one of the many yellowstone posts to come

The geographic sites and the animals are the best part of Yellowstone. Some the springs and pools are brilliantly colored. The colors for these come from bacteria and minerals. For example iron in the rocks will make the rock underneath the water turn orange-red. Cyanobacteria living in the water will turn the waters blue. Changing the temperatures in specific place will change which bacteria thrive there. In a place called morning glory pool. It was named for its likeness to the flower in the 1880’s. Some visitors vandalized the pool by throwing tons of coins, logs, rocks and trash. The objects embedded themselves in the sides and the vent of the pool which restricted the circulation around the pool. The hot water couldn’t get to the edges of the pool. Killing the heat-needing bacteria that lived on the edge of the pool. This allowed the cooler liking bacteria to thrive. The cooler loving bacteria make the water orange and yellow around the rim.

the morning glory pool

Geysers are created when there is a constriction or blockage in the passage. The pressure builds up until it explodes pass the constriction.

Hot springs are when the passage has no constrictions and the hot water rises then cools then falls to be reheated.

Fumaroles are when the little water that they have turn into steam long before it reaches the surface.

Mud pots have limited water but are very acidic. The organisms and acid dissolve the surrounding rocks and clay to make the mud. [ZH]

Yellowstone was amazing.  I had taken a trip way back when....in January when there was snow all over te ground.  However, I was unable to explore, so it was fun exploring all the areas with Myles and Zoe.  The crowds were manageable.  The weather was COLD, sleeting, raining and snowing.  They even plowed the roads on the day we left!  I guess with an elevation at 7000 ft, spring snow is not that unusual.   Neither Myles or Zoe had packed their rain gear, and I had forgotten my rain pants.....OOPS!  In addition, our telephoto lens for our good camera did not make it into the van.  I was more focused on packing for the Civil War sites than I was for camping!  It was frustrating for Zoe as she wanted to take all these cool animal pictures and we had the limited zoom of the iPhone.  Guess that means we will have to take another trip specifically for hiking and photography.  Yellowstone is stunning with some snow on the ground though.....just kinda cold for my old bones! We'll post pictures on the next post[KS]

Yellowstone

Right now, we are in Yellowstone and it is awesome! There are bison everywhere including: elk, moose, wolves (even though we haven’t seen any at all), and even bears. There are also geysers, multi colored hot pools and springs, and mud pools. But the pools and geysers aren’t just fun and games. There was one mud pool that was so acidic that it would burn your skin off. The pools and springs are so hot that it could seriously burn you or even worse, kill you. The crust around the pools, springs, and geysers might be so thin that if you stepped on it, you would fall into the scolding water. Plus, the steam from the geysers kills the trees around them. But first I should tell you how the geysers and pools were made. What if I said that a volcano, whose explosion was bigger than Mount St Helen’s, created Yellowstone? It’s true. The volcano blew its self up and created Yellowstone. The lava is still active and that is where the heat came from. The water came from rain and snow. Put that together and you get a geyser or a pool of hot bubbling mud. My favorite part of the park was the geysers. There were tall geysers, short geysers, big geysers, small geysers, water geysers, and even mud geysers.  There was a geyser that was called the Porkchop Geyser. It was called the Porkchop because it was the shape of a pork chop. It was a small pool which people said it had small eruption. But then, in 1985, it spouted continuously. It only stopped spouting in 1989 when it finally exploded.  Big chunks flew everywhere. After that, it became a gently rolling hot spring. But, on July 2003, Porkchop roiled as if in eruption. Sadly, it ceased within a few days. The first geyser that we saw go off was Old Faithful Geyser and we had just got there and it was even raining. We also saw the Riverside Geyser and it was also cool. We didn’t see the Grand Geyser but it’s the tallest predictable geyser in the world. It could last 9-12 minuets and consisted of 1-4 bursts, sometime reaching 200 ft.  It must have been amazing. There was a geyser that was called the Constant Geyser but it wasn’t going. So much for the “constant” part. The weather is really weird here. The first day it was raining a bit. The next day it was raining a lot more and it was going to snow at night. Today, there was snow everywhere and it was still snowing and raining at the same time. How weird is that? The good news is that Zoë, suddenly going trigger-happy on the camera, got some good pictures.

