Bullets and Bugs

One of the best things about the South is the rich history it provides of the Civil War period in the 1860s.  We added a visit to the Stones River National Battlefield Park in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  This was one of the war’s most deadly battles. 

The park features the largest earth structured fort created during the war.  The park is well cared for and it provides an excellent museum describing the battle and the importance for both sides in winning. 

General Rosecrans won the final battle and created a holding for the Union that helped to push the war further into the South and eventually end it. 

Arriving at the Battlefield we heard a huge buzzing sound.  It was sort of like what you would hear in a cheap science fiction movie indicating outer space critters were hanging around. 

These “critters” were different.  We experienced something that only happens every 13 years in this area - the emergence of the Great Southern Brood of Cicada doing their 21 day thing above ground.  The sound was quite weird and loud.  Millions of the cicadas were everywhere in the park area.  Cicadas don’t bite or cause any damaging harm.  In fact they create a feast for local bird life.  In many countries of the world they are enjoyed as a food source when they appear.  I offered Nancy some at lunch but she declined. 

P.S.  Of course, Nancy needed to have a rock for her collection from Stones River.