Thanks to a heads up from a friend, we attended a unique event this weekend, a County Fair set in the Civil War era. The weekend proved exciting.  This time our travels took us to historic Spotsylvania, scene of the Civil War.  I'm sure all of you who know me are shocked!  You are probably saying to yourselves, "She and her family did something that is not related to Colonial Williamsburg? Amazing!"  Well, yes, we've been to county fairs in Texas and New York and I've seen advertisements for tons of them here in Virginia. When I heard about this Civil War twist, I thought that definitely distinguished it from the others. Then my friend told me about a vintage baseball team, comprised of a surprise team, that would be playing. We definitely had to go and cheer them on! When we got to the fair, surprise, surprise! We were thrilled to see many familiar faces from Colonial Williamsburg reenacting various  stuff in the 19th century in their free time. This reenacting bug must be contagious because the kids and I were recruited by the US Army to do reenactments with them.   I was thrilled to meet the CW historian who led the interesting slide show on the Battle of Williamsburg last May. I told him we had recently moved from Texas, so we especially enjoyed the Texas story.  He has quite a versatility of talent!  Also reenacting in her free time was the educational director from the Mariner's Museum!  I told her about our season passes and our trip there last week to see the Monitor and Merrimac exhibit and she told us about more stuff to see. The CW historian told me that she had a lot to do with that exhibit. Wow! Excellent job! I also met the director at another museum....well we'll get to that in a bit. Let's begin at the top!

     After getting situated with a map and schedule, we heard the Medicine  Show beckoning to us. I had no idea what to expect at a Medicine Show, although  I've heard of them before.  All I could imagine was sitting there and learning about medications.  That didn't exactly sound thrilling, but I was game to try it out. Actually, it was about medicine and they were trying to sell various cure-alls like pain pads, which you'll see in use later.  But the star of the line up was the powerful elixer...actually a popular concoction sold by Medicine Shows, made of alcohol and laudanum. Laudanam is derived from opium and was commonly used for ailments and was highly addictive. This was before the government regulated medications and claims to cure.   Although the goal was to sell these products, they spent most of their time entertaining the audience for free, while throwing in a plug for the elixer now and then. We were taught how to be a proper audience of the 19th century...cheering loudly!...engaging with the actors!...yelling encore!....being extremely vocal!  They were hilarious! I was laughing so hard my sides  hurt.  Sadly I am not going to be able to communicate the humor, because it was all in the delivery and timing.  You'll have to take my word for it! 

     Dr. Murdock played the banjo.  They sang old songs like "Old Dan Tucker".  

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 Showing off his Herculean strength, he even let one of the ladies feel his burley muscles to attest to his massive strength...

...posing like figure on a Grecian Urn.  Then he turned around and posed so we could see the back of the urn...

Guzzling down the elixer. (really berry juice) Um, he was told to take a sip. 

After my husband verifyied that this was a 50 pound stone, it was laid on the brother's stomach and smashed. Ouch!  He put on a pain pad.

Hmmmm, I think he was telling us something that he thought was really, really important.  It was so important to him that we remember this, that he did the scene twice.  I wonder what he wanted us to remember...

Getting splashed in the face.  "Encore!!!!!!" we all yelled.  Frustrated with us, he got a plan. He redid the scene, after sneaking to the other side of the booth, but she popped up over there and got him wet again! "Bravo!!!!!"

Drying off. hee hee

The end of the puppet show...the puppet stars take a bow!!!!

Then everyone else took a bow.  Notice the brother is now wearing three pain pads!

Later we learned about Negro spirituals and their codes.  We learned that no more spirituals were written after the war, because their primary purpose was for codes to help the slaves prepare to run away to freedom. The speaker explained the codes and sang many of the songs for us. Interestingly, "Amazing Grace" is written with the same types of notes as a spiritual, using the Pentatonic scale.  Did you know you can play "Amazing Grace" strictly on the black keys (five of them; penta=5).  I tried this yesterday with a version of the song using white and black keys. I played all the notes on the  5 black keys and it was still "Amazing Grace."  

     Next on the stage was a debate from events in 1859 through the beginning of the war.  Back then they could go on and on and on and on. They represented actual Congressmen from their era and the man on the left was known for speaking for h-o-u-r-s without letting anyone else get a word in edgewise. The National Park Ranger told us he would make sure that didn't happen and I yelled out, "Thank you!" to which everyone laughed. (What got into me?  I'm I'm getting influenced by all this audience engagement! I'd better be careful when I reenter the 21st century!)  

Then we walked around the vendors.  There were some unique things here. We met with bee keepers and they tried to sign us up. They even said there were classes in our little town. Well......I snuck out of that one. Then we met the alpacas.  I greatly admired the handiwork from their wool. I would love to have a collection of various colors of skeins of wool. There is something cozy and relaxing about them.  Yet I haven't crocheted in years and I don't know how to knit. 

     Then we visited a basketmaker from Gloucester. I told her I had bought kits and we tried our hand at basketmaking last year.  As a result, we have great respect for her handiwork!  She volunteered to drive up here to give a class on basketmaking, if I can find enough people to join. Her work was quite unique, beautifully and creatively employing items like a Civil War era stirrup (that was actually my favorite due to the coloring and overall look. The stirrup really is subtle.)  walnut slices, beads, curved handles, etc.

     Next we visited the photographer.  This was my favorite!  A Union soldier reenactor was having his picture done and the process was fascinating.

This is his dark room.

Getting ready to take the picture.

I asked a million questions. He gave me his card. He is the director for one of the museums. Ahhh, I knew he had to have a connection like this. As much as I've tried to make things historically authentic for our unit celebrations, it isn't easy because I'm not in the know for how to access items that are no longer used.  He also cleared up some misconceptions. Do you know why people didn't smile in pictures in the 19th century? It is a common misconcetion that it is because they had to sit so long. That is not true. The actual pose only takes a few seconds. I saw it done and this photograher does everything according to instructions in his guide book from the Civil War. Back then, picture taking was taken seriously. People dressed up and posed seriously. It was concerned ridiculous to smile and get toothy for as dignified an ocassion as having one's picture taken.  In his museum, he is putting together a myth display and this is one of them. We asked about other things and he said that one of the things we brought up needed to be added to his display!   

     Do you know what this is?

