French Lick IN: Lincoln's Birthplace, Civil War Museum, and Perrysville Battlefield

We drove to Kentucky again on July 11, 2021, to visit Civil War sites.

Our first stop was Abe Lincoln’s birthplace, near Hogdenville.  The monument was immense and elaborate, hardly fitting for the basically humble man that Lincoln was, or the humble circumstances in which he was born.  It was like the ornate, filigreed Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in Jerusalem, erected around Christ’s simple manager.  There were 100 or more steps up to the Greek-columned edifice at the top of the hill.

Inside was the simple, one-room cabin that the builders of the edifice thought was the cabin in which Lincoln was born.  They later discovered that this was a different cabin!

We next stopped at the Civil War Museum of the Western Theater at Barstown, 30 or 40 miles away.  The museum was small and virtually empty on this Wednesday afternoon.  However, that emptiness was just great for roaming among the interesting displays—Union and Rebel uniforms, pistols and rifles, yellowed photographs of soldiers and their handwritten letters, and glass cases documenting the various battles, generals, and campaign strategies.  

In the past, the Civil War has been a muddle, for me, of a few famous names, like Robert E. Lee, Gettysburg, Sherman, and Appomattox, but no coherent picture of the whole.  I understood the Civil War better after spending a couple of hours in this museum.

I also had greater sympathy for the many young men who fought in this brutal war, in which as many soldiers died from disease and their wounds as were killed in battle.

Bardstown bills itself as "Museum City", with a number of collections.  I always like to leave a site or two unseen, so I have a reason to return!

Our last stop in Kentucky was the Civil War battlefield at Perryville.  Kentucky was a hotly contested border state.  Lincoln famously said, “I would like God’s help, but I must have Kentucky’s.”  The battle of Perrysville stopped the advance by the South into Kentucky and points further north.  At one point, the South even occupied the capitol building of Kentucky, but then its forces were forced south again.  

Battlefields are often ambiguous but evocative, providing a sense of the futility of war.  

We drove back to Indiana and ate at the German Café in French Lick.  I have an abiding love for German food—rich, fattening, flavorful, and completely satisfying.  We ordered the tasting menu, which included a beef chunks in sauce, rotkohl, spaetzle, potato salad, and marinated cucumbers—all the best German dishes!