TALKING WITH THE DEAD - PHOTOGRAPHS

Post by Doris McCaw

writing as Angela Raines

I recently came across the phrase 'talking with the dead'. Initially, I thought it sounded rather morbid until I thought about what it was really about. To me, it's connecting with the past in ways we might not think about. This also follows an earlier post about what inspires your stories. For those who would like to take a look at that post, here is the link: What Inspires Your Stories

But on to the focus of this post: Photographs

I know many of us have looked at pictures, we may even have some favorites of family and friends that bring back memories of an earlier time in our lives. But what of those who had their photos taken back in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century? What can we clean from those? What do they tell us? It is this that allows us to talk with those people from so long ago.

Take this photo: 

This young lady appears confident. Not the semi-smile on her face. While you can see more detail in the original, she is someone you feel you could depend on. Perhaps a good friend who keeps your secrets safe.

How about this gentleman? He looks like the kind of man who wanted to be someone's husband, a good provider. He is handsome, and the smile on his face mirrors the one of the woman above.

I give you two more photos. What do you think they are saying? What were they like? What were their hopes and dreams? I would love to know how they are speaking to you.

There are many ways that those of us who write historical fiction get inspiration. Sometimes it seems when we research we are allowing those who lived in the time we write about speak to us. I haunt antique stores and search out photographs such as these. They help me to understand and when I 'listen' I feel my stories have some truth to what may have happened.

So the next time you see an old photograph, think about what the subject of the photo is saying to you. Until next time, happy writing. Oh, and as a side note, the first photograph and a bit of the second woman are how I picture my heroine in my current WIP about a woman doctor. Here is a short excerpt from that work.

Except for the initial struggle as they were undressing him, the man remained quiet until Pauline moved him on his side. As she began to roll him over he moaned, expelling a loud breath. A deep knife cut ran across his left side from mid-back to just about three inches in the front. There was also a bullet crease across his shoulder. Rolling him onto his stomach she located another smaller cut was on his right side, closer to the front under the ribs. Neither were necessarily life-threatening, although both cuts had begun to fester, a pungent odor emanating from both. Moving to check the shoulders she breathed a sigh when she found no additional bullet or knife wounds. Calling over her shoulder Pauline said, "Caleb, bring the kettle from the stove and fill the basin."

Rushing to do as his mother bid, Caleb returned with the hot water and poured it into the enamel bowl on the stand near the table. Pauline watched as her son carried it toward her. “Set it on the stand, then move the water and stand closer”

Continuing her exam, she found two additional cuts, and a stab wound on the left front shoulder. These cuts were also starting to fester. The only wound that seemed to be healing was the bullet crease.

Shaking her head at the plethora of wounds and healed scars, Pauline continued looking at the man as he lay quiet. She studied the taut stomach muscles, the breadth of the shoulders, and strong arms. She could just hear the gossip about her staring at a semi-naked man. Instead, Pauline was intrigued. Since he was still alive, he must have won the fight. Her question was where and when had it happened? What trick of fate had brought him to her house?

“How long ago did this happen? What happened?” Pauline whispered, knowing the man wouldn’t answer. That he’d lasted as long as he had was a miracle and a testament to strength, both physical and mental.

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Angela Raines - author: Telling Stories Where Love & History Meet

Books: Angela Raines Books

Website: Angela Raines - author

Angela Raines FaceBook: Click Here

More Tennessee History from Ginger

Since I was born and raised in California, the natural disaster of most concern was, of course, an earthquake.  We've all heard that California is going to drop off into the ocean one day, and I believe it, so moving far inland, was fine with me.

What could possibly happen in Tennessee?

 I'd seen the aftermath of Tornadoes on TV, but when you live less than a football field away from the destruction left behind by one, they tend to become much more real.  On February 5th, 2008, Castalian Springs not only lost friends and family, pieces of history were literally ripped away, but unlike the living, a prominent spot was recently restored and returned to the community.  The pictures above borrowed from William's blog at http://tnparadise.blogpot.com shows the previous state of theWynnewood Inn and the results of the tornado in 2008.  You'll notice the aged oak is missing in the "after" pic.

I set out yesterday to take some pictures of my own to show you that I live but a "crow hop" from some of the most memorable spots germane to the very genre I love...historical set in the 1700-1800s right here in my new home state.  Of course, you'll have to forgive the glare...I'm not a professional photographer, and I used my i-phone. 


