Another New ACW History Buff Joins the Ranks

Lelia at Fort Donelson National Battlefield Park

My daughter, Lelia, could have knocked me over with a feather recently when she informed me that she was interested in history. More precisely, she is interested in the American Civil War. Hoorah!

Dad & Daughter at Fort Donelson

She is going to school in Carbondale, IL and I said to her: "You know, Lelia, that your are living within a 2-hour drive of one of the most important battles of the Civil War. It's called Fort Donelson."

Lelia was excited to hear that and she asked if we could visit the site, just Dad and Daughter, the next time that I was visiting her in Carbondale. So we were visiting her on Parents' Weekend on the weekend of October 20, 2018 and I made arrangements to rent a car and drive to the battlefield on Sunday the 21st.

With a drive of about 2.5 hours one-way, we had a lot of time to catch up on things and have some lively discussions and debates about the state of the world today. That is priceless, as they say.

Lelia and a 12-pound Napoleon

When we arrived at the battlefield the first thing that we did was to stop in at the visitors' center so that Lelia could get a good background and overview of the battle and of General Grant's 1862 Campaign. We talked to one of the park rangers and he was envious that I had a daughter who was interested in Civil War history. "I hope that my kids will like the Civil War too," he said.

So we did the driving tour of the battlefield, stopping and getting out of the car at various places along the route. We got to see some very well preserved entrenchments and quite a good collection of artillery pieces. 

Lelia's favorite spot in the park was the view of the Cumberland River at the Lower Battery. I explained how Captain Foote tried to pass his flotilla of ironclad gunboats by the fort and reduce it with artillery fire at close range. This tactic had worked at nearby Fort Henry (which guarded the Tennessee River), but not so much at Fort Donelson. The battery of ten giant 30-pound Columbiad fortress guns pounded Foote's flotilla so hard that they had to turn around and retreat.

The lower river battery overlooking the Cumberland River.

Park display sign that provides information about Foote's attempt to capture the  fort from the river,
in the same manner as used to capture nearby Fort Henry.

I think that this is a 20-pound Parrot.

A view of the 30-pound Columbiad fortress cannon in the battery overlooking the Cumberland River.

I have visited the battlefield three times now and I had yet to see the Dover Hotel, where Confederate General Simon Bolivar Buckner surrender his army of 13,000 to Union general Ulysses Simpson Grant. When Buckner asked Grant what the terms of surrender would be Grant replied,"I have nothing to offer but complete and unconditional surrender of your forces."  Grant made it clear that if Buckner did not surrender, that he (Grant) was prepared to assault the fort with his army within the hour. Buckner accepted the terms.

Since Grant's initials were U.S. Grant, the Northern press took to calling him "Unconditional Surrender Grant."

It was late in the afternoon by the time we reached the Dover Hotel and discovered that it closed at 4PM. We arrived there at 4:15PM. So I have still not seen the hotel, at least from the inside, but I was able to view it from the outside.

Lelia at the Dover Hotel, where General Simon Bolivar Buckner surrendered to  Unconditional Surrender Grant.

The following Monday, we took the Amtrack train from Carbondale to Chicago and returned home. Lelia had developed a case of bronchitis and so her school recommended that she go home with us and get well for a week.

On the way home on the Amtrack train.

I have now taken the train on this route three times and I still am in awe of the sight of the Chicago skyline as the train rolls towards the final stop at Union Station.

Home is in sight - the impressive Chicago skyline from the south of the city.

We both had a great time on our first battlefield visit. I told Lelia that Fort Donelson was the very first Civil War battlefield that I visited with my father. So history seems to be going in full circle. She wants to see more battlefields with me, and soon. Given Carbondale's proximity to Franklin and Shiloh, I would imagine that one or both of those sites will be the location of our next battlefield tour. I can't wait!

Christmas Pix Photo Session

Lady Emma Cuddlestone-Smythe and Tiberius the Wonder Dog.

We received some of the proofs of a series of pictures that we had taken of the Princess and I just wanted to post two of my favorites on my blog. The first one shows our hound in what I call "Classic Golden Retriever Pose" smiling right into the camera with tongue hanging out. In the second picture below, Tiberius decides to ham it up a little bit lay a smooch on Lady EC-S's cheek.

