Museum of the Confederacy
Encyclopedia
The Museum of the Confederacy is located in Richmond, Virginia
. The museum includes the former White House of the Confederacy and maintains a comprehensive collection of artifacts, manuscripts, Confederate imprint
s (books and pamphlets), and photographs from the Confederate States of America
and the American Civil War
(1861–1865).
, who was president of the Bank of Virginia. Designed by Robert Mills
, Brockenbrough’s private residence was built in early nineteenth century Richmond
's affluent Shockoe Hill neighborhood (later known as the Court End
District), and was two blocks north of the Virginia State Capitol. Among his neighbors were U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall
, Aaron Burr
, defense attorney John Wickham
, and future U.S. Senator Benjamin Watkins Leigh.
Sold by the Brockenbrough family in 1844, the house passed through a succession of wealthy families throughout the antebellum period, including U.S. Congressman and future Confederate Secretary of War James Seddon
. Just prior to the American Civil War
, Lewis Dabney Crenshaw purchased the house and added a third floor. He sold the home to the City of Richmond, which in turn rented it to the Confederate government as its Executive Mansion.
Jefferson Davis
, his wife Varina
, and their children moved into the house in August 1861, and lived there for the remainder of the war. Davis suffered from recurring bouts with malaria, facial neuralgia, cataracts (in his left eye), unhealed wounds from the Mexican War (bone spurs in his heel), and insomnia. Consequently, President Davis maintained an at-home office on the second floor of the White House. This was not an unusual practice at that time – the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, was not added until the Theodore Roosevelt
Administration. President Davis’ personal secretary, Colonel Burton Harrison
, also lived in the house.
The Davis family was quite young during their stay at the White House of the Confederacy. When they moved in the Family consisted of the President and First Lady, six year-old Margaret, four year-old Jefferson Davis, Jr., and two year-old Joseph. The two youngest Davis children, William and Varina Anne (“Winnie”), were born in the White House, in 1861 and 1864, respectively. Among their neighborhood playmates was George Smith Patton, whose father commanded the 22nd Virginia Infantry
, and whose son commanded the U.S. Third Army in World War Two. Joseph Davis died in the spring of 1864, after a 15-foot fall from the railing on the White House’s east portico. Mrs. Davis’ mother and sister were occasional visitors to the Confederate executive mansion.
The house was abandoned during the evacuation of Richmond on April 2, 1865. Within twelve hours, soldiers from Major General Godfrey Weitzel
’s XVIII Corps seized the former Confederate White House, intact. President Abraham Lincoln
, who was in nearby City Point (now Hopewell, Virginia), traveled up the James River to tour the captured city, and visited Davis' former residence for about three hours - although the President only toured the first floor, feeling it would be improper to visit the more private second floor of another man's home. Admiral David Dixon Porter
accompanied Lincoln during the visit to the former Confederate executive mansion. They held a number of meetings with local officials in the White House. Among them was Confederate Brigadier General Joseph Reid Anderson, who owned the Tredegar Iron Works
.
During Reconstruction, the White House of the Confederacy served as the headquarters for Military District Number One (Virginia), and was occasionally used as the residence of the commanding officer of the Department of Virginia. Among those who served there were Major Generals Edward O.C. Ord, Alfred Terry
, Henry Halleck, and Edward R.S. Canby. When Reconstruction ended in Virginia, (October 1870), the City of Richmond retook possession of the house, and subsequently used it as Richmond Central School, one of the first public schools in postwar Richmond.
When the City announced its plans to demolish the building to make way for a more modern school building in 1890, the Confederate Memorial Literary Society was formed with the sole purpose of saving the White House from destruction.
, the naval officer and scientist credited as the father of modern oceanography. Matthew Fontaine Maury lived in Robert Henry Maury's house in the early part of the American Civil War
and would walk the two blocks to the White House of the Confederacy on a daily basis. It was in this house that Matthew Fontaine Maury
first worked with burning underwater fuses for torpedoes in a tub of water. Today there is both the old and a new plaque on the building that testifies to this. It is presently owned by Virginia Commonwealth University
Mrs. Grant was the sister of Lewis Crenshaw, who owned the house just prior to the war, and was married to James Grant
, a wealthy tobacconist who also lived within the neighborhood. Mrs. Bryan was the wife of Joseph Bryan, a wealthy businessman and publisher, whose family is still associated with the Richmond Times-Dispatch
.
