The American Civil War is sometimes called the War Between the States, the War of Rebellion, or the War for Southern Independence. It began on April 12, 1861 in Charleston, South Carolina, when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter and ended on May 26, 1865, when the last Confederate army surrendered. The war took more than 600,000 lives, destroyed property valued at $5 billion, preserved the union, ultimately led to freedom for 4 million black slaves, and opened wounds that have not yet completely healed more than 140 years later.
Join us as we explore one of the famous campaigns of that war, the Peninsula Campaign, conducted between March and July 1862 in which the Union attempted to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. We will walk the ramparts of Fort Monroe and the actual battlefields along the Warwick River and in Williamsburg as we bring the battles into clear focus and you will decide who won and who lost this bloody albeit indecisive campaign.
Day 1
8:30am Depart for Hampton, VA with your Colonial Connections Guide
9:30am-11:30am Guided tour of Fort Monroe See where the campaign started. Visit the Casemate Museum, walk the ramparts, see where Jefferson Davis was imprisoned at the end of the war and where Lt. Robert E. Lee was billeted. See the beautiful Chapel of the Centurions with its Tiffany stained glass windows and the Lincoln Gun, a cannon of massive proportions, all while learning the Fort’s fascinating history as well as its present use as the home of TRADOC - The US Army’s Training and Doctrine Command.
11:30am Depart for Newport News, VA
12:00pm Boxed lunch at Newport News Park
12:30pm-2:00pm Explore the Warwick Line This afternoon we’ll cross a bridge into history and explore Dam 1 along the Warwick River where we’ll walk through Confederate earthworks and learn how General Magruder fooled General McClellan and extended the Civil War for over two years.
2:15pm Depart for Williamsburg
2:30pm Visit Redoubt Park and Fort Magruder. At redoubts one and six and the Bloody Ravine, we’ll observe how a spirited defense delayed a numerically superior army and allowed the Confederate troops to retreat to an area around Richmond. Once the retreat was complete, General Robert E. Lee took command and repulsed McClellan’s Army of the Potomac and kept the Confederate Capital from falling into “Yankee” hands.
8:30am