There’s been a lot of brouhaha this week over Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell’s decision to revive Confederate History Month in the state during April, which previous governors had either declined to do or issued a proclamation with specific mention of slavery.
The governor says it’s mostly about promoting Civil War-related tourism in the state where much of the war took place and which was home to some of its primary generals, since next April is the 150th anniversary of the war’s beginning. (This April, by the way, marks the 145th anniversary of its ending.) As a Civil War buff who’s visited several war-related sites in Virginia, I can understand that, and I absolutely think Virginia should do everything it can to tell its story of the Civil War – before, during and after.
So, if you’re planning on a Civil War tour of the commonwealth, here are some places you just must visit, in no particular geographic order:
Arlington National Cemetery - Arlington, Va.
A lot of people don’t know this, but the family of Robert E. Lee’s wife had an estate outside of Washington, D.C., whose family ownership dated back to George Washington’s adopted grandson. According to the cemetery’s official Web site, after Lee became major general of Virginia’s military – necessarily needing to flee U.S. territory – the estate was confiscated by the federal government for non-payment of taxes for "government use, for war, military, charitable and educational purposes.” Brigadier General Montgomery Miegs’ “intention was to render the house uninhabitable should the Lee family ever attempt to return. A stone and masonry burial vault in the rose garden, 20 feet wide and 10 feet deep, and containing the remains of 1,800 Bull Run [ahem, Manassas] casualties, was among the first monuments to Union dead erected under Meigs' orders.” Arlington House is still there, but the Lee family never lived there again.
Harpers Ferry, W.Va. (formerly Va.)
As all good Civil War buffs know, the site of John Brown’s infamous 1859 attempt to rob a federal arsenal in order to start an armed slave revolt. Brown and Co. were defeated by a U.S. Marine detachment led by our friend from the previous entry, Robert E. Lee, who was, let’s not forget, a career officer in the United States armed forces. While we’re in the neighborhood…
The entire state of West Virginia
When Virginia seceded from the United States, several mountain counties seceded from Virginia, becoming their own state in 1863 (secession suddenly not bothering the U.S. at that point). This is a good spot for discussing the mixed feelings, and often downright hostility, toward the Confederacy in Appalachia. West Virginia may have successfully attained statehood, but people in large regions of North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia felt the same way. (Somewhere I have a picture of a tombstone in Cades Cove, Tenn., stating that the departed was “murdered by Confederate traitors,” or something to that effect.) Also a good spot for thinking about how and when (and why) modern Appalachian residents appropriated the Confederate imagery that their ancestors hated. Just for kicks, let’s also discuss Confederate sympathies, and lack thereof, in other “border states,” along with President Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus in same.
Virginia Military Institute, Washington & Lee University – Lexington, Va.
Lexington is a mini-Mecca for Civil War buffs, since it’s home to both VMI (where Stonewall Jackson taught before the war) and Washington & Lee University, where Robert E. Lee was president after the war until his death in 1870. When I visited Lexington several years ago, I didn’t make it to the VMI museum because it was ridiculously crowded. (Apparently, Jackson’s horse, Little Sorrel, is there. Stuffed. Really.) At one point in my life I seriously considered W&L for my college choice solely because of the Lee connection (note: this is not a good reason to pick a college), so on my visit I wanted to see the campus, including Lee Chapel. That’s where the Lee family is buried, and where you can see a statue of the general lying in state. The other visitors and I processed to the front of the chapel and circled the marble statue in almost total silence. It was the first time in my life I felt deeply uncomfortable being a Civil War buff. I couldn’t help thinking that Lee – by all accounts a deeply religious, humble man – would’ve been embarrassed by the whole thing. Also, Lee’s horse Traveler (after whom I named my second car) is buried outside. People leave things on his tombstone, which I suppose is more dignity than Little Sorrel gets.
Appomattox Court House - Appomattox, Va.
I was pleasantly surprised when I visited this very quiet spot in central Virginia that it’s not Confederate Disneyland (or at least it wasn’t then). The tiny town where the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered to General U.S. Grant on April 9, 1865 (effectively ending the war, though the last C.S.S. warship wasn’t captured until November) is now a National Park. If you’re even a medium-Civil war buff, you know that the McLean family moved from Manassas (don’t call it Bull Run) after the war started to Appomattox, only to have the surrender take place in their living room. Notables: Lee and the other Confederate leadership weren’t summarily executed for treason; they were allowed to go home. Grant issued the Confederate troops rations, which is important because they were starving. *** soapbox alert*** It turns out that confederacies of states with a weak/nonexistent central government, where states pay taxes if they feel like it, are really bad at conducting big projects that require centrality, like feeding armies. This could be why the U.S. itself abandoned a confederacy system in the 1780s, and why Jefferson Davis could’ve used some George Santayana.
Petersburg National Battlefield – Petersburg, Va.
The designated national battlefield doesn’t remotely get across the vastness of the Siege of Petersburg, which basically lasted months and encompassed the whole city and surrounding area, and only ended when the Confederate troops retreated in spring 1865, a retreat that ended in Appomattox. When my family visited the battlefield, I made my parents and sister stand in a line several feet apart; this represented the distance between Confederate soldiers toward the end of the siege, when they were vastly, unbelievably outmanned by Grant’s U.S. troops. Then I made them stand about a dozen feet apart, facing each other; that’s how far the Confederate and U.S. lines were from one another – for months. It’s also home to the Crater, where U.S. troops attempted to break the siege by tunneling under Confederate lines and blowing up a whole bunch of explosives. It didn’t turn out well. I often hear my fellow Civil War buffs talk about the honor of the troops. If you really want to pay tribute to the men who fought the Civil War, go to Petersburg. It’ll knock the Scarlet O’Hara right the hell out of you.
Lumpkin’s Slave Market – Richmond, Va.
Since Gov. McDonnell’s original proclamation of Confederate History Month didn’t have any mention of slavery, we want to make sure we don’t miss this. Called “The Devil’s Half-Acre,” Lumpkin’s Slave Market was THE hub of slave trade in Virginia from the early 19th Century until the Confederacy abandoned Richmond, fleeing from U.S. troops. It was the largest slave market in the entire country. And no, it wasn’t a rooming house where people went to await crappy jobs. After Richmond fell, and days before his assassination, President Lincoln visited the slave market in Shockoe Bottom. Freed slaves mobbed him in thanks. The market’s site was turned into a parking lot, and even now is threatened by trendy bar/condo development in the area… which I guess is like building Hard Rock Café Auschwitz.
I’ve left out some of Virginia’s other dozens of battlefields and sites, which are of course important. Any historian of military tactics should study the battles at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, for instance. But I get really frustrated with people who think the Civil War was only about glorious Confederate cavalrymen and hoop-skirted belles waiting back home.
It was about men who commanded troops opposite men they’d known their entire lives, and other men in those battle lines who sometimes didn’t have food, or shoes, or weapons (many of whom weren’t there voluntarily). It was about families devastated by death and deprivation. And yes, Gov. McDonnell, it was about men and women held captive on pain of death, disjoined from anything you are I would consider to be basic human dignity, just because they had black skin. Frankly, it’s also about the fact that people in Virginia see nothing wrong with preserving every mansion where Lee, or Washington, or Jefferson ever paused for lunch, and paving over the site of the industry that gave those men their wealth.
I welcome study of the Civil War – real study, including its before and after, excluding legends about your ancestor that shot a Yankee marauder. It’s fascinating because it’s the singularly American event – as my high school history teacher said, the war we’ve been fighting every day before and since. It’s a discussion we need to have, but we need to have it honestly.
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