The double picture, when viewed with a special set of lenses, makes the image 3D.

My son pretending to be old fashioned.

While my husband asked loads of questions about a rifle, my daughter and I met with the surgeon to learn about their methods. Did you know that the Civil War is the first time the hospital went to the soldier, and many of their ideas are used today?  I asked why the Civil War was the first time for this. That question surprised him but he quickly recovered, and we got into a lengthy yet interesting discussion about the media being more prominent.  They were able to quickly print the news and the public was uproared. There were wounded soldiers from Manassas, walking back to Washington DC. He said he realized I probably don't realize the distance.  Oh yes I do! I have driven that route more than once!  In the course of our conversation, I brought up Florence Nightengale and Clara Barton and he added another lady from New Hampshire, Harriet Patience Dame.

     We ended the day by looking at the historic fire engines from around Virginia.

The guys really got into it.

The next day we went back to watch vintage baseball! 

We certainly enjoyed watching and cheering on our favorite team from Williamsburg, incidentally made up of Colonial Williamsburg employees doing this in their free time. They are a new team and this was their first game! 

The other team was from Maryland.

To see who starts the game, you do something with the bat, but I wasn't able to quite catch the details.

 The rules were extremely different back then.  No designated hitters. No swearing. No cussing. No gloves! 

Therefore to catch a ball, you may allow the ball to bounce once then catch it, for it to count as an out.  Nevertheless, there were several times the guys caught the ball in mid air, even without the glove.

You can't overrun first base.  

The ball is a bit different, a bit softer, but not much for bare hands. 

Yea!!!! The first point ever scored by Williamsburg in their very first game. I thought it was appropriate who scored the first point!

In the Victorian era, this was a gentlemanly sport, and meant to be played for the enjoyment of the game. Actually he injured his thumb before the game.  Yet he was a great sport and was the "Thumbs Up" guy!  

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  After a great game, the players gathered around while the team captains gave speeches.

Then they shook hands.

We went back to the photographer who was taking team pictures. Wow were they authentic looking! The photographer was surprised to see me back.  I told him I was not only fascinated with the process, I never got to see the first part.  He put me to work as his assistant at his dark room, preparing the tintype for the Williamsburg team.  (Can you imagine the thrill I had, considering how much I love Colonial Williamsburg?) Then he took the picture. This is the part the team had to pose for.  He had told us that with the relatively sunny day, but with the clouds covering the sun at that particular moment, would require a 3 second exposure instead of 2 seconds if the sun came out from behind the cloud. The team was ready!  The camera was ready! Action! 

   He took off the lens...

...counted 3 complete seconds...

...and replaced the cap.

I heard exclamations of, "That's it? No kablewy? Where's the "Poof!"? You could have said 'click!'" They are so funny!  Their picture came out great. I don't have a copy of their 19th century picture, but here is the 21st century version.

   I'm working on a post on a fun event we attended this weekend, the County Fair Civil War style.  We saw a Medicine Show, learned about Negro Spirituals, saw a political debate from 1859, and saw a vintage baseball team playing by gentlemanly rules!  We also got to see how a camera worked in the Civil War era. I was fascinated by the process. It's one thing to read about the process, but another entirely to see everything in action...or um, non action.  LOL  

     There was also a reenactment group of Civil War soldiers.  We met a group of reenactors from the Confederacy at Manassas a few weeks ago. However this time we met with the Union Army! Yea!  They were wonderful and I had a strong sense of authentication. My husband asked lots of questions about the rifle and I learned all about the rifle at Manassas from the reenactors, yet I was struck by a fresh sense of accuracy here. In short, (details are forthcoming in the big post about this great event) the kids and I got recruited by the Third US Regular Infantry to portray the Army of the Potomac!  We are not Civil War buffs at all, but our leanings are towards the Union. You all know how I am a huge fan of Colonial Williamsburg, but there aren't many reenactment groups that I can find for the Revolutionary War and well, the Civil War is huge around here so I guess that's where the reenacting opportunities lie.  The first seargeant gave me literature about the reenacting and they strive towards authenticity and that's precisely the type of group I would want to be with.  

     Even though we don't feel confident in our abilities, despite the interest, we were suddenly presented with the opportunity!  My son had a question but the surgeon was gone for the rest of the day, so the First Seargeant gave us a schedule of other events they would be doing. I was adding information to each piece of information, that we had done that tour, we were planning on attending that one, etc.  We told him we had recently moved here from Texas and are still learning the area and they were in fact representing their time in Texas in 1859.  He looked up some details for us and he apologized for our waiting while he looked up one tiny detail on Texas.  I told him I didn't mind, as I taught public school before homeschooling and I wrote our own Texas curriculum. I know what it's like to know one tiny detail is in the wealth of pages somewhere.  Besides, I'd rather hear the right thing than something made up.  In fact I'd rather here "I don't know." than something made up. Then he got some paperwork and had me sign it and said I could mark any interest I have in reenacting. What did I hear?  Wow! Well that spurred lots of questions, to which we received proper assurances that this is volunteer, on our schedule and we'd be trained.  I told him that the kids and I had been asked to reenact at the Alamo but then we moved.  We are excited! It's great to be asked!  

     My daughter and I portrayed Florence Nightengale and Clara Barton at our Civil War unit celebration, so we had a lot of questions along those lines when we met with the surgeon earlier. Therefore I signed us up for the medical. My son was asked how old he is. We all laughed, because my son was repeatedly asked this by the British at Colonial Williamsburg's Under the Redcoat. At age 13, he's old enough for the infantry. Not so in the Army of the Potomac, where he has to be 16 to handle a rifle for demonstration. But he is the right age for the music, as in a drum or fife!  Really? He is self taught on the fife! They like experience but it is not required, so my son signed up for the music.  

     I told the kids this would be a natural extension of the unit celebrations we do anyway, and is the next new challenge for them.  Well, we'll see where this takes us!    

     The next stop for the day was the Mariner's Museum in Newport News, advertised as the largest maritime museum in North America. It's star exhibit is of the Monitor and Merrimac.  This exhibit was so large, interactive and interesting, that in 4 hours we almost completed the tour.  I suspected this would happen, so we got season passes. We'll come back another day and finish this exhibit and look at the other interesting things. They also have a wooded nature trail, about 5 miles long to explore, boats to ride, etc.  It is an interesting museum in a lovely spot.

