News---Looking For A Camp, Finding A Battlefield

In Search of the Battle of Appomattox Station, Chris Calkins, News Advance, Lynchburg, Virginia, January 31, 2010.

Chris Calkins inadvertently stumbled upon the lost battlefield of Appomattox Station while searching for what he believed was a Union army campsite.

He was led there by a sentence in the Official Report of Brig. Gen. Alfred Gibbs: “The brigade camped for a night (April 9) at a wood near Martin’s house, one mile in the rear of Appomattox Court House.” Calkins then referred to a 1867 topographical map of the “Appomattox Court House and Vicinity” and identified two houses next to each other, each named Martin.

Armed with this information, Calkins looked at a present-day map of the area and, surprisingly, found that the two houses were still there, tucked away behind a school and trucking company in the town of Appomattox.

Calkins then went to scout out the property with a metal detector and, to his surprise, began turning up iron canister rounds and other artillery remnants. It turned out that the camp Calkins had originally sought was in another area entirely and misidentified by Gibbs as “Martin’s” when, in fact, the house was named “Morton’s.” The mishap, however, led Calkins to the lost battlefield of Appomattox Station, which he later confirmed with the aid of a diary sketch by Union cavalryman Roger Hannaford.

Chris Calkins, who wrote of his discovery in The Civil War Preservation Trust’s Hallowed Ground magazine, in an article titled In Search of the Battle of Appomattox Station.

Text and Image Source: News Advance, Lynchburg, Virginia

News---Appomattox Battlefield Located, Preservation Advances

Discovery of Appomattox Station Battlefield Provides Historical Missing Link, Duffie Taylor, News Advance, Lynchburg, Virginia, January 31, 2010.

Longtime Civil War historian Chris Calkins began looking for the lost battlefield of Appomattox Station in the early 1970s. Back then, he and many other Civil War buffs feared the site of the April 8, 1865, battle was buried somewhere under asphalt in the Town of Appomattox. “We have always assumed the battle was up near the Triangle Shopping Center (in Appomattox) and they had already bulldozed that area so we couldn’t test it,” Calkins said.

Still, he continued his search — first, through a store of written archives and then, on the grounds of Appomattox, with a copy of a Union soldier’s sketched map and a metal detector. Calkins’ work paid off when he located the battlefield years later on a 47-acre tract owned by Jamerson Trucking Company. Luckily, Calkins said, the site was largely undeveloped and he was able to verify his discovery through the artillery remnants that he unearthed on the property.

This month, Calkins’ quest came full circle when the 47-acre tract was purchased by The Civil War Preservation Trust, a national organization devoted to preserving old battlefields. The trust’s spokeswoman, Mary Koik, said that the battlefield’s preservation would not have been possible without Calkins. “I give Chris Calkins credit for combing through that tremendous amount of information and finding the battlefield,” she said. “Popular wisdom was that it had been lost.”

A Detroit native, Calkins said his fascination with the Civil War began early. At 20, he took a seasonal job in the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, where he played a Union soldier in the park’s living history program. The summer job turned into a lifelong stay when he was introduced to his future wife at the town’s Dairy Queen. “They say you’re either a Virginian by birth, marriage or choice,” Calkins said. “Well, I’m a Virginian by the latter two.” Calkins has since devoted his life to the study of the Civil War, with a particular focus on the war’s last two battles in Appomattox.

Now the park manager of Sailor’s Creek Battlefield State Park, Calkins has written several books on how the two battles shaped the war’s end. He said that discovering the battlefield of Appomattox Station provided the missing link in the events leading up to General Robert E. Lee’s surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865. The battle between the Union Cavalry, led by General George Custer, and Confederate Artillery, headed by General Lindsey Walker, “was another nail in the coffin” for the Confederates and, ultimately, paved the way to the battle of Appomattox Court House and Lee’s surrender the following day, he said.

