Off to the "Old Dominion" State

 The drive wasn't as bad as anticipated, I believe God was watching over our journey and held off the rain during the drive.

WOODROW WILSON MEMORIAL BRIDGE

(courtesy of JMT)

This was our escape route into Virginia. Looks like any other bridge... nay... this is a draw bridge.

Unfortunately we didn't get to see the bridge in action, but here was the bridge controller's nest:

It is only an optical illusion that it was falling over, it actually leans forward in design. At this point we had almost made it out of Maryland, one still needs to cross over the bay before one sees the sign we were looking for:

Virginia is formally known as the "Old Dominion" state because it was the first state of the old dominion of kings and queens.

Hitting the welcome sign was our half-way point to the next campground in Powhatan, about 32 miles from Richmond. Other than the usual pot hole filled roads, the drive was uneventful. We arrived at the campground as the rain/sprinkle began.

This campground was a family owned and operated campground. They started their creation in 1972, and opened in 1974.

OUR SITE

FROM OUR DINING WINDOW

The one thing that neither Carol nor I liked was the humidity, most of the time it stayed in the 90's because of the tropical storm (Debby) passin' through. 

This weather with the rain brought out the mushrooms, which became photo opts for us.

I turned one of them into a puzzle on my laptop. Anyone with Microsoft games can take their own photos and make them into a puzzle.

I decided to take a walk while it wasn't raining, so I took you on a walking tour. I walked around the first of three ponds at the campground, which visitors can pay a small fee and catch all the catfish they want.

STARTING AROUND THE POND

ISLAND IN THE BIG POND

COVERED BRIDGE & LOOKING FROM THE BRIDGE

Some of the pricier sites had a view of the pond, and the priciest had gazebos on them, and a view of the pond.

ONE OF THE PRICIEST SITES

Let me give you an idea where we fell in the scale of sites:

OUR VIEW WAS OF THE PRICIEST SITE

I continued around the park past the General Store/laundry/showers/ internet cafe building on the way to the back road where the monthly/seasonal folks stay.

LAUNDRY/SHOWERS/GENERAL STORE/INTERNET CAFE

MEMORABILIA

INTERNET CAFE

LAUNDRY

After getting past them I took a turn to the second pond, which was a catch & release. 

After this pond I wound my way back to civilization and up to the cabin and cottages I past earlier.

CABIN

1 OF 2 COTTAGES

Before going to the trailer I went above the cabin and cottages to the playground area.

How many out there remember those jungle gyms, I do, I would play on them everyday at school.

Back to the trailer I went.

For a 50 year old camp it is very nice shape.

We did get one day of sightseeing in, we drove to Richmond and visited the American Civil War Museum.

AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM

Getting to Richmond wasn't a problem, finding parking was. Apparently the owner of the lot next to the museum decided to close off the parking lot on the weekends, fortunately there was a parking lot for the nearby walking trail that had a spot open. The walking trail parking lot was about a block away.

Are you wondering why this modern building is located behind an old arch... the building was originally the Tredegar Iron Works that produced iron and steel for cannons, and armament for the CSS Merrimack, also known as the CSS Virginia by the Confederate states.

TREDEGAR IRON WORKS

You can visit: https://www.nps.gov/articles/tredegar-iron-works-ironmaker-to-the-confederacy for more in depth information.

It started out as a small forge and rolling mill. Under the supervision of Joseph R. Andersen, the mill expanded and was able to secure contracts with the government, providing cannons for the country's armed forces.

After a strike by the white workers, Andersen introduced slave labor to the facility. 

Eventually as tensions and impending war were coming, and Richmond an important part of the South, the iron works began providing exclusively for the South. This occurred after the firing on Ft. Sumter, and Virginia's cessation from the Union and their joining the Confederacy.

When the Confederacy first stood up, its capitol was in Montgomery, AL. Because Richmond was so close to Washington D.C., and susceptible to invasion, The Confederacy moved their capitol to Richmond to protect its only iron works facility.

Richmond had an important part in the history of the Civil War.

The museum is in the major foundry portion of the complex. Before we enter the museum, we checked at the complex around the main building. During the Industrial Revolution, water was a big deal when it came to powering machinery, and that was no different here. The foundry sat alongside the James River, and canals were created to bring water to the foundry to operate machinery.

This building was a taller building originally, but a recent fire destroyed the upper levels, they only added the newer bricks, but did not go back up to the original height. This building was a private business.

This was the foundry that produced the cannons for the Confederacy.

TURNED INTO OFFICE SPACES

The complex was roughly 5 acres in the early days.

Now we marched up the steps to the door of history.

The recommended starting point was upstairs to an area entitled "The Impending Crisis".

The museum is filled with stories and remarks from those that survived, escaped, or fought against slavery. There are also stories and remarks from those that felt slavery was justified too.

Before entering the exhibit hall there were several statements that were of great importance:

"We, the colored soldiers, have fairly won our rights by loyalty and bravery - shall we obtain them? If we are refused now, we shall demand them." Sargent Major William McCleslin. (29th US Colored Troops)

"Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship." Frederick Douglas.

The black troops fought just as hard, or harder than the white troops during their engagements.

