Friday, August 19, 2011

Georgia and the Civil War



























This morning I read about the items found at an archaeological site near Savannah, a Civil War POW camp abandoned just before Gen. Sherman reached the sea. Immediately I thought of some photos I took last year at Fort Pulaski, also near Savannah. The foreboding sky in some of them attests to the storm approaching the fort that afternoon; it imparted something of what the atmosphere may have felt like for those in the fort in the early days of the fighting. The fort was quiet the afternoon of our visit, almost church-like. While I am in no way an authority on the events and battles of that conflict I can say that I have noticed that same atmosphere at nearly all of the battlefields I and my family have visited over the years.

Enjoy the photos.

[[Photos: From top: Cannon atop Fort Pulaski, Barbara Butler McCoy, August 2010; Crossing the Moat at Fort Pulaski, Barbara Butler McCoy, August 2010; Walkway on top of Fort Pulaski, Barbara Butler McCoy, August 2010.]]

4 comments:

Di Mackey said...

Beautifully captured! I have you on googlereader and I'm hoping my life is about to calm down. We really must skype one day too, please :-)
xx

Barbara Butler McCoy said...

So great to hear from you! Your compliment is generous and means much to me ... I know the feeling about hoping life will calm down ... and YES to Skype, I say with a smile ...

paris parfait said...

I've spent a lot of time in Savannah (my daughter graduated from SCAD) and certainly it has its dark side...as beautiful as it is, terrible things have happened there (even fairly recently); I sense the undercurrents of history in Savannah, as though it's still waging battle with itself (i.e. gentrification on the surface; problems festering underneath).

Barbara Butler McCoy said...

I grew up in the Midwest and as a Navy wife lived in the NE and the Pacific NW, so I am a relative newcomer to the South (we moved to Augusta in '04). While I do not have the extensive experience you have had I can say that I have sensed undercurrents of history throughout the state. The current economic climate seems to exacerbate this, shoving aside any hope for rational analysis and action.