Our next stop after leaving the cemetery was a visit to the American Civil War Museum. In 2013, The American Civil War Museum was formed by the merger of the American Civil War Center and the Museum of the Confederacy. After the consolidation, plans began to build a new facility which opened in May, 2019 at Historic Tredgar. The new museum building encases the original Tredegar Iron Works ruin wall and features state-of-the-art storage space to protect the collection of artifacts.
His hat and gun
Field glasses used to develop battlefield tactics
Speaking of Robert E. Lee, how cool was it to see the saddle he likely used to ride into Appomattox for the surrender meeting with General Grant on April 9, 1865 and again when he left the area several days later.
His horse, Traveller, has become nearly as well-known as his master. Look at that - the saddle AND the hat! More on Traveller later.
www.neh.gov
A doll? In the Civil War Museum?
She served an important purpose.
Although many volunteered to serve in the Civil War, at times it was necessary to resort to a draft. The draft drum like the one pictured below was used to select draftees. The draft was usually conducted with some ceremony, in a public place, such as a courthouse and depending on the number of soldiers needed, it could take all day. The draft drum was set upon a table and was filled with pieces of carboard, each displaying a name of a person eligible for the draft. The crank was turned, and a blindfolded person (or blind person) would select a cardboard piece from the drum and hand it to the draft commissioner who would then read aloud the names of the newly drafted men to the anxious crowd below.
Stonewall Jackson drank from this flask after he was shot. A bullet passed through this notebook that one of his party had on his person.
Mourning is the process of grieving the death of a loved one. During the Civil War, Americans observed an elaborate set of rules that governed their behavior following the death of a spouse or relative. After the loss of a husband, the widow was not to leave home without full mourning garb and weeping veil for one year and a day.
It was interesting to see some of Jeb Stuart's belongings.
The quote from Tad Lincoln shortly after his father was assassinated really got to me.
"Pa is dead. I can hardly believe that I shall never see him again.....I am only Tad Lincoln now.....not a president's son."
I researched it further to find the entire quote.
"Pa is dead. I can hardly believe that I shall never see him again. I must learn to take care of myself now. Yes, Pa is dead, and I am only Tad Lincoln now, little Tad, like other little boys. I am not a President's son now. I won't have many presents anymore. Well, I will try and be a good boy, and will hope to go someday to Pa and brother Willie, in heaven."
This gives a visual of the loss of Americans during the war.
And then we were off for our last stop - the Confederate White House.
The house was built in 1818 and was the main executive resident of the only President of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis, from August, 1861 until April, 1865. It was viewed as the Confederate States counterpart to the White House in Washington D.C.
The Jefferson Davis Executive Mansion was owned by the Confederate Memorial Library Society from 1894 until 2014 when the Museum of the Confederacy merged with the American Civil War Center, now known as the American Civil War Museum. The house museum is known as the White House of the Confederacy and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960.
Unfortunately, we weren't prepared and didn't realize an appointment was needed in order to tour the inside of the mansion but since we toured the mansion about 25 years ago, we determined it probably hadn't changed much. So we walked around to view the outside.
From the back
What we didn't remember was a hospital built around the mansion, although I'm sure much of this is new since we were last here. You can see the different hospital buildings towering above the mansion in this side view.
What a great day revisiting our history.
So interesting! It's amazing that some things have been preserved like the notebook with a bullet through it. You'd think someone would have just thrown it away thinking eh, this is no good anymore.
ReplyDeleteOr if nothing else, their kids would have thrown it out when they cleaned out Mom & Dad's house.
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