Virginia - Day 22 - Richmond

Small Country Campground, Louisa
Friday, 22 March 2019

There were 2 very small campers in the campground last night.  One had a Washington state license plate and the brand name Little Guy.  I looked it up online but didn't find what I had seen.  It wasn't one of the teardrop types - it was much smaller than that.  It was closer to what's shown as a MyPod, but it didn't say that on the camper I saw.  This one was more like a little cocoon and looked like there was room only for 1 person, and only for that person to sit on the floor or lie down.  If I'd ever seen the owner I'd have asked about it.

The other had an Oregon license plate and was called an Arrowhead Chalet.  Their website boasts a 30-second set-up time, and I believe it.  It was pouring rain when they pulled in, and I saw the couple get out and scramble around in the rain, and almost instantly their a-frame top was set up and they were inside.  The only thing faster is my little guy, because I don't actually have to do anything at all, except maybe plug in the electric cord.  Of course, there were half a dozen huge bus-type RVs in the campground too.

today's route

We drove down to Richmond for several hours before heading to our next campground near Charlottesville.

Capitol grounds
I wasn't sure how close I could get to the capitol building itself, because I saw there were a lot of one-way streets downtown and didn't know how narrow the streets would be.  But I got lucky.  As I was driving up 9th St., I got a side view of a huge white building with lots of pillars (the Capitol) and was busy saying Wow several times when I saw an enormous glittering statue and quickly turned into what I thought was a side street to get closer.

Turned out I was turning into the capitol grounds and a uniformed officer came out to check out a vehicle that was clearly not the usual capitol visitor.  I've found many times it really helps to be an older white female because I look so unintimidating to most people and can usually elicit help.  Which was the case here.  I apologized for stumbling in where I didn't belong and told him I'd been trying to figure out how to get to the front of the capitol and was saying wow and then saw the statue and said wow several more times, and then over his shoulder I saw another amazing building and interrupted myself to say Wow again.  Here's what I was seeing.

Washington Monument

Old City Hall

Neither of these is my photo.  You can't imagine the impact of these places, even if these photos were blown up.  I think the figures on that statue are life-sized, which may give you an idea of how big it is.  Each man is labeled - George Mason, John Marshall, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry - folks like that.  And this photo doesn't really show it, but the figures gleamed in the sunlight.  The Old City Hall is in the next block to the capitol grounds and towers above the trees, just as you see here.  It's a stunning sight.

The nice officer gave me directions for how to get a good front view of the capitol, and told me to ignore the obstructions in the street when I got there.  Turns out what he meant was that the road was under construction and closed to through traffic.  But I followed instructions and did indeed get a good view.

Virginia's capitol

This is my photo, so you see I did get right in front.  It's up on a hill and must have looked far more imposing before the era of tall buildings.

Thomas Jefferson helped design it, based on the Maison Carrée in Nîmes (built about 2 AD, one of the best preserved Roman temples and in continuous use since the 11th century).

Maison Carrée

The Virginia version was built in 1785-88 and houses Virginia's General Assembly, the oldest elected legislative body in North America (originally the House of Burgesses, first meeting in 1619).

Across the street is the courthouse for the US 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

American Civil War Museum
I'd read online that this is the best one of these to go to, because it tries hard to present the viewpoints of all sides - isn't slanted for one or the other but aims instead at giving the facts.  That turns out to be true.  They charged me $10 (senior citizen price) and it was worth a great deal more than that.  I stayed 2 hours and that was time only to cover the events from the first American settlements through 1863.  I missed the entire 2nd floor, which covered the rest of the war and Reconstruction, which I really hated to miss.

There's so much information there and, despite it being our own history and me having heard almost all of it before, it still took time to comprehend how all the pieces fitted together and (my opinion) made the Civil War inevitable.  Most of the information I'm writing here is pre-war (a word that sounds more accurate to me than "antebellum").  Speaking of accuracy, the museum uses the phrase "enslaved African-Americans" or "enslaved people" rather than "slaves."  And then I realized that using the noun "slave" suggests slavery is inherent in that person, whereas the adjective "enslaved" makes clear that slavery was imposed on that person and not a part of him like eye color.

The next huge part is what I learned about the events precipitating the Civil War.  If you're not very interested, skip way down to the next part.

