A small Confederate cemetery at Appomattox National Historical Park contains the graves of eighteen Confederate soldiers who died in these battles, the last men to give their lives in combat under Lee’s direction. Also buried there is a single Union soldier who was found buried in an unmarked grave some years after the war.

All but seven of the soldiers buried at the Appomattox Confederate Cemetery remain unknowns to this day. Among those who have been identified is Private Jesse H. Hutchins from Company G, Fifth Alabama Infantry. His story is particularly telling.

Hutchins enlisted in Alabama only five days after Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter, igniting the war that would continue for four long years. His regiment, the Fifth Alabama, was mustered into Confederate service in May of 1861 and initially served at Pensacola under General Braxton Bragg.

Sent to Virginia, the 5th Alabama took part in the Battles of Seven Pines, Gaines Mill, Malvern Hill, Second Manassas, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Winchester and Petersburg. Jesse Hutchins, ironically, survived all of these horrible battles only to die at Appomattox Court House just hours before General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant.

Hutchins was killed in a sharp skirmish with Union cavalry on the evening of April 8, 1865. Like the others now buried at Confederate
Cemetery, he was initially interred nearby. In 1866, however, the remains of Confederate soldiers were gathered from their resting places around Appomattox Court House and brought here through the efforts of the Ladies Memorial Association of Appomattox.

It is thought that as many as 100 Southern soldiers may have died in the fighting at Appomattox Court House, but only these eighteen could be found.
The Union dead from the battles at Appomattox were later exhumed and taken to Poplar Grove National Cemetery near Petersburg, Virginia. One exception was the Union soldier who now lies buried by his former enemies at Confederate Cemetery. His body was found some years after the war
and moved to the small burial ground.

Known soldiers in the cemetery are:
John William Ashby – Co. I, 12th
Virginia Cavalry.

Oscar Demesme – Donaldsonville
Artillery (Lousianna)

J.W. Douglas

Alanson B. Hicks – Co. D, 26th
Virginia Infantry

John A. Hogan – Co. E, 26th Georgia
Infantry.

Jesse. H. Hutchins – Co. G, 5th
Alabama Infantry

Miles Cary Macon – 38th Batt. Virginia
Artillery.

Francis M. Winn – Co. E, 9th Georgia
Artillery.

McLean House

We had the pleasure of visiting the Appomattox Court House National Park a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been a civil war history buff for a long time and was glad we got to see this. We wandered around on our own for the most part and bypassed some of the tours they had as we didnt have too long to stay there, but the rangers were very glad to give us all the info we wanted at the various spots. The fees were really in our budget as well, 5 bucks for the both of us :)  Can’t beat that for great day out!  A few of the buildings are mostly original, but many have been restored or reconstructed including the McLean home where the surrender took place. Still they are done to perfection in representing the original.

Below is from the Appomattox National Park Service site.
On April 9, 1865 after four years of Civil War, approximately 630,000 deaths and over 1 million casualties, General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, at the home of Wilmer and Virginia McLean in the rural town of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. General Lee arrived at the McLean home shortly after 1:00 p.m. followed a half hour later by General Grant. The meeting lasted approximately an hour and a half. There are 16 people that are known to have attended at least part of the meeting as shown in Keith Rocco’s painting (shown above). The participants are:

CSA
Gen. Robert E. Lee
Lt. Col. Charles Marshall
USA
Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
Lt. Col. Ely Parker
Lt. Col. Orville E. Babcock
Maj. Gen. Edward O. C. Ord
Lt. Col. Horace Porter
Lt. Col. Theodore S. Bowers
Maj. Gen. Phillip H. Sheridan
Brig. Gen. John Rawlins
Brig. Gen. Rufus Ingalls
Lt. Col. Adam Badeau
Brig. Gen. George H. Sharpe
Brig. Gen. Michael Morgan
Brig. Gen. Seth Williams

The terms agreed to by General Lee and Grant and accepted by the Federal Government would become the model used for all the other surrenders which shortly followed. The surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia allowed the Federal Government to redistribute forces and bring increased pressure to bear in other parts of the south resulting in the surrender of the remaining field armies of the Confederacy over the next few months.

On April 26th General Joseph Johnston surrendered to Major General W. T. Sherman near Durham, North Carolina (now Bennett Place State Historical Park); on May 4th General Richard Taylor, the son of 12th President of the United States, Zachary Taylor, surrendered at Citronelle, Alabama; on June 2nd General Edmund Kirby Smith surrendered the Confederate Department of the Trans Mississippi to Major General Canby; and on June 23rd General Stand Watie surrendered Confederate Cherokee Indian forces in Oklahoma.

Appomattox Court House

The first stop in the park is to the reconstructed courthouse itself, which also houses the visitors center/ museum. Nice exhibits as well as a small theater, and very informative park rangers. Living History programs are offered every day during the summer months, and occasionally on weekends in the spring and fall. Actors portray historical figures from the 1860s. We arrived there a bit early and nearly missed one of the actors. This fellow was portraying one of the union soldiers.

actor at courthouse in Appomattox

He was really “in the moment” and we had a rather lengthy talk with him. He also played a jaw harp and kindly took requests as well.

Inside the museum were many displays of artifacts from the site, as well as a wall of photos of some of the soldiers who were at the battle. There were also exhibits of some of the stories of the day and many artifacts from the McLean House. Among the more interesting things was the pencil used by Robert E Lee to make corrections to the original draft of the Surrender Terms

Another item we found of interest was The Silent Witness

On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered his once formidable army of Northern Virginia to three Federal armies turgid with men and materiel under General Ulysses S. Grant. The terms of surrender were set during a one and a half hour meeting between the two generals in the parlor of the McLean Home.

