June 11th Another day of History

Richmond has a street called Monument Avenue where there is statuary significant to the city. For the most part the statues are of Confederate Generals. There were statues of J.E.B. Stuart, Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and Stonewall Jackson. 

Stonewall Jackson - killed by friendly fire at Chancellorsville in 1863

The statues were on a boulevard separated by several blocks between statues. At the very end of the row there was one other statue. It was Arthur Ashe.  Yep, Arthur Ashe.  It was kind of surprising that he was with the Confederate generals, but Arthur Ashe was from Richmond. Later we saw another statue. It was Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson, a very famous black entertainer/tap dancer from the 20's and 30's. (He was in The Little Colonel with Shirley Temple). His statue was in the hood.

                                                                      McLean House

 After touring the monuments we headed out of town to Appomattox.  It took us 1.5 hours to get there, but it was worth the drive.  The area is preserved and looks just like the old photographs.  For those of you who were not good history students, Appomattox is where General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant effectively ending The Civil War. A lot of the buildings are gone, but enough are left that you get a feel for the town. The visitor’s center is in the actual old Appomattox Courthouse building. We saw where Grant had his headquarters. We learned about the sequence of battles that trapped Lee and caused his surrender at the McLean House. And we learned how the confederate soldiers turned in their arms and went home. It was very, very interesting. 

When we got back to Richmond we still had a little time to visit the Museum of the Confederacy and the Confederate White House. These buildings are right downtown in the middle of the VCU campus.  The museum had actual clothing, weapons, letters, and pictures of confederate soldiers. There was a replica of Robert E. Lee’s field tent with his actual belongings in it.  The coat that Jefferson Davis was wearing when he was captured was also in the museum.  I did not realize that Jefferson Davis was captured at the end of the war. He was captured trying to flee the country (supposedly in his wife's shawl) so that he could set up a new government in exile. He sounded delusional.

We did not get a chance to tour the White House, but I did take pictures. The Confederate White House is on the street across from VCU’s School of Dentistry.

We ended the day seeing Bojangles' statue in the hood and having dinner at a soul food restaurant. Today was a very good day. One more stop (Gettysburg) and we will be done with history.