MUSTER ROLL FOR THE 27TH USCT, COMPANY "H"

(August to October 1864)

What you cannot see on this muster is the mustering of two privates as "missing in action", one is presumed to be a prisoner. For a soldier in the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT), that was not a good thing. The Confederates did not consider soldiers in the USCT to be soldiers, and usually killed them when captured.

Before passing through the exhibit doors visitors were asked the question as to what caused the Civil War, "cultural", "slavery", one other, and "don't know".

SALES RECEIPT FOR BELLA JENKINS (ca 1854)

Mary Session sold Bella Jenkins to Samuel Pope, "and his heirs... forever."

BELLA JENKINS

How would you feel being sold as a piece of property to someone else... forever? Fortunately Bella survived the slave era.

This museum took a different look at what led up to the Civil War by finding stories, articles, and reports about the era before the war.

This was the story from a black woman named Millie Barber. "Well, my pa b'longin' to one man and my mammy b'longin' to another four or five miles apart... my pa have to git a pass to come see my mammy. He come sometimes widout de pass. patrollers catch him way up de chimney hidin' one night; they stripped him right befo' mammy and gave him thirty-nine lashes..." These words were how the white employee from the Work Progress Administration recorded them as they sounded to that employee in 1930.

EVIDENCE THAT COLORED PEOPLE WERE NOT CONSIDERED VALUABLE PROPERTY.

What mattered to the slave owners was the loss of profit in their pocket. I would have bet that they would have worked the other slaves harder while waiting for the return of their runaway slave. The other area I would presume was punishment for running... beat them so they can't work until they heal... sound business management thinking.

For anyone out there wondering... I would have been an Abolitionist, probably helping the "Underground Railroad".

1861 MAP OF STATES AND TERRITORIES

AT TIME OF SECESSION

Blue - Union States

Blue striped - slave holding border states that remained in the Union (Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware)

Orange - Deep South (seceded after Lincoln's election)

Orange striped - Upper South which seceded after firing on Ft. Sumter (Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia)

Speaking of the Underground Railroad, it wasn't one person, or organization running the show, many were involved. There was a lot of assistance from white sympathizers, but the black folks ran the show.

It is estimated that about 100,000 slaves escaped to freedom between 1810 and 1850. The enslavers saw the railroad being powerful, and that it was a national conspiracy against slavery.

There were many that stood against slavery, one of which was Francis Ellen Watkins Harper. Born a free black woman, she was one of the earliest women to be published in the United States. She lectured on abolition, and published works in anti-slavery journals. This poem, Bury Me in a Fee Land, was published in 1858: 

I could not sleep if I saw the lash

Drinking her blood at each fearful gash,

And I saw her babes torn from her breasts,

Like the trembling doves from their parent nest...

If I saw young girls from their mother's arms

Bartered and sold for their youthful charms,

My eye would flash with a mournful flame,

My death-paled cheek grow red with shame...

I ask no monument, proud and high,

To arrest the gaze of the passers-by;

All that my yearning spirit craves,

Is bury me not in a land of slaves.

How many out there remember the story of John Brown and Harpers Ferry? 

PIKE (ca. 1859)

As the story is told, this pike was John Brown's attempt at stabbing at the heart of slavery. How did he attempt this... a raid on the armory at Harpers Ferry. He and his supporters thought if these weapons were captured, they could go to slaves and freedom fighters throughout the country. 

Here is the thrust of the story... the raid was a failure, John Brown was captured, tried, and hanged for "acts of treason against the state of Virginia". Part of the failure of the raid was the expectation that slaves would gladly aid them... didn't happen.

We needed to go back in history to understand what was happening with slavery in the United States, as the issue was a volatile one. Here is a term you may not have heard, "The Slave Power", and it did not give power to the slave.

1820 saw an effort to keep the slave situation calm, and this was done by introducing the "Missouri Compromise", allowing a "slave" state to be admitted for every new "free" state. (i.e. Missouri admitted as a "slave" state, and Maine admitted as a "free" state.)

In 1850 Congress came up with a compromise, hence the "1850 Compromise". This compromise was a series of 5 bills designed to address slavery, and went as such:

1. California was admitted as a "free state".

2. New Mexico and Utah territories could decide whether to be "free", or allow slavery.

3. Washington D.C. abolished slave trade but retained slavery.

4. The Fugitive Slave Act. This Act made it easier for slave owners to recover escaped slaves.

5. Texas settled border and debt issues with the government.

Everybody's happy right... guess again. 

History jumps to 1854, where the Kansas-Nebraska Act comes into being, nullifying the 1820 Missouri Compromise, permitting new state voters the choice of slavery if desired.

The Supreme Court went one step further to ensuring slavery was to be accepted, this occurred in the Dred Scott v Sanford case (1857). In their infinite wisdom they determined that Black people could not be citizens, and that Congress had no right to restrict slavery in any new state.

At this point Northerners felt that the federal government was forcing Americans to accept slavery. Furthermore a Southern Congressman attacks a Northern Congressman, indicating that "The Slave Power" could not be reasoned with.

I am going to step back to the question that was asked before entering this exhibit: What caused the Civil War; choices were: culture, slavery, a third one, and Don't know.

