Rest in Peace

Tuesday Apr. 24th. We do the Indian Museum with a great cafeteria with
regional food from all of the Americas. Metro back to our B&B for luggage and then
on to Reagan Airport. We see the Pentagon, Air Force Memorial and lastly Robert
E. Lee's mansion at Arlington from our window. AA Flight to Chicago has an
early arrival. Flight to John Wayne 1.5 hour late departure. Passengers are all on
board "No crew". Major air turbulence along the way. Pilot says we can't fly
above it nor below it. So hang on till Denver! We aren't even sure we are going
to beat the 11pm curfew for commercial landings. We land with 13 minutes to
spare...Phew!
All in all, a great adventure. A tour not for the meek. Lots of pix's
along the way. Hopefully you followed along on this blog. I think the only thing
you missed was the taste of the fried foods.
Thanks to Eric R. our blogmaster, who worked diligently to get this out on
time. Mike P. our navigator. Ed, our Provisions officer and Bob E. Commissary and
Commentator for unbiased reporting.
Signing off till next time... Teamster Mike R.
Well we made it home. Just under the O.C. wire of a 11pm landing. Here are some images of our last days in DC.

We have now gotten rid of our haversacks and have put down the last bite of
hardtack. Staying at the very nice Kolorama House near Dupont Circle. Eric and I
continue on in DC:
On Monday Apr 23rd, we visit Congressmans Gary Miller's office in the
Rayburn building (sorry he wasn't in) and proceed with ten other Californians,
under the direction of Megan McCormick, to visit the US Capitol bldg. and the
House of Reps chamber. Great tour was given followed by snacks. Even rode the
congressional subway. The Representative of the 42nd District is a CW buff. His
office is full of books on the subject. With our acquired first hand knowledge we
would had a great discussion.
On the west lawn we see a Battalion sized US Army unit in camo. Is it a
military coup? No, just a bunch of E-6s and above re-upping for another tour. All
volunteer photo op!
We attempt to now visit the new Smithsonian Indian Museum but alas a power
failure has closed it for the day. Will try tomorrow morning. Lunch at the Air and
Space was maginal. We finally get a snack at the Castle on the Mall and catch a
selection of Buddha and wouldn’t ya know it, a show on the Clash of Empires
the French & Indian War. We do a one last night time walking trip around the
monuments on the Mall. Vietnam, WWII, Washington and Lincoln. Its always better
at night!
Say goodnight Gracie..


Running D.C. – CLICK 4 SHOW

Remember you can make prints from this link




To be continued...

March On Washington

The March On Washington: By Mike Reed
Dateline Washington DC Sunday the 22nd
Temps in the mid 80s… Hey.. Whats going on here? Should be 69 degrees. Ed leaves today for home so we said our goodbys last night. Thanks Ed! Eric and Pop take the 0830 Spirit of Mount Vernon for a 6.5 hour cruise and tour of GW’s home. The cab ride to the wharf is $12.50. Calling cabbie on my cell to return with Erics cell twenty minutes later “Priceless”. But we make the sailing. The boat is filled with middle school kids from NC. The ship holds 700. I weep for the future!
We tour the grounds mostly. But spent quality time in the new museum. They have done full tableaus with GW at 19, 40, 60. His likeness is the most accurate yet with extensive research done. The History Channel had a special on this one. We were treated to real snow falling at Valley Forge and cannon smoke and explosions in a state of the art multi-media theatre. Hope they do this at Gettysburg! We see a baby sleep thru it! We also witness a DAR childrens wreath laying ceremony at GW and Martha’s tomb. New Jersey Chapter. About 200 paticipants dressed up with medals and ribbons, gloves and hats. Shades of Ascot. We leave at 130 with a stress free sail back to the Capitol. Nice views.. The kids have left by bus. Now the March begins, along the harbor thru the fishmarket, past the JP Jones monument, up to the new WWII Memorial. Well done! On across the Mall to the Executive Mansion. 360 degree walk about. Its now 5pm We stop in at a bar across from the WH. And are soon joined by 26 teams of a kick ball tournament participants from the Mall. Xchange sports bar is their sponsor. 20 tables of young Washingtonians chugging beer within site of the White House. OH the humanity!! Eric got treated to a free one from the owner for meritorious service by saving and an overflowing pitcher at the tap. The team shirts were colorful. We then march up Pennsylvania Ave. and take photos of the question mark suit guy that I have seen on TV. Name aludes us. After inquiring at the Warner theatre if all the George Carlin tickets are taken. We take the Metro back to the B&B
and crash early. Before 11. Tomorrow will be another day!


