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PastIsPrologue
More on Spotsylvania Civil War Weekend Union troops head toward the battlefield during last year's Spotysvlania Civil War Weekend. (SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY TOURISM) Spotsylvania County is poised to put on quite a show this weekend, starting at 7 tonight at Spotsylvania Courthouse Village off State Route 208, right on part of the battlefield of May 1864. Thanks to the incredible efforts of tourism manager Deborah Aylor and Spotsylvania County Museum director Terry Doughtery, this year’s Spotsylvania Civil War Re-enactment and Living History Weekend looks robust indeed. As of today, I believe that tickets may still be purchased online at www.spotsylvaniacivilwar.com – or at the Spotsylvania Visitor Center. A ticket is good for both Saturday and/or Sunday.  Part of the camps on the historic Alrich Farm at Spotsylvania Courthouse last year. (SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY TOURISM) The weekend’s speakers will include portrayals of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, by Philip McGourty of St. Louis, Mo., Robert E. Lee, by David Palmer, Ulysses S. Grant, by Tony Daniels; sharpshooter ”Kansas” Tom Johnson, by Terry Dougherty; and war correspondent Theodore Davis, by James Hoffmann. Living-history demonstrations will include ”A Likeness of Mother” by tintype photographer Robert Szabo, blacksmithing by Hunter Perkins, Civil War music by the 2nd South Carolina String Band, dancing by Civil War Civilians of Spotsylvania, women’s fashion by Vanna Lewis, camp life by Out of Time Teachers, “War in Miniature” by Elzie Kelly, and “The Home Front” by The Women of the Civil War. Members of the 23rd Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops–who saw action at the Battle of Spotsylvania–will also be on hand. The National Park Service will discuss the Battle of Spotsylvania and offer a children’s program, too.
Battle of Spotsylvania event will offer color, lorea cross post from The News Desk:
Spotsylvania to hold Civil War re-enactment; starts Friday eve; battle, living history on Saturday, SundayBY CLINT SCHEMMER Robert E. Lee. Jeff Davis. Ulysses S. Grant. Ladies in crinoline skirts, artillerists with Stribling’s Battery, cavalrymen, U.S. Colored Troops, the 2nd South Carolina String Band, tintype photographer Robert Szabo, sharpshooter “Kansas” Tom Johnson, blacksmith Edgar Harrison and war correspondent Theodore Davis. All of these “living historians” will enliven Spotsylvania Courthouse Village for the county’s third annual Civil War Re-enactment and Living History Weekend on Saturday and Sunday. And that’s just the peaceful part. Some 470 re-enactors are registered for the event, 355 of them men in gray and blue—easily a third more than at last year’s event. Some 110 people will be doing civilian impressions of various kinds: showing how to plow with a mule team, preaching 19th-century gospel, describing the changing roles of women in the Civil War, demonstrating period medical practices, displaying miniature wartime trains, and more. “Some of the finest personas in the field of living history will be present,” Terry Dougherty, director of the Spotsylvania County Museum, said Thursday. “This year’s event will not only commemorate the battle but will also feature a number of interesting personalities and a group of Civil War sutlers anxious to market their wares to the public.” It’ll be a much richer set of living-history programs, starting at 9 a.m. each day, than visitors experienced in 2011, said Deborah Aylor, tourism manager for Spotsylvania County. In a free program, speechifying by His Excellency Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America, will kick off the weekend at 7 p.m. Friday at the pavilion at Spotsylvania Courthouse Village off State Route 208. He’ll be followed by Lee and Grant, who may have a few words for each other, at 8 p.m. (The last time those two commanders were in the vicinity, it was 1864, and their forces met in Spotsylvania and Orange counties in a series of battles that led to Appomattox, 11 months later.)
For those who love Napoleonic tactics, the smell of gunpowder and horseflesh and the crack of cannon, the intersection of Brock Road and the Courthouse Bypass is the place to be early in the afternoon. The Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse gets under way at 2 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday, with re-enactors beginning the march to the field from their camps a half-hour earlier. Greg Mertz, supervisory historian at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, will provide a play-by-play narration of the battlefield action via a public address system. Boy Scouts will be on hand to escort spectators, and there will be eight sets of bleachers, but bringing lawn chairs is encouraged. Dress comfortably, expect field conditions (with briars), and don’t bring coolers. The Spotsylvania Fife and Drum Corps will perform before and after Saturday’s battle. If you like good music, don’t miss the 2nd South Carolina String Band’s performance at 11:30 a.m. both days. Or the Camp Dance at 8 p.m. Saturday with the 2nd South Carolina, and a dance master calling out the Virginia Reel, the Spanish Waltz and other numbers. More than 25 members of Civil War Civilians of Spotsylvania, who’ve been practicing for months, will take part. Farm animals, agricultural demonstrations and children’s programs are also on tap. And for those who like to shop, sutlers will offer hats and haberdashery, leather goods and period music near the soldiers’ camps. Vendors will sell fair-style food, from snow cones, tea and ice cream to Caribbean grilled treats.
