"A battle lost or won is easily described, undedrstood, and appreciated, but the moral growth of a nation requires reflection, as well as observation, to appreciate it." - Frederick Douglass
Before leaving Clarksville, TN, I have wanted to (for a while now) explore Fort Defiance and some of the other preserved Civil War sites here in town. Finished in 2011, the Fort Defiance visitor center is pretty neat! It offers a lot of photos, information, maps, and an informative mini-movie.
Outside of the center, there are paths up through the earthworks to see the fortress itself. The area offers great views of the Cumberland River, an integral part of Clarksville throughout its founding, the Civil War, and still today.
The information and mini-movie, full of authentic diary entries from outspoken citizens, offers first-person accounts of Clarksville's four years in the War. In fact, the area of Fort Defiance soon became a freedmen's settlement after the Emancipation Proclamation. There are citizens living in the New Providence area of town today who are direct descendants of these original freedmen. How cool is that?! Sites we drive by every day going to Kroger, or work, or wherever, offer up countless stories and memories.
So, it was fun today to explore some of that local history, especially having lived in the South for a little while now and heard so much about Clarksville's role in Ken Burns' PBS docu-series The Civil War. And, let's face it, besides the fact that Shelby Foote's humor and intelligence gets dreamier with every episode (sigh), it's pretty awesome to have so much of our country's history in many of our backyards! :-)
"I leave you, hoping that the lamp of liberty will burn in your bosoms until there shall no longer be a doubt that all mean are created free and equal." - Abraham Lincoln
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