Happy Earth Day!!

March On Washington– CLICK 4 SHOW

Potomac Blues

Manassas DC Smithsonian Emitsburg – CLICK 4 SHOW

By Mike Reed
Due to the close down of the time warp continuem for Brother Bob E. and his return to present day CA. along with Brother Mike P. We start the day Saturday on the fields of Gettysburg PA. with a new scribe and a flat LR tire on the wagon.
Avis summons “Dicks Tow” from somewhere on the Mason Dixon Line (at least that’s what his cap said) so I knew he it would be alright. We would complete the journey on a small donut tire. (not very manley) Nothing specific was found but rumor spread that we took a Minnie Ball near Little Round Top with the 20TH Maine. A new itinery had developed with the closing in for the Dulles drop off. So we completed our last battlefield that actually was the first major engagement at Bull Run or Manassas. There were two battles here a year apart 1862 and 63 with both losses for the Union. Some Re-enactors were present here (Rebs) from the 14th Tennessee. They had come from TN. To participate with 370. Never returned home and stayed for all the major fighting in the east. After Longstreet’s Assalt (preferred over) Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg, They had three men left. Manassas is where Thomas Jackson got the name Stonewall! The day was a warm one. After about an hour and a movie (one of the nicer visitor centers) we proceeded to the new Air and Space Museum at Dulles. Three and a half hours later we emerged after seeing the Enterprise Space Shuttle, a retired Concorde, the Enola Gay. numerous fighters, space stuff, hang gliders and craft of every description. Everything that doesn’t fit at Air and Space in the Smithsonian on the Mall in DC. This place opened after 2003 and is huge and most excellent. What a way to bring us out of the past and back to the future. We experience separation axienty by saying goodby to our comrades in arms at the airport and return our Chev uplander in at Reagan national.
We now experience the DC Metro. Going to our lodging near Dupont Circle. We emeged with helicopter coverage and sirens wailing. It’s the George W. motorcade on Conneticut Ave. going to the Washington DC Press Dinner at the Hilton. This is the event of the spring and everyone is going to be at this one. So, after our dinner at Anna Maria’s Italian Restaurant with (a 1 minute wait, a window seat and excellent food), we return to witness the dinner exiting. A List of celebrity sightings follows: Adriana Huffington with escort Jeffrey Katzenberg, Leslie Stahl of 60 Minutes, CA. Jerry Brown. We said Hi! Californians here… Former Senator and actor Fred Thompson, Steve Forbes of Flat Tax fame (took photo) Bill Plant and of course Kathie Courick. Numerous faces that will now take weeks to remember and analyze, Ho-Hum. We climb into bed after midnight with memories of how our tax dollars are being spent. This is Washington!



As usual its is very late at night on the east coast for posting this. The Prez just finnished speaking at the hotel a coupple of blocks from mine in D.C.

The Crown Jewel

Gettysburg – CLICK 4 SHOW
Gettysburg Battlefield at Sunset– CLICK 4 SHOW


What a beautiful day in southeastern Pennsylvania. Blue skies, clear, an occasional breath of wind, 65 – 70 degrees. We had arrived in Gettysburg last night, late as has become our custom. After breakfast, out first order of business was to get to the visitors center and arrange to have a guided car tour of the battlefield. We had the pleasure of meeting with Truman our guide whose melodic radio voice lulled us with stories of the battle. He was a font on knowledge on all things Gettysburg and volunteered many facts that one does not think of from our view here in the twenty first century. It had been a hot and humid early July when the battle took place. Lee was again in the North taking the war to the citizens of his enemy. Meade, the Union commander, had been appointed to lead the Army of the Potomac a mere three days prior to the start of the battle. The battle started as the confederates were foraging for shoes for their troops. Lead cavalry led by Buford happened on them just north of town. For three days the battle raged. By the end there were 51,000 casualties, dead and wounded the largest and bloodiest battle of the war.

Truman put the carnage into the plainest of terms. Not only were there thousand of men killed (only one citizen of Gettysburg was killed) there were 3 to 5 thousand horses killed, unknown number of farm animals killed and the 160,000 men in both armies had no indoor plumbing to assist them in hygiene. A week after the battle the smell was noticed 45 miles away in Maryland. It was several months before all the bodies had been found and buried.