The Spotsylvania County Museum, on the first floor of the Merchants’ Square Building, invites everyone to enjoy its new exhibits. Visit spotsylvaniacivilwar.com for a complete events roster and blog posts. Parking is free onsite; just follow the signs. If it rains a lot, parking will be moved to Courtland High School, with shuttle buses looping to Merchants’ Square. On a somber note, in recognition of Armed Forces Day, bugler Garrett Lewis will sound Taps in the Spotsylvania Confederate Cemetery, just across Courthouse Road from the village, at 8 a.m. Saturday. Re-enactors, both infantry and cavalry, will attend to mark the solemn moment. Advance tickets can be purchased today at the Spotsylvania Treasurer’s Office and the Spotsylvania Visitor Center at Southpoint I near U.S. 1 and Interstate 95. 1. They’re $8 per person or $20 for a family ticket that covers two adults, and children 20 and younger. Children 15 and under are free. At the gate, tickets cost $10 per person or $20 per family ticket. Clint Schemmer: 540/368-5029 More info:
Starts Friday: Spotsylvania Civil War Re-enactment, Living History Weekend Confederate re-enactors fire at advancing Union soldiers during a Battle of Spotsylvania re-enactment. (THE FREE LANCE-STAR) from Spotsylvania County: SPOTSYLVANIA — Be a part of the county’s 2012 Spotsylvania Civil War Re-enactment and Living History Weekend, scheduled in Spotsylvania Courthouse Village area near Brock Road and Route 208 on May 19-20, 2012, and hosted by Spotsylvania Economic Development and Tourism. The Spotsylvania Civil War Reenactment and Living History Weekend will include battle scenarios on Saturday, May 19, at 2 p.m. and on Sunday, May 20, at 1:30 p.m. The Living History area will open at 9:00 a.m. each day with speakers, demonstrations and displays. Sutlers (merchants selling period items) will be open at 9:00 a.m. Representatives of the U.S. Colored Troops, soldiers who saw action at the Battle of Spotsylvania, will participate in Living History expositions. Living History presentations also include a blacksmith, Civil War civilians, ladies’ clothing, a National Park Service children’s area, medical practices during the Civil War, firing of a musket and Kansas Tom, tin-type photography and … much more. Scheduled speakers will portray Confederate President Jefferson Davis by Philip McGourty of St. Louis, MO; Robert E. Lee by David Palmer; U.S. Grant by Tony Daniels; Kansas Tom Johnson, sharpshooter, by Terry Dougherty; and Theodore Davis, Civil War correspondent, by James Hoffmann. The National Park Service will be discussing the Battle of Spotsylvania. Demonstrations will include: A Likeness of Mother Tintype Photography by Robert Szaebo; blacksmithing by Hunter Perkinson; dance demonstrations by the Civil War Civilians of Spotsylvania; women’s fashion by Vanna Lewis; camp life by Out of Time Teachers; War in Miniature by Elzie Kelly; Civil War music by the nationally prominent 2nd South Carolina String Band; and, The Home Front, by The Women of the Civil War. In recognition of Armed Forces Day, bugler Garrett Lewis will be playing “Taps” in the Spotsylvania Confederate Cemetery at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 19. Re-enactors, both infantry and cavalry, will attend to mark this solemn time. The event theme this year is “Agriculture, Manufacturing and Commerce.” Local farmers will offer demonstrations including plowing with a mule team, the use of oxen to pull wagons, and animals – pigs, chickens and sheep. Explore It Children’s Museum will offer their interactive agriculture display. Spinners and weavers will demonstrate the making of thread and yarn. On Sunday, children who participated in the 2012 Civil War Kids Camp in April will have the opportunity to march in with the troops and demonstrate their marching skills, immediately after the Battle. The Spotsylvania Fife and Drum Corps will share their skills both before and after the Battle on Saturday.The NPS will have a children’s learning area with an NPS historian onsite to answer questions. Sunday events begin with a Civil War-era church service to be held at the Pavilion — everyone is invited. As a special treat, on Friday evening, May 18, Jefferson Davis will be meeting with Robert E. Lee, followed by “An Evening with Lee and Grant” at Courthouse Square Pavilion on Old Battlefield Boulevard. This evening event is free and open to the public. Plan to spend each day! There will be vendors selling modern food and drinks for your refreshment.Visit the camps, ask questions and learn about the life, work, culture, events and challenges of this period in Spotsylvania’s history. The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House was the second major battle in Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant’s 1864 Overland Campaign of the American Civil War. After the armies fought to a bloody standstill in the Wilderness, on May 7, 1964, Grant disengaged and turned the Army of the Potomac south toward Spotsylvania Courthouse. Robert E. Lee won the race for the strategic crossroads at Spotsylvania Courthouse, initiating a battle that would rage for 17 straight days. Tickets may be purchased online at www.spotsylvaniacivilwar.com , at the Spotsylvania Visitor Center located at 4704 Southpoint Parkway, Fredericksburg, VA 22407, or at the gate. The cost is $10 per persons age 15 and over. Children under the age of 15 can get in for free. Tickets purchased will be good for Saturday and/or Sunday. Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield is coordinating the many volunteers who will lend to the success of this event. For questions, please contact the event coordinator, Debbie Aylor, Tourism Manager, Spotsylvania County Department of Economic Development and Tourism at 540-507-7205, or daylor@spotsylvania.va.us
