Quote: I assume you will go to Vicksburg to the National Cemetery. There at the end is the Cairo, which to me is the MOST impressive of the ironclads I've seen (I've seen 3). They have many of the cannon recovered from the Yazhoo River, as well as the engines from the ship and the water wheels and rudders. It is put back in place in an outdoor covered display and set up so that you can walk through parts of it. Extremely interesting. I find the history of the ironclad quite fascinating.
Agreed. Really interesting exhibit. I was surprised how big the ship is.
If you're doing the Chesapeake Bay area, stop in Newport News (just north of Norfolk), and visit the Monitor Center at the Mariners' Museum. I was just there last week. While the other displays are nice, they pale in conparison to seeing the real turret, guns, and engines submerged in their consevation tanks. There's a full-scale mock-up of the ship's exterior, and full-scale mockups of the turret in both original and as-recovered condition. The rest of the museum's pretty nice too.
Two cautions.... the Norfolk area is a maze of interstates; use and trust your GPS. And the tunnels have propane restrictions, but it's just a matter of turning it off at the tank, and stopping for an inspection station before entering.
Jim, "Mo' coffee!"
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Do Not miss Williamsburg. It has so much history that it could easily consume a week and you will still not see it all. Lynchburg & Roanoake are also great stops with much to see in the civil war era. Appomatax court house and several plantations are between western and tidewater Virgina.
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On you way thru Nashville, consider stopping at the Jefferson Davis Historic Monument in Fairview, KY. June 7 & 8 they are celebrating Davis' 200th birthday. Take a look at it on the Internet. http://parks.ky.gov/findparks/histparks/jd/
While at Gettysburg, hire the park guide for a tour. You get a whole lot more out of it than if you use the tape tour. An official park guide will ride in your vehicle and tell you all about the battle. It is great to have someone say, "Now right over there..." He gave us detailed instructions on how the field artillery were fired and the differences between the types used. Go inside of the visitor's center for the battle overview and sign up for the guide. The tour takes about 2 hours.
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The person suggesting CW sites in Kentucky missed one very important place in our Bluegrass State. January 19, 1862 in southeastern Kentucky near the city of Somerset and the famous Cumberland River at a place called "Logan's Crossroads," the FIRST Union victory of our Civil War took place. Gen. Thomas commanding the Union forces routed a Confederate Army commanded by Gen. Zollicoffer of Tennessee. Both forces numbered about 4-5000 men with artillery and some cavalry. The battle was fought during one of the strangest weather occurences ever in wartime. It was freezing cold, sleeting/rain accompanied by thunder and lightning. After the war the federal govt. created the Mill Springs National Cemetery on the battlefield. In 1993 a group of citizens formed the Mill Springs Battlefield Association to preserve the battlefield and to this point in time have acquired pracatically all the acreage where the battle took place, placed headstones for all Confederate dead on the field and only last year opened a museum and visitor center. For CW buffs, some of you may have participated in the National Re-enactment that was held on the actual battlefield last September which has remained just as it was on that fateful morning in 1862. You can tour the battlefield on foot with a guide, on your own or take a driving tour. For real historians, it's worth the effort. Have a safe trip.
ketchjb wrote: Thanks y'all for all the good tips. This is coming together. We'll probably leave the last week in April and be gone two months. Here are the Civil War sites on my list now: Wilson's Creek, Pea Ridge, Shiloh, Stones River, Gettysburg, Antietam, Fredricksburg (Chancellorsville, Wilderness, Spotsylvania), Manassas, Richmond, Petersburg, Appomatox, Ft. Sumter, Ft. Pulaski, Andersonville, Kennesaw Mtn.,Chicamauga/Chattanoga, Tupelo & Vicksburg. I guess we'll OD on this but actually it's a good excuse to go somewhere. The journeys the thing....
Thanks again.
This sounds like an AWESOME vacation. I remember when I was in 1st grade my grandparents took my sister and I from Texas to Florida and we spent some time at Vicksburg. I loved it, and am now a huge Civil War buff.
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My last duty station in the Navy was near Washington DC. If you are a history buff, plan on spending a few days to see the sites there. And most things are free. You can spend almost a whole day at each of the Smithsonian Museums. Check out Ford's Theater and downstairs is the Lincoln Museum. In Clinton Maryland (not far from DC) is the Mary Surratt Home and Tavern where it is believed the plans of Lincoln's Assassination took place. Nice Bookstore about this information also inside. I bought a book called "Come Retribution" about Confederate Spies. I took a John Wilkes Booth escape bus tour with a famous author (can't remember his name but he is alway on the History Channel) as a tour guide. He also autographed my book. We stopped about halfway and had a crab feast by the Potomac River. Had so much fun and interesting time!
Dave
P.S. The author was James O. Hall (May 4, 1991)
* This post was
edited 04/09/08 10:06pm by Dave & Nannette *
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If you have a GPS that will accept Points of interest downloads, go to the web sit for POI-Factory there is a POI file titled civil war that should contain many poi's.
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