 Wynnewood was originally built in 1828, intended as a stagecoach inn on the Nashville-Knoxville Road (I talked about the forts visited by pioneers along this trail in an earlier blog).  In 1834, after purchasing a shared interest from a friend, Wyhnne moved his family into the inn and lived there until his death in 1893.   Guests to the inn were attracted by thge medicinal powers of the mineral waters and beauty of the surrounding land.

View Taken from The Official Website showing the green and grandeur.

The "New Wynnewood."

 What this sign says:  Col. Alfred Royal (1800-1893) was a trade and merchant in
Castlian Springs.  In 1828 he built this stagecoach inn along the Knoxville road.  Although Wynne was a slaveholder and a Democrat, he also was a staunch Unionist and strongly opposed sucession.  When Tennessee left the union, however Wynne ended his former allegiance and supported the confederacy.


In contrast to many older Southerners who struggled to remain loyal to the Union, their children favored sucession.  Soon after Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, two of Alfred and Almira Wynne's Sons, Andrew and Joseph Wynne enlisted in the 2nd Tennessee Infantry under the command of their neighbor William B. Bate.  Their younger sons, Valerius and William Hall Wynne also enlisted.  William died of disease the next year.


Early in 1862, Confederate cavalry raids designed to interdict Federal supply and communication lines were launched in northern Middle Tennessee.  Col. John Hunt Morgan command operated in the area, and on occasion, signed the guest register for one of Wynne's daughters.


By April, the Union army had set up a military post in the southwestern corner of the Wynne farm and surrounded the fortified camp with log and stone earthworks.  Although Federal troops generally behaved themselves, the harm they did the trees, fences and fields was extensive.  After the war, Wynne filed a claim for damages in the amount of $6,546.00.  The government disallowed it since Tennessee remained loyal to the union.

Pictures taken on 7/25/12

 

 

 

 

Just a little further down the road from Wynnewood, we came across the house Col. William Bate was born in.  Remember, he's the neighbor that led Wynne's sons in battle.  Here's the sign designating the spot and what it says:

William Brimage Bate was born here in 1826 and during the Civil War, he rose to the rank of major general.  He left home at the age of sixteen to be a clerk on a steamboat.  During the Mexican war, he served as a lieutenant and became a journalist, a lawyer, and a state legislator.  As the Civil War approached, he raised a militia company in Castalian Springs and was soon elected colonel of the 2nd Tennessee Infantry.  Arriving in Virginia with his regiment in time for the First Battle of Manassas, he captured a Congressman from New York who had come out to see the action.  In February 1862, he and his men reenlisted and returned to Tennessee.  In the Battle of Shiloh on April 6-7, he received a severe leg wound that incapacitated him for several months.  Commissioned brigadier general in October 1862 and major general in February 1864, he led a brigade and than a division in the Army of Tennessee in all the major battles in the western theater, including Stones River, Chickamauga, Franklin and Nashville.  Bate declined the offer of a nomination for Tennessee governor, saying "I would feel dishonored in this hour of trail to quit the field:--a commitment to duty that voters later remembered.

Bates surrendered with his old regiment at Greensboro, South Caroline, in April 1865.

After practicing law in Nashville, Bate was elected governor of Tennessee in 1882 and held office for two terms.  In 1886 he was elected United States Senator and served until his death in 1905.  

Note from Ginger:  Just further proof that only death can get someone out of Congress.  :) Also, I left out the little bit about his cousin who became a countess and had a plantation in Mississippi though she resided in Italy.  Do we really care?

Taken just a few feet from Wynnewood, is a commemorative sign for Bledsoe's Lick.  I pass over Bledsoe Creek every day, and it only took me a few years to actually stop and ready the sign.  Here's what it says: 

     The spring to the north was a rendezvous for salt-seeking game in the pre-pioneer days.  First settlers came in 1779.  In 1787, Isaac and Anthony Bledsoe and their father settled here.  The two brothers were killed by Indians and buried in the family plot 500 yards northwest.  Bledsoe Female Academy was also near here.

 Amazingly, I live in Castlian Springs on Wynnewood Drive.  Can't get much closer to history than that.  *smile*  Thanks for visiting.  I may have just found the inspiration for a new novel.  Of course I have to finish the three I have lined up already.  :)