DAY #5-MAY 22, 2023 - CORNITH, MS – COOKEVILLE, TN
268 MILES/1,202 TOTAL MILES
I spent the night at the Hampton Inn here in Corinth,
Mississippi. I had a very good night and even though this hotel is located
adjacent to U. S. Route 45, there was little traffic noise. The downside of
this hotel is the breakfast wasn’t very good so before checking out of the
Hotel I headed back over to the Cracker Barrel for Breakfast.
The big thing for today is going to be the driving tour of
the Shiloh National Military Park. I don’t know how long I will be spending at
Shiloh so haven’t made any accommodation for tonight. I am looking at either heading toward
Columbia, Tennessee or going back and spending the night in Chattanooga.
Once I leave Corinth, and cross the state line into
Tennessee, I am going to be entering McNairy County which is where Sheriff
Buford Pusser took on the Dixie Mafia. Sheriff Pusser was the subject of the
Movie Walking Tall.
On the way to Shiloh, I will be passing the spot where
Sheriff Pusser died in a car crash and plan to make a quick stop there. Also, I
plan on visiting the Pusser Family Grave sites at Adamsville Cemetery before
driving over to Sheriff Pussers Home in Adamsville. The home is now preserved as a museum.
After breakfast, I used the digital check out on my phone and
left the Hampton Inn and Headed north on U. S. Route 45. Today a new 4-lane highway has replaced the
old two-lane road where many of the sites related to the Dixie Mafia once stood,
including the Shamrock Motel that was run by Louise Hathcock.
It was at the Shamrock Motel that Sheriff Pusser shot and
Killed Hathcock after she pulled a gun on him in the back room of the Motel
Office. The Shamrock Motel has long since been demolished. There is nothing
left but an overgrown lot.
After the killing of
Hathcock, the members of the Dixie Mafia sought revenge and eventually lured
Sheriff Pusser to a rural location on a Country Road off Route 45. When Sheriff
Pusser left home in the early morning hours his wife Pauline accompanied him. As the Sheriff and his wife drove down the
rural road, they were ambushed by a group of men in another car. Multiple shots were fired into Sheriff
Pussers car injuring him and killing his wife.
Since there is nothing left of these sites, I chose to continue
to head North on the New Highway to U. S. Highway 64 in Selmer, Tennessee. After a quick coffee stop at a Love’s I
headed east on
Highway 64. A few
Minutes later I arrived at the site where Sheriff Buford Pusser died in single
vehicle traffic crash on August 21, 1974. Sheriff Pusser was driving his
specially modified Chevrolet Corvette eastbound on Highway 64 as he was
returning from the McNairy County Fair.
Sheriff Pusser was traveling at a very high rate of speed
when lost control of the car and struck the embankment. He was ejected from the
vehicle which caught fire. Sheriff Pusser’s daughter, Dwana who was 16-years
old at the time of the crash was traveling in a separate vehicle happened upon
the crash just minute after it occurred.
A few Days Later
Sheriff Pusser was laid to rest beside his wife in the Adamsville Cemetery which
is about 4-miles from the crash site.
Sheriff Pusser’s grave is easy to find here in the Adamsville
Cemetery. His grave monument is the tallest in the cemetery and is located
toward the back of the cemetery.
Buried
here with Sheriff Pusser and his wife Pauline are his parents Carl and Helen
and his daughter Dwana. Dwana just passed away a few years back in 2018.
After leaving the cemetery I drove through Adamsville on my
way to what was the home of Sheriff Pusser and his wife. In the years following
the sheriff’s death, the home was preserved as it was when Sheriff Pusser lived
here. For many years Dwana Pusser
promoted and operated the home as a museum.
Today the home is still operated as a museum and all of the
furniture in the house is original and belonged to the Pussers. The home is
Closed on Monday and Tuesday so with me being in town on a Monday I was not
able to tour the home.
It should be noted that
for many years the Corvette that Sheriff was driving when he died was on display
at a museum in Pigeon Forge Tennessee. Tha Museum closed a few years back and
the wrecked Corvette was returned to Adamsville. The wreckage is now being
housed and is on display in the garage at Sheriff Pusser’s home and museum.
After stopping and taking a few photos of the exterior of the
house and grounds, I wrapped up my visit to the Sites relating to Sheriff
Pusser and continued my journey east toward Savannah.
It was just a short Drive into Savannah and headed south
toward my next stop of the morning, The Shiloh National Military Park. Just before getting into Savannah, I turned
south on Tennessee Route 22. A little over 6-miles later I arrived at the
Battlefield Visitor’s Center.
Upon arrival, I found
out that the Visitors Center and museum is closed for an extended period for
renovations. I was able to pick up a
driving tour map from one of the rangers, who was very nice and helpful. I
can’t say the same for the employee in the bookstore/gift shop. It should be
noted that employees of the bookstore are NOT employees of the National Park
Service but rather employees of a private company licensed to do business with
the National Park Service.
