Foot Traffic Only

No horses, mules, wagons or buggies allowed

 in the 1860's Merchant Town at last week's Battle of Selma.

Foot traffic only!

Linking to Signs, Signs

and City Daily Photo Blogs

The Peeps are Here

Little PEEPS started showing up in Selma's farm and garden centers

 over the past few weeks, and here are a couple at Tractor Supply. 

It seems that chickens aren't just for farms anymore as more folks

 are raising them so they can have fresh eggs. 

Linking to ABC Wednesday (where the letter is P)

and City Daily Photo Blogs 

Our World, From Tasmania to the Battle of Selma

 It's a long, long way from Tasmania to Selma, but that's how far Jenni Jago

 traveled to attend the Battle of Selma last weekend!

While on a tour of the American South,

 she and others learned about the battle

 while in Montgomery and decided to head this way.

 She met some of the Southern Belles, tried the battle cuisine

 and took pictures. From Selma, they planned to travel to Jackson, Miss.

 

Linking to Our World Tuesday

and City Daily Photo Blogs

Just Sending News from the Battlefield

"Selma has fallen!" is what I imagine these Civil War Battle of Selma

 reenactors are texting to relatives or friends on their phone! 

View a video of the 5th Alabama Infantry Regiment Band 

playing "Amazing Grace" during Sunday's closing ceremony.

Linking to Blue Monday

and City Daily Photo Blogs

Union Advance

The 150th anniversary of the Battle of Selma was re-enacted Sunday
 with hundreds of reenactors and a hillside full of spectators. 

In this photo, homes north of Selma are burned by Union Gen. J.H. Wilson's
 Cavalry as they advance on Confederate forces behind the fortifications.
 In the actual battle on April 2, 1865, Wilson's Raiders 

went on to destroy Selma's arms manufacturing facilities
 and burn much of the town. 

Battle of Selma 150th

One hundred fifty years ago, much of Selma was in ruins...

the price it paid for its part as a major weapons, munitions and warship producer

 for the Confederacy during The War Between the States.

This weekend, the Battle of Selma is commemorated by hundreds of Union 

and Confederate reenactors from around the country. But the battle is much

 more than a battle with black powder and cannons and horses and swords.

 While that is certainly the highlight, those who attend will experience

 a living-history education in the lifestyle of the 1860s via battle tactics,

 weapons, medicine, communications, apparel, cooking, music and more. 

Why remember this relatively short battle during the last days of the Civil War?

It educates our children and ourselves in a way that no history book can.

 It brings authenticity to  America's bloodiest conflict, a four-year war 

that took hundreds of thousands of lives, injured millions more

 and set the course of our nation.

Selma's battle comes near the end of the 150th anniversary reenactments.

 For more information on Civil War 150 events, click HERE.      

(Photo is from a previous Battle of Selma event.)

Tribute to Union "Unknown Soldier" at Cahaba Federal Prison

 

 Tribute to the lone unknown Union soldier still buried at Cahaba,

 site of  a federal prison during the War Between the States, was paid 

Thursday by the April 1865 Society as part of the

 150th anniversary of the Battle of Selma.

 

While a wreath was laid at the soldier's grave, the ceremony

 at Cahaba Federal Prison also memorialized the 150 Union soldiers 

who lost their lives there and those who died shortly after the war 

on their way back home while aboard the steamship Sultana.

 

  This country's worst maritime disaster occurred April 27, 1865,

 on the Mississippi River near Memphis when boilers exploded,

 killing 1600 of the 2600 men on the overcrowded ship.

 Of those, 680 were former Cahaba prisoners.

 

While prison conditions were harsh, particularly with flooding and vermin, 

Cahaba's fatality rate of less than 5 percent was attributed to good artesian

 well water and the humanity of its Kentucky-born commandant.

 The overall death rate for southern prisons was 15 percent 

and for Union prisons, 12 percent. Historians estimate that

 more than 8,000 Union soldiers may have been housed

 in the unfinished cotton warehouse at Cahaba through the war years.  