Wisconsin

We went to Wisconsin, where I was born, but I DIDN’T REMEMBER ANY OF IT! L We stayed with our neighbor Hans and Barbra. They had a nice home. There were three types of swing sets and they had 2 animals: and dog named Missy and a cat named Leo. Missy was always happy to have love and Leo always wanted to either wanted love or wanted to play. Mom said that the building across the road was where we lived but I still didn’t remember it. What I remember was a looped road, a rugged floor, a gate, and a stoned back yard. Mom said that I was referring to Los Vegas. I could see why mom and dad liked to live there. There was green everywhere, every one was nice to every one and every one knew every one else. It wasn’t really far from the city. There was a big lake right next to the city and I saw a lot of ships in there. Their capital looked just like the capital building in Washington D.C. Walking to the Wisconsin Badger’s Collage, I spotted something that I knew Zoë would like. It was a Doctor Who poster. Zoe got two different posters. Mom said that she recognized some of the building there. It was actually a nice city. I could see myself living there [MH]

It was wonderful seeing Madison again.  I took the kids to Monoa Terrace, The State Capital and down State street.  We tried to see the MU but it is under construction.  It was wonderful to see Hans and Barbara....we had a great Mother's day celebration with their extended family.  It makes me want to move back there!  Zoe want to adopt Hans and Barbara as grandparents!

myles and missy in the sun

zoe being what dad calls a fake nature photoagrapher

(there was a treat involved)

Hans having a coffee break

Barrbra working

Missy teaching her new pet human how to play

Paw eating barrbra's bread

Mom feading the horses

Zoe being her tipical idiotic self

 

by the way all the pics exept for the one with me being an idiot I took. I aslo did the captions. also this is me zoe! :)

Ticonderoga

On May 9^th we learned about Doug’s Folly. Well I didn’t want to go to fort Ticonderoga since I said it was four hours even when mom said it was two hours. The first campground mom looked at was closed so she gave me the address to a different on to direct us to. Mom said I could take any way I wanted so I took the shortest way. Note-to-self Ticonderoga is in the middle of NOWHERE! I want my fishing gearL! Well at least I can brag I was right it took four hours. We finally got to the camp ground the sign said Check the list and find an open space. We couldn’t find the list so we drove around and got some weird looks. Eventually we pulled into a space and mom found the person to pay he mentioned that they weren’t open for another week but we could stay for a night. This prompted mom to check the website for when it opens turns out that didn’t happen until May 29^th. Then we decided to walk to the fort I took our bright rainbow colored XX-large umbrella. We walked the mile or more drive way the fort which was having an orientation day for the employees. We sat down far enough away they didn’t notice right off the bat and close enough we could hear the reanactors. I unfurled the umbrella being extremely inconspicuous. They were pretending to be the French soldiers that first made the fort. I think I would fit in with them Chocolate for breakfast and lunch was their largest meal and they had fresh bread with pea soup! Eventually someone noticed my drab colored tiny umbrella (That was sarcastic). Turns she was in charge she let us see the parade grounds so we are officially the first visitors of 2013!  




Zo 
Out!

