(Vanity) Civil War Tour: Your Recommendations Needed

31-March-2005 | stainlessbanner

[stainlessbanner]

 

Hello FReepers -

Need your guidance, suggestions, recommendations for travel.

Some friends are making a trip to Virginia and Maryland and would like to visit some battlefields and sites from the War of Northern Aggression.

On deck for the trip are the following sites:

• Gettysburg, PA - G'burg Battlefield, town, college
• Sharpsburg, MD - Sharpsburg Battlefield
• Richmond, VA - Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond Battlefield, White House, Gaine's Mill
• Baltimore, MD

Any insight, experiences, and suggestions would be helpful - which sites are interesting, how you saw them (car, walking, horseback), etc.. Many of you have been to these locations and can share some insider info!

I did find a great link called the Civil War Traveler with sites, dates, timeline, and related information.

[Non-Sequitur]

Gettysburg -- Good choice. Army of the Potomac kicked some rebel booty at that one.

Antietam -- another good choice. Lee killed any chance for rebel recognition from any of the European powers by blowing it at that one. A nice car trip would be to follow the path of the rebel army as it slunk back south.

Washington, D.C. -- take in the Lincoln Memorial. Visit the Ulysses Grant Memorial on Capitol Hill and the William T. Sherman statue by the White House and the Phillip Sheridan statue in Sheridan Circle. Swing by the Congressional Cemetery where you can visit the grave of David Herold of Lincoln assasination conspiracy fame. Don't forget Arlington Cemetary to visit what used to be Lee's house. Visit the Senate chamber where the senior Senator from Mississippi uses the same desk that Jefferson Davis uses. If you can get close enough you can see the repairs made to it after Union soldiers stuck bayonets in it. Visit the National Cathedral where Lincoln's address to the people of Springfield is carved into the wall.

Enjoy.

[w_over_w]

Evening Grace Folks~

My fellow Southern friend "stainlessbanner" graciously offered to make this "Dixie Vanity" ping to you on my behalf. My family will be traveling to Virginia later this Summer as my daughter will be starting college at VCU in Richmond, VA. We want to help her get settled into her new environment and at the same time take in some CW history battle grounds, et al.

All your suggestions and insight have been immeasurable and I thank you for taking the time to offer same.

I told "stainless" that I will ping him each day that I post pictures in FR VetsCoR "Foxhole". Hopefully, he'll have time to ping you as well.

We're very excited about our upcoming travels and God bless your hearts for enhancing the prospects of success.

[SAMWolf]

Looking forward to the pics, w_over_w.

[Tax-chick]

That is one of my favorite Civil War stories ... the little old Union vets hobbling down Pickett's Field to hug the little old Confederate vets. There's an art print available, somewhere, but I couldn't afford it when I saw it.

Another great scene is when the Volunteers were on trains to Florida, to embark for the Spanish-American War, the Civil War vets in the South came out in their Confederate uniforms and stood by the tracks waving American flags.

[Tax-chick]

We lived in Virginia Beach for 8 years - saw lots of Revolutionary War, antebellum, and Civil War stuff. My parents were big on historic sites. I remember the 200th Anniversary of Yorktown. That was a BIG to-do! Dad worked up at the Naval Station in Yorktown at the time, so we could park within 50 miles :-).