As we drove into the park passing the sign at the entrance to the park, I thought to myself why did this happened in such a beautiful place?. The fighting, killing and screams from the wounded and dying, how could this happen here? I got out of the car and took some pictures of the sign and a cannon was on display near the entrance sign. I took a few pictures of the cannon. I could think clearly now. I want to know (In my minds eye I could visualize what had happened. Two armies a few distance apart with guns, horses, wagons, carrying supplies, and one army walking toward the fort screaming as they walked. Some were on high ground shooting, and I could hear the horses hoof pounding on the ground as they galloped toward the fort. The weather was warm, and I could smell the stint of gun power, mules, horses and men. The grass was red with blood, and the blood ran down to the river and turned the water red. The fighting continued and the men were dying one after the other, and fear was upon their faces. They were fighting and some were yelling and others were cursing. Death was around them, and the dark demons of hate had set in their minds. There were no stopping them now. The confederates were not fighting a war anymore, they were fighting what they hated in their hearts. The Black soldiers who once were slaves working in the cotton fields for the plantation owners who owned them, and now they had guns fighting their slave masters. Those African Americans who were inside the fort began to feel empty inside. Daylight was getting dim in their eyes and the smell of death was in their nose, and their mouths were dry. In their minds were pictures of home and the cottonfields, and they were sad, but they could not cry, and the tears wouldn't come. The demons of death were guiding the confederate to the fort, and they couldn't surrender.)