the Minute men

Yesterday (Thursday, May 10, 2013) we went to where the first battle of the Revolution had taken place. The British had taken Boston and had heard roomers that the colonists were stockpiling weapons, food and ammunition in Concord. So the British decided to take the weapons. But Paul Revere overheard the plans and decided to warn the colonists. So he made a warning system. If the Solders were traveling by land than they were hang one lantern in a church. But if they traveled by sea, than they would hang two lanterns. That night, two lanterns were hung. Paul Revere traveled by boat to the other side where a horse was waiting. He and Willian Dawes rode town-to-town warning and waking the colonists to arms. Paul Revere met another rider along the road. His name was Joseph Warren. Paul Revere, Joseph Warren and Willian Dawes rode on to other settlements. He also rode to where Samuel Adams and John Hancock were seeping. He knocked on the door. Someone came out and told him to hush because they were sleeping. But when he told him that the redcoats were coming, he dashed up the stairs to wake them up. He rode on with his friends but they met a British patrol. Paul Revere was captured but his friends rode on to alert the others. Soon, men from everywhere came to help. The first battle didn’t go that well. The colonist or redcoat shot the first shot but it didn’t matter. The redcoats shot at the colonists. The colonists retreated. Soon, the redcoats made it to Concord and started to scan for any hidden weapons but thanks to Paul Revere’s friends, the colonists had enough time to hide them. Then the redcoats came to the south bridge and it didn’t go as planed. As redcoats approached the bridge, they noticed that there were colonists with guns on were the other side. The colonists had seen smoke coming from the village and had thought that the redcoats were burning the village but instead, they were burning the supplies that they had found. One of the colonists said, “Do we just sit here as the village gets burned?”  They had decided to defend the bridge but they could only fire after the enemy had. The redcoats lined up, took aim, and fired. The colonial officer gave the order that all of them had dreaded would come, “FIRE! For god’s sake, fire.” The colonists fired at the redcoats and were surprised to see the redcoats running away. The red coats had lost a lot of there commanders. The redcoats started to march back to Boston but colonists followed them. They would find a spot, fire at the men, and run. The canonists kept up this attack the whole way and they were always being reinforced with more men from the surrounding villages along the way. Battered and leader less, the redcoats fell back to Boston. The weapon stashes were safe and the redcoats defeated. The Revolutionary War had begun. 

Zoe and I got to walk part of the road (from Concord to Lexington) that the British retreated on.  It was pouring rain, but we had fun being colorful turtles with umbrellas….not exactly re-inactors!



Hi this is Zoe quick fact the guy who did the statue also did the Lincon mremorial!

Crew and Philly

Philadelphia was the home to the first congressional state house, was the first capitol and is also the home to the liberty bell. We went into the building used as the first congressional state house and the first capitol building. We saw the place in the congressional state house where Washington saw sworn into a second term and also peacefully gave power to Jefferson at the end of his second term. We also went into the room where the independence was read and signed. Who signed the largest? When John Hancock made the largest and most stylish signature saying “Now the king of England can see for himself!” years later while Jefferson in Paris, Washington got a group together to write a constitution. During the talks no press was allowed so, the group could talk without fear of reading the post the next day and finding the insults that had said to another congressman repeated. Not all of the congressmen chose to sign the constitution these people were called deserters. Benjamin Franklin was present during these heated debates. He also observed the half sun on Gorge Washington’s chair wondering if the sun was setting or rising on the new country. At the end of the debates when what would be included in the constitution was decided, Franklin was happy to say that the sun was a rising one.

the court room washingtons inaguration

The chair!

ben meets Zoe the author of his least favorite blog. 

We also drove to New Jersey to meet an old friend named Debbie and her Portuguese water dog named Crew. The first day we played with Crew and took her mini cooper (Convertible, lots of begging for the top down every time we got in. I succeeded a fair amount of the time! Boyah!) Out to take mom to her 52^nd birthday celebration. The next day I broke out her X- box connect which she quote-on-quote “Got for research.” I don’t believe her but if she did I wouldn’t mind being one of her test subjects. Then we went to the twin lights tower which are two lighthouses at the top of a small mountain next to the ocean. Then we drove back to Debbie’s house and exchange my grandmother for a dog. (Sorry! I just had to say that!) Anyways then we took Crew top downing to a small strip of sand next to a pier and the dumping ground of many of the boats that had been washed in to the middle of the bay or onto the beach by Sandy. The next day I played with the X-box connect until about 12:00 when we took Crew out to the huge beach on the ocean. Crew was having the time of his life running into the wakes and laying down in puddles. We spent a long time having fun at the beach and then went back to Debbie’s and left early the next day.