By the centennial anniversary of the Civil War, the Museum's governing board determined that it wanted to see the Museum evolve from a shrine to a more modern museum. In 1963, the CMLS hired its first museum professional as the executive director, and in 1970, changed the name of the institution to "The Museum of the Confederacy."
The Museum houses the largest and/or most comprehensive collection of artifacts, personal effects, and other memoriabilia related to the Confederacy. Among the thousands of other important pieces found there are items owned by Jefferson Davis
, Robert Edward Lee, Joseph E. Johnston
, John Bell Hood
, Thomas Jonathan Jackson, Simon Bolivar Buckner
, J.E.B. Stuart
, Joseph Wheeler
, Wade Hampton
, Lewis Armistead, and Raphael Semmes
. The provisional Confederate Constitution and the Great Seal of the Confederacy are also housed there.
Of particular note is the Museum's collection of over 500 original, wartime, battle flags that were carried by the Confederate Army. Some of the flags were donated by veterans in the early years of the Museum. Others, regimental flags that were captured during the war that were originally housed in the archives of the U.S. War Department, were formally transferred to the Museum either by Act of the U.S. Congress or by Act of the Virginia General Assembly, depending on the level of unit identification of the flag.
A newer building to better preserve and exhibit the Museum's collections was built and opened in 1976 immediately adjacent to the White House, on its remaining 3/4 acre (3,000 m²) property. The anchor of the first ironclad warship
, CSS Virginia
which fought the USS Monitor
in the Battle of Hampton Roads
on March 9, 1862, is prominently displayed in front of the Museum.
The White House was closed in 1976, to be fully restored to its wartime appearance. The milestone restoration project was completed in 1988, gaining high marks from the preservation community for its accuracy and richness of detail. Reopened for public tours in June of that year, the White House featured extensive reproduction wall coverings and draperies, as well as significant numbers of original White House furnishings from the Civil War period.
Since the Museum opened in 1896, it has been visited by roughly five million visitors from all over the world. Among the many famous world leaders who have visited the Museum are U.S. President
Theodore Roosevelt
, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George
, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
, and even the leader of the 2006 military coup in Thailand
, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin
. It is also a popular attraction for many celebrities who visit Richmond, including actors Robert Duvall
and Sam Neill
, musicians from Bob Dylan
to The Black Crowes
, and sports figures such as NASCAR
driver Sterling Marlin
and former Winston Cup champion crew chief and current NASCAR on Fox commentator Jeff Hammond, among others.
Notable past and present exhibitions include: The Confederate Years: Battles, Leaders, and Soldiers, 1861–1865; Women in Mourning; Before Freedom Came: African-American Life in the Antebellum South; Embattled Emblem: The Army of Northern Virginia Battle Flag, 1861 – Present; A Woman’s War: Southern Women, Civil War, and the Confederate Legacy; R. E. Lee: The Exhibition; The Confederate Navy; and Virginia and the Confederacy: A Quadricentennial Perspective.
, and within walking distance of several other museums and historic sites, including the Executive Mansion of Virginia, Monumental Church
, St. Paul's Church, John Marshall House
(a Preservation Virginia property), and the John Wickham House (Valentine Richmond History Center
).
It is, however, completely surrounded by and its view is cut off from those sites by the VCU Medical Center (formerly the Medical College of Virginia hospitals) of Virginia Commonwealth University
. The neighboring and expanding hi-rise medical facilities stirred debate in 2005 about the possible relocation of the Museum and the historic White House building. In 2006, Museum officials announced that the White House of the Confederacy, a National Historic Landmark
(1963) and Virginia Historic Landmark (1966), will not be moved.
Critics of the Museum of the Confederacy's leadership in recent decades note that it previously owned the very land on which the new hospital construction is taking place, and allege that the Museum sold it to VCU to help finance the very museum building now purportedly threatened by the hospital's expansion on the site.
In fact, the Museum owned part of property in question between 1894 and 1933. The Commonwealth of Virginia informed the Museum, in 1933, of its intent to build a steam plant on part of the property to supply heat throughout the small, adjacent, medical school campus and to Capitol Square. The 1930s-era Museum had little recourse but to give up the land to the state - its only mitigation being that it could acquire steam from the new plant. At that time, no hospital expansion plans were available to the public that foreshadowed any danger to the fabric of the Court End / Shockoe Hill neighborhood. Indeed, the first significant hospital expansion (A.D. Williams Clinic and West Hospital) was not built until 1941, and the majority of the modern hospital buildings were not built until the late 1970s. No evidence supports the allegation that the Museum sold any of its property to pay for its current building.
