Our last full at Georgia's Red Top Mountain State Park. We couldn't ask for a nicer site!
Site #12, Red Top Mountain State Park
Leaving our campsite around 10 AM, we headed to the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw; two of my favorite subjects ever since I took a course at Middlebury on Civil War Railroads. Don't laugh, Bill Carlough!
The first exhibits focused on the Civil War with lots of photos and pieces of military equipment. Later exhibits focused on the development of the railroads in the U.S. with particular emphasis on the role the railroads played during the war.
Railroad construction technology was in its infancy, so both rails and ties (aka sleepers) did not last more than 6 months and were very easy to sabotage.
A trestle bridge being constructed over the Tennessee River
Another view of downtown Richmond, focusing on the Tredegar foundry where the majority cannons and cannon balls for the Confederacy where made. Today what's left of the foundry is now part of the American Civil War Museum which we visited earlier in this trip.
Railroads demanded many parts made of iron and steel, so machine shops were in high demand. There were many exhibits of such shops in this museum.
One of the major exhibits at the museum focuses on the Great Locomotive Chase that took place in April 1862 when James Andrews led 21 Union volunteers to capture a Rebel train near Kennesaw and tried to take it to Chattanooga. In the process the raiders hoped to destroy as much of the track and telegraph lines as possible. Most of the raiders were eventually caught from behind by another train. They were put in prison, tried as spies, some were released in a prisoner exchange, but some, including James Andrews were hung. Andrew was eventually awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and in fact was the first civilian to receive this award.
That chase has been celebrated in two different films, a silent film starring Buster Keaton in 1927, and the second film, produced by Disney in 1956, starred Davy Crocket himself, Fess Parker! The General, is now on display in this museum.
More info on the Great Locomotive Chase
Another interesting exhibit in this museum was this "Dukes of Hazard" wrist watch. More fascinating than the watch itself, was the explanation about Confederate battle flag, which many of us would equate to the Nazi swastika
To those of you leaving comments: First of all thank you very much for the comments you have left, I do read them and I love hearing from you. Many of you have let me know via email that you can't figure out how to leave a comment on the blog itself. You're not alone, I've tried to reply on the blog to specific comments and can't figure out how to do it. You'd think after publishing a blog on the same website all these years I'd be able to do it, but right now it escapes me.
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