We visited the sites at Little Round Top. Confederate soldiers attacked entrenched union soldiers on the crest of the hill through boulders, undergrowth and tree stumps up about 200 yards of a 30-degree face of the hill. Pictures do not do it justice. They almost won only to have the 20th Maine under Chamberlain do his famous swinging gate maneuver and save the day. You really have to be here to appreciate the bravery of both the defenders and attackers on the field. The story has it that Longstreet, the confederate II Corps commander could not say the words when he directed his men to attack the Union on the third day of the battle so sure he was sending the men to their deaths. He merely averted his eyes and nodded his head. The Union general in charge of the artillery said that when he fired the guns at the approaching rebels point blank, all he could see through the smoke was pieces of equipment clothing and people flying above the smoke. Of the 5000 men in Pickett’s charge that day only 1000 were left the next day.

Gettysburg was a Union victory from which the confederates never recovered. Lee was never able to mount an offensive after that and was effectively on the run until Appomattox 2 years later.

We also had time to grab a tour of the Eisenhower farm, which is just outside the boundary of the battlefield park. (It was in the battlefield in 1863. Ike retired here in 1960 after his presidential terms to the life of a farmer trying to raise show Angus cattle and restore a farm to a profit. The farm is on rolling hills and is a picture of pastoral bliss. A large barn next to the white farmhouse speaks of times gone by. The house itself was a slice of the 1950’s brought into our times and those of us who lived through the 50’s and 60’s saw a picture of our own lives in the furniture, knick knacks, TV, radio, even a 60’s answer machine for the telephone. The overriding picture we had of Ike after a visit to his private house was one of a new appreciation of what a genuine and simple person he must have been. As powerful as he was he seemed a down to earth guy after all.

Four States

Harper’s Ferry and Antietam– CLICK 4 SHOW

Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and PA.

I was not able to place an entry for yesterdays activities at Fredricksburg and Chancellorville, both of which were shocking, revealing, tragic, pick your description, but due to circumstances beyond our control, we did not get into the hotel until after 12 midnight. Eric competently subbed in and now on to our travels today.

We have been taking tours at the various locations where we have visited and you can imagine our interactions with the guides. None of us are particularly shy about asking questions. They range from asking probing questions on the proper placement of troop formations to vital questions as to a good place for lunch. A few of the off the wall factoids we have heard from our guides are the roots of various sayings. For example, while at Lee’s chapel the guide mentioned that the portrait of Washington was painted with out hands showing and above the knee. She asked us if we knew why. The silence was deafening so she said that hands and legs were difficult to paint and so such paintings were extremely expensive. Thus the saying that “it will cost you an arm and a leg”. At Agecroft house the guide was particularly adept at sayings. Did you know that knights of old who were not of fine character owned the cheap amour known as chain mail. It had to be painted black to avoid rust. They made a habit of extorting money from villagers and thus the saying “blackmail” Or that the lord of the manner sat in the only chair at the dinner table. A table in those days was a board which has translated to us as “Chairman of the Board”. And you all thought that this was a civil war tour!

Today we traveled to two battle sites, Harpers Ferry and Antitam. Harper’s Ferry is a town at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers and as such was a crossroads. Roads, rivers and rail all converged on the location. It was also the site of the Union’s sole location for the manufacturing of muskets and had about 100,000 rifles in the city. Lee, seeing such a prize and wanting to take the battle to the north invaded Maryland at this point. Harper’s Ferry and Antitam are only 10 to 12 miles apart and while Lee sped past it to points north he left his friend Stonewall Jackson to take the town (by the way, Stonewall had a brother in the army who was not as competent a General as he. His nicknamed Mud Wall, No Lie!). The topography of the river valley made Harper’s Ferry almost impossible to defend and it fell in a short time with thousand of Union prisoner taken. Such were the times that Jackson made the Union soldiers promise that they would not fight against his army until properly exchanged for confederate soldiers and let them go. Believe it or not the soldiers left and went home until the proper paperwork came through. The union position at Harpers Ferry was so poor that Jackson himself said that he would rather attack Harpers Ferry 40 times than defend it once.