Here was the Southern white man's look on the South way of life. A white man was considered a "productive" head of household, slaves were considered part of his value (stature), and this household included said enslaved. The enslaved were expected to look to the household leader for protection, in exchange for their obedience and work. I wouldn't think the enslaved would agree to the forced loyalty and allegiance. Seeing how a lot of the slaves were treated, I can't see them agreeing either.

Here was another thought from the southern side: "Could Southerners live with countrymen who would "violate" what they believed were their constitutional rights".

LETS TAKE A BREAK HERE, ITS BEDTIME.

SENTIMENTS OF THE SOUTHERNS REGARDING 

ANTI-SLAVERY.

The 1860 election of Lincoln was anything but a landslide victory, in fact, Lincoln could have lost the election. The reason he was able to narrowly win was due in part to the split in the Democratic party. What you say... there were four men vying for the position of President in the 1860 election, Lincoln (Republican), Douglas (Democrat), Breckinridge (Democrat), and Bell (Constitutional Unionist).

Lincoln wanted to limit slavery expansion and attacked "The Slave Power", Douglas rallied for allowing states to make their choice regarding being a slave state, Breckinridge had the votes of the southern states, and Bell didn't want to deal with it at all. 

It was the difference in the ideals of the two Democrats that helped Lincoln win. Here is the breakdown of votes:

Lincoln -   1,865,908

Douglas - 1,380,202

Breckinridge - 848,019

Bell - 590,901

As you might guess already, adding Breckinridge and Douglas together would have made Douglas the President in 1860.

The Southern states were quick to adopt the secession. Louisiana came up with a different flag to exemplify their seceding from the Union.

LOUISIANA FLAG AFTER SECEDING FROM THE UNION (ca. 1860)

Here was Virginia's reaction in 1861 after Lincoln was elected President:

They yanked the Union flag down and tore it apart.

The Southerners continued to feel that it was an assault on their way of life as they saw it:

There were white southerners that were not in favor of slavery, and one of them was a North Carolinian, Hinton Helper, who authored the book, Impending Crisis (1857). He was critical of blacks, but it was his stinging words about slavery that kept him from ever returning to North Carolina. His declaration was that slavery had harmed the South and the poor White population. Here were those words from his book: "The causes which have impeded the progress and prosperity of the South, which have... sunk a large majority of our people in galling poverty and ignorance, rendered a small minority conceited and tyrannical, and driven the rest away from their homes... may all be traced to one common source... Slavery.

The first floor was filled with artifacts from the Civil War era, as well as more stories. Children on both sides of the war tried to join, usually boys became the "Drummer Boy" for the troops.

This apron was made from a Confederate flag and worn by the daughter a Confederate Captain. This daughter, only a child, helped smuggle medicine into the Confederacy. It is told that this very apron was waved under the nose of Union General Phil Sheridan.

In war some are less fortunate than others, and here is an example:

NOTEBOOK (ca 1863)

This notebook was owned by Captain James Boswell, Chief of Engineers (CS). It was in his pocket when the bullet went through it and killed him. The Captain's death occurred in the same battle that took the life of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.

BULLET HOLE RIDDLED HAT (ca. 1863)

My impression is that this person survived to stitch about it.

As the war wound its way into 1865, the South was having manpower issues and impending defeat, with heavy debates they gave enslaved men the opportunity to fight for the Confederacy... without the incentive of freedom. This looked like an oxymoron to me, fight for us so that we can keep you slaves, I don't think many joined.

Early in the war the Union had made several attempts to capture Richmond, but were unsuccessful. 1865 came along and they tried again, this time with success. The Confederate capital knew they were in trouble and began burning the city before they retreated. The end of the war was not far off.

1ST MARYLAND INFANTRY FLAG (ca. 1861-62)

This flag had an interesting history. This was the first national flag of the 1st Maryland Infantry (US), but was captured by the 1st Maryland Infantry (CS) in 1862 at Fort Royal, Virginia.

The 1st Maryland Infantry (US) got a new flag and marched toward Richmond in the 1864 campaign.

President Lincoln and his son entered Richmond shortly after the Union troops in 1865, where they toured the city and visited the wartime home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. During their visit they were met with jubilation from the Unionists and newly freed African Americans. One was reportedly heard saying, "I know that I am free, for I have seen father Abraham."

With the end of the war, slavery didn't really go away in the South. Before the war enslaved workers wore tags like this one:

This was their proof that they were legally hired out. After the war the Southern landowners made Black workers sign restrictive and unbreakable "employment contracts". If they were not "employed", they could be arrested for vagrancy.

With the end of the war, Black American men were given the right to vote in the 15th Amendment... granted voting rights regardless of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude" to all male citizens.

With that new found freedom many Black Americans took to holding political offices, which is still evident today.

And with this new found freedom in 1865 for the Black population came the White supremacist groups, the KKK, White League, the Red Shirts, The Knights of the White Camelia. These groups terrorized black families as well as white Republican supporters, with the intention of preventing them from voting.

The city of Richmond is full of American history, which will we explore far down the road, on another trip back to Virginia.