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In Focus: Fort Union National Monument

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In Focus: Fort Union National Monument

After the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War in 1848, New Mexico officially became a part of the United States. Americans started moving west to try and stake a claim in this new territory, but were often met with hostility by Indians trying to protect what they believed belonged to them. In response, the U.S. government built Fort Union at the main junction on the Santa Fe Trail. The original fort was good enough for that purpose, but a second, stronger, fort was built during the Civil War and a third fort soon replaced the second. The fort served two main purposes which were independent of each another - one being a military post and the other, a quartermaster depot. The depot was the supply hub for the government in the southwest and received hundreds of wagonloads of supplies daily to support 46 regional posts. There was also an arsenal on the base which could have also been seen as a separate entity as it had its own commander and staff. In addition, the base hospital provided the best medical care for hundreds of miles around. Fort Union served as the jumping-off point for Union forces on their way to fight at Glorieta Pass, the last Civil War battle fought in New Mexico. After the Civil War, African-American soldiers with the 57th U.S. Colored Infantry arrived at Fort Union and later the 9th U.S. Cavalry, remembered today as the Buffalo Soldiers, would join them. When trains started rumbling across the country at the end of the 19th century, Fort Union became obsolete and was decommissioned in 1891. The last soldiers left on May 15th of that year. In 1954, it became Fort Union National Monument and its history is now interpreted by the National Park Service.

Most of the fort was built of adobe which, without regular maintenance, will melt back into the desert. Some exceptions were the stone jail and the brick chimneys which provide a glimpse into what Fort Union once was. This park site doesn’t get many visitors, but it’s a fascinating place to learn about the Santa Fe Trail and early American history in the New Mexico Territory. I hope you enjoy these photos from fascinating Fort Union National Monument.

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In Focus: Pecos National Historical Park

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In Focus: Pecos National Historical Park

Construction of the pueblo at Pecos was begun sometime in the 12th century. Over the next few hundred years it would grow to become one of the largest pueblos in the area, supporting a community of perhaps 3,000 people. Sitting in what is now eastern New Mexico, this agricultural community was also a trade center between the mountains to the west and the plains to the east. Francisco Vázquez de Coronado visited Pecos on his 1540 conquest, as did Don Juan de Oñate 60 years later when he ordered construction of a mission church to help convert the Puebloans to Catholicism. That church was destroyed during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 and a smaller church would be built in its place when the Spanish returned to the area twelve years later. The spread of European diseases would bring the ultimate demise of Pecos and in the 1830s the last of its old residents made their way to Jemez Pueblo where their culture and tradition is still remembered in the oral history. Emigrants on the nearby Santa Fe Trail no doubt used Pecos as a campground and marveled at the old pueblo. General Kearny and his troops camped at Pecos as well on their westward journey to claim New Mexico for the United States. During the Civil War, the Confederate army was making their way through New Mexico on a quest for Colorado and California gold. Their troops turned back to Texas after being defeated at the Battle of Glorieta Pass which is right up the trail from Pecos. Tex Austin purchased the land in 1925 and turned it into the Forked Lightning Ranch which was purchased in 1941 by Buddy Fogelson. The Fogelsons were instrumental in creating Pecos National Monument in 1965, and after their deaths the park’s boundaries were expanded to include the ranch and the designation changed to Pecos National Historical Park.

Today the park does an incredible job of interpreting all of this fascinating history in its wonderful museum. The 1.5 mile trail takes you through the remains of the pueblo and into the ruins of the old mission church. Two kivas have been reconstructed to provide some insight into Puebloan culture and religion as well. It’s a beautiful place to visit and just a short drive from nearby Santa Fe. I hope you enjoy these few photos from fascinating Pecos national Historical Park.

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Updates From Home

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Updates From Home

Hello Everyone! Long time, no see. I can’t believe that three weeks have gone past since I sent my last newsletter. It felt like 2020 lasted for 5 years, but now 2021 is blowing past as May is right around the corner. I’ve missed writing D.C. Chronicles these last couple of weeks, but I’ve been so busy with all of my other projects that it has been good to back off from that a little. I did want to check in with you all though and update you on what I’ve been up to and some of the places I’ve been and things I’ve been doing.

First and foremost, I did get the second dose of my vaccine and have had enough time pass since my shot to be considered fully vaccinated. My second shot left me fatigued for half a day, which seemed like a small price to pay. If you’re on the fence about the vaccine, please go discuss it with your doctor or pharmacist but from my perspective it was quick and relatively painless. Most of my family and friends have gotten at least one shot at this point, and for that I am very grateful.

