the last of virginia

the north carolina monument at gettysburg

i spent much of my last day in virginia in....pennsylvania. chris and i drove up to gettysburg on friday to tour the civil war battlefield. i was particularly excited to see this site after having read 'killer angels' last fall in dr. kellison's 'history of the civil war and reconstruction' class. if you haven't heard of this michael shaara book, it tells the story of gettysburg from the point of view of various leaders on both sides of the conflict in such a way as to make it much more accessible (and somewhat less historical). it reads more like a novel than a history book.

the battle of gettysburg took place over 3 days in early july, 1863, culminating in the confederates dcharging up cemetery ridge to be massacred by the well-positioned union soldiers. this includes the infamous pickett's charge, in which the confederate forces suffered over a 50% casuality rate (map). the picture at left is of the field his men crossed--they came out of the trees in the distances, marched across the open fields, and climbed the fences the bordered the road in the middle distance, and tried to make it over the stone wall. about a mile all told, with union soldiers firing on them all the way. after the charge, lee asked pickett to regroup his division, to which pickett replied 'general lee, i have no division.' combined with the confederate loss at vicksburg, which i visited last month, gettysburg turned the tide of the civil war.

i was hearted by the sheer number of people at the national park. while the amount was likely inflated due to the holiday weekend, there were still a lot of families and boyscout troops. at the right is a troop in front of the virginia monument, with lee astride traveller on top. it was nice to see that there were so many people interested in the history, or at least pretending to be. equally intriguing were the volunteer battlefield guides all over the park. they were mostly older men in starched blue shirts, and were willing and able to answer any question you might have about the battle or the battlefield as it now stands. understandably considering that gettysburg was the bloodiest battle in the civil war, there were quite a few monuments, although not nearly as many as vicksburg.

on this memorial day weekend seeing this historic civil war site, my fourth in less than a month, i was reminded of what so many have given for this country. this impression was reinforced when the book i am re-reading, the fantastic made in america by bill bryson, discussed lincoln's gettysburg address. timely, concerning my visit. i think this is a text we could all do with reading this time of year--they are beautiful words with deep meaning, and one we often forget. and anyway, when was the last time you really read lincoln's words? fifth grade?

'four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. we are met on a great battle-field of that war. we have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. it is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

but, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. the brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. it is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. it is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.'

dalliances in virginia

greetings from the (old) state of virginia! i have now been here about three days, and have loved every minute of it. chris and his parents have been very gracious hosts, letting me do my thing and feeding me in between excursions.

kids on a fieldtrip at the appomattox park

i started out from raleigh tuesday morning, and stopped at the appomattox court house national historic park, which is west of richmond. the park itself is kind of underwhelming, but maybe that's just because the last civil war site i visited was vicksburg. it was neat to see where lee and grant signed the treaty that ended the civil war--the park service has more or less rebuilt old appomattox as it was in 1865, and the old highway that lee rode down is still there; in fact, until the 1930s that was the highway people drove down. probably the most interesting part was the history of the mclean house, where the treaty was signed. it was taken apart in the 1890s to be put on exhibition at the 1893 chicago world's fair, but the parts never left virginia. people driving by would take bricks from the deconstructed house until the park service rebuilt it in the 1940s, leaving the building that is there today.

from there i headed to purcellville, where chris and his family live, stopping for coffee along the way at the james river at the restaurant to the right. i have decided that all of virginia is populated by cute little villages, albeit with varying cuteness factors. and they are all historic! chris and his family took me to the historic town of waterford, founded in 1733. they have preserved the town almost exactly as it was--pictured below. in addition, there is documentation that a skirmish in a waterford church during the civil war featured regiments from loudoun county on both sides. among the soldiers were a pair of brothers--one fighting for north, one for south. so it's true: brothers did actually fight each other in the civil war. and i've seen where.

historic waterford

wednesday chris and i drove down to the manassas battlefield (also called bull run). for those of you who need a history refresher course, this is the first land battle of the civil war. in july 1861, almost a year after southerners fired on fort sumter in south carolina, union troops marched from washington dc towards richmond. they met confederate forces at manassas, a small town in virginia. contrary to popular belief, while some civilians did come down from washington following the troops, they were about five miles away from the actual battle in centreville, so they didn't see anything. pictures, such as this one, lie. anyway, the confederates successfully outduped the unionists, and the south won the day, much as they did in the second battle of manassas a little over a year later. there really are two parts to this park--the first and second battles were really quite different. before the first battle, everyone thought the war would be quick: both north and south only requested three month volunteers. those fighting in the second battle were one or two year volunteers, and many were already veterans of combat.

the battlefield, particularly of the first battle, was really interesting. they have preserved it as it was in 1865, so there are trees where there were trees, and fields where there were fields. this allows you to really get a feel for what it was like for these soldiers, how far apart things were, how the confederates came out of the trees, why the union was unsuccessful. (basically the union commanders had a tendency to ignore the facts in front of them, leading to disaster every time, at least until grant became the general in change. general pope at second manassas: no! longstreet and 34000 confederate troops are not two miles away! they will not intervene when i go to attack jackson's men! no!). we were able to go on a short tour of the first manassas battleground, along with a bunch of families and retired folk. it was a beautiful day as you can see in the pictures, but very hot--by the middle of the afternoon we were ready for some lemonade.

new beginnings

oops. this was three days ago, but better late than never:

as opposed to the old beginnings, i am now in tuscaloosa, alabama, trying to start my life over. again. which i suppose is somewhat typical for someone who refuses to leave college.

this morning my family and i drove through the battlefield at vicksburg, mississippi. crazy! all of those soldiers digging trenches, firing on each other all hours of the day and night for 47 days (which is how many steps are in the illinois memorial in the park). it's one of the most monumented parks in the nation--over 1300. basically every 20 feet, there's a monument, most likely for an undistinguished officer no one cares about anymore, or for a regiment from illinois. in addition to a cemetery holding 17000 remains, 13000 of which are unknown.

driving around you can really see why it was so hard to take the fort and city; impregnable really is the right word. and for the first time, i can really appreciate the scope of the physical space that all of those men occupied. the driving loop around the park, which covers both the confederate and union lines all around the old town, is over 16 miles long. it took us about 3 hours to drive it, stopping at the major battle sites. it was also funny to note how much the mississippi river has moved since 1863! the park map has to notate where it was then and where it is today.
some exciting news! i am now the proud owner of a year-long national parks, refuges, and monuments pass! i can now go everywhere for free. at least everywhere owned by the federal government that protects something or other. also, a stamp book to get stamped for every park i visit. thanks, 'rents!

now i have three days to get everything settled for next semester, store my things for the summer, and find an apartment.