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Short Stops
The Chronicles of Richmond
Once the heart of the Confederacy, Virginia's capital is rich in Civil War memories
Beverly Edwards
MotorHome
February 2006
Of the 10,455 military engagements that took place during the four tumultuous years of the War
Between the States, 2,154 took place on Virginia soil. It's almost impossible to drive more than a
few miles in any direction in Virginia without seeing signs of Civil War activity.
Two of these locations, the Museum and White House of the Confederacy, and Pamplin Historical
Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier, are situated just 25 miles apart. Like many
of the battlefields and sites that played a significant part in the conflict, both have been preserved
for history -- and provide a vivid view into what life was like for those who lived during some of the
hardest days of our country's history.
If you start early in the day, it is possible to visit both of these locations in a single day, starting
with the Museum of the Confederacy in the heart of Richmond, and continuing south to Petersburg
where Pamplin Park is located.
Photo: Courtesy of Pamplin
Historical Park
Overnight sleeping quarters
at The Civil War Adventure
Camp site at Pamplin
Historical Park includes huts,
platform tents and a Sibley
tent.
However, since there are many other historic sites in Richmond -- ranging from Tredegar Iron
Works (location for the main interpretative center for the National Battlefield Parks) to the
venerable Hollywood Cemetery (final resting place of, among others, General Jeb Stuart) -- you
might want to consider setting aside a day for each of these Civil War venues.
As Virginia's state capital, Richmond also boasts a number of other attractions, by the way,
including the museum, historic gardens, carriage collection, nature center, children's farm and
100-acre park that, together, comprises the wonderful Maymont House. You don't need to be a
Civil War buff to appreciate Virginia's unique place in American history, but it helps.
Museum and White House of the Confederacy
At the onset, the Confederacy chose Montgomery, Alabama, as its capital, but when the state of
Virginia seceded, the heartbeat of the South was moved to Richmond, just 100 miles south of
Washington, D.C.
Photo: Courtesy of The
Museum of the Confederacy
Original state dining room
table at the White House of
the Confederacy is set to
reflect a council of war held
around it in 1862.
One of the first orders of business for the newly created government was to find a home for
Confederate President Jefferson Davis that would accommodate his growing family, while
providing a suitable place for conducting the business of government -- and for continuing the
gracious entertaining for which the South was famous.
Photos: Beverly Edwards
So it was that the city of Richmond purchased a stately mansion, which became known as the
Confederate White House. Built in 1818, the home dominated a knoll overlooking Shockoe Valley.
Today it is surrounded and dwarfed by tall buildings, but the structure has been beautifully
restored, and provides visitors with an insight into the lifestyle of the Davis family.
The neo-Classic home originally belonged to a doctor. During the ensuing years, it changed hands
a number of times. A subsequent owner had added a third floor to the home, providing adequate
space for the Davises and their servants. The mansion even had been plumbed to accommodate
a flushing toilet. At first, whale oil provided light for the ornate gasoliers, which hung from the
ceilings of each room. At a later date, natural gas was piped into the home. The brick exterior of
the mansion was covered with stucco, which was scored and painted.
As you approach the front of the mansion from the street, you might be surprised at how plain it
appears. However, such town homes saved the stately appearance traditional to a southern home
for the rear of the residence, which, in the case of this mansion, overlooked gardens. It is in the
rear that you will see the lofty portico so often associated with Southern homes.
Sculpture at the entrance to
Pamplin Historical Park.
(click on images to enlarge)
A uniformed guide explains
the procedure for loading
and firing a canon at
Pamplin Historical Park.
The mansion provided a comfortable home for the Davis family, as well as serving as the political
and social center for the Confederacy. In keeping with tradition, the basement was set aside for
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servants. It was here that the Davis children took most of their meals, and it is where you will begin
your tour (which includes 11 rooms that have been restored and furnished as they appeared
during the days they were occupied by the Davises).
