NEWS FROM FLORIDA
Our house closing was today, and everything went smoothly.  So now we truly are official full-time RVers, as we no longer own a stick and bricks house.  We are free!  We celebrated by taking a long walk on the beach, under the warmth of the sun and the waves flapping at our feet.  It was a gorgeous day today, in the 70's and crystal clear blue skies. 

The National Park we are staying at, Fort Pickens, is a pristine place of sand, surf, and interesting wildlife.  As we walk the trails around the campground, we are seeing a lot of ospreys. They are nesting now.  Both parents raise their young.  Yesterday our walk took us exceptionally close to an osprey nest.  We could see some movement in the nest--a hint of babies there!  Both parents were guarding them.  One of them was perched on the nest itself, the other was watching us carefully from a nearby tree.  I thought this one was going to dive-bomb us, but he/she just followed us intently with their eyes.  They are such protective parents!

We took a tour of the actual fort of Fort Pickens.  It was built in the 1820's on the barrier island of Santa Rosa to defend Pensacola Bay and the Pensacola Naval Base against foreign attack.  During the Civil War, Florida seceded from the Union, and the Confederates fought the Union soldiers that occupied Fort Pickens.  The most horrific battle took place in the middle of the night and it involved the Confederates' surprise attack of the Union soldiers camped out in tents on the land just outside the fort.  The Confederates lit the tents on fire which results in many casualties.  The site of this battle is now the campground where we are currently camping.  Sacred ground!  There were several more battles that took place here, some were won by the Confederates, and some were won by the Union troops.  Eventually the Confederate troops were called back to defend territories more north of this area, and the Union gained back possession of Pensacola.  Here are some pictures of the fort:

No, George is not in jail.  The bars were added to the fort to enhance security.  

Another interesting fact about Fort Pickens is that Geronimo and about 400 Apache tribesmen and women were imprisoned here for approximately 18 months.  Their time here was spent taking care of the land around the fort to grow gardens.

After we toured the fort, another park volunteer presented a program on medicine during the Civil War.  Of course, being a nurse, I was interested in this program, so George and I attended it.  These were some facts we learned: Prior to the Civil War, there were about 500 doctors, some with formal training and some without.  During the Civil War, the surgeon general instituted standards for medical education, and 10, 000 people passed the certification test to officially be certified as doctors.  Prior to the Civil War, there were also no standards on how to care for the wounded on battlefields.  The mortality rate for wounded soldiers was about 35%,  During the Civil War, Dr. Jonathon Letterman developed standards for triaging the wounded and setting up medical units to provide care for the wounded.  Due to his efforts, the mortality rate for wounded soldiers dropped to approximately 10%.  Dr. Letterman's standards formed the foundation of battlefield medical care and they are still followed today; he is thus considered the father of battlefield medicine.  These are some surgical instruments that were used during the Civil War:

The knives and saws on the left side of the photo were amputation instruments.  The knives were used for smaller extremity amputations, like fingers and toes.  The large saws were used to amputate larger extremities, such as arms and legs.  The instruments in the middle were used to extract bullets.  The instruments on the right of the photo are scalpels and forceps.  All these instruments fit into a wooden box that medical personnel carried with them to the battlefield.