     Since we had studied the Civil War last spring, one of the major battles we had read about was of the Monitor and the Merrimac. Even though we are not Civil War buffs, this is an extremely interesting piece of history. The Monitor and Merrimac revolutionized battles at sea. Originally built as wooden ships, they were redesigned with new and improved weaponry, and reshaped so they could be covered in iron.  They faced off at Hampton Roads, the waterway where the James River, York River, and Chesepeake Bay converge near the Atlantic Ocean.  Hours of fighting ended in a draw.  The worthiness of iron clad ships was proven, more iron clads were constructed and wooden ships were phased out.  This is why this is the first exhibit we toured in the museum.

     After looking at various colorful paintings of the iron clads, and reading period letters of the men who were on the ships, we saw a movie about the sinking of the Union ship, the Monitor, months after the infamous battle at Hampton Roads. The Monitor sunk during a terrible storm off Cape Hatteras.    In recent years, scientists and historians joined forces to bring up the Monitor. Parts of it are in the museum now.  Then we saw some interesting displays about this. This was the hook that reeled us in. What was the Monitor exactly?  How was it developed? 

     To fully understand the Monitor, we looked at the history of warfare at sea, the methods of fighting and the types of ships. For this we walked in a room decorated like a space below deck, where the cannons protrude out of their windows.  Looking up at the ceiling, was like looking up towards the deck, even to the detail of the gratework where you could see the sailors walking above. Beadboard was on the walls, just like the interior of the ship it was portraying. There were different displays.  We learned how the cannons were used on board, the space they took up to manuever.  We saw a model of a very early iron clad from Asia, that looked like the back of a turtle. There was a kiosk where we could read a timeline of events of warfare, and then see historical pictures come to life, as actor interpreters (some of whom we recognized from Colonial Williamsburg) told their story.  At the end of the story, they'd pose and became the historical picture they were portraying. These were real people with real stories, fraught with drama and emotion and opinion.  Kiosks like this were throughout the museum.

     There were interactive computer programs for us to try out our skills. The one I remember best was to design our own ironclad.  Would it be seaworthy? Would it float? Would it repel attack?  Would it effectively attack another ironclad?  The first one my son designed this, he sunk his ship. Undaunted, he continued working on it while I toured the officer's cabins below deck.  When I came back  he had it figured out and had successfully designed an effective iron clad.

     There was another movie we watched about the Battle of Hampton Roads.  That was more complex than I had realized. It began with the Merrimac attacking all the Union wooden ships. As they were getting destroyed, the Monitor arrived and assessed the situation. The next day they faced off and the battle ended in a draw. This was a highly strategic location, because if the Union could take control of the James River, then they could reach the capital of Richmond by sea and cripple the Confederacy. A few months after this battle, the Peninsular Campaign began with the Union troops arriving in Hampton Roads and marching up Hampton and Yorktown to Williamsburg. This is when the Battle of Williamsburg was fought. 

       There was a life size model of one of the ships being remade into an iron clad. We were even able to go inside of it. Outdoors there is a life size model of the Monitor. 

Indoors there are models of the recovered rotating gun turret nd lots of information on how that worked.

For a great media presentation, showing some of the stuff we got to see and experience, the museum has this great website on the Monitor.  It covers the building of the ironclads, the historic battle and the sinking of the Monitor during a storm months later. 

     I am always on the lookout for something fascinating to do or an interesting place to visit.  Themes from all the various assortment of things we've been studying float in my head, acting like a radar, looking for the next great activity or opportunity.  Last spring, I saw an announcement in the CW Newsroom that there would be a talk at the museum about the Civil War Battle of Williamsburg.  We were studying the Civil War, so a week after moving into our new house and unpacking boxes, I packed the kids up in the van and we went down to CW for the day.  However, I never once thought to look for a Battle of Williamsburg walking tour, as we did other walking tours of the Civil War Battlefields around Fredericksburg. My radar has been a wee bit occupied with settling into our new home. However, I have a friend  who is figuring us out!  Her radar was on!  She happened across a tidbit of information on a historical marker about the Battle of Williamsburg and e-mailed it to me, remembering that we attended the interesting slide show about it last May. 

     I checked out the link and found a series of markers. I assumed this meant there was a walking tour available, like the ones we took around Fredericksburg.  I could tell the markers were rather close, so I didn't think it would be much of a hike.  Since these are in Redoubt Park, I imagined playgrounds and picnic tables. I did like their creativity in naming the park something historical.  Well, the other day we drove to Redoubt Park to see the markers and what a surprise!

      Redoubt Park has no picnic tables. No barbeque pits. No playground equipment. Instead, we read a historical marker on Williamsburg in the Civil War....

...and another sign about Defending the Peninsula...

....then along a path we saw this sight coming into view...

where we read the next sign Redoubt 1...

....which was right next to the redoubt!

This Redoubt was built by the Confederate soldiers in the area, as a defense site for the oncoming march of the Union troops. Since the Confederate capital was in Richmond, the Union troops were trying to push south from Washington DC with no success.  Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee were in the way with their troops. So the Union commander got the idea to attack from the south, landing at Hampton and marching north to Richmond, this was called the Peninsular Campaign. If you look at a map, you'll see that Hampton, Newport News, Yorktown, Williamsburg and Jamestown are all towns in close proximity to each other in a peninsula. At the tip of the peninsula is the infamous Hampton Roads, which I'll discuss more in the next post. 

There was quite a bit of debate over whether to build this redoubt or not. Some thought it was an excellent age old idea of the past (redoubts date back to the Middle Ages).  Others thought it was an out dated idea.

This was a strategic position, as the Confederacy could have looked down from their redoubt to see the Union troops marching up Quarterpath Road.

You can barely see it beyond the redoubt.

 These redoubts are surrounded by deep ravines.

Here's another view of Quarterpath Road below.  

As the sign says, the Confederates did not take advantage of the situation, and the Union controlled Williamsburg for the rest of the war.