The McLeans, an upper middle class family, had moved to Appomattox Court House as refugees during the war. Wilmer and Virginia McLean had five children – four daughters and a son. Sometime before Lee and Grant met that Palm Sunday afternoon, seven-year-old Lula McLean had left her favorite doll in the parlor. The little rag doll was apparently left on the horsehair sofa that her sister, Nanny McLean Spillman would later donate to the National Park Service.

“I have heard Mrs. McLean say frequently that the Union troops not only stole the tables and chairs besides other small furniture, but even took the childrens’ play things…” – H.E. Spillman, Wilmer McLean’s Son-In-Law-

While the generals met, and the room was packed tightly with the entourage that was Grant’s staff, the rag doll remained in the room where Lula had left it. When the meeting ended, Union officers – anxious to obtain souvenirs of the event – plundered the McLeans’ parlor appropriating items including Lula’s rag doll.

Colonel Horace Porter of General Grant’s staff, wrote: ” A child’s doll was found in the room, which the younger officers tossed from one to the other, and called the ‘Silent Witness’.”

One of the cavorting Federal staff officers was Captain Robert Todd Lincoln, son of the President of the United States. The doll was taken from the home by Capt. Thomas W.C. Moore, of Major General Sheridan’s staff. For well over a century, the Moore family kept the doll as a “war trophy” of sorts. Poor Lula never saw her beloved rag doll again.

Lula’s descendants remembered the doll as “…lovingly handmade by a doting mother”.

The body of the doll was made of coarse unbleached cotton and stuffed. Inked on the simple, round face were eyes and nothing more. Printed cotton fabric was stitched together to fashion a bodice, skirt and leggings.

The doll was donated to Appomattox Court House National Historical Park in December 1992, and is now on permanent exhibit at the park.

More to come from the other areas of the park in the near future.

For a link to all our photos from the visit to Appomattox, check out Alison’s Picasa Album

Appomattox , 23rd May 2011

I can’t begin to express how much the events in Egypt these last two weeks have brought forth such deep emotion, I am unable really to put into words how I view this as one of the greatest moments of human civilisation. Revolution is nothing new to the world, but I can’t think of any other one that came about in this way, there was no political agenda, no religious agenda, no ideological agenda, only common folks from all walks of life and all ages who were fed up to the point they couldn’t stand it anymore and who are now on the verge of toppling a corrupt regime that has been in business for 30 years. Where it will end is yet to be known, but every one should be aware, and EVERY (including ours) government of world as well, what can happen when those who dictate or govern a people fail to hear those very same people. My utmost respect and prayers to those of the #jan25 revolution. Stay safe and hold strong.

I have a flood of comments wanting to come out and may express them at a later date, maybe not, but for now I will say to the people of Egypt to please understand that the views of the US media and their paranoia and self centeredness and ignorance don not reflect the views of every American, we are with you , if not in person, in spirit and praise.

Here are some links to some sites/news agencies that I have been keeping up with.

http://www.youtube.com/user/AlJazeeraEnglish Aljajeera English live feed (down the page a bit) Kudo to them for the coverage they have given this from the start, when I couldn’t even find a US news program that had anything more than a tagline, “unrest in Egypt”! and a link to their English web site http://english.aljazeera.net/

One of the protestors in the area, who goes by the name of Sandmonkey , heres his twitter page http://twitter.com/#!/Sandmonkey and his blog http://www.sandmonkey.org/ very bright and brave individual, very good read on his blog.

Also a good way to keep up with news is twitter, # egypt search, http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23Egypt

mind there’s plenty of rumour and irrelevant tweets there as well, but many of them are right from Egypt.

more later, for now our prayers are with and we stand with you.

OK without further ado, here we are!

Our (Alison’s) interview on the BBC

Click here to view the embedded video.

I suppose its a good thing they do this, I’m sure alcohol causes some stupid decisions/actions when it comes to hurricanes, but I’m sure many already have stocked up as we did!

Will have more pics and things on in a bit as we have a few more preparations to do before the weather gets bad, and Alison once again got an interview with BBC newcastle radio this morning! She’s a star now! They prerecorded an interview which will be braodcast in the morning on BBC  Newcastle radio tomorrow morning about 7:20 am UK time. Heres the link to the program for anyone interested to hear it!

Water storage in preparation

 Seriously though we are getting prepared, beginning to clear the yard and deck, storing water for the inevitable power outage that usually follows these things. I’ve learned from experience that having PLENTY of water on hand is the most important thing, After Isabel we had 8 days with no power, temps in the high 90′s and unberable high humidity. Believe me it was wonderful to be able to even wash up in a basin of water during those days, not to mention having a “flush” supply on hand! That year I did the normal “filling the bathtub” before the storm which I had never done and it was the best decision i made. But we cut it very close as the last day of no power we were down to the bottom of the tub! So this time in addition to the tub we have filled a few plastic totes with water in preparation. We’ve got about 50 gallons on hand so far and will fill some more tomorrow. I expect tomorrow will find evacuation orders issued for all the beach areas and probably Currituck as well, at least the Outer Banks portion of the county. We will monitor the track and strength and decide tomorrow if we are going to stay. As it stands now we will stay and hunker down. As is ususal today was a clear beautiful day, calm and hot. Calm befor the storm… check out our commentary if you’d like :)

Calm before the storm and More Calm before the Storm

From FunPhotoBox, thanks to Mike from  Top of Texas Gazette for the link! Cool site.