Fredericksburg Museum to Host American Music! Concert Series
just over the transom from the Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center: Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center Announces American Music! Concert SeriesThe Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center is pleased to announce that it will host the secondAmerican Music! concert series. These concerts will take place on various Saturdays from May through September and are held from 7-9 pm. All concerts are free and open to the public and are held in Market Square located on the corner of Princess Anne and William streets. The series will showcase a variety of American music genres including jazz, country, Americana, and classical music. These concerts will draw visitors and locals alike in the celebration of our nation’s music. The series begins on May 26 featuring legendary Fredericksburg resident and blues musician, Gaye Adegbalola with Roddy Barnes. On June 16, come enjoy the University of Mary Washington Brass Quintet. Come out with your dancing shoes for theFredericksburg Big Band on June 30, with tunes from the 1940s and 1950s. Join us in celebrating our Independence Day, and listen to patriotic music, with the University of Mary Washington Philharmonic Orchestra on July 3. This is the most popular concert of the series and you won’t want to miss it. The series continues with some country and Americana music by The Green Boys on July 14. Then, on July 28, the Mid-Atlantic Wind Symphony will delight music aficionados and families alike with classical band music from such composers as John Philip Sousa. Following, on August 25, will be the University of Mary Washington Faculty Jazz Combo. The series will conclude onSeptember 1 with local bluegrass band, The Believers. This series is presented by M&T Bank and Hilldrup Moving and Storage and is made possible by a generous grant through the Fredericksburg Economic Development Authority. This series is produced by the Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center and the University of Mary Washington. For more information on this event, or for additional programming information, please either contact the Museum at 540-371-3037, or visit us at www.famcc.org. The mission of the Fredericksburg Area Museum & Cultural Center is to collect, interpret and present the history and culture of the Fredericksburg region and community.
Memorial Day Weekend Luminaria at Fredericksburg National Cemetery Evan Williams, 8, of Troop 1875 in Spotsylania gazes at luminaria atop Willis Hill in Fredericksburg National Cemetery (PETER CIHELKA/THE FREE LANCE-STAR) On Saturday, May 26, the National Park Service will host its 16th annual luminaria program at Fredericksburg National Cemetery. It will begin at 8 p.m. and run through 11 p.m. In the event of rain, this always-popular program will be held on Sunday, May 27. It is free to the public. The glowing luminaria pay tribute to American soldiers who have given their lives for this country. To honor those soldiers, members of the Mattaponi and Aquia Districts of the Boy Scouts of America and the Commonwealth Council Girl Scouts of the USA will light 15,300 candles in the cemetery—one for each soldier buried there. In addition, a bugler will play “Taps” every 30 minutes throughout the evening. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Fredericksburg. To commemorate that event, historians posted throughout the cemetery will tell the stories of soldiers who died in that battle. Historians will also be on duty along the Sunken Road to talk about the surviving, battle-scarred Innis House and the Richard Kirkland Memorial. Fredericksburg National Cemetery is at the junction of Sunken Road and Lafayette Boulevard. But those wishing to attend the luminary should park at the University of Mary Washington lot at the corner of William Street and Sunken Road. The Fredericksburg Trolley will provide shuttle service between the parking area and the national cemetery. For additional information, call 540/373-6122. Details about the national park are available online at nps.gov/frsp and on the park’s Facebook page.  Bugler Aaron Lindsey, stationed at Marine Corps Base Quantico, prepares to play "Taps" in Fredericksburg National Cemetery. (PETER CIHELKA/THE FREE LANCE-STAR)
Forgotten Secrets: VHS Discovers Century-Old Trove from Lost Cause Days The front facade of the Virginia Historical Society complex in Richmond, until a short while ago, hid a secret tucked within its limestone walls. The center portion was built in 1912 as the Confederate Memorial Institute. (VHS) RICHMOND–In 1912, North and South were reconciling, trying hard to forget the deep divisions that had ignited the horribly costly American Civil War. How did the white Southerners of that time wish to be remembered? How did Virginia’s capital city want to project itself into the distant future? One bright May day that year in the Confederacy’s former capital, people assembled to witness work on a just-begun building in Richmond’s west end. With bowler hats and parasols at hand, they crowded around one corner of the structure rising along The Boulevard on land that had until recently been part of the grounds of the Confederate Soldiers’ Home. They placed keepsakes — some everyday, some extraordinary — into a copper container (about the size of a extra-large shoebox), which was placed into the cornerstone of the Confederate Memorial Institute, which was bricked up and sealed within the exterior walls of the limestone building.  