at the beach with Debbie and the Crewster

crew being funny

Zoe,
Out

Boston

Boston was beginning of the Revolution and where the Battle of Bunker hill was fought.  We went to Boston by Transits, which is pretty much a Metro train, and it was interesting. Every thing looked normal even though a bomb went off at the race. Any way, we walked the freedom trail, which brought you to buildings and important place of the Revolution. Zoe was furious when she saw the bookstore. The Old Bookstore had been replaced with Chipotle. We also saw the U.S.S. Construction and she was floating. She was also called Iron sides because of the secret. They used a special wood, which, on impact from a cannon ball, would deflect it. She fought several ships and won. She even fought two ships at once and won. I think the most important part of the Freedom trail was Bunker Hill. During the sedge and capture of Boston, Redcoats proceeded to bunker and surprised to see colonists occupying Bunker hill and that here were l earth works which solders could hide behind. When the Red coats got ashore, they were shot at from sharpshooter in a town. So, do you know what they did? They asked the captain of the fleet to set fire to the village. The captain of the fleet was really hard to work with because every time they came to a city or village he wanted to burn it. Happily, the captain of the fleet burned the village. The sharpshooters were driven out from the Village. Then Redcoats struck. The Redcoats marched towards the colonists. The colonists had a limited amount of ammunition so the commander of the colonists said, “Don’t shoot until you see the white of their eyes.” After the first assault, the British fell back in retreat. On the second assault, William Prescott, trying to raise his troops spirits, walked up and down the colonial earth works with a sword in his hand screaming insults back at the British as bullets and cannon balls flew by him. A British commander, who had seen William Prescott, asked a British loyalist if he knew him. The loyalist said, “Yep, that William Prescott.” The second assault was a failure, or was it? The colonists were running out of ammunition and the person who was suppose to give it to them was to afraid to do so. The British sent in a third assault. The colonists soon ran out of ammunition. Desperately, they started to throw rocks and the solders but the Redcoat broke though the lines and the colonists fell back and retreated. In the retreat, William Prescott was killed. Even though the British won the fight, we won the battle because we killed tons of Redcoats. Boston, the place where the Revolution started and the battle of Bunker Hill was fought.

standing in front of the Old Bookstore

New York

While we were in NJ, we saw how easy it was to get to NYC via the rail…it was pricey, but we decided we wanted the experience.   When we when to New York, we went to the American Museum of Natural History where the Night of the Museum was filmed. If you haven’t seen that movie, than you should. Sadly, Rexy, the T-rex skeleton in the movie, wasn’t there because he was moved to the Smithsonian of Natural History. It was huge! There were exhibits on animals, gems and rocks, cultures, evolution, ocean life, dinosaurs, space and earth. We had to sit down and decide on which exhibits we had or wanted to see. We stayed there until it closed and still, we only saw half or less of the museum. Zoe took some interesting pictures of me getting my head chomped off. Getting kicked out of the museum at 5 pm, we decided to explore NYC a bit. Mom suggested that we should see Time Square, so WE TOOK A TAXI to Time Square. I can explain what Time Square was: a bunch of buildings with TV screens all over them. There were people everywhere. I don’t know how people knew where to go. We decided to look for a bookstore because Zoe was DYING to get a new book but we couldn’t find one. All we could find were shops and restaurants and, let me tell you… There were tons of them. Sadly, we didn’t see the Statue of Liberty but I can say that I’ve been in New York and I’M PROUD OF IT!

Shot another guy?

The battle of the wilderness started on May 5^th, 1864 and ended on the 6^th. This was the first clash in-between Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. grant after Gettysburg. After this battle Lee and Grant fought for almost 11 months constantly.  Grant was newly appointed commander of the union army. He wasn’t actually in charge of the army of the Potomatic he just used it. George G. Meade was the commander of the army of the Potomatic. Grant told Meade “Le’s army will be your objective point. Wherever Lee’s army goes, there you will also go.” Meade did as ordered. He found and fought Lee’s army at the battle of the wilderness. The battle was fought in the lush underbrush. Since most of the growth was fairly new, it was extremely thick compared to the other battle fields like Gettysburg’s pasture land. On the widow Tapp’s field on the 6^th of May Lee almost was defeated. He tried to lead the counter attack with the Texas brigade. He rode to the front on his horse traveler and was planning to lead the charge. The Texans shouted at his saying “Lee to the rear!” refusing to charge until Lee was safely in the rear. That night Maj. Gen. Richard H. Anderson who was appointed by Lee to temporarily command of the First Corps. Longstreet wasn’t coming back to the army of Northern Virginia to take command of the First Corps until October 13^th.  Anderson rode in front of a volley shot by his own men just four miles from where “stonewall” Jackson was shot. The battle ended in a draw but Grant continued to follow Lee knowing that he would influence the upcoming presidential election. The next battle was the battle of Spotsylvania.