Before the discovery, the story of the Civil War’s end was incomplete, said Appomattox County Tourism Director Anne Dixon. “Your visitors were missing the middle piece,” she said. “This piece of the story completes it.” Calkins said that Custer’s destruction of three Confederate supply trains and the battle that ensued from it were directly accountable for Lee’s surrender. “That was Lee’s last chance to get out of it,” he said.

Koik said that the trust eventually plans to turn over the battlefield to a steward that will maintain its preservation and spur visitors’ interest in the site. The National Park Service is a likely candidate, she said. Securing the historical site in time for the 150th anniversary of the Civil War is an important achievement for the area, said the town’s tourism director, Will Simmons. “(It) provides a tremendous impetus for people to preserve this land while they still can,” Simmons said. “Soon, the opportunity will be gone.”

Text Source: News Advance, Lynchburg, Virginia

Image Source: Top---Wikipedia Commons

Bottom: Civil War Preservation Trust

News---Lee's Copy of Appomattox Surrender Terms Document Found?

Civil War Surrender Document No Photocopy, Dan Robish, Associated Press, August 2, 2008.

Officials at a small Civil War museum made an intriguing discovery while sifting through storage: A document long treated as a photo reproduction of the terms of Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender appears, upon closer inspection, to contain actual signatures and date to 1865. Museum officials believe they have one of the three original documents signed by representatives of the Union and Confederacy in Appomattox Court House, Va., on April 10, 1865, a day after Lee's surrender. The National Park Service historian at Appomattox said it's more likely a souvenir copy signed by the same men at that time — still a significant discovery, he said, even if it's not an official copy.

The Civil War & Underground Railroad Museum of Philadelphia has held the document since the early 20th century. It was pulled out of storage and re-evaluated as officials prepared for the museum's shutdown Saturday ahead of its move to a new building. Curator Andrew Coldren said he is certain that museum officials knew what they had when the document was donated but its significance was forgotten over time because of a lack of record keeping. In a 1967 inventory, someone wrote "Copy??" in reference to the document. Coldren said it had been glued to a cardboard backing and varnished, an apparent attempt to preserve it.

"Old photostat copies from the '20s and '30s are shiny like that, so this is why you'd think this is not a real document," he said. Coldren said museum officials examining the document recently noticed that the indentation of pens into the paper was visible. He said they also noticed that the ink on the document was darker and lighter in places, as would be expected with the pens used at the time. The lines on a photostat would be of consistent darkness. "You can see where they're dipping the pen in to get more ink," he said.

Details of the terms and conditions of the surrender were worked out by six men the day after Lee and Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant agreed on the broad terms of the surrender. Three copies were made, according to the memoir of Union Gen. John Gibbon, whom Grant put in charge of working out the details of the surrender. Gibbon kept one copy, according to his memoir and a letter he wrote to the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore when he donated his to the society. Another copy was sent to Grant's headquarters and is now in the National Archives. By process of elimination, museum officials believe they have the Confederate copy.

Patrick A. Schroeder, historian at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, said that while there were three official copies, "it doesn't mean that there weren't more copies made." Schroeder, who saw a photograph of the document, said the stationery looks more like the paper soldiers used to write letters to their loved ones than the paper used for legal documents. He suggested someone may have made a personal transcript of the document as a souvenir — a common practice at the time — then asked the six men to sign it. "I would say it's probably a souvenir copy done at the time and signed at the time," Schroeder said.

Without knowing where the donor got the document, he said, it is hard to determine whether it is the official copy provided to the Confederacy. But he said it would be wonderful if that were confirmed. "I hope it is," he said. "That would be great to have another mystery solved." The document was donated to the museum by Bruce Ford, a wealthy businessman and son of a Union veteran. He joined the veterans' group that formed the museum around 1917, and the document was noted in an inventory in 1935. How Ford got the document is unknown.

