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America's Civil War
Virginia oozes history - every town has associations with
the Revolution or the Civil War and no more so than Richmond,
the once capital of the confederacy and now the capital of
the state. It's hard to believe now on Richmond's beautiful
plains that Virginian soil once ran with blood, but this was
the battleground of a four year bloody conflict that pitted
countryman against countryman, divided families, caused widespread
destruction, and horrific military and civilian casualties.
The United States in the mid-1800s was like two separate
countries living together as one. The issue of slavery
brought things to a head - the more the North insisted it
was morally wrong and should be abolished, the more the South,
whose economy was built on cheap slave labour, resisted. Not
one single issue caused the Civil War - North and South were
like a bickering couple who just couldn't bear to live together
any more! So from 1861 to 1865 the Unionists from the North
battled the Confederates from the South until the South was
defeated.
Although the Battle of Stanardsville in Green County
was only a minor skirmish it was indicative of the loss of
life and bloodshed of what was happening over Virginia - at
Manassas, at Fredericksburg, and at Petersburg.
It's estimated that 35,000 Union soldiers and 95,000 Confederates
died in combat during the Civil War.
What to see and do at the
Battle of Stanardsville festival
At this two day event, spectators can buy souvenirs from
sutlers (vendors who sold goods - sweets, tobacco,
newspapers - at exorbitant prices to desperate soldiers),
listen to the civil war bands performing traditional numbers,
enjoy the Ladies Tea and Fashion Show, witness the
spectacular Civil War Re-enactment battle complete
with cavalry and canons and finally dance the night away at
the Civil War Ball.
Other places to experience
the Civil War
If you miss the battle, there are plenty of other places
in Virginia to get a taste of the Civil War era. At the Pamplin
Park Historical Site at Petersburg ( an hour and
a half drive from Stanardsville), you can become a civil war
soldier for a day. The average pay of a soldier was a mere
$16 a month, but today you'll have to pay nearly this much
for the privilege of doing the same.
The day starts with some drilling - most soldiers
were inactive 75 percent of the time and so bored by drilling,
they only realising its importance when it was too late. The
average Civil War soldier had more to fear from disease than
enemy bullets - diseases like cholera, smallpox, and measles
killed twice as many soldiers as any bullets. At Pamplin Park
you can even take a lesson in battlefield medicine and learn
many gory stories and play with horrific amputation instruments.
At lunch you will be served a typical soldier's meal on a
tinplate before retiring to a wooden 16-bed barrack for a
less than luxurious night's sleep. |