 

Sources: Memories of Prisoners of War (Interned at Cahaba Federal Prison)

 compiled by John Lundquist, Cahaba Federal Prison, compiled by John Lundquist

 and Cahaba Prison and The Sultana Disaster by William O. Bryant

 

The Old Live Oak Cemetery Spring House

Old Live Oak Cemetery is a never-ending canvas for artists and photographers,

 and its colors are most beautiful in April.

Behind drapes of Spanish Moss, you see the Spring House or Pigeon House.

 It was here that Memorial Day concerts and programs were held,

 and it is also here where pigeons used to roost in its gables,

 now closed off. Today, it serves as storage. 

Linking to ABC Wednesday where the letter is "O"
Wordless Wednesday

 and City Daily Photo Blogs

Our World, Highway 80 Sale

It was wet, and it was muddy.

But vendors came in trucks and trailers and vans 

and put their wares on tables and under tents.

This was part of the scene at the Angie's Auction site of the U.S. Highway 80

 World's Widest Yard Sale last weekend. It was the only site I visited,

 because I found so many bargains in such a short time,

 I had to leave before I took home MORE STUFF! 

Linking to Our World Tuesday

and City Daily Photo Blogs

Library Week's Aspiring Writers

If you have ever chopped cotton, taken castor oil or eaten collard greens

 on special occasions, then you just might relate to Litric Mingo's poetry. 

The Gees Bend native and Selma resident recited poems about her childhood 

and culture at the Selma-Dallas County Public Library during 

National Library Week. She is one of several local aspiring writers

 who spent an hour presenting original works, published or not. 

Mingo recited poems from a collection she plans to self publish.While she

 has written many poems,  it was her very first one, "Freedom Movement," 

that propelled her to prominence at her school in Boykin.  

Eventually, because her writing expressed the emotions of young people

 so well during a time of social change, she was chosen as one

 of 17 minority youth for a two-week trip to France. 

Many of Mingo's poems are humorous, but others, such as "Morning Glory"

 and "Today," reflect her positive outlook. Still others convey determination

 to rise above the circumstances of her Civil Rights Era youth. 

More about Litric Mingo can be found HERE. 

Linking to Monday Mellow Yellows

and City Daily Photo Blogs

Good Fences, Sturdivant Hall

Here is a "low-level" look through the iron gates at Sturdivant Hall,

 an antebellum house museum that is open to the public and often the scene

 of many events such as weddings, receptions

 and the Battle of Selma Grand Military Ball.  

Linking to Good Fences

and City Daily Photo Blogs

Signs, Signs (Let the Words of My Mouth)

Posted on a building on Martin Luther King Jr. Street:

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart

 be acceptable in they sight, oh God!" 

The verse is from Psalms 19:14 which ends, "...oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer."

Oh, if only!

Linking to Signs, Signs

and City Daily Photo Blogs

The Gardens on Church Street

Most azaleas peaked last week ahead of this week's rain, and not many

 are more showy than the ones in this garden on Church Street. 

Linking to City Daily Photo Blogs 

Our World (Bulls at Play, or NOT!)

Give a little camera to your husband to take to the pasture,

 and you get action shots, sometimes!

He caught these bulls playing "King of the Hill" in the mud

 and atop a pile of gravel. That sideways glance from the bull on the left

 tells us he won the game, or at least he is warning the other bull 

to stay away.  That is what I think!

Linking to Our World Tuesday

and City Daily Photo Blogs

Spring in Fairoaks

Spring is always pretty in Fairoaks Square with plenty of foliage

 backed by charming Victorian cottages painted in pastels. 

Linking to City Daily Photo Blogs

Skywatch (Partly Cloudy with Snowballs)

It's partly cloudy with snowballs!

Southern Living Magazine calls the snowball bush "spring's

 most elegant flowering shrub"  and all a yard needs "to make a statement."