It was amazing seeing this incredible man made structure. The engineers can build these quite quickly. I asked General Washington about this one time during a Prelude to Victory Q&A. These can be built overnight.  There are also preserved redoubts at Yorktown, both from the American Revolution and the Civil War.  We haven't seen them yet, but we are anticipating that.  In fact, we learned all abaut the structure and use of redoubts in "Yorktown", one of the Electronic Field Trips from Colonial Williamsburg last year.  I downloaded excellent illustrations and information on redoubts and other military tactics from the EFT. Then we got to e-mail General Washington for more information. My daughter's question got an entire page in response from the General! It has helped us to understand battle strategy so much more, thereby making our history studies more interesting. Even though we learned about redoubts in the American Revolution, it enhanced our Civil War studies.  After all, here is a redoubt from the Civil War.  When we study the Middle Ages again, we'll be looking for these.    

     Be certain to take the virtual tour.  Here's a little information and pictures too. Even though this is technically a short tour, we spent an hour here, amazed by the technology, reflecting on the history and enjoying the tranquil woods.  My husband started asking a lot of questions and I filled him in the best I could.  I could sum up the entire experience in one word: Wow!  In fact, that's all I said...repeatedly!  My vocabulary is not usually so limited, but I was extremely overcome. Wow! I'm glad my friend's radar was on!   

    Saturday morning the kids and I were ready to visit a historical event not far from us. It was the anniversary of the Second Battle of Manassas.  There would be reenactors and special tours. Enthusiastic about a great day, we met a great deal of mishap at the battlefield.  Eventually we found a silver lining in the day at the reenactors'camp.  

     We walked to the Confederate encampment.  I figured this was my son's big moment to choose his spot to start asking questions...battle manuevers, artillery, hmmmmmm.....whatever.  What does one ask about the Civil War?  (We're not Civil War buffs.)  My son did not want to take the lead, venturing in with questions. He wanted me to take the lead.  What?  He absolutely refused to choose where to go first. I was flabbergasted.  Oh well. I walked in and walked up to the first blanket I saw, covered with paraphernalia.

A lieutenant walked over to us and asked the kids if they'd like to pretend to be part of the Confederacy for a few minutes. Uh oh. Our sympathies are with the Union. However, this is an educational experience, so I encouraged them to go ahead. The lieutenant had them try on uniforms.

When they took them off, the lieutenant said that I should try a uniform on. I was actually delighted to be offered.  You know me...too shy to ask for myself!  After I put on the uniform, he told the kids one of them needed to take my camera to take a picture of me. My son eagerly took the opportunity to do that.  I never allow him to play with my camera, and right now I was a captive audience.

     The lieutenant told me I did one thing wrong...the smile. He asked if I knew why that was wrong. "Because I'm hot in that wool coat and I should act miserable!"  He laughed and said no. "Because back then you had to pose f-o-r-e-v-e-r for a picture and your smile always wore out."  Bingo!  

     Then he showed us his day's ration.  He asked the kids if they could identify the food.  They identified the hardtack, but couldn't figure out what that big squishy thing was. I said that was salt pork.  The kids couldn't believe it. I cannot imagine eating all of that fat!

     Then he remembered something he left in the truck (these are third person interpreters) so he brought a fellow over who was the food expert.  Wow, it was fascinating listening to him.

We learned all about food in the Civil War!  That was extremely interesting. If you are looking for food ideas for your Year 3 Unit 3 Celebration, you've got to use these foods. Had I known about this when we did ours, I'd have incorporated them into the menu. I spent hours googling Civil War food and didn't find any of this stuff the soldier told me. Back then, to preserve food they smoked it, salted it, sugared it, or dried it. (I think I'm missing a few options.)  I missed the first part of the story, but someone came up with a new recipe for cooking beans, in ketchup of all things. (Ugh, ketchup is my pet peave. LOL)  It was a hit with the soldiers and we know that today as Van Camp Beans.

Today when I was at the commissary (hmmmm, now that's a military term...I'm speaking of a 21st century commissary) I bought some Van Camp Pork and Beans.  The kids are so excited to try these out. Do you have any in your pantry? Look on the label. It will say that it dates back to 1861.  It was such a hit, that it took off as a canned item.  A lot of canned foods we have today are from this era.  Underwood. Hormel.  They knew how to can sugared and salted items with success, but not items like corn, that spoiled easily. During the war, they accidentally figured out that boiling is important to the canning process. The soldiers came home from war and expected canned items, causing canning to become a major industry and export because of the Civil War. 

     He also had us look carefully at his authentic can and explained the canning process. They left a hole in the top of the can when the can was made. Then the food was poured or squeezed in. Then a lid was soldered over the top. Hmmmmmm, I couldn't wait to ask my next question, because of information I had learned at the Yorktown Victory Center in 2004.  (If you've ever seen a historic soldier ripping ammunition with the mouth to pour it into the rifle, that ammunition is lead. They were killing themselves doing that.)  I asked this man if that solder had lead and he said it did. The can was tin but the solder was lead. When the can was opened with a special device that lifted up the solder portion, can't you imagine the lead shavings dropping into the food?         

     He just went on and on and on and unfortunately I don't remember it all. I did have my colonial notebook, jotting down notes, but I usually did that on the side instead of in front of them. I was trying to absorb all the information. The lieutenant had come back and laid a dark stamped block on the plate.

He asked the kids what that was.  A stamp?  No. 

I said it was tea. I think these guys were surprised when I said that. I told them I had seen those blocks at Mount Vernon and Montpelier. When I've seen these blocks, there is a sign that says the tea in Boston Harbor that was dumped was not loose like we imagine.  It was blocks of tea that was dumped.   These men agreed with that information. They said because the tea was in blocks, it really did not taste very good so hardly anyone drank it.  Everyone preferred coffee.  Hmmmmm, that didn't make sense to me.  Why get worked up about a bunch of tea in Boston Harbor if no one liked it enough to drink it anyway? Why was it shipped to Boston if no one was going to eat it? Why tax it if no one would buy it to drink it? Why import it from the Far East, if no one liked it?  Haven't I read of tea parties back then?  Why, if they didn't like it? Is there a tea expert out there to ask these questions?

    They had us taste parched corn. Hmmmm, that wasn't so bad.

Naco candy was popular back then...

     Lemon drops and horehound candy were also popular. They told us that the soldiers ate well. Really? That's not what we read.  Who's right?

