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Coming up on the Blue Ridge MountainsIf I had ever been on the stretches of road south of Cincinnati over to Appomattox, I can't recall it in any detail. That made each new vista, revealed around a sweeping turn or opening up below the apex of a hill, a revelation. As normally happens to me, the trip to my vacation destination seemed to pass quickly. My journey tends to be as important in finding that peace that comes with vacation as my ultimate destination is. I often use this time to car dance, catch up on a good audio book or, depending on the political talk of the day, engage in a one-sided conversation with a talk radio personality as I add to my growing list of places on a mental list titled "Places to explore when I have more time". Added to that list on this particular drive was Charleston, West Virginia. Nestled in the valley of the Kanawha River, the Capitol caused more than one stolen glance as I admired the intricate golden dome gleaming under the sun. The city looked fresh and bright, and cradled as it was by the high hills edging the valley, it looked quite cozy.
The trip through the
Hundreds of people gathered in Liberty Baptist Church to hear about using primary documents to find a forgotten battlefield.Shenandoah Valley and up and over the Blue Ridge's eastern range on a winding narrow and scenic state highway was like a welcome into Virginia. The scent of flowering trees and bird song filled the warm air and as I drove the twisting road over mountain tops and down into valleys.
I was on a tight time schedule. I left on this journey at 5:30 AM (which ensured that I hit Cincinnati at rush hour--leading to a brief, unscheduled, but not terribly onerous detour downtown when I managed to be in the wrong lane on the interstate and had few legal or safe options of extricating myself from the exit lane). I needed to get to Liberty Baptist Church in Appomattox, Virginia by 3:30 pm to attend the kick off lecture of the sesquicentennial commemoration weekend: Finding Appomattox Station Battlefield.
When I pulled in at 3:10, fully expecting to be among a small crowd gathered on the late afternoon of this workday, I was surprised at the sheer number of bodies crammed into this small church. Hundreds of people had turned out to hear a lecture about using primary documents and contemporary and modern maps to pinpoint the
The Union Cavalry living historians prepare for their demonstration.exact location where this obscure battle had taken place. I was in the balcony, the last chair shoved into a narrow walkway that still bore signs stating "no sitting".
After the lecture, the crowd moved almost en masse to the battlefield property, reclaimed from development by the Civil War Trust.
**We interrupt this blog post for an important announcement: The Civil War Trust is an amazing organization which leverages state, local and federal grants to match public donations (usually at more than a $1 to $1 rate....the current match rate for 44 acres they hope to preserve at Antietam is $5 to $1) for battlefield preservation and Civil War education. If you are interested in learning more about a battle or battlefield, if you plan on making a trip to a battlefield, if you want to preserve battlefield land or you are a teacher wanting some help with Civil War lesson plans, please visit
www.civilwar.org. We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog post.**
Here we gathered to hear the narration of the battle re-enactment. An oddity in the Civil War, the Battle of Appomattox Station was a cavalry and artillery battle. Think of that for
A Union Cavalry charge into the teeth of the Confederate Artillery.one moment. One side had cannons, the other side had guys on horses. If I asked you to tell me how you thought it turned out, I would wager you would put your money on the big guns. As it turns out, the conclusion of the battle was that Union General George Armstrong Custer's cavalry captured 25 Confederate artillery pieces and, more importantly, the Confederate supply train loaded with provisions desperately needed for the troops who had been in headlong flight for their lives from the entrenchments around Petersburg and Richmond for the last week.
Importantly for me, this marked the first time I experienced a cavalry demonstration. The living historians (not re-enactors) were fantastic and their mounts obviously experienced as they didn't even seem to show an ounce of anxiety or discomfort when the artillery opened up.
The demonstration was cut short by a significant opening of the skies as the rain bucketed down. The final program of the evening, to be held at the Historic Village (Appomattox Courthouse National Historic Park) was also rained out. That meant an early retirement for me to the small town of AltaVista, about 45 minutes south of the battlefield. And it also meant a stop at the highly rated Perky's Restaurant, a local establishment of no small fame, which requires reservations for their diner-style seating. Here I swapped "war stories" with a forensic accountant (who was surprised when due to viewing many Law and Order episodes, I greeted the announcement of his career with a genuinely interested, "Oh really?" Alas, he claimed he never got into anything fun like those forensic accountants on Law and Order).
Day One completed, I headed to bed early. Reveille would come early in the morning.
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