Backyard adventures: Hearing Civil War echos

By Sarah Watson

Published: June 26, 2008

Between their battles, some Confederate soldiers whiled away the time by playing music or painting.

Others bonded through smoking tobacco. Some even helped those in their regiment learn to read and write well enough to communicate with their families back home.

How do we know this?

It’s all in the letters, diaries and countless artifacts housed at the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond.

“Everybody talks about Lee and Grant in Appomattox,” said S. Waite Rawls III, the museum’s president and CEO.

“They never mention the 60,000 to 70,000 people there. Who were they? What were they like?”

That’s the premise behind the “Between the Battles” exhibit, which, in old-fashioned museum style, shows the hobbies, pastimes and hardships hundreds of thousands confederate troops shared and endured during their enlistment. There are numerous hand-carved pipes, toys made from sticks and bones and even excerpts from letters home proclaiming newly learned writing skills.

The exhibit is but a hint of what lies within the walls of the brick building on East Clay Street in the heart of the city that was once the capital of the Confederacy.

Downstairs, the museum’s collection vaults occupy part of the basement. They are accessible for research purposes only, whether by academic scholars or re-enactors researching such things as the stitching on uniforms. Among the collection’s many unique artifacts are uniforms worn by high-ranking officers, scores of weapons and bullets, piles of 19th century china and household items, and toys.

One drawer has dolls from the era, including one whose hollow head was used to smuggle medicine through the blockade. There’s even a wall with hundreds of swords organized alphabetically by owner.

A major goal for the museum is to bring much of what is stored in that vault into public view, either through displays or interactive exhibits, Rawls said. The museum plans to expand by opening branches in Appomattox, Chancellorsville and Fort Monroe, all storied locales in Civil War history.

Until then, there’s the Richmond museum.

The first floor explains the Civil War through a chronological exhibit of dioramas and text.

The basement exhibit discusses Virginians in the war and includes a section of soldiers’ artwork. Art created during the war by soldiers was almost documentary in nature, but paintings produced after the war tell stories with drama and romance.

But before you’re done, make sure to tour the White House of the Confederacy, which is directly next door to the museum. The house is fully restored, down to the faux marble wallpaper in the foyer and the elaborate drapes in the parlors.

The level of detail is possible because Confederate President Jefferson Davis’ first lady, Varina, was still alive in 1896 when the museum opened. She visited the house several times to help with restoration as it was transformed from public school house to an archive of the Confederacy’s political epicenter.

In the nursery, where the children lived, Jefferson Davis Jr.’s working toy cannon sits on the floor. If you ask, tour guides will share stories about how the child would terrorize the neighborhood with the cannon, while wearing a miniature confederate uniform, which is now housed in the museum’s vault.

When the Davis family evacuated the house during the evacuation of Richmond, Rawls said, Varina Davis ordered her son to leave the cannon.

If you’re going
WHAT: The Museum of the Confederacy
WHERE: 1201 E. Clay St., Richmond.
WHEN: Monday- Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day, Closing at 2:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
ADMISSION: Adults: $8 for either museum or White House, $11 for both. Children 7-13: $4 for either museum or White House, $6 for both.
INFO: Call (804) 649-1861 or visit http://www.moc.org