New York memorabilia dealer Keya Morgan said if the document is indeed the missing third copy, what he called a "holy grail to Civil War collectors," it would be worth $500,000 to $700,000 at auction, even in its poor condition. The museum hopes to receive a grant to pay the estimated $6,000 cost of restoring the document, said Sharon A. Smith, the museum's president and chief executive. Its new home, the former First Bank of the United States, the nation's central bank until the early 19th century, is scheduled to open in 2010


Source--Civil War Surrender Document No Photocopy

Photographs: Top--Curator Andrew Coldren talks Monday, July 28, 2008, about a document spelling out the terms of surrender that was signed by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, on April 10th 1865, a day after his surrender to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. The document is at the Civil War and Underground Railroad Museum in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Justin Maxon)


Middle--A document spelling out the terms of surrender, signed by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, on April 10th 1865, a day after his surrender to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, is displayed at the Civil War and Underground Railroad Museum in Philadelphia, Monday, July 28, 2008. (AP Photo/Justin Maxon)

Bottom--Art movers pack up Civil War memorabilia at the Civil War and Underground Rail Road Museum in Philadelphia, Monday, July 28, 2008. The small museum will close on Saturday August 2nd and will re-open at a new location in Philadelphia in 2010. (AP Photo/Justin Maxon)

CWL---'Breaking The Backbone of The Rebellion' Returns To Print

The Final Battles of the Petersburg Campaign: Breaking the Backbone of the Rebellion, A. Wilson Greene, University of Tennessee, $45.00 (hardcover).

The first edition, published by Savas PC in 2000, contained 25 original maps 36 photos and illustrations. Current available copies of the Savas Publishing's 2000 hardcover edition begin at $65, when they are offered for sale. The University of Tennessee's edition should arrive in the first sixty days of 2008 (hopefully with a sharper looking cover than the 2000 edition.)

Green presents an in-depth look at the six battles March 1865 battles at Petersburg that rooted Lee's army out of it's burrow. The climax was the breakthrough by the Union Sixth Corps on April 2, just six miles southwest of Petersburg. This Federal victory forced Lee to evacuate Petersburg and Richmond that night, and to surrender his army just one week later.

A. Wilson Greene is executive director of Pamplin Historical Park, which preserves these portion of these battlefields and he is also the author of both Whatever You Resolve to Be, a collection of essays on Stonewall Jackson Civil War and Petersburg: Confederate City in the Crucible of War. Greene has also authored National Geographic Guide to the Civil War National Battlefield Parks(1995).

News---Appomattox, The Opera: Is it over when the fat generals sing?

World Premier of Work by Philip Glass is a Sure-Fire American Classic, Seán Martinfield, Fine Arts Critic, San Francisco Sentinel, October 14, 2007.

APPOMATTOX is the perfect American Opera. Its story of the surrender of the Confederacy to the Union Army is a cornerstone of American history and an artery of the human experience. The look and feel of our Civil War – its imagery, poetry, politics, rhetoric and music – hovers bright and clear in the currency of campaign speeches, street marches, Supreme Court arguments, week-end sermons, sports and entertainment commentary, sometimes whipping in the breeze from an available flagpole. Composer Philip Glass has produced an amazingly persuasive vocal score that sits comfortably in the operatic column – inviting and compelling to all. The musical structures and vocal lines are all at once familiar in the ear, strident in the heart, close and intimate in the collective memory.
APPOMATTOX, the Opera is a series of iconic tableaux. Mr. Glass has teamed with librettist Christopher Hampton (Oscar Winner, DANGEROUS LIAISONS; Tony Winner, SUNSET BOULEVARD) to create both psychic tension for unseen battles and reports of thousands of soldiers suddenly slaughtered to the disturbing on-stage realities of dead horses strung-up for food and a child shot during an evacuation. A scene with blood-red lighting by designer Christopher Akerlind evokes the horror of blood-soaked earth, another approaching dawn – and memories of the famous crossroads scene in “Gone With The Wind”. Likewise, fashions created by Gabriel Berry are as rich and smooth as those of MGM period designer Walter Plunkett.

Story's Link--http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=6003



CWL Reflects: I saw my first reenactment in the summer of 1993 in Gettysburg and I saw the film Gettysburg about six times in the course of six months during 1993 and 1994. I became a Civil War reenactor in late 1993. Will the next generation of CW reenactors say, "I saw Philip Glass' Appomattox and after that I started wearing wool in July" ?