     Then my son started asking the food expert about the sites on his rifle. I hear a lot about sites on "Sgt. York" so I asked a lot of questions about them.  They had me hold the rifle up in the air (I've never done that before.) and aim with the sites.  It makes a little more sense now.

    There were a lot of things that were mentioned that my son and I questioned. Basically they mentioned things that didn't match what we had learned in the Middle Ages or the American Revolution. These questions are now in the back of my Colonial notebook. I've been reading a book my son was supposed to read for TOG Year 3  Unit 1, but I knew he'd be resistant to it. I am reading it now.  I was trying to figure out whether to make it required reading this summer, or to save it for when he does TOG Year 3 Unit 1 in 11th grade. The book is called The Diary of a Napoleonic Footsoldier.  It was written by a soldier from Germany who was conscripted to fight for Napoleon. It's not the most action packed book I've read. But I've picked up on some interesting things, one of which I read yesterday, which refuted some of what the reenactors said. Who's right?

   My son disappeared, talking to various soldiers. My daughter and I stayed in the shade and one of the reenactors kept talking to us. As long as you're willing to listen, they are more than happy to talk. We learned quite a bit.  He finally sensed that my daughter was a bit bored, so he suggested we go to look at the cavalry horses.  I called my son over, thinking he might want to see the horses too.  He had been talking to the soldier we had noticed earlier. This soldier, a Confederate, was in a green coat. That surprised us. We jokingly referred to him as Banastre Tarleton's cousin.  As my son got up to join us, this soldier called out to me to compliment me on my homeschooling. He had enjoyed answering my son's millions of questions. I laughed and made my parrot gesture with my hands.  I always do that when he asks a million questions or tells a l-o-n-g story. Where does he get that from?  The soldier said he actually appreciated the interest, the depth of thought and that he didn't take anything at surface value. We got to talking about my background and our recent move to Texas and my love for Colonial Williamsburg, because he asked me what I was passionate about. Even he had encouraging things to say to me and I thanked him.    

     Hmmmm, which horse to meet? So many choices. We chose this one. The owner started talking to us. My daughter asked what kind of horse it was and he said a Morgan horse.  A Morgan horse????? Justin Morgan had a Horse!  He was impressed that we knew who Justin Morgan was.  Isn't this horse beautiful? This is the type of horse Laura Ingalls admired and wrote about.

     Marguerite Henry, who not only wrote Misty of Chincoteague, also wrote the wonderful book Justin Morgan had a Horse. We read this in TOG Year 2 Unit 4.  Before that, I had grown up reading Little House books. When Laura moved to Dakota Territory, (By the Shores of Silver Lake), one of the new settlers drove a team of beautiful Morgan horses. At the Fourth of July town picnic, there was a horse race, she cheered them and they won!  Later, their owner fell in love with Laura, who drove miles in the snow to pick Laura up from her weekly teaching job, so that she could leave the dreaded house she stayed in to return to her family every weekend. Almonzo Wilder, who became her husband, grew up in Malone, New York raising Morgan horses.  I had always heard that they not only beautiful and fast, but also intelligent.  As we stood talking to the owner, the kids said it was too bad they didn't have an apple or carrots for him. Yes, the owner said the horse liked those, and he also liked potato chips. The horse, who had been alert the entire time, got a knowing look in his eye. I said, "I think he knows what we are talking about." Then the horse got excited, moving his head up and down and swishing his tail. It was so funny. I fell in love with this horse. What a privilege to pet a Morgan horse.

Then it was time for him to leave. We met the cavalry at the top of the hill as each horse took turns thundering by. It was thrilling! But where's the action setting on my camera? My son showed me, I set it correctly and look at these great action shots!

    Here's the Morgan, in formation with the others during the speech about the Cavalry.

   That evening we went to the Manassas Battlefield Visitor Center for a concert.  We got there early so we walked around the gift shop and my son and I couldn't believe what we found: a Union officer cavalry hat. I looked at the price and I was actually glad to see it cost more than what I paid for our homemade one. My son liked our homemade one better.

     The concert was an interactive program of period music. The lady who did the presentation, had found some old letters from her great great grandparents during the Civil War. She had a slide show of the letters, pictures of the Civil War and words to music. She read portions of the letters. For each one, she taught us a song of the era.  She sang the verses and we joined in the refrain. She also played a concertina. My son asked her questions about that afterwards. She asked if he was familiar with a keyboard and he said yes. There are four rows of buttons on each side. She told us how they worked and it made sense. She also explained how the concertina is related to the harmonica because it has reeds. Afterwards I told my son that is why he is learning the piano. If he knows the piano, he can cross into any instrument. He has been wanting to learn to play the violin for the last few years but I don't know that we can afford lessons.

     When we left, we saw a deer grazing with the geese.  (I can't get over how many geese are in Virginia.)

The King and I-This is the only version I've seen. It makes a great TOG comparison to the studies of Westerners in Asia. It can also be used later as a great fine arts study in the work of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Third Man on the Mountain...This is a fictionalized story  based on the first successful ascent of the Matterhorn of Switzerland in 1856. This action packed thriller, by Disney, will keep you on the edge of your seat with breathtaking views of the gorgeous alps which I have always dreamed of visiting!  You can compare fact to fiction with the previous link! Later in our Unit 4 TOG studies, we read that Theodore Roosevelt climbed the Matterhorn!  The kids can appreciate this after watching the movie.

Unlocking the Mysteries of Life...This is a documentary on Darwin's 1859 explosive "On the Origin of Species" which interviews contemporary scientists who discuss intelligent design.

Gods and Generals...Prequel to Gettysburg, it showcases the Battles of Manassas, Frericksburg, and Chancellorsville, some of which we've visited. The link will take you to a web site with a flash presentation preview and details on the movie. Because of our visits to the Fredericksburg, Chatham House, and the battlefields of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and the Wilderness, the kids and I caught some mistakes. The Lacy family lived in a mansion on the Rappahanock overlooking the town of Fredericksburg.  It had been taken over by the North to be used as headquarters and as a hospital.  The men were never shown fighting behind the man made trenches, which run for miles through the battlefields and can be seen today. When Stonewall Jackson was shot, the men quickly realized it was their own men doing the shooting and yelled for them to stop. I keep thinking there were others but now I forget.  One might think that the scene where soldiers from opposing sides meet in the middle of the river to swap treats is fictionalized, but stuff like that really did happen.  