The Battle Abbey's time capsule held these photos of the building's construction, taken from different angles. (VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY) For those in attendance, it was a big day. Especially the Confederate veterans in the crowd, who surely could feel the ebbing of history’s flood tide. When the war broke out, a soldier’s average age was 26. Come that May day in 1912, the same Johnny Reb would have been 77 years old; their generation’s best days were behind them. So, what did people place inside the time capsule of what quickly became known as Battle Abbey? Well, as the Virginia Historical Society revealed Wednesday, the institute’s supporters stuffed more than 100 items into the copper box that day, until it could hold more. The society continues cataloguing the many documents and artifacts, but they include these items: – A copy of General R. E. Lee’s farewell address to his troops. – An 1864 autograph of Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, the famed cavalry commander from Virginia. – Three photos of the early stages of the building of Battle Abbey that reveal heretofore unknown details of the building’s construction and siting.  This copper box, sealed airtight with solder, was packed full of keepsakes from 1912 and the Civil War. (VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY) – A Confederate battle flag. – A 1911 yearbook of the Confederate Memorial-Literary Society. – Confederate bonds and notes. – A portrait of Eppa Hunton IV, one of the boys who helped break ground for the Confederate Memorial Association‘s building. (Grandson of a Virginia legislator and Confederate brigadier general, he later served on the Virginia Historical Society board of trustees.) – Blueprints for the Battle Abbey that provide much more detail about the building than scholars have previously had. If you visit the Virginia Historical Society today (and you should!), the building at the heart of its many later additions and wings is the Confederate Memorial Institute, as the inscription in the lintel of the original facade states. Inside, the state seals and Confederate battle flags set into the entrance hall provide more clues as to the building’s origins. Walking through the front doors immediately peels back the decades. The Virginia Historical Society, founded in 1831 (with former President James Madison elected as its first honorary member), moved into the Battle Abbey in the 1940s. But only this year, as historians began research for the building’s centennial, did hints of the time capsule’s existence surface. Knowledge of its presence within the cornerstone had been long to the passage of generations. In a woman’s scrapbook in the Confederate Memorial Association archives, they discovered an article from the May 19, 1912, Richmond Virginian newspaper which mentions that documents were put into the stone. That led, with further sleuthing, to a three-page list titled “CONTENTS OF THE BOX TO BE PLACED IN THE CORNER-STONE OF THE CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL INSTITUTE, MAY 20, 1912.” Nelson D. Lankford, the society’s vice president for collections, writes beautifully of that May moment in this year’s Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. (I recommend it to anyone with an interest in this fascinating point in our past, whose echoes are still felt today.) Here’s how Lankford’s richly detailed article begins: “On a sunny May afternoon in 1912, a crowd of expectant onlookers craned their necks to watch workmen hoist into place the corner- stone of a new building that would become an instant Richmond landmark. Even before the builders finished their task, local people were calling it Battle Abbey, after the name of the memorial church William the Conquerer erected at the site of the battle of Hastings in southern England. Today Battle Abbey forms the historic core of the headquarters of the Virginia Historical Society. But it was constructed for a different purpose by a different institution that no longer exists, and it endured a difficult gestation spanning a quarter of a century, dogged by money woes and spurred on by lingering sectional animosity. The history of this imposing element of the modern museum district in Virginia’s capital tells us a great deal about the society that erected it. But the builders a century ago could not have imagined the uses to which their successors would put this limestone monument in Richmond’s near West End. “Charles Baltzell Rouss, a Virginia Confederate veteran of the war that ruined his business, afterward vowed to recoup his losses and strike it rich in the belly of the beast, New York City. He succeeded spectacularly and changed his middle name to Broadway.2 In his adoptive city, he witnessed firsthand the phenomenal success of the fund-raising drive for a memorial to Ulysses S. Grant. That effort prompted Rouss to do the same for Grant’s adversaries in the Civil War. It was the heyday of the Lost Cause, the effort to glorify and vindicate southern arms and, in memory at least, to undo Confederate defeat. In 1894, Rouss pledged $100,000 toward construction of a building to house portraits, artifacts, and papers of southern leaders. Charles Broadway Rouss’s challenge to Confederate veteran groups to match his pledge and realize his dream began the effort that would create Battle Abbey, but it would have to navigate a tortuous path strewn with disappointment.”