We drove to Antitam which is a nearly perfectly preserved battle site left as it was in the Civil War days. Some of our other sites have had modern towns on part of the battlefield or the trees have returned to obscure what in those days was an open view. It also is a relatively small battle site that you can see from an observation tower. When Lee left Jackson at Harper’s Ferry, he found himself very vulnerable to attack which the union general McClellan took advantage of. Antitam is a place just outside of Sparksburg on Antitam Creek. The battle took place between Lee’s 27000 men and McClellan’s 87,000. Out numbered 3 to one, Lee fought McClellan to a draw but at the incredible cost of 27000 casualties in just 12 hours of fighting. Entire companies were killed to the man. Charge after charge was made (by the confederates this time) into cannons shooting what was known a canister… nails, bolts, chain, at point blank range. It was said that the men were cut down as wheat or corn by a scythe In one battle at the bridge in our pictures, 500 Georgians held off 20000 men of Burnside’s group as they crossed the stream. The battle was the worst one-day loss for the entire war.

Tomorrow we are off the Holy Grail of all civil war battles, Gettysburg.

The Longest March

Richmond Capitol of the Confederacy, Agecroft House of 1460, Fredrickburg– CLICK 4 SHOW

Richmond was much like any larger city you would expect. Although it was a nations capitol, briefly. The history we explored included seeing the Confederate States of America’s capitol building. We had intended to spend this morning at the Museum of the Confederacy but they were closed, go figure. So breakfast at about the only downtown eats was a New Orleans spot Very good and chicory coffee. We got plenty of exercise running about the city. Took a look at the new and old city halls and got a good view form the 19th story. One last stop in Richmond was to visit Agecroft Hall. This house was built in the 1400s and was sold to an American tobacco tycoon for $19,000. He had it shipped and reassembled here in 1928 for $250,000. All the floors creaked as you would expect and it was a nice break from the 1860s. The rest of the day was spent at Fredericksburg, Va. Two different battles took place over this burg. The town of 5000 (a quarter of them slaves) was demolished in the fighting. We finished the day at Chancellorsville down the road with a driving tour making a lot of stops and reading a lot of signs. This battle was difficult for us to get our heads around because of its complexity. Topping off our marathon day of about 200 miles and 10 hours with out a meal was a flub on hotel reservations resulting on a commute an extra 45 miles north to a hotel with rooms in Windsor, Va.

Safe in Richmond

I thought that many of you might be interested in how we are traveling. Mike and Eric rented a car when they arrived in Savannah, a six passenger mini van, without rear video I might add. Mom and Dad, known to you as Mike Reed and Mike Parsons, always sit in the front because Mike Reed is the only one who the rental car company will allow to drive and Mike Parsons is performing the vital task of keeping Reed pointed in the right direction, no easy task at times. As Parsons pours over maps up front, the rest of us trade places in the back, looking out the windows at the passing scenery, counting license plates, playing twenty questions, and passing the time. I have been reading out loud from the various books that we brought along describing the next stop on our journey so that when we get there we’ll have some idea of where we are.

I mention this traveling arrangement so that blame can be assigned for the incident which started our day today. As you can imagine, each day we try to put twenty pounds in a ten pound bag, cramming as much as we can into our time. So we don’t have a lot of time for “incidents” Well, as we loaded up with Mom and Dad in front, the rest of us in back, the engine stalled. One quick check if the instrument panel showed an arrow pointed firmly at the “E” of the gas gauge. Reed had run us out of gas the night before! Actually, in defense of Mike, we were parked nose down on a slight hill so that what little gas remained in the car was not where the fuel pick up tube was. That said, who do you think has to bail us out of the situation. That’s right, kids and mom to the front of the car, all together now, PUSH! Up hill! A little more now! Feel the Burn!! Once we got it to flat ground the motor started, we all scrambled into the car and made fast to the nearest station to refuel and we were on our way.

Today was a return to the Civil War. Lexington, the town in which we were staying, is the Home to VMI, Virginia Military Academy, the home of Thomas Stonewall Jackson, and final resting place of Robert E Lee. It is also the home of Washington and Lee University to where Washington gave a large amount of money in the 1780’s and where Lee spent his last days as University president. Some pictures of the campus are posted, very pretty place. When Lee arrived at the school after the war there was no meeting hall so he had constructed a chapel in which he could meet with all the students as a group. He also threw out all the rules in the rulebook and kept just one; all students must act like a gentleman. To this day they are require to greet each other when they pass with a good morning in honor of Lee.

The Chapel has a very valuable painting of George Washington, one that you have all seen, the only image we have of him as a younger man in military dress (about age forty) painted by Peale in 1770. It had belonged to RL Lee since he idolized Washington. There is also the portrait of Lee himself that all of you have also seen positioned near by. Both are magnificent paintings. Most of the Lee’s are buried here even Traveler his horse.