Gettysburg...Sequel to Gods and Generals. The link takes you to the director's site for the movie.  Recently purchased on sale at the used book store, we have not yet seen this. Stay tuned.

The Love Letter...This is a wonderful time travel movie to the Civil War era, set in the years 1998 and 1863!  I love time travel movies and this is one of my favorites because it is well done. A man in Boston in 1998 purchases an antique desk.  Inside a secret compartment, he finds an old forgotten letter from a lady near Boston in 1863.  Put up by his mother to reply to the letter with her carefully researched and gathered supplies historically accurate (I love this part) ink, stamp and paper, she even researches and discovers  the only local Civil War era post office where he should mail it...at night...because it seems appropriate.  One sleepless night , he replies and mails his letter, as per his mother's instructions. The next day this letter is delivered to the lady in 1863! Shocked, the lady realizes this man from the future read her secret letter that she had put in the secret compartment of her desk. Anxiously she looks for it but it is gone. Confused, she writes another letter, addressed to this mysterious man in the future, and puts that in her secret compartment...which the man from 1998 finds in his desk's secret compartment!  This movie has it all...science fiction (time travel), romance, and history (the story climaxes at the Battle of Gettysburg).  It even has a surprise ending! This movie is a family favorite! BTW, the actor is Campbell Scott, son of George C Scott (who plays Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol") and Colleen Dewhurst (who plays Murilla Cuthbert in "Anne of Green Gables").  

Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates...Written in 1865, the book not only has a great plot line, but weaves the history of Holland through a skating trip that the boys take.  We learned a lot about how easy it is to skate (that is if you can skate, but then everyone in Holland can) from one city to another via the prodigious amount of canals.  (We even read the word prodigious about a million times!) We learned the importance of the color orange. When we watched the last winter Olympics, we understood why the entire stadium was full of orange fans when the ice skating team from the Netherlands stepped onto the ice. Ice skating is their sport and orange is their national color, due to William of Orange! The vox humana even stood out from the boy's tour and now we want to see and hear that. The movie is only an hour and a half, so a lot had to be taken out.  The plot line, scenery, culture and major characters are still there but it was reworked to fit in the plot line. The book is definitely better, but the movie helps the book to come alive with the culture.

Victoria and Albert...This was a great movie, although it took a different point of view from our books.  In the books it sounded as though they were in love with each other, but the other shows a more one sided relationship. I don't know which is more historically accurate.   

Little Women

     We did it!  This is the longest time we have spent on any unit, thanks to a move from Texas to Virginia.  Saturday night we celebrated the end of our  unit study with first person interpretations, recitation, food and music for my husband.  These are the books we read and some movies we watched for this unit, covering 1851-1875.  My husband looked these over while we got dressed. It was a challenge to get my daughter's costume fitted to her decently.  She grew since I originally sewed these at the end of February. My son grew too so his sleeves are now too short. I could only find a man's pattern that I tried to make smaller but the coat itself is still big on him.  I lost weight during the move so my costume was easy to fit into!  Well, without further delay...   

     Here we are in costume.  My daughter portrayed Florence Nightengale.  My kids said, "Mom, you HAVE to be Clara Barton!"  My son created his own character, using his own name, portraying a Union colonel from the 9th New York Calvary Regiment.

      We opened the unit celebration with Revellie.  Then my son gave a little history on Reveille, which is the army bugle call to begin the day. Then he previewed the two parts to our unit celebration:  The Crimean War and the Civil War. 

     My daughter did a recitation on "The Charge of the Light Brigade", written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson about a heroic yet doomed battle in the Crimean War.      

     Next I read "Santa Filomena" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  After he read about Florence Nightengale in the newspaper, he was inspired to write a poem about her, comparing her to the early Christian martyr, Saint Filomena.  My daughter was going to recite this, but it didn't flow well into her Florence Nightengale interpretation.  I decided the kids could act out a scene from the poem as I read it.  Staging this was a challenge. The kids haven't acted before.  I also wanted to have my daughter's movements cast shadows on the walls, like the imagery in the poem.  However it was about 5pm and the room was filled with windows that do not have heavy window treatments.  We also meant to wrap a "bloody bandage" around my son's head but we completely forgot! (I had a lot of "moving into a new house/area/state" details to tend to while writing/directing/sewing/producing...) 

     Next my daughter moved into her interpretation as Florence Nightengale in anger.  Historically, Florence Nightengale did not like this poem or any other accolades given to her.  She did not want any attention. She only wanted to improve and expand the nursing profession to help those in need.  She wanted the attention to be put on the patients. 

     After a question and answer session...

 ...we sat down to tea in the dining room.  After researching Civil War cookbooks, we decided to serve blueberry tea, chicken salad, deviled ham salad, lobster salad, whipped cream chees and chives, and kettle potato chips (Yes, I found a Civil War era recipe for potato chips.  We were short on time for cooking, so I bought kettle potato chips which seemed authentic.)  We made gingerbread and added lemon zest and lemon juice, like Civil War era recipes I had found.  The tea party was inspired by an actual Civil War event. A Confederate officer was home with his wife with their newborn baby.  The Union officers, who knew the Confederate officer from West Point days, called a truce.  Then they presented a silver tea set to the family in commemoration of the baby's birth.  After sharing some tea, they went back to war.  There are other stories of these officers who would take time for tea in between battles.  We also told other interesting stories to my husband, like the one of the Union officer George Custer and his buddy from West Point, a Confederate in Williamsburg.  There are also stories of soldiers from the opposing sides of the war, sitting along opposing sides of the river, playing rival tunes back and forth, ultimately ending in joining together to play the heart tugging, "Home Sweet Home". 

     After tea, my daughter read her literary analysis paper on Uncle Tom's Cabin.  

      Then my son read his paper, super essay on Abraham Lincoln.  

      Next we told my husband the history of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."  Then my son played the tune on the fife.  My son is mostly self-taught in playing the fife and he gets so frustrated in playing because he hasn't figured out how to make the notes clear.  Even so I enjoy listening to him practice.