A Dog's Work Is Never Done

These pictures will undoubtedly find their way onto Facebook in the near future.

Cheers,

Fritz

Keeping Hope Alive

My daughter Lelia gave this "sermon" at church about Hope. The congregation gave her a standing ovation at its conclusion and there were a few sniffles as people were very moved by what she had to say. I apologize for posting something personal on a Wargame blog, but I wanted to share it with everyone:

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In my life the word "hope" has been a major feeling. Since I have CP (cerebral palsy) it is sometimes hard to keep hope alive. Why? It's hard to keep that four-letter word alive because of all that I have been through. I've been operated on, bullied, and have fallen down a great number of times.

My struggles began right from the moment I was born. When I was born, two months early, I was whisked away from my parents. This happened because, since I was born prematurely, I couldn't go home with my parents for a while.

I was diagnosed with CP at 18 months, and from then on, the "real" race for hope began.

I began life a little differently for a baby. I did not sit up when I was supposed to, or walk when I was supposed to. This made my parents very desperate, and probably they were thinking, "why us? why does God give us a beautiful child and then He makes her 'different' "?

But my parents did not have to be in this state for very long, because then the miracles started.

The first miracle was when I sat up and rolled over at eighteen months. The second miracle was when I began to talk at three years old. And the third miracle was when I walked at four years. Those huge miracles in my life gave my family hope, but there was still a long hard struggle ahead for my family and I.

As I got older, things took a turn for the worse. Where I used to go to school -- oh, don't get me started -- it was not pretty.

At my school, I was bullied for my disability. For example, there was this one boy who wouldn't stop bullying me. He pushed me into a chain link fence, yelled at me, and pushed me to the ground. It seemed like there was no Hope then.

Aside from being bullied, I had other struggles to deal with. Those struggles were my surgeries. My first surgery was on my left eye; my second surgery was to remove a cyst; my third surgery was to remove another cyst; my fourth surgery was for my back; and my fifth surgery was for my legs.

I felt very scared when I had to have my surgeries, and I also felt a little angry. Why did I have to have surgeries? Why couldn't God pick someone else instead of me? It didn't seem fair that I had to be so young and have so many surgeries. It was also unfair that, while everyone else was doing their own thing, I had to lie down on an operating table.

The fear pushed me into having a deeper relationship with God. My parents and friends could comfort me only so much, I had to reach out for something larger. This is where my real faith began, especially with the leg surgery. I had to find a faith that would work for me, and I did; I talked with God out loud, and I asked Him for His help, and I did get His help.

And God helped our family by sending His love, mercy, compassion, and presence to us. God showed us all those things by never leaving our family's side for one second. Also, the fact that God was "there" with my family helped us have hope.

In conclusion, since God was there to help my family keep hope alive, our family has grown stronger in our faith. Sometimes it is hard to trust God, but we know that God will follow through to,His promises for us; He will never let us down.

Also, not only did God help keep hope alive, He taught each member of my family something. For Mom, God taught her to hold things together, be patient, and when there is a problem, to let God take it and fix it. For Dad, God taught him the same things that He taught Mom. And for me, not only did God teach me what he taught my parents, but He also taught me to forgive everyone who bullied me.

So with all that my family and I have gone through, I can truly say that we now know how to keep hope alive. If it weren't for God and all that I have been through, my family and I would probably not know how to keep,hope alive.

Today my life is amazing. I'm a sophomore at a wonderful school where I'm in student council and in plays. I volunteer at a soup kitchen in Waukegan, and at PADS. I have tons of friends and excel at academics, except for math.

But most importantly, I am thankful to my Heavenly Father for all He has done for me.

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Kindness

Lady Emma Cuddlestone-Smythe wrote this little piece of prose about Kindness and I liked it so much that I thought that I would post it on my blog. Given the tragic news from Connecticut yesterday, a little more focus on Kindness seems to be what we need more of right now.

Kindness

by Lelia Jane Purky

Kindness is the act of helping, not being mean, not bullying.