We spent a small amount of time at VMI visiting their museum and got on the road to Appomattox. We traveled there on the old Lexington turnpike through the Blue Ridge Mountains following the same route that travelers used in those days. The Blue Ridge is a series on low mountains not much higher than the Santa Monica range back home but heavily forested and giving striking views of Virginia to the east. In the rolling fields of Appomattox Court House, a stagecoach stop on the old road to Lexington, Grant finally caught up with Lee, surrounded him on three sides with north his only escape and without rations and ammunition, Lee sued for peace and laid down the arms of the Army of Northern Virginia. The site has been well preserved since form the beginning, people recognized the events as worth preserving. The Courthouse is here along with nine of the original buildings that made up the settlement. Of course there is the McLean home where the document was signed surrendering the Army and where Grant started the healing process with his generous terms of surrender. We were here on a beautiful spring day almost 142 years to the day of the surrender.
A little sidelight…. McLean as many of you know moved to this house in 1862 after his original home became the site of the first battle of the war at Bull Run. He had wanted to escape the war and moved to this hamlet thinking that the armies would never think to come there. As it turned out the war ended in his parlor. After the war, like many southerners he fell on hard times and was desperate enough to want to go and work in Washington in a government job. Government jobs in those days were given out to petitioners directly from the president and when Grant became president in 1868 McLean reminded the new president of the minor role he had played in ending the war. Grant remembered and gave him a job in the patent office.

We traveled to our next stop the Battle site of Petersburg 22 miles from Richmond the then capital of the Confederacy. Grant tried in 1864 to capture Richmond but was defeated by Lee at Cold Harbor. Instead of a frontal attack on Richmond again, Grant decided to go for the rail center of Petersburg where 5 rail lines fed into the Richmond area. He reckoned that He would be able to cut off the supplies to the capital and force its surrender. Hesitation by his field commanders led to a partial victory by the Union and when Lee reinforced both sides settled into another first for the Civil war, Trench warfare. Both sides threw up earth works and dug trenches so that it was very difficult for the other side to attack.

The Battlefield is not the same as it was in those days. Forests blanket the area that once was denuded of anything green. Where trees stand were open fields that were covered by crossing fields of fire. All the new weapons were in the field, accurate muskets, mortars (one named the Dictator) breech loading rifled cannons with a range of 6 miles. All these combined to make it impossible to live in the area between the forts. This is the battle where the union dug a tunnel beneath the rebel lines packed it full of black powder and blew it up. Known as the battle of the crater you might think that the union was able to use this to its advantage. Not to be so. Grant had originally assigned a group of African American Solders to lead the attack through the gap created by the explosion. And they had trained well for the task. But because he was afraid that casualties would be heavy and he did not want to be seen as a butcher of freed slaves, he assigned another white division to the job. Instead of charging around the hole created by the explosion they charged into it and became sitting ducks for the rebels on either side. Thousands were killed or wounded as they struggled in the crater their bodies nearly filling it by the end of the battle. The hole is still there in a green field bordered by a beautiful stand of forest.

VMI –The Courthouse at Appomattox – The Battle of Petersburg– CLICK 4 SHOW

President's Day

Jefferson’s Monticello and James Madison’s Montpelier– CLICK 4 SHOW

James Monroe’s Ash Lawn– CLICK 4 SHOW

Had a great tour of about 200 miles covering three U.S.President's residents in northern Virginia today.

Observations by Bob Engler

Monday finds us shifting gears a bit. This started out as a Civil
war excursion but circumstances have forced onto a different tack.
The storm that many of you may have heard about that swept across the
country in the last few days has finally caught up to us and we
adjusted our planned outdoor excursions with some that were more
indoor. This storm has some rain but the real exciting part of it
has been the cold temperatures (38 - 50) and winds up to 60 MPH. We
did not want to park under any trees, much less walk in the fields and
forest of a battle field. In fact as we traveled today we saw many
trees which were spilt from crown to ground, blown over, or sheared
of major limbs. So we decided to step back in time and explore the
roots of the Civil War by visiting the homes of three founding
fathers all Virginians and all slave owners. As Mike Reed says we
are observing a new President's Day!