Mason and I have continued our daily romps around his neighborhood. Spring is in full effect here in Washington with current highs in the 70s and 80s and he’s enjoyed getting his water shoes on and his feet in the creek. We are both thoroughly enjoying the flowers, bumblebees and butterflies that have come back into our lives. Mason really enjoys blowing the dandelion seeds we find out into the world, and I am enjoying it too. We have added several new walking trails to our portfolio, some of which are really great – especially Dunbarton Park which has some nice quiet meadows (in the heart of the city). Our biggest highlight of the last couple of weeks has been turning over logs in the woods. We have found a bunch of salamanders, millipedes, worms, roly-polies, centipedes and even a shrew (which scared the bejesus out of me). It’s been pretty cool and Mason has gotten his hands as dirty as I’ve ever seen them but he’s sure enjoying it. This will be our last full week together as he starts school next Tuesday. I will miss his company tremendously, but it’s time for him to make friends his own age and for me to get what I need to get done so that I can back on the road in 5 short weeks.

Speaking of which, that is still my plan – a June 1st departure from Washington with a quick stop to see my dad in West Virginia before continuing on to Michigan.

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Civil War Chronicles: Appomattox

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Civil War Chronicles: Appomattox

The photos below come from a recent visit to Appomattox Court House National Historical Park near the town of Lynchburg, Virginia. It was the site of the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia which effectively ended the American Civil War.

After the siege of Petersburg and the fall of the Confederate Capital at Richmond, General Robert E. Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia west with the hopes of turning south to North Carolina and joining with General Joseph Johnson’s army there. They moved towards the train depot at Appomattox Station hoping to find much needed supplies waiting for them there. Union General Phillip Sheridan and his cavalry arrived first, capturing the supply trains and forcing Lee to turn his thoughts towards Lynchburg instead. Surrounded by Union troops, they made one final push at dawn on April 9th, 1865. It didn’t take long to realize that they were surrounded and Lee called for a meeting with Ulysses S. Grant to discuss the terms of surrender.

The site chosen for this conversation was the home of Wilmer McLean in the tiny village of Appomattox Court House. The generals met in the parlor, recreated above, to hammer out the details. The terms offered were very generous as the Confederate soldiers were to be immediately paroled and even allowed to keep their horses and sidearms. Their parole papers were printed in the nearby Clover Hill Tavern. The Southerners marched into town, stacked their rifles, turned over their cannons and marched out. While the surrender of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia was not the end of the Civil War, there was little chance or hope for the Southern cause in its aftermath. The war would technically drag on until early summer, with skirmishes across the south, but the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse was the beginning of the end. Four long years of fighting which cost over 600,000 lives was finally nearing its conclusion…

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 17

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 17

Hello Everyone, well the dog days of summer are definitely in full effect here in Washington D.C. It’s been a while since I’ve been here in the middle of summer and I’m starting to remember why. With daytime temperatures nearing a hundred degrees and high humidity, it keeps me inside much of the day. I’m grateful to have an inside to be in during this pandemic, but I miss my outside life. I try and get up early and go for my morning walk and spend some time outside in the evening, but the heat of the day is pretty unbearable right now. But July is coming to a close and by this time next week August will be just over the horizon with fall hot on its heels. I’m looking forward to fall with its cooler temperatures and beautiful colors, and my camera and I are planning on taking full advantage of the foliage this year. But that’s getting ahead of myself and I’m still trying to make the most of the summer and my time here at home. I’ve been keeping up with my guitar and violin practice and they are bringing me joy and pleasure. I’ve been writing and actually making some progress on my book, although I’m still pushing through the first couple of weeks of the journey which were cold and painfully lonely, but also liberating and beautiful. And I’ve gotten out of the house this week despite the heat for a few good excursions.

