even though it was cold and wet...

... a dismal damp day, just damp and bone-chilling with wind and misty blowing rain, we went to Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, near Dadeville, Alabama. It was pretty interesting, as well as likely pretty pretty in the summer when the trees are all leafed out. We made the looping drive though the park, and I noticed that most of the verge on the narrow asphalt roadway had thick green  moss growing along the edge. Meaning it is so shady and moist there in that horseshoe shaped bend in the river, under the overhanging deciduous trees that the moss grows well, with adjacent Tallapoosa River keeping it well watered.

A sad period looking back in American history. Makes you realize in a disheartening way how the Anglos have been bullying the rest of the world for as long as we have recorded history - back at least to the time of Roman occupation of most of eastern Europe. With eastern Europeans thinking they are superior to everyone else on the planet, taking over entire continents by force, subjugating natives from around the globe. There were a number of historic photos, reproducing illustrations from that era, in the early 1800's, well before the advent of camera and Mathew Brady.

There in the visitors center, we viewed a short video, looked at exhibits, including a flintlock rifle. Reading and seeing the illustrations/journal entries, providing a pretty accurate retelling of the actual battle, that only lasted one day, from the point of view of the victors - without much emphasis on the results. Pretty much glossing over the blood bath that occurred,  and what happened to the families of those warriors who were determined to fight to the last man. The natives, largely Creek Indians and some Cherokee, did have some firearms, but were both out numbered and out gunned by Anglo militia/Army regulars from Tennessee, lead by Andrew Jackson.

It was an interesting trip, fulfilled 1/12th of my goal of attempting to visit a national park once a month during the year. Doing my part to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of our federal park system. The one lone ranger attending the visitors center there at Horseshoe Bend was full of information. And when I told him about my plan for the next eleven months, suggested Tuskeegee. I've been, but it has been several years, and he said they had recently opened a new exhibit with more information and history about the Tuskeegee Airmen and their training for flight during WWII.