     Now it was my turn!  I stepped out from behind the camera to become Clara Barton.  In the last few days I read her biography as a refresher, since I had read it several years ago. I never wrote down notes, much less a KWO.  I had tossed a few ideas around my head in free thought moments in the last few days. Since I had not rehearsed this, I was a bit fearful.  Besides, have I told anyone that I am shy?  I don't know what happened, but I started talking and the words that came out were nothing that I had planned on.  Nevertheless, I had my audience in the palm of my hand!  This was fun! I was able to relate to her on many levels, like the shyness.  (I'll probably get up and do anything goofy for my students.)  We were both teachers.  We depart at the nursing, but I'd always admired her work in the war.  What made her war story fascinating to me this time, is that she was everywhere we've been in the last couple of months!  Washington DC, Fairfax, Manassas, Chantilly, Fredericksburg.  The entire family could relate! I told the stories of the bullets ripping through her/my skirt and sleeve.  At the end my kids' jaws were practically on the floor that I had done this without planning, rehearsal or notecards.  I told them it's not real acting since I am no actress. It's probably just experience of getting up every single day in front of students for 6 years when I taught public school. I learned how to wing it.

       Next it was my son's turn to do his first person interpretation of a Union colonel in the 9th New York Calvary Regiment. Within his interpretation, he recited the speeches his character heard while at Gettysburg and Lincoln's second inauguration.

    After this, he gave a demonstration on his toy rifle that he had converted to be authentic to the Civil War. 

He made all the accessories for this presentation.

     Next I explained how I/Clara Barton, established the American Red Cross.  Then the kids played the piano.  My daughter played "It is Well with my Soul" after my son read the history behind it. Then my son played "Blessed Assurance" after my daughter read the history of it.  Finally, my son gave the history of "Taps" (which incidentally was written not far from Colonial Williamsburg.)  Then as the lights dimmed, taps played while my son stood at attention with his rifle.

     A few days ago one of my friends told me she couldn't wait to hear about which exciting place we would visit this weekend. We didn't go anywhere exciting.  My husband spent the weekend dodging raindrops to fix rot on the back door. 

     I would have grilled this weekend...but our grill never made it from San Antonio. It never got tagged or inventoried. One day I was cooking in the kitchen on a cold and rainy day, while I was dreaming of grilling.  Hmmmm, where was the grill?  My husband called the movers and they knew there was an unidentified one out there. The driver still had it and said he'd pay us for it. In the meantime we continue to be grill-less. 

     I considered the family making hand crank ice cream. I had a feeling my husband would be too busy for this, and he was. This would have been fun and tasty, because we've yet to find tasty ice cream in Virginia. We miss our Blue Bell Ice Cream made in Brenham, Texas "where the cows think it's heaven."  We stayed with friends in Maryland in March and every time we had ice cream, we raved about Blue Bell.  They thought we were crazy!  Then they went to Texas for a few days and had some Blue Bell. Now they know!

    So what to do to make the Memorial Day weekend special?  I forgot all about it (shame on me since we now live in the Washington DC area).  My husband reminded us about the National Memorial Day Concert at the US Capitol in Washington DC held every year that is shown on PBS.  No, we did not go in person because my husband was busy and I've already done the metro during the Cherry Blossom Festival. There is no way we are going to do that for a major event again! We are perfectly happy to watch from the comfort of our living room, especially when there are storm clouds in the area.  

     While I sewed the Civil War costumes for our upcoming unit celebration, we watched the Memorial program on PBS.  To our surprise, they talked about the Civil War.  Did you know that Memorial Day first started a few years after the Civil War?  This is one of the best programs we have seen from Washington for a few years. It was patriotic and touching and prepared us for meaning behind Memorial Day. Thank you to everyone who has served our country!  You have sacrificed family and personal interests to allow us to keep our freedoms!  We appreciate you!     

     The Battle of Chancellorsville was fought a few months after the Fredericksburg campaign, April 27-May 6, 1863.  Due to the Union defeat at Fredericksburg, President Lincoln appointed General Hooker as the new Union leader. Chancellorsville was named after the Chancellor family, who lived at an intersection of five roads that converged in front of the house.  The main road then, and now, is called Old Plank Road.

The house caught fire during the battle and this is all that's left.

      The driving part of the battlefield tour amazingly took us to a farmer's field off Plank Road, where we got to give a Texas "howdy" to the owners!  We hiked through the farmer's field for about a mile! That green strip of grass is the NPS trail!

 It's hard to imagine fighting took place here...

      Here's another intersection where Lee and Jackson made a daring plan.  Jackson discovered the right flank of the Union was unprotected. He had his men march 12 miles the next day, around the Union army, while Lee's men kept the Union soldiers busy, to make the destructive surprise attack.

     Meanwhile, the Union army leisurely built these lunettes (earthwork fortifications) in preparation for an attack.  See how they are to the right of the sign...

     To their shock, Jackson's men appeared to their left.  The Union soldiers hastily built these lunettes to try to resist the attack.  See how they are on the left of the sign...

      In the end, it was a bittersweet victory for the South. Because Stonewall Jackson was mistaken by his men for the enemy, he was shot.  His left arm had to be amputated.  General Lee said, "He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right arm." Jackson, one of the greatest military strategists of the Confederacy, died 8 days later.  

     During the Chancellorsville campaign, Old Salem Church, which means "peace" became the scene of some of the fighting.

      You can still see some of the damage today.  After the fighting, the church became a hospital...soaked in blood.

      A year later, the Battle of the Wilderness was fought a few miles west of Chancellorsville, May 5-6, 1864.  This time, General Grant was here!  General Grant had proven himself with astounding victories near the Mississippi River. President Lincoln put him in charge of the entire Union army because "...this man fights."  Although General Grant could have led the Union from behind a desk in Washington DC, he chose to be with the Army of the Potomac and their immediate commander, General Meade.  Many of the men complained that General Grant wasn't polished and was too Western.  By the end of the Battle of the Wilderness, the men would change their opinion of him.  When General Meade's decisions were weak, Grant overrode them and insisted on a strong resistance against the Confederates.  For the first time in the war, the Army of the Potomac did not retreat.  Instead, General Grant pushed on to Spotsylvania and ultimately the Confederate capital of Richmond.  As a result, Grant gained the respect of his men, as they marched to the next battlefield, hopeful that they could win the war.  