• In 1775, the Royal Governor of England granted freedom to all enslaved men who joined the royal forces; 300 joined what was called the "Ethiopian Regiment."  As a result, the colonists restricted slaves from gathering together, fearing insurrection.
• By 1776, all 13 colonies included enslaved people.  Also that year, the Continental Congress temporarily stopped the slave trade, aiming to shut down British trading.
• In 1778, George Washington granted freedom to all African-Americans who were willing to serve in the army.
• In 1780, an escaped slave named Col. Tye supported the British by creating the "Black Brigade" of 800 men.
• In 1783, the Virginia Assembly gave freedom to the enslaved men who served in the Continental Army.
• By the end of the war, 100,000 previously enslaved people had been killed or become fugitives.
• By 1790, 93% of the enslaved lived in the southern states.
• In 1793, Congress passed the 1st Fugitive Slave Act, which they said implemented the Constitution's Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3.  (And they were right; I had no idea it was written into the Constitution, but it was.  The 13th Amendment ended it.)
• In 1794, Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin, which increased the need for more cotton to meet the increased ability to process it.  As a result, between 1790 and 1810, the number of enslaved people doubled.

So here we are, a brand new nation, and already feelings are starting to seethe and sides are forming.

This graphic shows that before 1800 the states were already talking about "states' rights," helped along by the Sedition Act of 1798, which criminalized false statements critical of the federal government.  (Think of how that would play today.)  It not only raised the issue of freedom of speech, but also gave rise to the idea that a state could nullify an act of Congress - one of the issues involved in the Civil War.

The graphic also shows that as early as 1802, Congress agreed to appease the southern states by limiting statehood based on an applicant's position on slavery.

• As Supreme Court Chief Justice from 1801-1835, John Marshall declared that Court to have the authority to decide what the Constitution says and to enforce it.  To that end, he nullified 13 state statutes by declaring them unconstitutional.
• The 1820 Missouri Compromise: each time a slave state was granted statehood, a free state would also be admitted; and slavery would be prohibited in any territory north of 36°30', except in Missouri which was being admitted as a slave state (Maine joined at the same time as a free state).  wikipedia.org/MissouriCompromise 
• The 1825 completion of the Erie Canal allowed northern states to exert more dominance over the Midwest and Great Lakes areas than the southern states, arriving faster and in greater numbers.

There were also economic issues coming up at this time:

• An 1828 tariff on English imports was supported by New England and the western states; the South hated it because England became unable to afford to buy their cotton and threatened to look elsewhere for a supplier.
• In 1832 South Carolina voted to nullify (there's the nullification idea again) US tariffs and raise an army and secede.  Pres. Andrew Jackson said both nullification of US law and secession meant war.
• The 1833 Force Act said it was okay for the president to use the military to stop a resistance in the country.  Congress came up with a compromise tariff act to settle tempers.

By this time, the turmoil over "states' rights" and slavery had spread throughout the populace.

• In 1831, Nat Turner's Rebellion killed 60 white people in Virginia.  In response, southern states restricted education and other activities for all black people, free or enslaved.  This hardened southern attitudes.
• In 1839, arguing in favor of the mutineers of the Amistad, former president John Adams convinced the Supreme Court to free them, with the decision that, because they had been kidnapped, they were never really slaves and all human beings have the right to resist oppression.  For more details about this fascinating case, you can start here.  www.archives.gov/amistad  This case hardened northern attitudes. 
• In 1836 Congress passed a gag rule to stop discussion of slavery in the House; by 1838 abolitionists had sent them 400,000+ signatures on anti-slavery petitions.
• In 1842, the Supreme Court overturned a Pennsylvania law that said people couldn't return escaped slaves, ruling the state was interfering in a federal duty.
• In 1844 and 1845, the Methodists and Baptists respectively split over slavery into north and south divisions.  (And that's where the Southern Baptists started.)

It had never occurred to me that the California gold rush had anything to do with the Civil War, but it did.  So many people moved to California that it was able to meet the population requirement for statehood.

But California straddled the 36°30' line, yet wanted to enter as one free state.  Southerners wanted to split it into 2 and designate the southern part a slave state.

The Compromise of 1850 allowed California to enter with its present boundaries as a free state.  And it limited the boundaries of Texas to their present configuration.  And it settled several other disputes.  As with any compromise, no one was really happy.  I think it just bought time.  You may want to look at this article, if for no other reason than the interesting maps.   wikipedia.org/Compromise_of_1850 

The compromise raised economic questions once again.  

• The southern plantation owners saw the compromise as a continuing attack on their way of life, where slaves were a big financial investment.  To them, land and slaves = wealth and security and power.  They saw expanding into new territory as essential to maintain Southern growth and influence.  They claimed the Constitution guaranteed the right to own slaves.
• The northerners saw slavery as unfair job competition and didn't want slaves in the western territories.  Craftsmen and small farmers didn't like competing with wealthy slave owners for western land.  They saw limiting slavery as ending Southern dominance of US politics.
• African-Americans lived in constant fear of being sold and being split from their families.  With good reason: by 1860, more than 1.2 million had been traded in the US.  They saw the compromise as trading their freedom to preserve the Union.
• The pre-war South produced about 10% of the US's manufactured goods, but it supplied 75% of the world's cotton.
• The North's economy was diversified, which encouraged immigration because many different types of skills were needed and jobs were to be had.  The South's economy focused on agriculture and slave labor.  In 1861, 57% of South Carolina's population was enslaved, the highest percentage of any state.