150th Anniversary of Lincoln’s Visit to Stafford, Chatham, and Fredericksburg This portrait of President Abraham Lincoln, dated Feb. 5, 1865, hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. (SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION) from Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park: The National Park Service announces a day of special programming to commemorate the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s visit to Stafford, Chatham, and Fredericksburg during the Union occupation of 1862. On Saturday, May 19, Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park will present a series of special programs that recall the visit. 10 a.m.: “Mr. Lincoln’s Fredericksburg.” Led by historian John Hennessy, this 90-minute walk will trace the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln during his May 23, 1862 visit to Fredericksburg. The tour will explore not just Lincoln’s visit, but the occupied town he saw during his travels. Meet at the City Dock on lower Sophia Street. Free. 11a.m. – 2 p.m.: Local historian Jane Conner will be available to sign and discuss her acclaimed book Lincoln in Stafford. Chatham. 2 p.m. – 3 p.m.: “Rambling Man: Lincoln’s Visits to his Virginia Army.” Join historians Donald Pfanz and John Hennessy in the shade of Chatham’s “witness trees” to discuss some of Lincoln’s many visits to the Army of the Potomac, including his April 1863 review of the army in Stafford and his dramatic 1865 visit to City Point and Richmond, just days before his death. Free. Lawn chair recommended. 3:30 – 4 p.m.: “Lincoln in 1862: The Great Arbitrator.” In the shade of Chatham’s “witness trees,” historian John Hennessy will discuss Lincoln’s military leadership in 1862—his immense, though not always effective, efforts to keep a teetering Union war effort on track. Lawn chair recommended. Free. Built in 1771, historic Chatham served as a Union army headquarters and hospital during the Civil War. It is located at 120 Chatham Lane in southern Stafford County, just across the Rappahannock River from downtown Fredericksburg. For more information, call 540/ 654-5121 or 540/373-6122 or visit nps.gov/frsp.  One of the Union army reviews that President Lincoln witnesses while visiting Stafford County in 1862 and 1863. (NATIONAL PARK SERVICE)
New York Times highlights Fredericksburg
Fredericksburg has made the big time. Our locale is included this week in a New York Times travel writer’s account of his Southern tour, which snaked down U.S. 17 from Winchester to Savannah, Ga. The story, part of a regular series in the newspaper, is titled “$100 a Day on a Southern Route.” Avoiding dull and busyInterstate 95, the reporter found good barbecue and “plenty of frugal options: bursts of Civil War history, alligator-filled wildlife reserves, old plantations and schlocky miniature golf courses.” Of his time in our town, Seth Kugel, author of the Gray Lady’s “Frugal Traveler” stories and blog posts, writes: “The National Park Service-run visitor center here documents the Battle of Fredericksburg with knowledgeable staff and an excellent free film, setting the context for what happened in 1862. Then we went to see the battlefield, following the Sunken Road Walking Trail. The trail traces the road where the Confederate Army held off the attacking Union from behind a stone wall, parts of which still exist. Informational signs and some still-standing buildings (including one with a bullet-pocked interior) help one imagine the carnage. …” Read the whole piece, illustrated with Kugel’s photographs, here.
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About
Clint Schemmer is a Free Lance-Star writer and editor. Contact: Email Clint or call 540/368-5029. About this blog: News and musings on Virginia history, the Civil War and heritage preservation. Your comments are welcome. On Facebook: Past is Prologue On Twitter: #pastisprologue |
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