Kindness is a gift that comes when you feel ready for it, to open your heart, to open your soul, your mind and your spirit.

Kindness is what you need for life, and what can you do without it?

Kindness is keeping peace, kindness is helping those who need it, and being nice to anyone you meet, even those who are mean to you.

It's December, almost Christmas, the season of perpetual hope, giving, love and change. And it's not about getting, it's about giving.

Will you make the change?

Pix From The Past

Lady Emma at age 3

Here is a picture of my daughter and I at her third birthday party. We had a "Groovy Girl" theme for the party and everyone attending wore 1970s era clothing such as bell bottom pants and tie-dyed shirts and, well, you get the point.

A family friend took this picture of Lady Emma and I and we had long since lost the e-photo so I couldn't replicate it in any fashion. Then about a week ago, I discovered that my Mother had a paper copy of the photo pinned to her bulletin board. So I was able to scan the photo and preserve it forever for posterity. It is my second favorite photo of my daughter and I. My favorite is when she was a baby and she has fallen asleep on my shoulder. I found it:

Dad and Lady Emma - age 4 months

Another Lady Emma Update

Lady Emma and Der Alte Fritz, earlier this summer.

Thursday morning we will be visiting the surgeon who did the surgery on Lady Emma so that she can see how her patient is doing. It has been two weeks since the surgery and Lady Emma has been quite the trooper when it comes to staying in bed and laying on her back (for two weeks) with nary a complaint. The stitches seem to be doing their job and hopefully the surgeon will give us the OK to get out of bed and become a little more active.

There is not too much to report on the painting front, other than the completion of 21 more Suren SYW British Guards to bring that battalion up to 60 figures. A company of grenadiers will follow soon. I also primed 30 Elite Miniatures SYW British firing and loading. This will become the 12th (Napier's) Regiment of Foot, which was one of the Minden regiments.


Update: Thursday August 20, 2009

The doctor removed the stitches from Lady Emma's back and gave us the green light to return to a somewhat normal level of activity. Lady Emma is very happy to be liberated from laying down on the couch. We are going to take the royal hounds for a short stroll around the block now.

Lady Emma Returns Home!

Lady Emma shares her mail with Piglet and Ga (the Bear) after arriving home from the hospital today.

We were given the green light to go home this afternoon, and we left Childrens' Memorial Hospital at 4pm. I couldn't believe all of the extra stuff that we accumulated over the past four days as family and close friends paid their visits and brought lots of helium mylar balloons and stuffed animals and flowers. I felt as if we need Allied Van Lines to truck all of the stuff home.

The royal hounds, Dave and Katie were happy to see us, judged by the velocity of their tail waggings, and we were equally as happy to see them and our humble home. Our sitter Paula had set up the family room sofa for a home bed and so I was able to transport the little munchkin directly from the car to her bed. She is supposed to lie on her back for the next two weeks and let things heal. She can get up and walk to the dinner table or use the washroom (WC), but that is all.

And now the hard part begins: home healthcare and rehab. I have to carry her up the stairs to her bedroom and I suspect that after a night or two of this we will set up permanent quarters on the main (first) floor of the house. Either that or my back is going to go out of whack - she's gotten heavier as she approaches her eleventh birthday. It's a far cry from carrying a little toddler up the stairs in my arms. Also, I don't want to put any stress on the incision by carrying her up the stairs. so I think that we may take her bed apart and reassemble it downstairs in the family room. I have a new appreciation for male nurses and other home healthcare workers. It's great to be home, but we no longer have a full staff at our beck and call to do all of the work.

Lady Emma Update

Due to popular request, here is an update on Lady Emma's condition. The doctors looked at her incision today (about 2-3 inches long at the base of her spine) and said that it was healing up nicely. Tomorrow, Sunday, they will have her sit up and see if she can do that without any pain. If it goes well, then we could be coming home on Sunday. We don't really know at this point, but we are all hopeful that this will be our last night at the hospital. (I'm getting tired of hospital food and McDonalds' :) )

This evening we are all watching the White Sox vs Indians baseball game and Lady Emma is happy that the Sox are winning so far, 6 to 5 in the 7th inning.

