civil war weekend

so by now you should realize how much i love history. if the civil war road trip of 2010 didn't give it away or my recent harper's ferry or my european adventures or you get the point...

so this weekend to celebrate my last one in the district i went a little national park happy! there were a few places that have been on my to-do list that are in the dc area and i kept putting them off, so it was a great weekend for me of crossing off some of my to-do list.

thursday after work i didn't have dinner plans as they were cancelled - so i went to my favorite great falls  and just relaxed along the river in my favorite spot enjoying a picnic dinner and reading. i'm so glad i found this little spot and i need to find time this week to return one more time!

so i was off friday and made plans to go to ford's theater - where lincoln was assassinated. i've walked by there so many times never going in, or when i went (of course on a weekend) there were no longer any tickets available. so it was awesome to finally go - the little museum under the theater was good on the civil war background, abe's political life in dc and of course the assassination and plot behind it. i enjoyed it and it was a great kick off to my civil war weekend! and the the actual theater - was pretty cool too. you can see plays there as well which is pretty neat!

ford's theater

now saturday was a big day! i convinced patricia to come and play history with me (and she is used to it from the kansas trip) so we headed out to western maryland for our antietam battlefield adventure. quick history note - antietam was found september 17, 1862 in sharpsburg, md and it was the bloodiest day in american history. there were 23,000 casualties (more than the revolutionary war, war of 1812 and mexican-american war together) and while it was a draw, it was a seen as a union victory for stopping the confederate advances into the north. so i had a great day learning more about the battle, walking around the different battlefields and thinking about the past and the lives and just how gruesome the civil war really was. i also had so many pictures in my head from the matthew brady/alexander gardner collections that i use when i teach so being able to picture the bloody road and trying to figure out how to explain it teaching. we had a fun day driving around to the stops, hiking and just enjoying the little mountains of western maryland. it was great to be out of dc for the day!

i love national park signs! 

the bloody road from the tower - search for pictures from antietam and the bloody road will appear

in the bloody road - this was just lined with dead bodies during the battle

patricia and i along the battlefield

some awesome re-enactors! 

monument in the antietam cemetery for federal soldiers 

but the day wasn't over yet! i've wanted to do the dc memorials at night for a while, anytime i'm in the district and i drive by at night i always want to stop. so patricia and i had an evening adventure around the monuments from fdr & tj to world war II and the washington monument, vietnam, lincoln and korea it was a gorgeous night - on the verge of rain (which finally hit when we were at korea) and it was nice to be at the monuments when they are so quiet (and for me not with 330 hs students) so it was a fabulous saturday night!

abe lincoln

world war II - this was my favorite spot at night

washington memorial

i <3 tj! 

vietnam memorial - one of my favorite photos 

saying hi to fdr!

none of my korean memorial photos came out :(

sunday i decided to head to manassas, va for the first and second battles of bull run. manassas is about 25 miles outside of dc and was the site of two civil war battles. the first being july 21,1861 and was the first battle of the civil war where my favorite general thomas jackson got his nickname "stonewall" and it was a huge loss for the union and people realized it wasn't going to be a quick war.
and then again in august 28-30th 1862 for the second battle of bull run. so i was glad i went to another place especially how close it was! but it wasn't as good as antietam - it wasn't as well marked with signs and info about the parts of battle that took place. i did a great podcast audio tour for first bull run and really enjoyed it - but the driving tour of second bull run was confusing and not that well done. but i had a great afternoon of playing history and getting to witness american history.

see i do love park signs!

first manassas battlefield

stone bridge over bull run creek - site of first skirmish in first br and was destroyed in second br

"there stands jackson like a stone wall"   i love stonewall jackson!

so that is my crazy civil war weekend! it was fabulous and i even bought a book of the civil war locations to visit for the 150th anniversary - i can't wait to complete the list. i've already been to a lot of them and i can't wait to go to more in the south! i really need to plan a trip along the mississippi to get my civil war on there!

i've got only a few days left in the district as i'm driving back up to jersey on friday! it is crazy how fast time flies!