 

Okay another little script V stands for veteran (he shot stonewall). S stands for soldier. A stands for Anderson (or my nick name for him Andy)

 

A: I’m in charge! I’m in charge guys! (Runs in front of them to show off his horse)

S: Get out of the way so you don’t get shot!

A: I won’t get shot because, (dramatic pause) I’m in charge!

S: Sure like you can’t get shot!

A: Wanna bet?

S: Fine. I bet extra rations you can still get shot!

A: (walks in front of the volley shot by his men) See I’m invincible! (Gets hit.) Waaa L I’m not invincible.

V: Great we just shot another one of our commanders! Jeeps we should really get out of this bad habit!

 

 

Me codename,

Zoe codename,

Gearhead (This is for Phela) codename,

Leo,

Out

-.o

Disclaimer: This is not for passive geeks!

Well when we were on our way to Philadelphia we drove up to another civil war museum in Harrisburg. We were going to a little slice of heaven for the night but here’s the problem with heaven you don’t if it’ll come early or late. Well in my case it came early. So here’s how it started we are driving and I’m typing a post when I see a billboard and start shouting at Myles to look at it and I also grab mom’s phone and take a picture of it.  Here it is

 

                                                      Poster of awesomeness!
Well now you know why I was so excited!  I told everyone we had to go period. Ooh a period! Sorry I’m having a little too much fun writing this! Anyway I then called my dad to make him jealous and geek out with him. He agreed we had to go to it. So I compromised with mom that if we went to the civil war museum I could drag them to the star wars orchestra. I’m not really going to talk about the museum except that they had a life sized talking robotic programed program on a TV that you could ask questions. Back to star wars! Well I forgot that I was wearing my “A wookie ate my homework” shirt so I fit in perfectly except 75% were people over 80 (possibly season tickets?). There was a bunch of stormtroopers, some jedi, a luke from episode six, a sandtrooper (At the end of the performance he danced to the applause. He was a funny dancer! ;) Maybe a touch better than my dad) a jetpack trooper, C3PO, padame Amidala, jango fett, some awesome jawas (one was named zoey!) The darth lord himself (he was paw paw’s favorite!)  and 9 foot tall wookie! I walked up to the wookie pointed at my shirt and said “You ate my homework! Thanks!” his answer was “Graww!”Which I believe is wookie for your welcome! Well they don’t play all star wars they also played Avatar, cocoon, back to the future, aliens and of course the other big sci-fi movie Star trek! Also another little fact trekies and star wars fans don’t get along to well. So what else would I do when I see someone all dressed up like the older star trek episodes? I shook my fist at him and said “Treky!” then walked away. Most people must get a very weird impression of me ~.~ ! The conductor was very good and before every song he’d tell you about his thoughts about the movie and the song. Like here’s his explanation for Avatar, “Dancing with wolves, IN SPACE!” When he (also He was a little bald) first walked some of the audience was a little sad because he was wearing a suit not a costume. His explanation was “Well I’ve got to retain a little self-respect!” He did a bunch of funny things, he was aghast that one of the main musicians hadn’t ever seen E.T so he made the guy help him reenact the last scene. At intermission he came back as Spock he explained “This is the end of our serious part of the program. This is a dream for me no not the part about being Spock. I’ve got hair!” when they got to star wars he made a joke and a Yoda voice came up “Make fun of star wars, you dare?” The conductor said “I’m sorry master Yoda!”

Yoda: “Maestro Yoda!”

Conductor: “I’m sorry Maestro Yoda I was just trying to be funny”

Yoda: “Do not try!”

Conductor: “I’m sorry Maestro what can I do to apologize?”

Yoda: “Play my theme you will!”

 

Part way through this Luke walks up and taps his shoulder and gives him a jedi cloak and a lightsaber to conduct with. Later he explained that he had the day before opened the light saber wrong and stabbed himself. Darth Vader’s voice comes up and he frightens the conductor of the stage saying he’ll destroy the orchestra.

Conductor: “I must save my orchestra!” (Runs of stage)

Vader: “Now you have no one left!”

