Month: May 2022

Arkansas Post National Memorial

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Flooding has always been an issue here. French traders established the first trading post near here in 1686, buying pelts from the Quapaw and shipping them down the Mississippi. They build a fort, which is abandoned due to flooding. Then they build another nearby and again move due to flood. After the French and Indian War, the Spanish take over the fur trade and reestablish a fort on the original location. The French get it back and then sell the whole “Louisiana” territory to the US. The post is briefly an important territorial capital, but the Union shells the confederates here during the Civil War destroying much of the town. And what’s left over becomes a backwater as the Arkansas River shifts away in 1912 and the remnants slowly erode into the bayous.

The photo shows the Little Post Bayou in the foreground and the Arkansas River in the background. With climate change increasing flooding broadly, the River has now risen again, reconnecting with the Post. Most of the history is now underwater, including French, Spanish, British, Native American and Civil War battlegrounds. But some foundations remain, along with subtle signs of confederate trenches in the woods. The post is a wonderful place to view wildlife, with many geese, a few deer, a red headed woodpecker, alligators, and a snowy egret on a tiny island in a little lake. The ranger, who loves wildlife, repeatedly assured me that the alligators here were adorable loving creatures and perfectly safe for people. I kept my distance from the large one I spotted.

Here’s the link to my visits to all parks in Arkansas.

Fort Smith National Historic Site

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The Arkansas River connects the Mississippi River to the Santa Fe Trail in Kansas, so the fort facilitated Native American removals along the Trail of Tears. The courthouse here dealt with many cases of serially displaced tribes. This was the base for US Marshals to “control disputes” and arrest whiskey traders out in Indian Native American Territory. The jail here was known as “hell on earth”.

There weren’t any major Civil War conflicts here, as the Union abandoned it at the beginning and the confederacy did the same two years later. Native Americans regiments were formed on both sides during the war, and Cherokee engaged Union troops north of the fort at Pea Ridge. It was at this fort in 1865 when the US informed the tribes that they were all enemy combatants, regardless of which side they had been on or whether they were one of the five “civilized” tribes that had largely integrated, and that all the tribes lost the Civil War. The slaves were freed, but the Native Americans again lost their land and still had no rights.

Despite the lack of Civil War battles here, there are no lack of Civil War reenactments here. Although the park service does not allow battles to be reenacted on park property, the folks above demonstrated by firing the cannon, while women separately participated in gentler “living history” nearby. That anyone would want to reenact such a dark and tragic history, especially when it glorifies and perpetuates the immoral beliefs of the traitorous pro-slavery side, is living proof that the ugly racism of our past still continues today.

Here’s the link to my visits to all parks in Arkansas.

Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site

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Okay, the photo is crooked. But in a way, that’s appropriate. As the ranger Randy explained, “there’s more than you know” here. Turns out, the school board took all the public school funds, gave them to the all white school, and told the African American community to build their own school on their own. So that’s why this is considered one of the finest looking schools in the country, because of racism and theft.

The Supreme Court may have ordered schools to desegregate, but many local school districts did everything they could to resist. As ranger Randy said, “you need to ask why there were only nine”, referring to the Little Rock Nine. In fact, there were many more than nine African American students in the district, but the school board put all kinds of restrictions on who could get in to the white school: you needed a 3.8 GPA, you weren’t allowed to participate in any extra-curricular activities, and you could neither report nor retaliate to bullying. They specifically designed the rules to reduce the number of black students to a small few who they could force into quitting.

The mob arrived first. The nine were told to arrive later and meet nearby. Well, all except for Elizabeth Eckford, who didn’t have a phone. She went right up to the door, surrounded by a hateful and threatening mob and was met by the National Guard. She expected the soldiers to protect her and let her pass, but they had been ordered by the governor to block any of the nine black students from entering. Confused and alone, she walked back to the bus stop and waited, enduring constant torment from the racist mob.

The case goes to Federal court, which disallows the Guard from blocking the students. The police try to defend the nine, but there’s a riot. Finally, Eisenhower nationalizes the Arkansas National Guard and sends in the 101st Airborne to escort the students inside more than three weeks after school began. The students endure physical and verbal abuse daily all year. The governor closes all the schools. The voters approve it. The Federal court declares that unconstitutional. And eventually, black students make it through to graduation.

Perhaps the racists thought that it would be easier to intimidate the smart kids, but they fully understood what was happening, why it was important that they didn’t give up and why they still shouldn’t give up.

