Dixie travel guide suggestions
Chickamauga-Chattanooga (Georgia/Tennessee border, all sites within about 20 miles) is a great trip. We saw only a little of what was available when we visited, and will have to go back for a full Civil War whoop-up some day. The Tennessee State Aquarium in Chattanooga is also worth a full half-day (or more if you have kids).
Chickamauga battlefield (pause in honor of James Longstreet, Bedford Forrest, Ambrose Bierce, and General George Thomas, USA) is one of the earliest national battlefield parks, and many of the descriptions were written by veterans (both sides) of the battle.
If you happen to hit the Lookout Mountain area on a cloudy day, it's truly spooky. I had to stop on the Interstate one day, driving home from the mall with the kids, because I had the howlin' heebie-jeebies. I got pretty friendly with the Civil War dead, living where we did (near Tullahoma), but some days they were just too close.
Stones River (Murfreesboro) is only about 1-1/2 hours from Chattanooga, up the very scenic Interstate towards Nashville. That battlefield park is very nice, but small compared to the whole extent of the field; you have to use your imagination some. There's enough preserved to get a good impression of the terrain, especially if you're pushing a baby stroller :-). Franklin is about another hour up the road, and is very evocative, although much is built over.
Oh, I didn't catch the location. Whoops! Fortress Monroe, in the Norfolk, VA, area, is very interesting; well preserved Revolutionary War era fort, and later, of course, Jefferson Davis was imprisoned there.
We have not been to Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Spottsylvania, but my parents have bicycled the sites and said they were excellent.
Appomattox Court House should not be missed.
Either Petersburg or Fredericksburg. I like the Fredericksburg Battlefield better than the one at Petersburg - plus it's close to Guinea(?) station, where Stonewall died. The Jackson Shrine House is wonderful.
and it's not too far from Spotsylvania and Chancellorsville.