Yoda: “There is another conductor!”

Kid (he was 12) comes out on stage and conducts the imperial march while the conductor fought of stormtroopers and then defeater Vader with his baton. After he did it he told the audience, “it’s a dream come true. My son conducts the orchestra while I fight the enemies of all good!” He was awesome! Wish we had a conductor like him in Eugene. L

 

                                                                            Chillin with Darth

 

 

Z

This is for Nick (More than you bargained for) :)

         The Civil War doctors didn’t have the same understanding of medicine as we do now. Most people say that they didn’t have the germ theory this isn’t completely true. The microscope was invented in 1925 and the first micro-organism was discovered in 1676. The doctors didn’t connect these micro-organisms with infections. Doctors kept there tools clean because they cost lots of money. Doctors wiped there tools with cloths but didn’t sterilize them. If a soldier was shot in the stomach or chest they were usually left on the battlefield because they had a much smaller chance to survive or recover. If a soldier was shot in a limb they were carried to a field hospital. Field hospitals were either barns, sheds or houses seized from the unfortunate people whose home had become a battlefield. The reports of the houses after the battles that had been used as field hospitals that had to be emptied of all furniture and all the floors and walls had to be scrubbed of all the blood. The beds had to be buried in the backyard. A soldier in a field hospital with a limb wound would have their limb amputated. The soldier would be knocked out with either chloroform or alcohol. If the soldier was given the correct amount of chloroform he would feel no pain but he would still be conscious. For example “stonewall” Jackson recalled he could hear the sound of the saw sawing through his arm but didn’t feel any. Sometimes the chloroform wasn’t enough or was too much. If it was too much the solider would die of chloroform poisoning. If not then the solider would feel all the pain. If the solider survived he would be mover outside into the sun or shade. The soldier’s limbs were dumped into pits then eventually buried. There was not much time to give water to the wounded in the middle of a battle so some of the soldiers were died from the heat. The lucky soldiers were put in fancy hospitals where they were checked regularly. More Soldiers died from Infection then bullets and cannon fire. Soldiers who were left on the battle field through the night if there was a battle were bothered by wild hog that eat the dead and tried to eat the wounded. During the battle of the wilderness the battle started a forest fire. One of the soldiers said “I looked at the wounded man and was that he had a loaded pistol by his side. He would he use the gun if the fire reached him. The pistol would save him from the slow painful death of burning alive. ” Many of the wounded men on both sides in this battle were burn alive. They called for help and for men to drag them away from the hungry flames.

 

 

The reason so many soldiers were injured and killed was because almost all the generals went to West Point together where they all studied Napoleon’s strategies. Less soldiers would have died if we had been still using the same weapons Napoleon’s army had used. Old tactics new weapons. The problem was that the armies had upgraded to Minnie balls instead of muskets balls. A Minnie ball was more accurate. They were also using different guns instead of using flintlock muskets they were using percussion cap riffle. With a flintlock you had to load and ram the cartridge then you had to pour gun powder into the flash pan and hope when you pull the trigger the sparks from the flint would jump onto to the gun powder. With the Percussion caps rifle you ram the cartridge down the barrel then take the cap and put it on the hammer then pull the trigger.

 

 

Me codename,

Zoe codename,

Leo,

Out

o.-

Harpers Ferry

Harpers Ferry saw two important people, John Brown and “Stonewall” Jackson. Of course, every body that knows about the Civil War should know about John Brown because he was the person who lit the fuse for the Civil War. Brown was against slavery and he swore that he would die than rather let slavery spread. So he came up with a plan. Brown wanted to take the armory so if slaves came; he could arm them so they could fight. On the day of the attack, Brown, his loyal subjects and his 3 sons when to pro-slavery house to house and took prisoners. The others they killed. After that, they and the prisoners proceeded onto Harpers Ferry. Surprisingly, the first person they killed was a black man. Brown’s army did secure the armory and they waited, and waited, and waited but no slaves came to help. One of the problems was that none of the slaves knew that this was happening so no one came to help. The next day, solders came to put down this attack. The solders were led by no other than General Lee him self. Lee sent a messenger to tell Brown to surrender and give over the prisoners. Brown said no. Lee told his men to attack. After the battle, Brown had been shot and was wounded but alive. The court was swift and quick and he was accused guilty and sentenced to be hanged. On the day of the execution, Brown was brought on a cart and he sat on his own coffin. Before he was hanged, Brown spoke these words, “I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think, vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it might be done.” but that wasn’t the only famous person who came to Harpers Ferry. Jackson also came here to take the city because of its important person that Vi. Jackson fought Dixson S. Miles and he defeated him hands down.  Another cool fact is that Tomas Jefferson, in his presidency, went there and found a large rock. He wanted to sit on it and stare across the city but it looked so unstable that it looked like it could fall any minuet.  So his escort of solders put up pillars so it wouldn’t fall.