We started with a visit to Monticello, the home of our 3rd president,
Thomas Jefferson. What a wonderful house, grounds well planned and
cared for, the house designed by Jefferson himself with many
innovations and inventions that were copied all throughout the new
nation, and of course the knowledge that the great man had actually
gazed upon the same trees that we now saw and looked at the same
vista that we enjoyed. From up on top of Montecello (Little Hill) we
could see at least 30 miles to the east and back to the blue ridge
mountains to the west. The trees still stripped bare from winter are
beginning to leaf out with the dogwoods and eastern red bud trees in
full bloom, shades of yellow, white, and red everywhere to be seen.
In honor of Washington, Jefferson planted cherry trees that were
loaded with blossoms of pink to light red. Throughout the grounds
hundreds of tulips were at the peak of their bloom. Another week we
would have missed it. There was a poplar tree near the house that
was the biggest poplar any of us had ever seen, at least 25 feet in
circumfrance. The house itself was in a state of perfect
preservation such that a couple of our crew was chastized by the tour
guide for first snapping a few photos (Verbotin) and then brushing up
against a wall accidentally! They are very protected of Mr
Jefferson's things.

Jefferson was a complex and brilliant man. Some say he was a
politician not above dirty tricks, a slave owner who opposed slavery
but who fathered at least 2 children with one of his house servants.
Then again, he was an architect, designer, builder, plantation owner,
scientist, botanist, meteorologist, and played the violin. And oh by
the way, President eight years, vice president, ambassador to
France , founder of the democratic party, bought half the present
United states from France and in his spare time wrote the Declaration
of Independent and 19 thousand letters to his friends. No wonder his
face is carved into a mountain in the Dakotas.

Trying to stay in period we then went to eat at an 1784 inn named
Michie Tavern where we dined family style on authentic food from the
Revolutionary War period. Fried chicken, cabbage salad, black eyed
peas, tomatoes bisque mixed with biscuits (surprisingly good) topped
off with a peach cobbler. We need to keep up our strength after
all.....

From there we went to our 5th president,s house, James Monroe. The
difference was remarkable. Jefferson was a wealthy planter. Monroe
was not. The house was 6 rooms, out buildings for the slaves and
other workers but not on the scale with Jefferson. As it turned out
Monroe owned the house for 19 years but only spent a total of 4 years
in it total. Jefferson spent the last 15 years of his life
perfecting Monticello. We know Monroe best for his "Doctrine" which
warned European power to stay out of the western hemisphere, quite a
challenge since it was only three years since the British had last
visited, burned the White House and most of Washington DC down around
it. But he had been involved in the birth of the nation, fighting
alongside Washington in the war. Remember the picture of Washington
Crossing the Deleware. Guess who is the guy standing next to
Washington in the boat. Our man, Monroe.

We Then Drove about 30 miles to our next president, good old number 4
James Madison. He and his wife Dolly lived in a beautiful home on a
large plantation so nice that the DuPont family later bought it for
their horse ranch. Huge grounds with two to three full sized horse
race tracks on it, Steeple chase courses that host the primier
american cross country horse race each year to this day. The house
was redone by the Du Ponts and is now in the process of being
returned to what it looked like in Madison's time. It is a
construction site where we were allowed to tour inside the partially
demolished house seeing how it was built and seeing many of the
features that Madison's friend, Jefferson, built into the design.
You see, Madison, Monroe , and Jefferson were all neighbors and were
friends as well. Literally, when Madison needed some nails for his
house, Jefferson sent over a few boxes! The same worker hung the
windows in both houses. It was easy to imagine them talking about
how the construction was going on afternoon get-togethers.

The Sad thing about all this presidents is that they all had slaves
and the all knew that the institution of slavery was wrong on many
levels. They all looked for an answer to their problem but none of
them could come up with a solution. It was Jefferson who predicted
in 1820 that the country would not be able to survive unless a
solution was found and 'that thing' would come to a head in the next
generation. He was right.

Back to the Civil war tomorrow


Author and retired Redondo Beach Fire Chief, Bob Engler -Observing from the ground.

Chasing Rain

Today we drove across 300 miles from South Carolina, through North Carolina with a brief stop for lunch at a Cracker Barrel and into Virgina. Luckly, we were just west of the bulk of the "nor-easter" you may have seen on the news/weather. We did get some rain but not what everyone else got. We are in a historic governors home in Lexington Virginia. Took a brief walk in the rain to see some of Washington and Lee University.

