Farewell Virginia: It's been fun

We left Charlottesville on Monday to spend time with friends in Montclair. John indulged my desire to get to sites I haven't seen.

See, I was here.  Marker outside visitor's center at Chancellorsville

Tuesday we went to the Chancellorsville battlefield, wandered through the visitor's center and caught the movie. Because the battle was one of movement, John picked up the CD and we took the driving tour. The tour wound through large swathes of rural/suburban Virginia. Though we spent at least a couple of hours and were assisted by a map with written directions, it was a bit confusing to keep track of movements, positions and scenes of fighting. The driving path mostly focuses on Stonewall Jackson's famous flank march.  It is well marked and winds through what is still mostly wooded terrain. Nicely preserved, well presented, Chancellorsville is managed by the National Park Service and the cost is only two bucks.

John and I walked out to see the large monument to Jackson's accidental shooting by his own men, and happened upon a tour led by a park ranger.  She indicated that markers commemorating Jackson were plunked down on the believed site of the incident in the 1870's and again in 1904.  However, an interview with a member of the 14th North Carolina, the unfortunate authors of this famous "friendly fire" incident indicated the locations of these markers were likely incorrect.  Based on this later testimony, the ranger said,the site of Jackson's fatal wounding was likely close to contemporary storm drain located behind the visitor's center.  Of course as we drove about the march route and encountered numerous storm drains, John wondered aloud which soldiers each one memorialized.

1904 marker indicates spot where Stonewall Jackson was wounded, with inscription below.

Thomas J. Jackson memorial storm grate  marks the more likely spot where the 14th North Carolina fired their ill-fated volley that mortally wounded their commander in chief.

Three-inch ordnance rifle marks the Confederate gun lines firing from Hazel Grove.

Wednesday the fourth,  John and I drove down to Manassas and stayed near the visitor's center.  Frankly the weather took its toll on us.  Having spent plenty of time outdoors in temperatures ranging from 95-100+ degrees off and on most of the previous week we'd had enough.  Thankfully the visitor's center is located right on Henry House Hill where most of the climactic action for First Manassas is located.  The visitor's center is okay with lots of period artifacts.  However, most interesting are the pictures of battle participants or their close relatives with  a couple lines regarding their experience in the battle and their subsequent lives.  Some are quite moving, and it adds a human face to man's most terrible proclivity. We also watched the inevitable movie, narrated by Richard Dreyfuss.  The battle is, again, one of movement and on this day we were just too cooked to move much, but trails toward the Sudley Ford crossing and Stone Bridge sites are available for exploration.  The cost for three day pass to Manassas is three dollars.

Equestrian statue of former VMI instructor, Stonewall Jackson

Gun line marks the spot where Jackson's brigade stood like a stone wall. Looking back at Federal positions.

I'm finishing this post from the comfort of my home computer early Friday morning.  We traveled most of the night and I am, shockingly, having a little trouble with sleep.  It's good to be home, mostly because the heat of Virginia was ridiculous.  I saw almost everything I hoped for, and a little more while I was in Maryland and Virginia, and enjoyed myself immensely.  I'm sure if I lived there I'd have become a National Park Service ranger working one of the battlefields.  My desire to see those sights and touch the history was overwhelming.

New Market Battlefield.

New Market was fought on May 15, 1864. It was the first of several important actions that year fought to control the Shenandoah Valley. William C. Davis wrote a wonderful little account of the battle, which has intrigued me ever since. Yesterday, with a little time on my hands, I determined to drive the 85 or so miles to the battlefield state park.

Traveling from Charlottesville, I can assure you the highway is great-interstate all the way-and signs clearly mark the way. The State of Virginia preserved 900 acres to showcase this relatively small battle. The grounds also house "The Virginia Museum of the Civil War" which, in the grand scheme of things is no big deal. However, the do have examples of a Williams Gun, and an Agar "coffee mill," early machine guns that pre-date the better known Gatling. The life-sized vignette of a 12 pound Napoleon and crew was a nice touch too. Along with the artifacts in the museum is a theater with a lengthy movie on the battle, emphasizing the connections with VMI, and rightly so. I didn't stay for the entire presentation because I felt pressed for time.