Here’s the link to my visits to all parks in Arkansas.

Hot Springs National Park

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Wilderness exploration is nice, but I really enjoyed spending a couple nights here to rest and look for inspiration. Unfortunately I couldn’t literally recharge, as the nearest supercharger is in Little Rock, and I doubted my hotel would let me run an extension cord out into the parking lot. The entire area is full of hills, forests and lakes, but the downtown area is unique, being both historic and still thriving. There are fancy restaurants, stylish hotels, and, of course, bathhouse row. There seems to have been a few boom & bust cycles that created a few winners, some losers and some interesting adaptations. The longest running, original and most traditional bathhouse is Buckstaff. I’m up early, but there was already a line outside when I walked past, as they don’t take reservations. Maybe I’ll come back someday for a spa treatment. For now, it’s enough to just wander around, put my hands in the hot water public fountains, peer in the shop windows, admire the Art Deco and other architecture and hike up the hill into the trees.

Here’s the link to my visits to all parks in Arkansas.

Pea Ridge National Military Park

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This view is from the East Overlook facing the Union Headquarters and the Federal Line of artillery. The battle here in northwest Arkansas took place about seven months after Wilson’s Creek in southwest Missouri. The Union army had regrouped and pushed the confederates out of Missouri, and they won here too, killing two generals and keeping Missouri from being retaken.

A unique part of the battle here is that two regiments of Cherokee (about 1,000 men) fighting for the confederacy routed a couple hundred Union cavalry before being forced back by cannon fire. If you wonder why the Cherokee fought the Union, you only have to go to the Elkhorn Tavern down the hill where over 11,000 Cherokee were marched off by US government soldiers about 20 years earlier on the Trail of Tears.

Here’s the link to my visits to all parks in Arkansas.

George Washington Carver National Monument

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I love this statue. Carver was born at the end of the Civil War and was kidnapped and orphaned by the Klan. His mother’s owners retrieved him and raised him here, where he studied the plants near the creek as a child. He was educated mainly in Kansas, despite racial barriers, and eventually became the first African American to graduate from his school. His manner was mild, but he demonstrated great determination in the face of poverty, adversity and prejudice.

Recognized for his extensive scientific knowledge of botany and for being a groundbreaking African American scientist, he was hired to teach at Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee University. His goal was to help the least in society, so he worked on modernizing agricultural techniques used by African American farmers, even bringing a cart from the university out to the fields to teach, a technique copied by the US Department of Agriculture. He published many books and pamphlets, developed patented techniques and is best remembered for developing the lowly peanut into a highly profitable series of products. He testified to Congress about the peanut and scientific agricultural techniques and was widely recognized for his many accomplishments.

I know Carver is an inspirational figure admired for overcoming obstacles, but I can’t help but wonder how many others were denied even the limited opportunities he had. Slavery existed here for 244 years, with 10 million sent across the Atlantic and maybe another 10 million born into slavery here. None of them were properly educated. None had the freedom to pursue their dreams. And all died without being able to fully contribute their talents and ideas to improve the world. How many young, inquisitive minds were destroyed by slavery? How much human enlightenment was snuffed out to pick cotton? Carver was one of the first born after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, and he spent his life making the world a better place for all of us. But I can’t help but mourn the incalculable loss of all the other people during those 244 years and after who could have contributed as well or even more.

Here’s the link to my visits to all the parks in Missouri.

Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield

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Here’s the creek. It’s quite pretty, and there used to be a mill here. I saw a bald eagle nearby.

Alright. An important Civil War battle was fought here. To appreciate the story, you need to understand that Missouri was an important strategic state, with a neutral populace and a pro-slavery governor, which President Lincoln very much wanted on the Union side. Lincoln asked Missouri for troops, and the governor refused and plotted to seize the arsenal in St. Louis to help the confederates.

The arsenal’s Captain, Nathaniel Lyon, however, had already secretly moved the weapons to Illinois. After being promoted, Lyon took the state capital and forced the governor to retreat to southwest Missouri, where Wilson’s Creek is. In the summer of 1861, General Lyon marched his forces here, attempting a surprise attack. But the confederates had assembled a larger force. On August 10th, here on Bloody Hill, the forces engaged brutally for five hours. Lyon fought aggressively, was wounded twice in action and was killed leading a countercharge that morning, becoming the first Union general killed. The Union army retreated, but Missouri remained in Union control, despite many guerrilla battles to retake it.