Lexington Virginia– CLICK 4 SHOW

Bob's Observations

By Bob Engler

Saturday morning broke sunny and warm, a beautiful Southern day in April. We had planned a leisurely get away with a 1020 reservation to see the H.L. Hunley, another of the first that the American Civil war spawned. For those who do not know the story, the Hunley was a desperate attempt by the South to break the blockade imposed by the North on their ports and economy. At Charleston, there were 25 war ships at anchor off the mouth of the port effectively sealing the port with guns that were effective at 3 miles giving a 75-mile blockade of all commerce. The South could not attack this force in a frontal assault so they turned to the Hunley as a way to sneaking undetected to the ships and breaking the blockade one ship at a time. Thus the Hunley was the first submersible ship to successfully attack another vessel in the history of the world. Unfortunately the Hunley itself did not survive the attack and has only recently been found and returned to the shore.

The Hunley is now located in a navy shipyard in a non-descript industrial building. We embarrassed ourselves by walking up to the wrong door only to be directed to the door with the 4X5 sign “ Hunley Tours Start Here” just around the corner. The Hunley is in the process of restoration so this temporary home is a working laboratory intent on learning as much about the technology of the boat and the lives of the crew who sailed her but once on a mission. What brave men they must have been. You have to remember that this boat was cobbled together from spare part found in a railroad boiler shop where they literally took two train engine boilers and riveted them together, then, attached a bow and a stern to it . That is not to say that this boat was not a marvel in engineering. It had a foot operated ballast pump to pump water in and out of the fore and aft ballast tanks to allow it to dive and surface. It used a human powered hand crank to turn a 3’ 3 bladed screw to reach a top speed of 4 MPH. It even used blow planes to help dive and surface the boat. All never used before and invented on the spot. Dangerous and untried technology. The day that the crew went on its mission they all knew that this boat had already sunk twice killing part of former crews. General Beauregard who ordered the attack was so worried about the craft that he forbade it from actually diving below the surface!

I sat in the replica of the boat and pretended that I was a crewmember. I can attest that none of the crew could have been claustrophobic since I at six feet tall could not sit straight up in the 64 “ diameter tube that was the crews work station. The only way to sit in the boat was to be hunched over the crank. I can only imagine the pain after an hour or two of providing the horsepower for this machine. The investigators know quit a lot about the crew. When the Hunley was raised, they found the access hatches latched from the inside and all the crew still at their posts, skeletons stilled hunched over the cranks. In the visitor center forensic artist have created likenesses of the crew who gaze out on us today. The crew was a cross section of the South in those times, immigrants, farmers, and aristocrats. The tallest was about my size the smallest about 5’ 7”. I was touched by the artifacts that were found with some of them. One of the crew was found with a Union soldier’s ID tag suspended from his neck bones and positioned on his back as you might expect form a man who was hunched over working and did not want a swinging medallion getting in his way. Why he was wearing a Union soldier’s medallion is a mystery. Lt Dixon, the commander, was the most touching. He was found with three items of note. One was a $20 dollar gold piece, which had saved his life by stopping a bullet in a prior battle. It still bore the imprint of the slug and when they examined it closely found traces of lead imbedded in the gold. He also carried two pieces of gold women’s jewelry. There are several theories as to why he had them. One says that he carried them as insurance that if he were capture he whould have a bargaining chip to attempt to bribe his way to freedom. Another says that he carried the items simple because there was no safe palce to leave them. I prefer the more sentimental explanation. The jewelry pieces were diamond and gold women’s adornments popular in the 1830’s. They could have easily been his mother’s and he carried them as a memory of her as he went into battle. What ever the reason they were found in what would have been in his thigh pocket, together for the hundred plus years on the bottom.

Why did the Hunley sink? No one knows for certain. The original theory was that it sank in its own explosion since by luck it had attacked the Housitania directly on it powder magazine causing a huge explosion that sank the war ship in 3 minutes. However, witnesses from the shore said that they had seen signal lights from the sub after the attack. Another theory says that the sub was damaged in the attacked. Remember it was ordered to attack on the surface. Union survivors of the attack stated that they fire on the Hunley with pistol and rifle prior to the explosion. The theory says that one of the forward viewing windows was shot out allowing seawater in and sinking the boat. The most recent evidence explains that the sub survived the attack but did not plan on the aftermath of the attack. There were twenty-five union boats in the area. Many of them came running to help rescue the survivors and Dixon was forced to dive to avoid being run over. As he waited for the ships to clear, the tide turned. The tide in this area runs at 7 MPH, twice as fast as the crew could power the sub. They could not surface, they could not fight the tide, and simply ran out of air waiting on the bottom. The men all seemed to have died at their posts as if they had gone to sleep. Brave men that they were.