     The Wilderness was a difficult place for the men to fight because of the dense forests. Grant did not like the idea of fighting in the thick undergrowth, where the men could not see what they were shooting. He tried to work his men into a clearing, but the Confederates began the fight in the woods. The officers were anxious, as was Grant. Although Grant didn't express his concerns, he worked out his nervous energy with puffs of smoke from his cigar and furious whittling.  At the beginning of the battle, he wore white gloves. By the end they were tattered from all the whittling.   

     We got to hike through the Wilderness and walk through some of that dense undergrowth while trying to avoid muddy puddles from the previous two days of rain.  We even saw deer leaping up and over the undergrowth. For those with horses, there are horse paths to help them pretend they are in the cavalry!

     The Battle of Spotsylvania was fought a few days after the Battle of the Wilderness, May 8-21, 1864. In a funnel shaped farm field, the Bloody Angle was the scene of bloody hand-to-hand combat for a steady 20 hours in drenching rain. 

Some of the best earthworks can be seen here.

 There are some atypical earthworks at one end of the battlefield.

     From the air they look like centipedes.  Apparently they confuse the experts. The Confederates built them in such a way as to protect them from crossfire from the Union. On one side of the trenches are the traverses the Confederates built.  When the Union arrived, they built their own on the other side.

     I'll never forget arriving in Fredericksburg, August 2004.  We had driven through steady rain all day...from the New York border, through Pennsylvania, through Maryland, and into Northern Virginia.  The rains were a byproduct of Hurricane Bonnie, that had become a tropical depression. Although we were trying to arrive at the Fredericksburg KOA before nightfall, we didn't reach the area until 10pm.  We drove down unknown twisting roads through woods, where a bloody battle had been fought long ago.  As the headlights shone through the dark, misty, drizzly night, I could imagine Civil War soldiers quietly, yet stealthily walking out of the woods, their guns aimed and ready for any sudden movement...      

      The Battle of Fredericksburg took place December 11-13, 1862.  General Lee led the Confederates, while General Burnside led the Union. Why Fredericksburg?  Because it was halfway between the Confederate capital of Richmond and the Union Capital of Washington DC.  To find the battlefield, simply drive to Fredericksburg, Virginia and go to...

The Sunken Road was named for its physical features which played into the strategy of the battle.  Because the road was lower than the grade of the slope next to it, the Confederates made use of this natural earthwork. 

 They also took over Marye Heights above...

 Here we on top of Marye Heights, looking down at the Sunken Road below...

 Here is another view of Marye's Heights, looking over the Sunken Road. Across the treetops you can see the city of Fredericksburg.  See anything familiar?

Perhaps a closer look will help...

 On top of this hill, is an old family cemetary that suffered from the artillery.  You can still see evidence of that today...

The tall marker to the right suffered damage as well.

Interestingly, the back corner of this cemetary is the marker for George Washington's nephew...

The top of this hill became the Fredericksburg Battlefield Cemetary.

From here we took the driving tour to Lee's hill.  Here General Lee had an excellent position to view the events as he overlooked the town and strategized. At the museum, we  had learned that at the Battle of Fredericksburg, General Lee had the best position that he ever had during the entire war. To read it made it a fact; to experience it made it a reality.   

Once again, from Lee's position, the town of Fredericksburg can be seen. Are you getting familiar with the Fredericksburg skyline?

Even from this distance, cannons were fired. See the earthworks (raised parts of the ground for protection) in front?

  Further down the road, more cannons were aimed at the Union troops.

Even further down the road, near the railroad tracks, there were more cannons.  See the train in the distance?  Of course gaining control of the railroad was yet another reason for having the battle in Fredericksburg. It was cool to experience the obvious importance of this railroad line.

See the earthworks?  No, I am not standing on them.  That is not allowed.  The NPS is trying to preserve them. I am on an NPS trail.

As we drove back down the road, my daughter pointed out all the trenches that the soldiers used as protection, as they laid behind them and shot with their guns.

These go on for miles...

And all of these pictured...

protected the men of...

that famous general...

     To see miles of trenches of one man's command, and many commands were positioned throughout the woods, gave us stunning realization of the massive numbers of soldiers who fought in this war.  As prodigious as the numbers looked at the museum, actually seeing miles of trenches gave it credence.

    Meanwhile, where were the Union troops? Actually they were in Fredericksburg before the Confederates.  A Union general established his headquarters on the other side of Fredericksburg and the Rappahanock River at beautiful Chatham Manor, a few miles from George Washington's boyhood home, Ferry Farm.  Chatham was built in the 1700's and visited by George Washington, but not Lafayette (imagine that!).  However there is a chair in the house upon which Lafayette sat, which came from the family's other house, Ellwood.  Interestingly, Chatham is named after William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, whom we learned about last year.  By the time of the Civil War, another family was living here.  When the Union troops came to town, the family fled to Ellwood.  

This side of the house faces the Rappahanock River and looks over the town of Fredericksburg. Recognize some of the landmarks?

 Even though the Union troops arrived here first, they had no means of crossing the Rappahanock. At that time, this river was quite deep and large boats used to travel up and down the river for commerce. In fact, this was another reason why the Union and Confederates were fighting here...to seize control of the river. The Union had to wait for pontoons to arrive so they could build bridges across the river.  Finally they arrived...after the Confederates arrived.  They had to build the bridge at night to try to avoid Confederate fire.  Here is one of the pontoons.  They were staggered across the river and planks were laid across them to form the bridge. 

   After the war, the owners returned to a destroyed mansion.  Horses had been allowed in the house. Grafitti can still be seen on a few of the walls today. Used as a hospital, blood was everywhere. The gardens had become a cemetary.  They sold their home. New owners had the dead relocated to the Fredericksburg Battlefield Cemetary. They cleaned up the mansion.  They added an early 20th Century touch to the property. Today, three of the graves that had been left behind, can be seen. We were able to locate two of them.

t

Originally a house of Georgian architecture, Chatham was laid out symmetrically. There used to be two staircases within, one on each side.  The tour guide opened the door to the NPS offices to show us the only staircase left. Evidence of where the portico had been ripped off of the river side of the house can be seen today.  The front of the house used to face the river and the back faced the gardens.  Over time that was flip flopped. The gardens are smaller today than originally laid out.  In the gardens, the early 20th century touch can be seen with the addition of all the statues.