 So I guess quite a few yards over in Old Town are making statements

 right now, because the snowballs are definitely showy!

Linking to Skywatch Friday

and City Daily Photo Blogs

Signs, Signs (150th Battle of Selma)

Signs promoting the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Selma are everywhere,

 even hanging from this balcony at the St. James Hotel

 during last week's Alabama River Chili Cookoff. 

Battle Weekend begins with living history tours for school children April 23 and 24

 and continues with a writers' forum, pre-battle skirmish, sutler settlement,

 Battle of Selma Ball and the main battle re-enactment on Sunday, the 25th.

Linking to Signs, Signs

and City Daily Photo Blogs

Moss at the Mausoleum

 Selma's Spanish MOSS is quite an attraction but nowhere better

 than the deep canopies it creates in Old Live Oak Cemetery, 

In Spring, it is even more beautiful as azalea blossoms are drenched 

with its tendrils. Here, the moss hangs over the MAUSOLEUM 

of U.S. Vice President William Rufus King.

Linking to ABC Wednesday where the letter this week is "M," 

and City Daily Photo Blogs

 

Our World, Back to Boating

Boating is back now that the weather has warmed and the river is not too high

 and not too swift. This boater took advantage of good conditions 

one evening last week as the sun was lowering in the western sky. 

Linking to Our World

and City Daily Photo Blogs

Blue Monday, "Frozen" Chili

I think it's fair to say that the "Frozen" booth at the Alabama River Chili Cookoff

 was a favorite of children. Olaf and Elsa were there to pose for pictures,

 and the chili was sure to keep them warm!

Linking to Blue Monday

and City Daily Photo Blogs

 

He is Risen!

1 Peter 1:3
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

 In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope

 through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead... (NIV)

Linking to City Daily Photo Blogs

Firing the Cannon for the 150th

April 2 was the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Selma, and members 

of the Jeff Davis Artillery fired a cannon across the Alabama River

 at the 3 p.m. battle time as part of the official commemoration.

The small, six-pound experimental Brooke cannon was made in Selma in 1864 

and used to designed the steel versions. After the War Between the States

 was over, the cannon was shipped to a warehouse in Virginia but returned 

to the city in the 1930s.  It was placed with another one

 at the Selma Waterworks until one was stolen. 

Then, this one was moved to safekeeping.

Thanks to guest photographer Christine Weerts for the photo!

Linking to City Daily Photo Blogs

Good Fences, By the River

The fence at Lafayette Park is perfect to hold on to

 and get a good look at the Alabama River.

Linking to Good Fences

and City Daily Photo Blogs

Signs, Signs (The 150-Year Anniversary)

Today marks 150 years since Selma fell to Union Gen. J.H. Wilson

 near the end of the War Between the States. 

The historic markers near the Riverside Park entrance show the city's fortifications

 and tell how the brief battle ended.  Selma was a major producer of supplies

 and munitions, including Confederate warships. Its naval foundry, army arsenal,

 shipyard and powder works were destroyed by the Union soldiers after the battle.

 Much of the town was also burned. 

Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest defended Selma for the Confederacy, but despite

 his success in many other battles, he was unable to save the city

 with men and supplies so depleted in the final days of the war. 

Another marker will be unveiled at Arsenal Place this afternoon,

 and a Brooke Cannon that was manufactured here during the war

 will be fired at the same time the battle began.

Linking to Signs, Signs

and City Daily Photo Blogs

April Theme Day (My Camera-Shy Self Portrait)

It's April Theme Day for the City Daily Photo Blogs,

 and we are posting "My Camera-Shy Self Portrait."

So here I am. Yes, I am there reflected in the window of Pringle Petals 

where you see the flower arrangement and the chandelier,

 but across the street is Alley-oup. 

And for the record, this selfie was taken quite by accident! 

I really dislike selfies!

Linking to City Daily Photo Blogs