Here’s the link to all my visits in Missouri.

Fort Scott National Historic Site

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Built in 1842 to defend the “permanent” frontier with Native American territory, the fort quickly fell behind events. Settlers were already moving west on the Santa Fe Trail. Within four years the actual frontier was being taken from Mexico, with cavalry “dragoons” riding a thousand miles west from here to fight in that war. The fort was abandoned in 1853 and the buildings auctioned. But the military withdrawal set the stage here for Bleeding Kansas, the conflict that presaged the Civil War. Turns out the military wasn’t needed here to keep peace between the settlers and the “warlike” Natives, but rather between the slavers and the abolitionists.

When the Supreme Court overturned the Missouri Compromise and the government passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the US government officially decided that it was best to just let the states decide on slavery by themselves. Here, the pro-slavery townspeople– and “border ruffians”–took over the fort to defend against militant abolitionists in the surrounding countryside who were determined to prevent the expansion of the moral abomination of slavery. Around 60 people were killed, including a pro-slavery former deputy marshal, whose widow is remembered for swearing revenge.

The US military returned to use the fort during the Civil War and defended it from guerrilla attacks. Both African American and Native American regiments were formed here. And after the war, soldiers were again sent west to defend the railroads against squatters who protested being cheated out of the land stolen from the natives.

While educational, I believe the park service has a responsibility to do more than simply illustrate the views of both sides. The Civil War was not “a controversy over states’ rights” nor was Bleeding Kansas merely “growing pains” as park exhibits say. The only states’ “right” being contested was the “right” to chain and breed people, on the basis of race, in perpetual ignorance and slavery, including women and children, forever. By any standard of human rights, that is not a right, but a profound moral crime. There is no legitimate justification of slavery. Perpetuating traitorous and racist views that there was any honor in fighting for slavery is dangerous to society and deeply offensive, to those held in bondage, to their descendants and to those who fought and died to end slavery in America.

Here’s the link for my visits to all parks in Kansas.

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

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The bison surprised me as I walked along the creek. Fortunately, there’s a barbed wire fence between us, as they can be dangerous. Unfortunately, the ranger later told me that the bison can easily go over or through the fence. The building on the hill is a one-room schoolhouse.

That there is a preserved tallgrass prairie preserve here at all is a combination of luck and innovation. The Flint Hills here make it substandard farmland in Kansas, so it was purchased by a cattleman who wanted a last stop to fatten up cattle on the local grasses before going to market. He made good money and built a big house. When big agribusiness was buying up all the land, this property had too much house and too little grazing to be profitable enough to attract decent bids. So, the Nature Conservancy takes a look, sees that the land still has the original tallgrass growing here and decides to buy the land for that, despite not buying land with houses by their previous practice. Then, the park service does a deal with them to manage the buildings for visitors, jointly protect the land and also bring back bison. The result is a lovely, quiet, natural place to visit with stone walls, a wooded hill, flowering trees, authentic prairie, historic buildings, a creek, and the occasional one ton American bison.

I’ve been wondering about how the US might atone for the Native American removal policies, and when I see all the giant corporate agribusiness land owned by the 1% around here, I wonder if maybe a tiny portion of it might be given over to a large tallgrass prairie bison ranch managed by the descendants of the Native Americans who owned the land and had it stolen. I’ve eaten commercially raised bison, and it’s at least as good as regular steak. What’s more, recreating the original ecosystem also would support additional species, like the Prairie Chicken that used to live here abundantly. While it might appear to be a net economic loss in terms of land use, adding more product diversity is good for the economy overall. Maybe throwing in some housing would be fair too.

Here’s the link for my visits to all parks in Kansas.

Harry S. Truman National Historic Site

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The home was actually Bess’s family’s, before becoming the vacation White House. Due to my inattention and Tesla’s quirky routing, I briefly visited Truman’s family farm, which is much less fancy, before getting to the center of Independence where Harry worked as a judge and could walk a couple blocks to Bess’s house. President Truman evidently enjoyed coming back to Missouri as often as possible, and I’m sure he would be pleased having so many folks visit.

Very little official business was conducted here. But if you’re looking for information on Truman’s Presidency, his library and related artifacts are managed separately by the National Archives a few blocks away.

Here’s the link for my visits to all parks in Missouri.