BGuthrie Photos: AL -- Decatur -- Rhodes Ferry Park

AL -- Decatur -- Rhodes Ferry Park:

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. DECRFP_170602_008.JPG: Uprooted From Home
2. DECRFP_170602_017.JPG: Words of Resistance
3. DECRFP_170602_030.JPG: "Captain, We've Got It At Last" - The Charge of the 14th U.S. Colored Infantry "A Hard Nut To Crack" The Battle For Decatur As sharpshooting and artillery fire continued throughout the morning of October 28, Granger and Doolittle determined to launch an attack upon the Confederate battery at the edge of the Tennessee River, whose fire threatened the critical pontoon bridge. Chosen to make this assault was the 14th USCT. Colonel Thomas Jefferson Morgan recorded the preparations for this charge, "The men were stripped of all extra load, carrying only gun, accouterments, and canteen of water. They were cautioned that a battery was to be charged and taken, if only ten men survived to take it. They seemed anxious for the work." At precisely noon Morgan ordered the assault to begin. Captain Romeyn of Company B remembered: "...The order was at once given to charge, and with arms at the right shoulder 363 enlisted men and officers rushed to the assault. It required but little time to reach and go over the slight works, and driving off the artillerymen spike the guns and get the prolonges [ropes] down to haul them off. But before the guns could be moved the rebel infantry had charged, and after a hand-to-hand fight the colored soldiers abandoned the attempt and retired, bringing off their killed and wounded..." The fighting was intense, close, and personal. Colonel Morgan reported, "As Captain Rolph was retreating a rebel seized him by the collar, and paid the forfeit of life by a stroke from the captain's sword." Their mission successfully accomplished, having captured and disabled four Confederate cannon, the regiment fell back to Decatur's fortifications. Captain Romeyn recalled that, "...on its return [as the regiment] re-entered the works surrounding the town, the white soldiers mounted the parapet and gave it three rousing cheers. I shall never forget the glad look of my first sergeant as, marching by my side, he turned his face to me and said ‘Captain, we've got it at last.' Our victory was complete."
4. DECRFP_170602_041.JPG: Colonel Thomas Jefferson Morgan led nearly 400 proud African-American warriors fighting for their freedom at Decatur, across the ground where you are standing.
5. DECRFP_170602_042.JPG: Site of Benson Field Decatur's Football Stadium 1931 - 47 Named in honor of W. W. "Barney" Benson, Supt. Ed. 1927 - 38 H. L. "Shorty" Ogle, Coach 1934 - 64 Aubrey Fuller, Asst. Coach 1929 - 58 The "T" formation was introduced to Alabama here in 1941 On this field a generation of Decatur's youth became men. Erected by "Shorty's" Boys in 2004
6. DECRFP_170602_052.JPG: Cherokee Trail of Tears Of the various detachments that removed the Cherokee People from their home lands in the Southeastern United States, three of them landed in Decatur at what is now Rhodes Ferry Park. Due to the difficulty of navigating the Muscle Shoals portion of the Tennessee River, it was necessary to transport the Cherokee from Decatur Landing to Tuscumbia Landing using the newly built Tuscumbia, Courtland, and Decatur Railroad. On March 7, 1837, the Major Ridge Party docked at Decatur with 471 Cherokee. The Lt. Edward Deas Detachment landed here on June 9, 1838 with 800 Cherokee, and on June 21, 1838, the Lt. Robert H. K. Whiteley Detachment landed with 1000 Cherokee. Out of the three detachments, there was one documented fatality in Decatur, that of an elderly Cherokee woman. The second documented fatality happened en route between Decatur and Tuscumbia involving a Cherokee man being crushed by the train.
7. DECRFP_170602_060.JPG: Lots of bugs!
8. DECRFP_170602_082.JPG: Fight for Survival: The Cherokee people resisted the government's order to leave the Tennessee Valley. They signed petitions and lobbied Congress. Yet the Indian Removal Act of 1830 still passed. In March 1837, the first detachment -- a group of Cherokee families, slaves , and a doctor -- loaded onto 11 flat boats with Major Ridge, a Cherokee leader. In 1838, two more detachments faced hunger, disease, and death on their Trail of Tears route through Decatur.
9. DECRFP_170602_088.JPG: Packed with People: On this river in front of you, 2,300 Cherokee people arrived in waves, forced from their Tennessee Valley homeland in 1837 to 1838. The steamer Knoxville towed flat boats loaded with Cherokee families. Heavy rains soaked their clothes. Cold wind shipped off the water. They survived on cornmeal and flour fried in bacon grease. Once docked here at Decatur Landing, the Cherokee boarding cramped train cars. Their journey continued west along the rails.
10. DECRFP_170602_091.JPG: The Tuscumbia, Courtland, and Decatur Railroad was the only railway line in the country used by transport the Cherokee people during forced removal.
11. DECRFP_170602_094.JPG: Decatur's unique combination of river and railroad transportation played a role in the Trail of Tears. This view of Decatur Landing in 1905 shows what the scene may have looked like in the 1830s.
12. DECRFP_170602_121.JPG: Lots of bugs!
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2017 photos: Overnight trips this year: Civil War Trust conferences in Pensacola, FL, Chattanooga, TN (via sites in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee) and Fredericksburg, VA, a family reunion in The Dells, Wisconsin (via sites in Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin), New York City, and my 12th consecutive San Diego Comic Con trip (including sites in Arizona). Ego strokes: For some reason, several of my photos have been published in physical books this year which is pretty cool. Ones that I know about: "Tarzan, Jungle King of Popular Culture" (David Lemmo), "The Great Crusade: A Guide to World War I American Expeditionary Forces Battlefields and Sites" (Stephen T. Powers and Kevin Dennehy), "The American Spirit" (David McCullough), "Civil War Battlefields: Walking the Trails of History" (David T. Gilbert), "The Year I Was Peter the Great: 1956 — Khrushchev, Stalin's Ghost, and a Young American in Russia" (Marvin Kalb), and "The Judge: 26 Machiavellian Lessons" (Ron Collins and David Skover). Equipment this year: I continued to use my Fuji XS-1 cameras but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000. Number of photos taken this year: just below 560,000.
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