The employee of the bookstore was not friendly at all and was
surly and not welcoming. He was in no way interested in having any type of
conversation with me or any of the other visitors. All the Park Rangers were
extremely helpful and very friendly.
I spent the next three hours or so using the driving tour map
to tour the Battlefield. There are about
20-stops on the driving tour including the Shiloh Church and Cemetery, Bloody
Pond, The Confederate Burial Trenches, and Pittsburgh Landing on the Tennessee
River.
The Shiloh Church that we see today is a new church and was
not here during the battle. There is a reconstructed replica of the small log
church that was here during the battle and from which the battlefield takes
it’s name.
There is a cemetery
adjacent to the church where we find the grave of Tennessee Governor Ray
Blanton. Governor Blantons and his administration was so scandal plagued that
Governor Elect Lamar Alexander was actually sworn in three days early to
prevent Blanton from using his power as governor to pardon people who were
convicted of violent crimes that were connected to family and friends.
While I was walking around the Shiloh church, I noticed the
area was covered with ant hills. No
matter how hard I tried to steer clear of them the little devils end up getting
to me and bit me several times on my ankles. Because of these little pest, I
cut my visit to the Church and Cemetery short and continued my tour.
Like most Civil War Battlefields, the landscape is dotted by monuments
and memorials. Many of these monuments mark the position of various troops.
While others are state memorial that have been place here by states on both
sides in memory of those who fought and died here.
There are several mortuary monuments that depict an inverted
cannon barrel surrounded by stacked cannon balls. These mortuary monuments mark
the location where a high-ranking officer died. There are 5 of these mortuary
monuments on the Shiloh Battlefield
One of the best-known mortuary monuments on the battlefield
marks the site where Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston was taken after
being wounded during the battle on April 6, 1862.
That afternoon,
Johnston ordered his reserves to go into action and advance on the right flank to
drive a wedge between the Federal troops and their base of supplies at
Pittsburg Landing. He also hoped to make it impossible for reinforcements to
come to Grant's assistance from across the river. While personally directing
his reserves, he was struck behind the right knee by a Minnie ball, which cut
the large artery.
At the time General Johnston was struck, he was
sitting on his horse named "Fireeater." He was taken to the
ravine about 100 yards south of this monument by his staff members. There he
died from loss of blood a few minutes later, ironically with an unused
tourniquet in his pocket. Johnston was the highest-ranking officer killed in
combat during the Civil War and remains the highest ranking American military
officer ever to be killed in action. After his death, command of the
Confederate army passed to General P.G.T. Beauregard.
The Johnston Mortuary Monument is one of five on
the Shiloh battlefield that were erected in 1902 by the United States
government to pay tribute to and mark the spot where high ranking
officers were killed in the Battle of Shiloh. At each corner of the concrete
base is a pyramid of 8" shells and in the center is a cannon barrel mounted
vertically bearing a bronze plaque with the inscription detailing the name and
rank of the person who died here.
One of the more legendary stops on the Battlefield is Bloody
Pond, which is located near the Peach Orchard. The area around the Pond was the
scene of some very heavy fighting on both days of the Battle.
Legend has it that soldiers from both sides
used the pond to wash and clean the wounds of the injured. So many soldiers
used the pond for this that legend has it that it turns blood red. Hence the
name Bloody Pond. Some of the rangers
say that while it is a good story, they doubt that the water actually turned
red.
When you are doing the driving tour, keep in mind that you
will be driving in basically a figure 8. So, pay attention to the Tour signs of
you will end up touring the same things twice.
From Bloody Pond I followed the tour route and eventually ended
up at Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River. Now another thing that you
should keep in mind when touring any Civil War Battlefield, you should pay
attention to the names because each side used a different method to name battle
sites.
Union forces frequently
named battles for bodies of water or other natural features that were prominent
on or near the battlefield, So, Union Force referred to this as the Battle of
Pittsburg Landing. Confederates on the other hand most often used the name of
the nearest town or artificial landmark. The landmark associated with this
battle was the Shiloh Church, so the battle was named Shiloh.
My final tour stop was at Pittsburg Landing which was on the
west bank of the Tennessee River. It was named for “Pitts” Tucker who operated
a Tavern here for several years prior to the Civil War.
The Landing was a river crossing that helped
connect the west side of the river to a road on the East Side.
In the years before the Civil War many families settled on
the west side of the river and supplies would arrive by boat and be unloaded at
the Landing. During the Civil War the
Landing was used as a supply site for mostly the Confederate Army of Tennessee.
After finishing up at Pittsburg Landing, I was going to ride
back up to the top of the hill and visit the National Cemetery. However, there
was some type of private ceremony going on and the rangers ask that we wait
until it ended.