Subs and Cows

A great day of discovery for me.
By: Ed Vivanco

I knew little about the Hunley. The H.L. Hunley was a submarine built in 1863 in Mobile Alabama. She was used in Charleston Harbor by the Confederate Navy to sink one of the many Union ships blockading the entrance to this strategic port in
April of 1864. The technology was ahead of its time, powered by
eight brave crew members all of whom died in the sub. The sub, with
the remains of her crew, was found in 1995 and brought to the surface.
The sub can be seen in a museum in Charleston being refurbished as an
important piece of history. The spirits of the crew are said to
still roam the Charleston bay protecting the city, their bodily
remains were buried with honors at the Magnolia Cemetery in the city
they gave their lives to protect.

Visiting the H.L. Hunley and Cowpens battlefield – CLICK 4 SHOW

Hunley Cowpens Audio Postcard– CLICK to listen


In the afternoon we visited the site of the battle of Cowpens in
South Carolina, where General Morgan and 950 men faced the British
General Tarleton with 1000 seasoned troops. General Morgan took the
day soundly defeating Tarleton with a tactical masterpiece seldom
done so elegantly enveloping the enemy on three sides, much like the
Carthagenians did to the Romans in the battle of Cannaea in 212 B.C. It
was a unique experience to be in the place where this took place,
Hanibal Barca would have approved.











Today we visited the H.L. Hunley. The first submarine used in combat. Then we drove 200 miles and stopped at the National Historic (Revolutionary War) Battlefield of Cowpens near Spartenburg SC.

Where it all began

Happy Friday the 13th! It has been yet another perfect day in Charleston, South Carolina. And the food has been just as good. A nice trip by boat out into the harbor to see the historic Fort Sumter where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. We have walked much of the city, exploring old church graveyards and the streets. Here is a slide show of part of the day and an audio file of the Ft. Sumter intro (10 minutes). Later I will post an audio postcard and the parade of cadets of the Citadel Military Academy.

Charleston and Fort Sumter– CLICK 4 SHOW

SumterAudio– CLICK to listen

NEW NEW NEW- The Citadel Military Academy – CLICK 4 SHOW

NEW NEW NEW- Charleston Audio Postcard– CLICK to listen
Some sounds of Charleston





We should do a food review. haha


Ed Vivanco shot these videos with his Leica point and shoot.

Charleston Nights

Walking in Charleston, South Carolina.
CharlestonNights– CLICK 4 SHOW

We enjoyed dinner at Jestine's Kitchen, some serious southern cooking. Fried green tomatos and okra. Everyone ordered very hot and compleetly different foods. YUM.

Savannah's Charm

Savannah’s Charm – CLICK 4 SHOW

Blogging from the road. After spending the morning touring the Historic District of Savannah Georgia, we are in our mini van trekking through the green of South Carolina on the way to Charleston. Savannah was historic and beautiful. Architecturally, the new homes and buildings are a match to the old. Spanish Moss hangs from the Live Oak Trees (Georgia’s State Tree). This moss is not Spanish or a moss or a parasite, it adds a lot of character to the town. The weather could not have been better. Will send more when possible. Remember to check a blog more than once, it may be updated with new info, photos or slide shows. Sent upon our arrival in Charleston at 1pm PDT.







ps. Remember I posted some of the photos to the "Extras...Photography Posts" on the left link column.





A thunderstorm over Georgia.

EnRoute

Yessss There is wifi in the Dallas Fort Worth airport. We are on the "road" so to speak. Good weather and traveling so far. An hour in Texas is not enough to mess with it.....

Sending from that spot in the airport with people walking past as I eat some lunch. Post again soon. Eric

SOME QUALITY TIME AT DWF – CLICK 4 SHOW

T Minus

Well my plane leaves, eastbound in about 22 hours. All links are working and useful. I will probably print out a few web pages for airline reading. I will try very hard to publish the blog everyday from the road - Capt. Mike Reed submitted this Google Earth image for your guessing pleasure. Take up any winnings with him on the road.



I will attempt to also upload images in mass to the link at left "Photography Posts" in the "Extras" category.

Worth a Visit?

Close to Gettysburg.
http://www.firehero.org/index.aspx?lobid=579