16. Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, Virginia

             Hello, and welcome back to our blog on the National Park Service.  In this post, we visit the place where the Civil War effectively came to an end, and the difficult process of reuniting the country began, at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park.

Entrance Sign

BACKGROUND:

               At the beginning of April, 1865, the Confederate States of America, which had been fighting for the previous four years to break off from the United States, teetered on the brink of destruction.  Locked in mortal combat with the Army of the Potomac lead by Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia could no longer hold the vital railroad hub of Petersburg, Virginia, which kept the Confederate capital of Richmond supplied.  With his troops starving and demoralized, Lee led his men on a desperate retreat to the west along the Appomattox River, the Union army right behind them. 

For six days, the Confederates kept one step ahead of their pursuers until reaching the small village of Appomattox Courthouse.  On the morning of April 9^th, the Confederates found their path to the nearby rail stop of Appomattox Station, where a supply train waited for them, blocked by Union forces that had managed to outpace them.  A small engagement ensued, the Confederates hoping to beat off the Union forces, but additional Unions troops arrived from two different directions.  Pressed on three sides by overwhelming Union forces, Lee called together his commanders to discuss their options.  It was agreed that further resistance was pointless and result in needless bloodshed.  Lee sent out a rider to Union lines under a flag of truce to ask General Grant to a meeting.  Grant and many of his staff headed into Appomattox for the fateful parley.

The village of Appomattox Court House

The two met at the home of Wilmer McLean, who in 1861 had moved his family away from the area of Manassas, Virginia after the first major battle of the Civil War, Bull Run, raged over his property.  The war would end in his parlor.  Grant and Lee met, engaging in a long discussion of times before the war, before finally agreeing on the terms of surrender.  Lee, who went into the meeting fearing he and many of his men would be arrested and eventually executed for treason, was shocked at Grant’s generous terms.  Rather than seeking vengeance, Grant agreed with President Lincoln’s wishes for reconciliation, and allowed the defeated Confederates to retain their horses, some officers even their weapons, only for the promise to simply go home.

The parlor of Wilmer McLean, where the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia was signed.

Three days later a formal surrender was held.  As Confederates marched past the victorious Union soldiers, one of the Union commanders, Joshua Chamberlain, suddenly ordered his men to salute.  In response, a stunned Confederate General, John B. Gordon ordered his men to return it, a small gesture of respect on the road to reconciliation.  The Confederates then stacked their muskets, rolled up their flags, and went home.

While other Confederate forces remained in the field, total capitulation was now only a matter of time.  The last battle of the Civil War was fought in May, ironically a Confederate victory, with the last foot soldiers surrendering in June (a rogue Confederate ship not surrendering until November), the Civil War was effectively over.

THE PARK:

Located a little over ninety miles west of Richmond, the village of Appomattox Court House would undergo few changes over the years, remaining almost a time capsule of 1865.  The McLean house where the surrender was signed suffered several indignities, the first of which was the theft of the furniture in the McLean parlor by Union officers as souvenirs.  Fortunately, the furniture made its way into the safekeeping of the Smithsonian, but the McLean house was not as lucky, being dismantled in the 1890s as part of a plan to move it Washington D.C., but it instead lay in a jumbled pile until being reassembled in the 1930s after the remains of the village were given over to the National Park Service.

The exterior of the McLean house.

The current established park covers a large area surrounding the small village around the historical Appomattox Court House that preserves the village and the final battlefields.  The village is today completely uninhabited and all buildings are preserved by the National Park Service in order to keep the village as close as possible to its 1865 appearance.  The village lies along the remnants of the Richmond-Lynchburg Stage Road, which was converted to Route 24 and whose modern course now curves around the village.  It was along this stage Road that the Confederates marched during the surrender ceremony on April 12^th.  The epicenter of the park is the village itself, centered on the historic court house, which is now the visitor center and houses a short film and several exhibits.  Directly across from the court house is the McLean house, where the surrender was signed.  The house has been restored to its 1865 appearance and is fully open to the public.  Several other buildings in the historic village house exhibits on daily life in the village and the legacy of the Civil War.  The kitchen to the town tavern is now the park bookstore and gift shop.  There are only a handful of monuments on the grounds, unlike most Civil War battlefields, and just west of town is a small cemetery holding the remains of eighteen Confederate and one Union soldiers who fell in the final engagement.