The ranger said that the wait would be about 45 minutes. I
chose not to wait and decided to end my visit and start my trek back east.
Before leaving the parking lot at the visitor’s center, I need to decide as to
which way I am going to head. Did I want to do the 100-miles to Columbia,
Tennessee or the 200 miles to Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Basically, it was a no brainer, so I hit the road and headed
toward Columbia. It was about 12:30 p.m. when I pulled out of the Visitor’s
Center Parking Lot and made my way through Savannah and started the trek toward
Columbia.
The drive to Columbia was uneventful and I got to town a few
minutes before 3 p.m. Now, Columbia is the site of the only remaining home of
President James K. Polk. While here I want to Visit and tour the home. But upon
arrival I found that it was closed so I struck out again.
Columbia was also the home of NASCAR Driver Clifton “Coo Coo”
Marlin. So, I did a quick Find-A-Grave Search and found that he was buried in
Rose Hill Cemetery which is only a couple of miles away.
The GPS Coordinates were accurate and soon after arriving I
quickly found his gave. It took me about 30-minutes record enough footage that
I will use for a 6–8-minute YouTube Video.
It was only about 3:30 in the afternoon when I wrapped up my
visit to Rose Hill. Much too early to stop for the day so I started considering
where I would spend the night. I was
considering spending the night around Nashville but ended up deciding to try
and get east of Nashville tonight so that I won’t have to deal with rush hour
traffic in the morning.
I decided to try for Cookeville and did a quick Hotel search
and found that both the Hampton and Holiday Inns had really high rates. The Choice Hotel on the other hand had lower
rates and decided to use some of my more than 200,000 point for a free night. I
booked a room at the Comfort Suites for 12, 000 points. This should have been a
red flag, but I chose to ignore it. More about that later.
Leaving Columbia, I made my way back to Interstate 65 and
headed north toward Interstate 840 which will dump me out onto Interstate 40
several miles east of Nashville.
Once back on the Interstate the traffic was relatively light
and the drive was uneventful. I stopped at a new Love’s Travel Center on
Interstate 840 for coffee. A few minutes after leaving Love’s and continuing north
on Interstate 840, I arrived at Interstate 40 and headed east.
An hour or so later, I pulled into the Comfort Suites on
Interstate Drive in Cookeville, Tennessee. There is a Comfort Suites and a
separate Comfort Inn & Suites sharing the same parking lot. I initially
went to the wrong one but was quickly directed to the Comfort Suites Next door.
The Correct hotel was old and worn. The lobby was small and
really showed its age. The front desk clerk
was a foreigner (looked like from the middle east) and could barely speak English.
I had great difficulty understanding him.
But I got checked in and made my way to my room. As I exited
the elevator, I noticed a trash can with some dirty towel in it sitting in the
hallway. Not Good. I continued to my
room and found it to be worn and dated also, there were stains on the carpet,
and it appeared that the bed had been poorly made. I suspected that Housekeeping has not changed
the bed from the previous guest. They had just remade it.
I returned to the front desk and expressed my concerns to the
clerk who was having as much difficulty understanding me as I was him. Long
story short, I was wasting my time with him and on the way to supper, I called
the Choice Customer Service Line and Identified myself as a Choice Privileges
Diamond Member.
I talked at length to the customer service representative who
basically informed me that this was a franchise hotel and that the only thing
they could do was call the hotel on my behalf to resolve my concerns.
While I was at supper, she called me back and informed me
that the Hotel had agreed to change rooms. I told her that I wasn’t interested
in staying at this hotel and requested that my 12,000 points be refunded. She again told me that she could not refund
the point that I would have to mediate that myself with the franchisee.
I further stated to her that their advertising campaign where
“if anything is wrong let’s us know and we will make it right,” is basically
untrue. She advised that because the
hotel where I was staying was owned by a individual franchisee, corporate intervention
was limited.
Again, long story short, I ended up leaving the Comfort
Suites and moving to the Hampton Inn paying almost $180. But the customer
service was great and the room clean. I lost my 12,000 Choice Privileges points
but a few days after I returned home, I received a voucher from Choice Hotel
for a free night.
One thing that I confirmed with this incident was that Choice
Corporate has very little influence over their franchisees. While the Corporate
Customer Service representative that I spoke with was polite and professional,
her hands were tied in her dealings with the franchisee. This is one of the main reasons that I am
migrating away from using Choice Brands as my primary brand.
As I said before, over that Past few years the Customer
Service and cleanliness of Choice Brand of Hotels was steadily deteriorating. I
submitted a factual and blistering review of this Comfort Suites to Trip
Advisor, Google, Yelp and the Choice Review Site.
I think it is safe to say from here on out I will hasten my departure
from the Choice Brand in favor of the Holiday Inn and Hilton Brands.
This adventure is coming to an end, and it is my plan to make
it home early tomorrow evening.