The battle was smallish, 6,200 Union and 4,100 Confederates, and the park preserves the complete action, which straddles I-81. It was a very hot, humid day (95 degrees) and I spent a bit more than an hour walking the field. Informational maps are available from the museum which correspond nicely with markers on the field.

The terrain east of the interstate is accessible by a tunnel and most closely represent conditions on the day of battle. The western side of the battlefield is mostly grass. On the rainy day of battle many soldiers struggled through plowed, muddy fields that became known as "The Field of Lost Shoes." in the middle of the field is the nicely preserved Bushong farm which served as a hospital for both sides.

The state of Virginia did a great job of preservation with the New Market site. The cost for touring the battlefield is $7 and another $3 to visit the museum.

The road to Charlottesville: Hollywood Cemetery

Friday was a travel day as we drove from Baltimore to Charlottesville in the Virginia hills. We decided to stop in Richmond, where I-64 parts from I-95 and heads west to Charlottesville. Despite wandering a bit through the city, we did make it to Hollywood Cemetery. This beautiful, well-kept burial ground contains the graves of 18,000 Confederate war dead. There is a special section set aside for the dead of Gettysburg. Resting with them is General Richard Garnett, killed with many of his men at Pickett's Charge.

From there it was on to Charlottesville and the rehearsal for my niece's wedding. I'm reading a poem during the ceremony, so had to be there. It was about 95 degrees with about the same percentage of humidity. Hotter today, with chance of thunderstorms for the outdoor wedding. Can't wait, right. Actually couldn't bear to miss the festivities.

The Road to North Point

The Battle of North Point was fought between Maryland militia defending Baltimore in 1814. It was critical because the energetic British commander, Robert Ross, was killed in the action and the subsequent siege and assault on the city proceeded slowly and carefully. This allowed the city to gather its strength and deter a prolonged effort to capture this important Chesapeake naval base

Before I left home I saw (or thought I saw) the North Point battlefield was preserved and I was determined to see it. I left Bladensburg at about 1:30 and headed for North Point east across the bay from Baltimore. The route to the park was clear and except for a minor incident involving a bridge toll and non-payment thereof (eep) I made it safely to the park by 2:45.

North Point is beautiful. Semi-rural, wooded and green as much of Maryland seems to be, it is quiet and lovely and it reminds me a great deal of Washington's Long Beach peninsula. I paid my admission and drove on to the visitor's center. In speaking to the park staff I learned the actual battlefield wasn't in the park. Rather it was located over in Dundalk, near a place laughingly referred to as Burger Junction because of the location of MacDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's on three of the four street corners.

Burger Junction was easy to find but locating the battlefield took most of an extra hour. Though the field is owned by Maryland State Parks, it has only two small markers and really nothing about this important action. Nine acres of the field in this developed semi-urban community is all that exists of the battle of North Point.

Hope fully, given Maryland's important role in the War of 1812, and the arrival of its bicentennial, the state will invest in some interpretive signage. A map of the dispositions. Perhaps even some unit markers if those spots are known would be helpful. Honestly, I'm skeptical this is the location of the action, but it's hard to know after two centuries. It does however demonstrate the difficulty of protecting historical sites in the midst of development and urbanization.

The Chesapeake calls

My lovely niece Katie is getting married to her Dan next weekend, and Lorri and I are heading to the wedding.  The only downside is that the wedding is in Virginia.  The last couple days we've been trying to get the house in order which is always a bit like preparing for a moon landing. Our friend  Allison will be here to take care of the pets while we're gone, and we don't want to appear quite as messy as we actually are.

In any case, our itinerary has us flying in to Baltimore tomorrow, and spending a few days there.  I've never been to Baltimore.  I think Wednesday is my day to have the rental car to myself and an entire day to see stuff. I hope to make the most of it.  I'd like to get to the Bladensburg battlefield right outside the District. Drive to North Point State Park and wander the battlefield there.  That's about ten miles from our hotel near the inner harbor.  If there is time left, I'd really like to see the naval academy at Annapolis.

It's all pretty timely with my projects.  I hope to take lots of pictures.  I do own the mobile blogger ap for my iPhone, but I'm not really hopeful of being able to make it work properly.  I'll try, but this entry may be it for a while.  We'll return home on July 6th.