New Market

Next up was New Market - the site of the Civil War battle in 1864.   

The battle is primarily remembered today for being the only time in American history a school's student body was used as an organized combat unit.  During the battle, Confederate general John C. Breckenridge ordered cadets from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), some of them child soldiers no older than 15, to join an attack on the Union lines.  The event has gone on to become central to many of the institute's myths and traditions.  A fictional movie, The Field of Lost Shoes, was released in 2014 based on the battle which follows a group of seven cadets based on real characters.  The title of the movie refers to the large number of soldiers' boots left on the battlefield due to the muddy conditions during the battle.

Of the 257 VMI cadets who fought in the Battle of New Market, ten were either killed outright or later died of their wounds.  Six of the ten are buried at VMI in Lexington (more on this to come).  In 2005, VMI replaced the original 1866 marble gravestones of the six cadet casualties with new stones and added memorial stones for the four cadets buried elsewhere.  VMI brought the gravestones to the battlefield and installed them here in 2006.  You can see five of the stones above.

We went into the museum and saw some interesting items.

This stained slab-glass window is 28 feet long and created by Israeli-born artist Ami Shamir.  The window was the brainchild of Robert Blood, who designed the original museum exhibits for the opening in 1970.

The initial concept for the window called for clear glass that would permit views of the Allegheny Mountains to the west.  However, it was noted that the view was often obscured by summer haze so it was recommended that it be a stained-glass window to convey graphic images associated with the Battle of New Market. 

The artist had executed a number of similar windows in Israel and Europe.  For this project, he included such elements as flowing lines to suggest the Shenandoah Valley and the river of the same name, and flags and seals of VMI, the Confederacy and the Union, to portray the conflict at New Market.  The names of the ten cadets who were killed or mortally wounded in the battle are inscribed as the central feature.

Thomas Jefferson, by Moses Ezekiel

Moses Ezekiel was a VMI cadet at the Battle of New Market.  After the battle, Ezekiel discovered his best friend, Cadet Thomas Jefferson, mortally wounded.  Moses cared for Thomas until the wounded cadet died two days later.  Thomas Jefferson was a descendant of the president.

After the Civil War, Ezekiel studied in Berlin and pursued his sculpting career in Rome.  Knighted by the Kings of Italy and Germany, he became one of the most famous American artists of his era.

The statue was commissioned by the City of Louisville, Kentucky in 1899.  A copy was placed at the University of Virginia in 1910.  The artist donated the model to VMI in 1914.  In describing his work, Ezekiel said:

On top of the Liberty Bell, crowned with laurel leaves, I placed a very simple figure of Thomas Jefferson in his continental costume holding the Declaration of Independence in his hand.....Everybody else had always represented Jefferson as an old man, but, as he was about thirty-three years of age at that point, I decided to give him the benefit of his youth.

Lee on Traveller, Frederick Volck (1822-1891)

German-born artist Frederick Volck began sketches for this statue as early as August, 1864, while he was employed by the Confederate Bureau of Naval Ordnance.  General Robert E. Lee sat for this work, and Volck used Lee's death mask to refine the statue's details.  The artist even measured Traveller to assure the accuracy of the proportions.  Volck completed the statue in the mid-1870s and presented it to Virginia Military Institute as a token of esteem.

It was interesting to learn how the National Confederate flag originated.  This is hard to read but you can see how the Virginia State flag and the United States flag morphed into the Confederate flag.

These three items were carried and used by Cadet Charles H. Read during the Battle of New Market.

TOP:  Made of cedar, this wooden "drum" canteen is inscribed with the following:  "C.H. Read, Company A".

CENTER:  Leather belt with a Virginia seal, "spoon and wreath" buckle.  This type of belt is designed to support a sword and was typically worn by non-commissioned officers.

BOTTOM:  Leather cartridge box with an insert manufactured by the Emerson Gaylord Company in Chicopee, Massachusetts.  Worn on either a belt or a strap, the cartridge box held approximately 40 paper cartridges.  Each cartridge contained a lead bullet and a black powder charge.

A Confederate officer's coat.  

So hard to get photos of items behind glass

Costumes from the Field of Lost Shoes were on display.

In 2016, Martin Kaminsky donated his collection of Civil War firearms to VMI/Museum of Civil War.  A display of over 100 pieces traces firearms usage in the Civil War from the improvised and obsolete designs early in the war to those at war's end.  The exhibit highlights the excess of attempts at rapid-firing, breech-loading designs, which Lt. Col. Troy Marshal, site director of the museum, calls "the race to build a better mouse trap" - an array of bolt actions, tipping barrels, falling blocks, and hinged-breech designs that were fed paper, brass or rubber-cased cartridges.

I'm about as far from a weapon expert as anyone could be but I was impressed with the displays.

Second part of the story coming up.