We had decided that one of the themes for this trip, was the Civil War, so today we visited two battlefields in the morning, Spotsylvania and Chancellorsville.
Chancellorsville occurred in May, 1863 as Lee was moving his troops North eventually to get to Gettysburg (Harrisburg, PA was his target again, just like in 1862). The brilliant move by Lee, was to have Stonewall Jackson to a quick march around the Union’s flank and attack them. This allowed them to roll up the Union army, but in the process, Jackson was shot by his own troops.
Spotsylvania occurred in 1864 as Grant was moving his troops to take Richmond. It was a several day battle and resulted in both sides losing about 20% of their troops. Grant kept on attacking because he had superior numbers, but Lee managed to hold throughout. In the end, Grant disengaged, and worked his way around Lee.
Our final stop was the Confederate museum, including the Confederate White House. The white house was most interesting. Even though most of it’s contents had been sold at auction in 1870 and the house converted to a school for 30 years, they managed to restore it, and get back much of the furnishings (including a bed, purchased on Ebay in 2004). Something we hadn’t seen before was a removal floor covering in the receiving area. It looked like a stone flooring, but was actually a carpet, so that they could remove the mud and dirt dragged into the house. The Confederate museum, had many swords and uniforms from various confederate officers. What it did best, however, was to provide a chronological line of the various Civil War battles.
Chancellorsville occurred in May, 1863 as Lee was moving his troops North eventually to get to Gettysburg (Harrisburg, PA was his target again, just like in 1862). The brilliant move by Lee, was to have Stonewall Jackson to a quick march around the Union’s flank and attack them. This allowed them to roll up the Union army, but in the process, Jackson was shot by his own troops.
Spotsylvania occurred in 1864 as Grant was moving his troops to take Richmond. It was a several day battle and resulted in both sides losing about 20% of their troops. Grant kept on attacking because he had superior numbers, but Lee managed to hold throughout. In the end, Grant disengaged, and worked his way around Lee.
Our final stop was the Confederate museum, including the Confederate White House. The white house was most interesting. Even though most of it’s contents had been sold at auction in 1870 and the house converted to a school for 30 years, they managed to restore it, and get back much of the furnishings (including a bed, purchased on Ebay in 2004). Something we hadn’t seen before was a removal floor covering in the receiving area. It looked like a stone flooring, but was actually a carpet, so that they could remove the mud and dirt dragged into the house. The Confederate museum, had many swords and uniforms from various confederate officers. What it did best, however, was to provide a chronological line of the various Civil War battles.
