Today was another Civil War battlefield day. This time we went south to the town of Murfreesboro where the Battle of Stones River was fought December 31, 1862 - January 2, 1863. This was another bloody battle with about 23,500 casualties. This is also a National Park Service location and they have a nice Visitor Center but there weren't any tours. We went to the National Cemetery where about 6,100 Union soldiers are buried, about 2,500 of whom are unknown. All of these unknown soldiers got us to wondering when military dog tags came into use. According to various sources, some Civil War soldiers made their own as it became known that many bodies were not able to be identified, but the US Military didn't start issuing them until around 1906 or so.
We ate lunch at Demo's which was recommended by our shuttle bus driver the other day. I had catfish and red rice and beans, both of which were delicious. Michael was less pleased with his pasta in brown butter and garlic.
A couple of observations over out time here: gas is anywhere from $1.72 to $2.18 per gallon. I think it was $2.49 when we left home. And there are lots of churches in the south and we'd guess that at least 80% of them are Baptist, all of which are large and many of which are HUGE. It's true what we've heard; Southerners are very friendly.
Have you noticed almost every Baptist church is red brick with white columns. And the reason for so many brick churches on the South is to counterbalance the Rocky Mountains.
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