The ornate state dining room, which had a table that could seat 20 guests, also served as a place
for Davis to spread out maps when meeting with his generals. Servants had to carry food to the
dining room from a detached kitchen and up steep stairs. After state dinners, the men would retire
to the parlor to smoke cigars and discuss the war, and the ladies would occupy the adjacent
drawing room.
On the second floor is the office where Davis planned war strategies with his staff. Although there
were government offices a few blocks away, Davis was not in good health, and preferred the
comfort of his home office. Right next to the office was the spacious nursery, which was occupied
by the five Davis children and their nanny.
Photo: Courtesy of Pamplin
Historical Park
Young "recruits" are served
an authentic Civil War-era
breakfast during their stay
at Pamplin's Civil War
Adventure Camp.
A favorite room of Jefferson and Varina Davis was the small library, where the Davises often
retreated to read. On the mantle are two vases that were given to Davis by the Emperor of China
when Davis was serving as secretary of war. In the spacious bedroom shared by Jefferson and
Varina are two early recliners, known as reading machines. Adjacent to the bedroom is a small
room where Varina kept a sewing machine and desk -- in addition to official business expected of
a first lady, she kept herself busy making and mending clothes for her children.
On March 31, 1865, as Union troops closed in on Richmond, Davis sent his family southward. Two
days later, he also fled, attempting to stay ahead of Union troops. Two days after Davis departed
Richmond, President Abraham Lincoln paid a visit to the devastated city. While there, he was the
honored guest at a reception hosted by Federal officers in the Confederate White House parlors.
The mansion would never be occupied as a residence again. During the reconstruction years, it
served as military headquarters, and was then returned to the city of Richmond. After auctioning
off the remaining furnishings, the structure was used as a school for a number of years; in 1890,
when it was learned that the city had plans to tear down the home to make room for a new school
building, the ladies of Richmond formed the Confederate Memorial Literary Society and took
action. Soon afterward, they received the aging home from the city of Richmond. When it opened
as a Confederate museum in 1896, many of the furnishings that had been acquired or purchased
following the Civil War were returned to the mansion.
In 1976, a new museum was built next to the White House to store and display the thousands of
artifacts that had been accumulating for more than a century. During the next 12 years, the
Confederate White House was restored to its original opulence, and in 1988 was once again
opened to the public.
In the museum are paintings and photos of significant battles, and a rotating display from a
collection of 500 flags and banners, many of them tattered battlefield flags. Among the thousands
of other items is a recreation of the field headquarters tent used by General Robert E. Lee (the
display of original items includes his bed, high cavalry boots, hat and silver table service), and the
coat and vest worn by Jefferson Davis when he was captured (donated by Varina Davis).
Pamplin Historical Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier
A battle that was brief but carried a great deal of significance took place in the early morning hours
of April 2, 1865, 20 miles south of the Confederate capital in Richmond. For 9-1/2 months,
Southern forces had held off a well-supplied U.S. Army that had Petersburg under siege. Both
civilians and Confederate troops felt the impact of the ongoing battles and seriously dwindling food
and military supplies; one rail line had been kept open, but it could not keep up with demand. With
little hope of a Confederate victory, and in spite of facing an army that outnumbered his three to
one, General Robert E. Lee refused to surrender.
The Confederates had spent the winter during the campaign digging into frozen dirt to build up
their breastworks, but as April 2 dawned, Yankee troops made their move. A short, decisive battle
brought an end to the Petersburg Campaign and, with Petersburg fallen, allowed Grant to advance
into (and capture) Richmond.
It would be another week before Lee would surrender his arms to General Ulysses S. Grant at
Appomattox Court House, but the War Between the States was all but ended.
For more than 130 years, the breastworks left behind by the Confederates at the Breakthrough
remained undisturbed. Since 1994, thanks to the descendants of the family that once owned the
site of this historic event, visitors can tour what has been called the most comprehensive, privately
owned museum of the Civil War.
Photo: Beverly Edwards
The entrance to The
Museum of the Confederacy.
Photo: Courtesy of Pamplin
Historical Park
At the National Museum of
the Civil War Soldier,
children can learn about the
Civil War through a
structured audio tour.