News: Richmond's Museum of the Confederacy Migrates to Appomattox Courthouse and Chancellorsville National Battlefield Parks

Appomattox Picked As One Of Three Sites For Confederate Museum, Janet Caggiano, Media General News Service, September 5, 2007

The Museum of the Confederacy has found a new home for the world’s largest collection of Civil War artifacts. Make that homes.

Three Virginia localities will serve as a museum “system,” replacing the single museum that has stood at 12th and East Clay streets since 1976. Officials Tuesday announced two of those sites - the Appomattox Court House National Park and the Chancellorsville Battlefield Visitor Center near Fredericksburg.

(Appomattox Court House National Historical Park historian Patrick Schroeder says the surrender grounds will not receive any of the artifacts from the Museum of the Confederacy. Schroeder said that a smaller “satellite museum” will be built in Appomattox, but will in no way be affiliated with the park. It is unclear whether the satellite museum will be located in the county or town. Appomattox County and town officials could not be reached for comment.)

The location of the third site is likely to be announced by the end of the month. Other national battlefield sites in the state include Petersburg and Manassas.
The museum headquarters, including the library and research center, collections storage and administration, will remain in Richmond. The White House of the Confederacy, the home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis during the Civil War, will also stay put. “If our mission is to use our artifacts to educate the public about the Civil War and the Confederacy, man are we going to accomplish that so much better because we are going to have more on view and more visitors,” said Waite Rawls, the museum’s president and CEO. “We are taking the artifacts back to where they were made famous.”

Plans call for the construction of an 8,000-square-foot museum at each site, with about 5,000 square feet of exhibit space. That adds up to 15,000 square feet of exhibit space - more than twice the space the museum has now. Each museum will also house a gift shop, educational rooms and offices. “The idea of combining artifacts with battlefields will bring new life to both,” said Jim Lighthizer, president of the Civil War Preservation Trust. “It will provide visitors a glimpse into the stories of the war, which is the most defining conflict in American history.”

The project will cost about $15 million, Rawls said, or $5 million per site. The museum will begin a capital campaign, and Rawls is hoping for local, state and federal funding. “In this case, we will be building one (museum) while raising money for the second,” he said. “We will move into them gradually so we can spread it out logistically and financially.” The move won’t come until 2011, the beginning of the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War.

“After three years of hard work involving a state study commission, a peer review study and a large number of volunteer experts, the board feels that a system of museum sites is the best way to accomplish our central mission of using artifacts to educate the public about the Civil War and the Confederacy,” said Carlton Moffatt Jr., chairman of the museum’s board of trustees. “The prospect is very exciting.”

The museum is relocating its collection to escape the sprawling medical campus of Virginia Commonwealth University. Visitation has been falling for years, from about 92,000 in the early 1990s to 44,000 in the last budget year. “We are focused on taking our collection to the visitor, rather than trying to get the visitor to come to us,” Rawls said. “(These sites) hold great war-time significance. They have strong visitation numbers and name recognition.”

The May 1-5, 1863, Battle of Chancellorsville is known as Gen. Robert E. Lee’s greatest victory. The visitor center there contains exhibits, a 22-minute movie and bookstore, walking trails and a 7-mile driving tour. Chancellorsville, which attracts about 47,000 visitors a year, is one of four Civil War battlefields near Fredericksburg run by the National Park Service. The four battlefields draw about 1.8 million visitors a year.

Each site, which will employ 10 to 15 people, will exhibit artifacts relevant to that area. Appomattox, for example, will display Lee’s surrender uniform and sword, the clothes Jefferson Davis was wearing at the time of his capture and some of the flags surrendered. The Chancellorsville site will showcase a letter written by a dying soldier, a painting depicting the last meeting between Lee and Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson and J.EB. Stuart’s personal effects. “Our big asset is this unbelievable collection,” Rawls said. “The question has been how to get it to work for itself.”

Janet Caggiano is a staff writer at the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Dave Thompson of The News & Advance contributed to this report.
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