Dragoons Commander Waldo and his family visited Florence
on Saturday September 28th for the University of North Alabama
homecoming. UNA is actually the oldest
college in Alabama having been founded as Lagrange College in 1830, one year
before the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Flornece has many historic
sites including the antebellum Simpson House dating from 1843 now Coby Hall
serving as the Admissions administration building for UNA. Nearby is Courtview built in 1855 by George
Washington Foster and used in the WBTS by General Nathan Bedford Forrest as his
headquarters, now UNA Rogers Hall.
The homecoming parade started at 10am on
Saturday in front of Rogers Hall and proceeded down Court Street for all the
UNA fans. The campus fountain and the lion mascot habitat housing Leo and Una
are a short walk away. The Lions won
their homecoming football game against the Presbyterian Blue Hose by a score of
41-21.
The next day while driving around
Florence, the College Place residential neighborhood was designated by an
historic sign which indicated that Confederate defensive breastworks were
constructed in the area during the WBTS.
Overlooking the Tennessee River, another historic marker designated the
location of an earthen fort constructed by Confederate General Daniel Ruggles
and last saw action in December 1864 when Federal gunboats shelled the fort
attempting to block General Hood’s crossing theer following battles in Franklin
and Nashville.
The Wilson Dam, part of the Tennessee Valley Authority system of dams on the Tennessee River is just upstream of that Confederate fort location. The Marriott Shoals Resort and Spa overlooks the river and the dam. Across Cox Creek Parkway which extends over the Wilson Dam Bridge is Veterans Memorial Park which has a beautiful series of monuments honoring veterans of American wars and includes a static display of an F-4 Phantom and an AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter as well as artillery pieces and rockets.
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