Paw Paw and Zoe next to Jefferson's rock.

Battle of Antietam: Bloody Lane

There was an important battle fought at Antietam and it was called the Bloody Lane. It was 10,000 Union soldiers to 2,200 Confederate soldiers. Union solders, which were backed up with the Irish Brigade, charged the Confederates. The Irish Brigade was made up of Irish immigrants from New York and Massachusetts and flew a green flag with a golden harp on it. The Confederate lines almost collapsed Under the Union’s attack. But more Confederate troops came and, with a combined Confederate solders, numbered nearly 10,000. After 3 hours of viscous battling, the Confederate lines finally collapsed due to heavy losses and retreated back several hundred yards away. But the Union troops had also suffered tons of losses and weren’t able to peruse the advantage. After the battling stopped, an observer said, “ They were lying in rows like ties of a railroad, in heaps like cordwood mingled with the splintered and shattered fence rails. Words are inadequate to portray the scene.” Another quotes, “The bodies in the sunken road were so thick the a man could have walked on them as far as he could see with out touching the ground.” This just shows how brutal war can be.

RANDOM FACT!

Did you know that the USA banned bayonets because the wounds they inflicted can’t be sown up? Even weirder, most counties agreed!

the Battle of Fredericksburg

The battle of Fredericksburg was a big defeat for the union army. It was Burnside  (114,000 Union strong) against Lee (72,500 Confederate strong). Burnside had to cross a river so his engineers created pontoon bridges, which were just floating bridges, ahead of his troops. But, as they built the bridge, Confederate sharpshooters in the city kept killing the men so he abandoned that idea and resorted to bombarding with artillery and sending in men into the city. The confederates were soon driven out from the city and Burnside was able to complete the bridges. That night, the Union soldiers raided the city for anything such as furniture to burn, and more importantly food.  The next day, Burnside sent in some brigades to attack Lee. But Lee had the higher ground so is troops were able to repulse the Union troops over and over again.  The area that Lee was defending, the Sunken Road, was a road that was naturally fortified because it was sunken with the sides built up with a stone wall.   The soldiers could stand in the road, shoot over the wall and be protected.   In addition, the area the Union soldiers had to cross was about 1.5 miles of barren land that rose up to where the Confederates were defending the road.  FACT! I’m guessing you’ve never heard of Confederate Sgt. Richard Rowland Kirkland. Kirkland went onto the battlefield, with bullets and shells flying all around him, and gave wounded soldiers, both Union and Confederate, water. Both sides, realizing what he was doing, stop firing at him and instead started cheering him on. He would be killed later in another battle but he would be remembered as “The Angel of Mercy”. Now back to the battle. Burnside sent in more men, attacking Lee, but Lee had other ideas. Lee’s troops fired from behind the stone wall and Confederate artillery shot down from a hill [Maryse’s Heights] behind the troops. The Union troops didn’t stand a chance. They were mowed down like bowling pins. Determined to defeat Lee, Burnside sent waves and waves of Union men across the battlefield.  Burnside was running out of troops and couldn’t see a victory. At the end of the battle, low on troops, Burnside said that he would lead the charge himself but his commanders convinced him not to attack and instead retreat. Reluctantly, he agreed and all of his troops fell back across the bridges. Lee later reclaimed Fredericksburg and the battle was over. Burnside had 12,653 casualties while Lee only lost 5,377. This was a clear victory for Lee and a humiliation for Union troops. Why were the Union Generals so incompetent during most of the war????