For More Information
Civil War Adventure
Camp, (804) 861-2408.
Maymont House, (804)
358-7166.
Museum and White House
of the Confederacy, (804)
649-1861.
Pamplin Historical Park
and the National Museum of
the Civil War Soldier, (877)
PAMPLIN.
Virginia Tourism, (800)
VISIT-VA.
Driving Directions
The Museum and White
House of the Confederacy is
located off Interstate 95 in
downtown Richmond; take
Exit 74C (Broad Street
westbound), turn right on
11th Street and right again
on Clay Street. Pamplin
Historical Park and the
National Museum of the Civil
War Soldier is situated south
of Richmond, along
Interstate 85.
Mapquest directions
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In 1992, when Dr. Robert Pamplin Sr. and his son, Robert Pamplin Jr. -- direct descendants of the
Boisseau family, original owners of Tudor Hall Plantation -- learned from the Association for the
Preservation of Civil War Sites (APCWS) that some of their ancestral land was being threatened
with development, the Pamplins joined forces with APCWS to purchase the 75-acre parcel. Soon
afterward, they purchased an adjacent parcel that contained Tudor Hall, home of their maternal
ancestors.
By 1994, Pamplin Park Civil War Site opened to the public with an interpretive center and a
walking trail along the 3/4-mile-long Confederate earthworks. That was only the beginning. On
Memorial Day, 1999, with the addition of the 25,000-square-foot National Museum of the Civil War
Soldier and three miles of interpretive trails surrounding the preserved earthworks and other
exhibits on 422 acres, the complex adopted its current name. Visitors come from around the world
to tour what has been heralded as one of the premier Civil War sites in America.
The highlight of the complex is the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier, which was
completed at a cost of $13 million. It has merged 1,000 original artifacts with state-of-the-art
technology. Before entering this interactive museum, visitors are invited to view the photos and
read a brief description of 13 soldiers from both the North and the South. They can select the
soldier who will be their comrade as they tour the museum. Through a personal headset, visitors
will hear a narration describing what they are viewing, and at specified stops, the visitor will hear
the actual words of their soldier, as taken from their diaries and letters. At the end of the tour, each
visitor will discover what happened to his or her soldier. Some died in battle or of wounds, and
others survived the fighting, returning to their homes and families.
The dioramas in the museum are realistic down to minute details. From life at encampments,
where soldiers played music and games in their leisure time, to gruesome field hospital scenes,
you can see the sights and hear the sounds of Army life. Smaller displays have items of special
interest, like a Bible with a bullet embedded in it, which saved a soldier's life, and two "Minie" balls
that fused together in a midair collision.
Tudor Hall, the simple but handsome home on the premises, was occupied by only two families
from 1812, when it was completed, until 1994. The second family to own the residence conveyed
the home to the Pamplins.
For several months prior to the final battle of the Civil War, Tudor Hall served as headquarters for
Confederate General Samuel McGowan and his staff. Today, half of the house is furnished as it
would have looked as a plantation home, and the other half takes on the character of a military
headquarters.
The complex also includes other antebellum homes, slave quarters with a demonstration garden,
a military encampment and fortifications exhibit and the Battlefield Center. At the encampment,
costumed guides can be seen mending clothes, building fires, cooking and engaging in other
activities necessary for survival.
At the Battlefield Center, which has been designed to resemble the breastworks, there is a
multimedia presentation on the battle at Pamplin Historical Park. In 2005, a new dimension was
added to Pamplin Historical Park. The Civil War Adventure Camp is an overnight experience
where you can live the life of a Civil War soldier. For 18 hours, you will take your turn at standing
guard duty, learn how to load a musket with gunpowder, help prepare stew and hardtack for your
dinner, eat dried meat and fruit for breakfast and sleep in a tent or bunkhouse. However, you will
enjoy some comforts unknown to Civil War soldiers -- the tents probably don't leak, and you will
enjoy the convenience of a modern bathroom.
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