This week I’ve had school reopening on my mind as the young man I’ve been tutoring this summer and his family are looking ahead at that issue. While the older I get, the more I realize I don’t know about many things, education is one of those things I’m still pretty comfortable discussing with some authority. While by no means an expert on the topic, I spent five years as a teacher, teaching in 12 different schools in 4 cities on 2 continents. I’ve taught 5 year olds and adults and I’ve taught in public, charter and private environments. As I look at school reopening, I wish it were being addressed everywhere in the old-school school-board setting (which thankfully it still is in many places). I think parents, teachers and community members all need their voices and concerns heard and their decisions respected. I’ve met very few teachers in my life who don’t want to teach and very few parents who didn’t want their kids in school or students who didn’t at least want to be at school. But these are extraordinary times with extraordinary consequences and as anyone who has ever seen how fast head-lice can spread in a school will tell you, things have a way of getting around in a school building pretty quick. I’ve seen some very well thought out plans, and the advice from the CDC on the topic is thorough and well-researched as well, but I also understand a host of reasons why you would want to keep your kids home until there is more known about this virus. I also sincerely hope that no school in the country will follow the model of so many towns reopening plans where people have just run out into the streets without distancing or masks under the delusion that none of this ever happened or was ever real to begin with. A school full of sick kids is a nightmare nobody wants. I will say here, and y’all know I don’t wade into politics here very much, but I truly wish the head of the Department of Education had any experience at all in public schools. I’m truly concerned for our nation’s children and I hope that each community will make these difficult decisions based on science, fact and input from those parties with the most at stake.

Also this week I enjoyed watching Chris Wallace interview the president. I’m not going to get into that interview, but I really like Chris Wallace, and knew him quite well many years ago. His son, Peter, was in my Boy Scout troop and was a friend of mine (and still is, though I haven’t seen him in years) so Mr. Wallace was around for many of our events and activities. Of course he was just a local newscaster back then, but he was well respected and seemed like a good guy. It makes me smile when I see him on national TV and I remember he always liked my peach cobbler when I made it on camping trips.

Anyways, enough of my rambling, I have done some cool things this week and am happy to share those with you here. Because we didn’t travel last Tuesday, we took a bit of a ramble on Thursday instead. We set off to explore the city a little bit and see the small handful of houses in Washington D.C. that were built around or before 1800. It was a fun jaunt around the city which took us to some cool neighborhoods we don’t get to a lot. I hope to publish the photos from that tour here this weekend. It was fun, and nice to drive around the city with a mission.

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Snapshots: Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, VA

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Snapshots: Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, VA

Hollywood Cemetery is a beautiful, sprawling old cemetery overlooking the James River just west of downtown Richmond. Established in 1849, Hollywood Cemetery is the final resting place of two U.S. Presidents, James Monroe and John Tyler, and Jefferson Davis, the only President of the Confederacy. Also buried at Hollywood are 28 Confederate Generals including JEB Stuart and George Pickett as well as a considerable number of Confederate soldiers, both known and unknown. The Monument of Confederate War Dead is found there as well in the form of a 90 foot pyramid dedicated in 1869.

We enjoyed our visit to Hollywood Cemetery and spent several hours there. It has quite a history and some beautiful examples of funerary art. The President’s Circle includes the two presidents mentioned above and local celebrity burials as well. The south side of the cemetery offers beautiful views of the James River and Downtown Richmond. We used the Girl Scout Self-Guided Tour Pamphlet (found HERE) to help us find our way around. It can be tricky, but it’s not big enough to get really lost. I hope you enjoy these photos from Hollywood Cemetery.

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Snapshots: Richmond's Confederate Monuments Toppled

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Snapshots: Richmond's Confederate Monuments Toppled

I took these photos last week in the midst of the Confederate statue removal process in the old Confederate Capital of Richmond. It was a unique time to visit because some of the statues had already been removed, one of JEB Stuart was in the process of being removed and the two central ones to Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis still stood, although both have been slated for removal.

In taking these photos I wanted to capture the spirit of the protests which ultimately have led to the conversation over the removal of these statues, so I have included some close-up shots of the graffiti. Some of the graffiti is targeted towards police brutality while some supports the Black Lives Matter movement.

I am of the opinion that these statues cannot continue to stand in these central places in our nation’s cities. While there are aspects of all of these men which I admire and respect, the cause for which they fought was ultimately the continuation of slavery in perpetuity. There are places for these statues as I believe all art tells a story, but the story currently being told isn’t a complete one and needs to be adjusted with our current understanding of history. These statues coming down isn’t erasing history, it is history.

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Opinion: Confederate Memorials and What To Do With Them

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Opinion: Confederate Memorials and What To Do With Them

It’s time. It’s actually long past time for these monuments to come down across the South. When I say these monuments, though, I’m speaking very specifically. I don’t personally believe that all traces of the Confederacy should come down although I don’t believe that doing so would in any way erase history. History is history and no monuments or statues can change it. Many of these monuments, though, were put up not in tribute to fallen soldiers but specifically to support a platform of white supremacy, and that is a history that should be told too. In fact, that is an even more crucial topic for people to learn about if we want to move forward as a nation. But either way, statues to Confederate generals put up in prominent parts of town as hero’s monuments have no place in 2020 America. It’s time for them to come down.

