Museum Overdose Part Two
30 April 2012
MUSEUM OVERDOSE PART TWO
April 28, 2012
I am counseled by Bear that many who read this are not interested in all the history stuff. Get over it.
Civil War (hardly civilized) - Having spent the previous day in colonial times and with three museums, we drove to Richmond to see a few more museums about the area. Richmond, being the capitol of the Confederacy and so close to Washington, DC was the focal point of many attempts by Union forces to take the government of the Confederacy. Not only that, Richmond was, perhaps the most industrialized of the southern cities of the time. The State map shows a continuous string of battlefields around the city and the problem is where to start. We happened on the Civil War Museum which shared grounds with the Tredegar Iron Works site right downtown Richmond. I never heard of the Tredegar Iron Works; should have though. That facility was the largest iron works in the country at the time. Not sure here whether or not they meant the US or the Confederacy but it produced half of the artillery, some 1100 siege and field pieces, and a huge portion of the musketry for the South. They did custom stuff like the iron plate used on the Iron Clads such as the CSS Virginia (aka Merrimack). So, it was a natural prize for the President Lincoln and the boys. It was somewhat spared in the Reconstruction days due to its size and capabilities. The primary products were railroad rails. It continued to cast iron until 1957.
The NPS had a brochure outlining a driving tour of the battlefields around Richmond which took two and a half hours of one does not stop to read the markers. In 1864 Generals Grant and Meade sought to take out the heart of the Confederacy in places with names The Wilderness and Spotsylvania. They were unsuccessful against General Lee. So, they took every chance to battle the Army of Northern Virginia and that set up the twelve battles near Richmond. Of them, Cold Harbor was epic. Over seven miles of trenches marked the battlefield. Lee's 56,000 troops were in place to take whatever General Grant offered. While there were some breaches the lines held. Looking at the terrain, it was a true killing field. In one nine hour assault, Grant lost 6,000 men, more than half in the first hour. One cannot stand there without feeling the presence of the Americans who fought there. Of the battle, Grant later said:"...At Cold Harbor no advantage was gained to compensate for the heavy loss we sustained." Those battle fields are now covered with beautiful spring foliage and a kind of peace that only hallowed ground offers.
Scurv has been after me since coming aboard to take him on a long walk. I offered, and he accepted to take a little stroll at Cold Harbor. The distance was about a mile and a half on a mild, sunny afternoon. By the time we got back to Bear and the water fountain, Scurv had all he could take. In fact he took every opportunity to sit down along the last half of the trail. Methinks he really wanted a ride but I did not offer. Deck shoes are not appropriate for hiking. I kept telling him my paws were on fire also but he did not care. It was every mammal for himself. When we got in the pickup to return to Portsmouth, he went to sleep, lucky dog. That's right, he and Bear sleep and I drive. It was an absolutely enjoyable visit to Richmond which is a very pretty place.
Our time here is limited. We have spoken with many "local" sailors who offered "must see" places in the Chesapeake. The list grows and it appears that we might modify our plans a bit to use the MSU to minimize backtracking. One option is to sail to the Annapolis and day trip to DC and other destinations along the Potomac. We have not definitely decided to do that but one gets a significant cost advantage to staying in a marina longer than a few days. For instance, this marinas break point is about seven days. The price for a month is the same as seven days transient slip fees.
The picture is of one of the killing fields of Cold Harbor. Will post moe in the gallery when we get a fast internet connection