-farbed Enfield.

[Todd Watts]

Re: Stones River Cleanup Oct 3

He might get to see it, but we're going to have to have BRi handle shipping it to him. His customs aren't too "surprise! I got a gun!" friendly it seems. Actually, it may still not be ready by then, but I'll try. Oct 3, Stones River's vol crew will be doing Signal Corps at the Murfreesboro Court House for the 1st time in 145 years. I guess I could roll up my sleeves and clean up the twister damage - but then again signal corps demos "must" be done.:p

[Craig L Barry]

Re: Stones River Cleanup Oct 3

Todd

You don't use a thoroughbred to pull the milk cart, a valuable volunteer living historian like you might get a splinter picking up those tree branches...save those hands of yours for defarbing muskets. We can send Patrick Landrum or someone like that to pick up debris and whatnot at STRI. Any chance I can get a brass sight blade on my 1842 in the next few weeks? Like maybe get the top band to you at the re-burial for the soldier in Franklin, TN next Saturday (10/10), and get it back at Fortress Rosecrans the next weekend (10/17) for the weapons demos? It's not like you are busy or anything...

[Todd Watts]

Re: Stones River Cleanup Oct 3

Sure. I have another '42 to do in the next little while anyway.