The Civil War was a horrific chapter in our nation’s history which caused the deaths of over 600,000 people. Many of those soldiers’ bodies never came home and are either buried where they fell or among the thousands upon thousands of “unknown” graves around the country. I believe that no matter what their beliefs were, every mother has a right to bury her child and in this case, that wasn’t often possible. Many of the Civil War memorials around the South are depictions of a simple foot-soldier with the names of those soldiers from that town who went to fight in the war. We must also understand that many young men were drafted into the war and did not join of their own free will. Many joined to defend their towns and villages which were most certainly in harm’s way. Many were teenagers who couldn’t have possibly known or understood the larger implications of the war. Most didn’t own slaves. Before I go any further I want to make two things abundantly clear. First, I hate slavery with every bone in my body. I don’t think that owning another person has ever been right in the entire history of the world. Second, I am completely aware that slavery was the primary cause of the Civil War insomuch as had there been no slavery, there would have probably been no war. However the idea that the war began as a noble cause on the part of the abolitionist Northerners to end slavery is simply not true. I wish it was because then I could condemn all Confederates who took up arms and the men who led them. But I know too much about the war to believe that and feel too strongly that too many young men simply got caught up in the war and died too young. So I say let those local memorials stand, but every one of them should be removed from town centers and in front of county courthouses and placed respectfully and with dignity in the local cemeteries. It’s time to bury the dead.

As for these big statues which are coming down now, I know this may be unpopular, but I do respect them as both art and history and I think there is a place for them on the Civil War battlefields of the country. I’d like to see them placed in the hands of the National Park Service which will properly interpret them as to how, why and by whom they were originally erected, who they represent and why they were removed to the battlefield. As for those memorials which were specifically commissioned as a response to Brown vs. The Board of Education or similar hallmarks of progress in Civil Rights, I’d like to see a select few collected to interpret that time in our history and the rest smashed to pieces and used as the foundations to new memorials to the men and women who led that movement.

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Civil War Chronicles: Cold Harbor and Petersburg

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Civil War Chronicles: Cold Harbor and Petersburg

The photos below come from a recent visit to the battlefields of the greater Richmond/Petersburg Area. With the exception of the first few from Gaines Mill which was important to the Peninsula Campaign of 1862, most of these battles were part of the 1864 Overland Campaign. This long, brutal and bloody series of battles would eventually lead to the capture of Petersburg and the fall of Richmond which set the stage for the surrender of the Army of the Potomac at Appomattox. Civil War Chronicles will trace the major battles of the Eastern Theater of the war through photos and brief histories

Richmond was not the original capital of the Confederacy, but became the capital after Virginia seceded from the Union in April of 1861. Richmond and neighboring Petersburg were major industrial hubs with rail lines connecting to points near and far and the James River to further move supplies in and out of the area. The rivers surrounding the city made defending it somewhat easier as well. Because of the strategic importance of Richmond, it would be the focus of several major campaigns during the war.

Our visit started at Gaines Mill Farm which saw some of the worst fighting of the Seven Days Battle during the Peninsula Campaign of 1862. This battle was the first in which Robert E. Lee had command of the Army of Northern Virginia following the wounding of Joseph Johnston. Lee’s ability to hold off George McClellan and his Union forces would direct the war away from Richmond and back to Northern Virginia to Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville which we visited several weeks ago…

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Civil War Chronicles: Fort Stevens

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Civil War Chronicles: Fort Stevens

The photos below come from a recent visit to Fort Stevens in Washington D.C. - site of the only battle fought inside D.C. during the Civil War, and of Battleground National Cemetery up the street. The final photo came from Grace Episcopal Church in Silver Spring, MD. Civil War Chronicles will trace the major battles of the Eastern Theater of the war through photos and brief histories.

After overcoming Union General Lew Wallace and his men at the Battle of Monocacy on July 9th, 1864,, Confederate General Jubal Early continued his march towards the Capital of Washington D.C. The Confederate soldiers made the march in two days. Thankfully, Wallace had delayed the Confederates long enough for General Grant to send reinforcements via steamship from Richmond who soon took up position in the northern section of the circle of forts surrounding the city. Fort Stevens guarded the 7th Street Pike, one of the main roads into the city (now Georgia Avenue).