In 1852, Uncle Tom's Cabin sold 400,000 copies.  Instantly, southern writers turned out 30+ books extolling the contented life that enslaved people led, compared to the terrible life of African-Americans in the north.

The 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act effectively repealed the 1820 Missouri Compromise because it allowed both states to enter the Union and decide for themselves whether they wanted to be free or slave.

And then there was the Dred Scott decision in 1857.  At this point, things really started to unravel.  This decision negated the hard-fought Compromise of 1850.  And it declared that a slave wasn't a human being, but instead was property that had no rights.

The decision was followed by the 1859 raid at Harper's Ferry by John Brown and his followers.  The north saw Brown as a martyr.  The south saw proof that they were being attacked.

The 1860 election found voters in an atmosphere of fear and distrust.  Although Lincoln hadn't campaigned on freeing slaves, the southern states believed he would.  Three days after he was elected president, the South Carolina legislature passed a resolution to declare secession.  In December, SC voted to secede.  Religious leaders said those against slavery were against Christianity.

In 1861:

• In January, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas seceded.  Union troops in SC had withdrawn to Fort Sumter and ships came in to resupply the fort.  Cadets from The Citadel fired on the ship, which retreated to New York.
• In February and March, the Confederate States of America was formed.
• April 12th, Southern soldiers attacked Ft. Sumter because it was held by a "foreign presence."
• April 15th, Lincoln called for 75,000 militia to put down the "insurrection."
• April 20th, this act pushed Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina to secede.
• SC, MS, GA and TX all issued declarations explaining why they were seceding.  All referred to Constitutional rights.  And all cited threats to slavery as the primary cause of the secession.
• In May, the CSA sent ambassadors to England and Europe expecting they would be allies; instead those countries declared neutrality, not wanting to lose trade with the North if the South wasn't able to pull this off.
• In June, the western part of Virginia declared its loyalty to the Union.  Kentucky and Missouri sent representatives to the Confederate Congress.
• In July, the first battle at Manassas showed both sides that this war wasn't going to be what they'd expected.  Both sides thought the war would last only a few months and looked on combat as a way to prove their courage.  Manassas taught them otherwise.

In August, one of Lincoln's generals thought it'd be a master stroke to free the slaves where he was.  Lincoln was livid: he'd spent months saying the war was to preserve the Union, not to free the slaves; he was afraid something like this would push the border states to the South.

Meanwhile, abolitionists had been claiming it was the Union's moral obligation to end slavery.  And African-Americans tried to fight for the Union and were told to stay out - this was a white man's war.

Also in August, Congress enacted the 1st federal income tax.

In 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.  It deprived the South of labor by giving enslaved people an incentive to escape.  It deterred England and France, both of which had abolished slavery, from helping the South.  It outraged white Northerners who thought blacks wouldn't be effective soldiers and felt betrayed because they'd been fighting to save the Union, not free the slaves.  And it confirmed the South's worst fears.

Both sides had been running into trouble recruiting enough soldiers, and both sides instituted the draft.  Those on neither side were happy.

the view from the South

the view from the North

Like I said, I only got to see the museum's first floor.  Next time I go, I want to see how the story comes out.

The drive to Louisa
A wind advisory was issued today, and I really felt the effects of it on the drive.  I chose a state route rather than the interstate, so I could see more clearly what's in this part of the state.

And what's there are lots of horses and cows and goats and a pile of hogs (literally) and chickens and some kind of fowl that I thought should be called peahens but don't look like the online photos.  I saw lots of hills and farms and scattered farmhouses and small communities.

I drove through the town of Cuckoo, which is unincorporated so doesn't have an official population (tiny), but it's the site of the Cuckoo Tavern, which I'd never heard of but has a surprising history.  The name Cuckoo, I'm told, comes from the cuckoo clock at the tavern - one of the first in the colonies.  (Not as colorful a reason as I'd hoped for.)

In 1781, the British were advancing on Charlottesville where the government had moved after Benedict Arnold attacked Richmond.  John Jouett at the Cuckoo Tavern noticed unusual British troop movements and figured out what was going on.  He grabbed his best horse and rode 40 miles on back country roads and warned Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and several signers of the Declaration of Independence, including Benjamin Harrison, preventing them from being captured.  (Wouldn't the British have loved that haul.)

I've been on the 21st century's version of those back roads, and I agree it was a real feat he accomplished.  Virginians have said ever since that Jouett's feat was just as important as Paul Revere's and the only difference was that it wasn't celebrated by as distinguished a poet as Longfellow to immortalize it.  (There's never a distinguished poet around when you need one.)