Day Two Update

Things seem to be going fairly well at the field hospital today. We were finally assigned a room around 8pm last evening (they had to clear out and clean the room from the previous tenant). So we watched a few of the DVDs that we brought with us. My favorite was a film called Matilda, with Danny Devito - highly recommended! Lady Emma had all of her color back in her cheeks and her appetite was coming back, all of which are good signs. In fact, save for the fact that she had IV tubes coming out of her arms, one wouldn't have know that she just had surgery, her disposition was so good.

I slept in Lady Emma's room and let her Mom slumber in the parents' waiting room, where it was quieter. We are in a ward with six other kids of various ages, who have all come back from surgery. There is lots of noise in the ward, but things began to quiet down around midnight. Nurses come in about every hour, so it is hard to sleep. I gave Lady Emma some water several times during the night, but all in all, she has been a cooperative patient. I think that I actually got about four hours of sleep, broken up into blocks of an hour here and there. At 7:30 AM, a posse of about 7 doctors and residents made the rounds and paid us a visit. Curious that. I don't know what they do. It is a teaching hospital so I guess the residents are learning or something like that.

So things seem to be going well. I think that they will release us on Sunday. Staying in the hospital is not as hard as I thought it would be. It must be the parenting thing kicking in. They are going to move us to another room this afternoon, for two patients, so it should be a quieter night tonight. I want to thank everyone for their kind comments and well wishes. Lady Emma, her Mom and I all appreciate everyone sentiments more than you can imagine.

Update - 9PM Thursday Evening
I'm taking a short break from the hospital to go home, check in on the dogs and assure them that we haven't disappeared, pick up the mail, shower and sleep in a bed. Then it will back to the hospital friday morning. My wife gets to take friday night off as we trade off. I left her with the laptop so she will be getting in touch with all of her friends this evening. As I left, I checked back into Lady Emma's room and she was fast asleep at 7pm, totally conked out. She will get the bandages taken off of her finger tomorrow, which will give her the use of both hands again. She tried to play some X Box DS games but said that her "fingers didn't work". She is charming the entire staff of the hospital, or so it seems.

Lady Emma Goes To Surgery

Lady Emma Cuddlestone-Smythe on a better day, defeating her Daddy in a wargame recently.

Today we are at Childrens' Memorial Hospital waiting for our daughter, "Lady Emma", to undergo surgery on her back to correct a condition that she has. This is a sort of "twofer" operation as we are also having a cyste removed from her finger. The hand surgeon will do the cyste removal first and then when he is finished, the neurosurgeon will do the work on her back, near the base of the spine.

Lady Emma was quite the brave soldier this morning and didn't express anything but the mildest of concern about the pending operation. We have been faced with this for nearly two years, so I think that she has had sufficient time to grow accustomed to the idea of the surgery. So she seems to be taking it much better than her Mother and Dad.

We should be finished with both operations around 4PM this afternoon and then we will get to see her in the recovery room. We plan to spend the night in her room tonight and then spend the next three or four days through Sunday with her. Mom and Dad will trade off spending nights at the hospital after the first night. Once Lady Emma comes home, she will have one to two weeks on her back waiting for the incision to heal.

I will post updates as we get some progress reports. I am rather surprised that I was able to figure out how to blog on the laptop, so I guess that you really can teach an old dog some new tricks.

As of 2:45pm the finger surgery was successful and they were getting Lady Emma ready for the back surgery.

Update at 4pm C.S.T - Chicago
They are closing Lady Emma up right now so things seem to be moving along nicely and faster than I had expected. The finger surgeon also reported that the cyst appeared to be benign, but they are sending it to the lab to be sure. I would expect that we shall be seeing Lady Emma in recovery within the hour.

Update at 4:40pm CST - Chicago
We just met with the surgeon and she told us that everything went exactly as she expected it to be, based on her prior view of the MRI pictures. She gave us a good run down on what to expect during the next several days and throughout the recovery period. We are very pleased to have all of this over with. It went so fast. Now for the long recovery period.