The armies exchanged fire on July 11th and 12th, but Early felt the city was too heavily defended to mount a full scale attack. Both sides lost men in the skirmishing, but casualties were relatively light by Civil War standards. Notably, President Abraham Lincoln came to Fort Stevens on July 12th with his wife, Mary. The two came under fire, the only time in American history that a sitting president was in the direct line of enemy fire. A memorial stone on the parapet marks that location today. That evening, Early would withdraw his men through Maryland and cross the Potomac back into Virginia, marking the end of the final Confederate attack into the North. They paused briefly en-route to bury 17 of their dead comrades at Grace Episcopal Church in Silver Spring…

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Civil War Chronicles: Monocacy

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Civil War Chronicles: Monocacy

The photos below come from a recent visit to Monocacy National Battlefield Park just south of Frederick Maryland - site of the “Battle that Saved Washington”. Civil War Chronicles will trace the major battles of the Eastern Theater of the war through photos and brief histories.

The Battle of Monocacy is a bit of an outlier in that it wasn’t really a major battle of the Eastern Theater of the Civil War, but a minor one with major implications. While Generals Grant and Lee were engaged in the final grappling of the war around Petersburg, south of Richmond, Lee wanted a distraction to pull some of Grant’s army away. He attempted this by sending General Jubal Early to go on the offensive and attack into Union territory, the third Confederate invasion of the North during the war. Early was sent with 15,000 men to threaten Washington D.C. and, if possible, to raid the prison camp at Point Lookout and free the Confederate soldiers being held there. Lee also knew that a presidential election was looming and he hoped that another invasion of the North might bring about the defeat of Lincoln and a favorable end to the long and brutal war.

Early’s army crossed the Potomac River into Maryland on the 4th of July, 1864 and marched past Sharpsburg, the site of the Battle of Antietam two years earlier. You can’t march 15,000 infantry troops across a state without anyone noticing, and word quickly got to General Lew Wallace who was then the Union commander in Baltimore. Wallace gathered what men he could muster and quickly set off towards the west. Thinking quickly, Wallace decided to head towards Monocacy Junction, just south of Frederick, Maryland. He didn’t know where the Confederates were headed, but this point would allow his troops to defend the Georgetown Pike to Washington, the National Road to Baltimore and the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Line. If he got there first, he could strategically place his men along the Monocacy River and defend all three of those routes which crossed the river at that point. He arrived in time to dig in and establish a line of defense.

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Civil War Chronicles: The Wilderness and Spotsylvania

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Civil War Chronicles: The Wilderness and Spotsylvania

The photos below come from a recent visit to Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Battlefield Park, which also includes the Battles of Chancelorsville and The Wilderness. Civil War Chronicles will trace the major battles of the Eastern Theater through photos and brief histories.

It had been almost a year since the horrific battle of Gettysburg, and in the interim President Lincoln had turned command of the Union Army over to General Ulysses S. Grant. Grant would lay out a plan to attack the confederacy on many fronts including Sherman’s march towards Atlanta and an attack on Mobile, and Grant himself would ride with General George Meade’s Army of the Potomac. Their goal was to bring the war back to Virginia and keep the pressure on General Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. This Overland Campaign would be a war of attrition and would bring the war to new levels of horror but ultimately lead to Lee’s surrender at Appomattox.

On May 4th, 1864 the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan River and engaged Lee’s army in an area called The Wilderness. Apparently the area today bears little resemblance to what it did at the time when new growth underbrush made movement difficult, artillery less effective and confusion the norm. Fierce fighting took place on the scattered farms in the area which allowed for some open space in which to maneuver, but most of the battle took place in the dense forest. On May 6th, the Union Army had taken the upper hand and Lee’s men were in grave danger of being overrun on the widow Tapp’s farm. In a scene from the movies, Longstreet’s reinforcements arrived at just the right moment and Lee was prepared to lead them into battle himself, but the Confederates wouldn’t allow it and moved him quickly to the rear. After two days of heavy fighting neither side had gained a decisive victory. Unlike his predecessors, Grant didn’t pull back but rather pushed forward, ordering a night march towards the town of Spotsylvania Court House. His plan was to get between Lee and the Confederate Capital at Richmond. Sensing this move, Lee ordered his men to move that night as well.

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