The small cemetery at Appomattox.

TRAVEL TIPS:

               Appomattox Court House National Historical Park is open year-round from 9am to 5pm, with certain holiday exceptions.  While open in the winter, it is generally recommended to visit the park in Spring or Summer to witness conditions similar to those at the time of the surrender, and also to easily walk the grounds.  The McLean house is open at all times for self-guided tours, although a Ranger or Volunteer will be present in the house.  The rest of the village is also open to self-guided tours, with Ranger programs available at scheduled times.  Reenactors and living history interpreters are also a common sight.  Handicapped accessibility at the park, particularly in the historic structures, is limited.  Passport stamps can be found at the bookstore.

The titular Appomattox Court House, which now serves as the visitor center.

               We hope you enjoyed this brief summary of Appomattox Court House National Historical Park.  For our next post, we will be visiting the birthplace of a President, John F. Kennedy National Historic Site.

PERSONAL NOTE:
               Visiting Appomattox National Historical Park was of special significance for us.  A relation of one of the authors served as a Private in the Union Army, Co. K 158th New York Infantry, XXIV Corps, Army of the James, one of the units deployed during the final skirmish at Appomattox Court House, and was likely a witness to the momentous events of April 9th, 1865.

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:

The original furniture from the McLean parlor, which was stolen by Union officers following the surrender, now on display at the Smithsonian Institution.

The dining room of the restored McLean house

The former Richmond-Lynchburg Stage Road, along which the Confederate army marched during the formal surrender.

The spot along the Richmond-Lynchburg Stage Road purported to be the location of the salute between Chamberlain and Gordon during the formal surrender.

A location nearby the above photo marking the spot of a second meeting between Lee and Grant the day after the surrender to discuss additional terms

A second view of a portion of the village.

Taken from a spot near the small cemetery, the treeline is  approximate location of where Union reinforcements arrived during the Battle of Appomattox Court House.  The appearance of these fresh Union troops  essentially ended the battle.  The regiment of which the author's relative belonged to would have deployed toward the right side of the photo along the treeline.

15. Flight 93 National Memorial, Pennsylvania

               Hello and welcome back to our blog on the National Park Service.  In this post, we will be visiting a memorial to a moment of heroism and tragedy, the Flight 93 National Memorial.

The visitor center entrance sign.

BACKGROUND:

               On September 11^th, 2001, a group of jihadists hijacked four commercial aircraft with the intent on using them in suicide attacks on the United States.  Two struck the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, the third hitting the Defense Department Headquarters at the Pentagon outside Washington D.C., causing massive casualties.  Aboard the fourth aircraft, designated Flight 93, however, passengers were able to learn of the other attacks and attempted to take back the plane.  As the passengers stormed the cockpit, the jihadists dived the plane into the ground in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

The boulder marking the crash site of Flight 93.

THE MEMORIAL:

               Shortly after the attacks of September 11^th, 2001, representatives from the state of Pennsylvania pushed a bill through Congress establishing a National Memorial under the auspices of the National Park Service.  Over the course of the next decade, the land surrounding the crash site was acquired and a memorial complex were constructed.

The memorial plaza and crash site as seen from an overlook at the visitor center.

               The Flight 93 National Memorial as seen as of this writing is incomplete.  At present, the memorial consists of a visitor center complex atop a hill overlooking the crash site.  From the visitor center, a circular drive and a walkway which will be lined with groves of trees leads to the memorial plaza at the base of the hill near the crash site.  At the plaza, a marble Wall of Names records the passengers aboard the flight.  A boulder nearby marks the point of impact.  A large tract of land serves to provide a buffer for the memorial from land development, and a structure called the Tower of Voices holding forty wind chimes has yet to be constructed.

 

The memorial plaza.

TRAVEL TIPS:

               The Flight 93 National Memorial is located in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, roughly twenty to twenty-five minutes away from the Pennsylvania Turnpike and the county seat of Somerset.  The memorial is open year-round with holiday exceptions from 9am to 5pm.  There is no entry fee and the visitor center and memorial plaza are both handicapped accessible.  The visitor center contains exhibits on the September 11^th attacks and artifacts.  Passport stamps are found at the front desk.  Memorial services are held annually on September 11^th.  Visitors are asked to remember to conduct themselves respectfully at the memorial.