. The White House of the Confederacy will remain in the care of the Museum, and will be interpreted at its current, original site. The Museum plans to maintain a corporate headquarters and its research and preservation facility in Richmond, perhaps at the current site of the Museum. While Museum officials recognize that the plan for implementing this new initiative is aggressive, they plan to complete the bulk of it during the sesquecentennial (150th) anniversary of the Civil War, between 2011 and 2015.
and Robert E. Lee
, started his career at the Museum. William C. "Jack" Davis, Emory M. Thomas
, and Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust
have all done research there. James I. Robertson, Jr.
, of Virginia Tech, Edwin C. Bearss, Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service
, and William J. Cooper of LSU, have each served as members of the Museum’s governing board.
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
. The museum includes the former White House of the Confederacy and maintains a comprehensive collection of artifacts, manuscripts, Confederate imprint
Confederate imprint
A Confederate imprint is a book, pamphlet, broadside, periodical or sheet music printed in the Confederate States of America in a location which, at the time, was under Confederate and not Union control. Confederate imprints are important as sources of the history of the Civil War and many...
s (books and pamphlets), and photographs from the Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
and the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
(1861–1865).
White House of the Confederacy
The White House of the Confederacy is a gray stuccoed neoclassical mansion built in 1818 by John BrockenbroughJohn Brockenbrough
John Brockenbrough was a business man and civic leader in Richmond, Virginia. He was president of the Bank of Virginia. His home in Richmond's Court End District later served as the "White House" for the Confederate States of America.-History:...
, who was president of the Bank of Virginia. Designed by Robert Mills
Robert Mills
Robert Mills may refer to:*Robert Mills , American architect*Robert Mills , American physicist*Bob Mills , Canadian politician*Robert P...
, Brockenbrough’s private residence was built in early nineteenth century Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
's affluent Shockoe Hill neighborhood (later known as the Court End
Court End
thumb|250px|right|1000 block E. Clay StreetCourt End is a neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia that sits to the north of the Capitol Square and East Broad Street...
District), and was two blocks north of the Virginia State Capitol. Among his neighbors were U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall
John Marshall
John Marshall was the Chief Justice of the United States whose court opinions helped lay the basis for American constitutional law and made the Supreme Court of the United States a coequal branch of government along with the legislative and executive branches...
, Aaron Burr
Aaron Burr
Aaron Burr, Jr. was an important political figure in the early history of the United States of America. After serving as a Continental Army officer in the Revolutionary War, Burr became a successful lawyer and politician...
, defense attorney John Wickham
John Wickham
John Wickham may refer to:*John Wickham , British Brigadier, born 1897*John Wickham , 18th-century American attorney*John A. Wickham, Jr., 20th-century American general...
, and future U.S. Senator Benjamin Watkins Leigh.
Sold by the Brockenbrough family in 1844, the house passed through a succession of wealthy families throughout the antebellum period, including U.S. Congressman and future Confederate Secretary of War James Seddon
James Seddon
James Alexander Seddon was an American lawyer and politician who served two terms in the U.S. Congress as a member of the Democratic Party. He was appointed Confederate States Secretary of War by Jefferson Davis during the American Civil War.-Biography:Seddon was born in Falmouth, Stafford County,...
. Just prior to the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Lewis Dabney Crenshaw purchased the house and added a third floor. He sold the home to the City of Richmond, which in turn rented it to the Confederate government as its Executive Mansion.
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...
, his wife Varina
Varina Howell
Varina Banks Howell Davis was an American author who was best known as the First Lady of the Confederate States of America, second wife of President Jefferson Davis.-Childhood:...
, and their children moved into the house in August 1861, and lived there for the remainder of the war. Davis suffered from recurring bouts with malaria, facial neuralgia, cataracts (in his left eye), unhealed wounds from the Mexican War (bone spurs in his heel), and insomnia. Consequently, President Davis maintained an at-home office on the second floor of the White House. This was not an unusual practice at that time – the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, was not added until the Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
Administration. President Davis’ personal secretary, Colonel Burton Harrison
Burton Harrison
Burton Norvell Harrison , was a lawyer, American Democratic politician, and private secretary to Confederate States of America president Jefferson Davis.-Early life:...
, also lived in the house.
The Davis family was quite young during their stay at the White House of the Confederacy. When they moved in the Family consisted of the President and First Lady, six year-old Margaret, four year-old Jefferson Davis, Jr., and two year-old Joseph. The two youngest Davis children, William and Varina Anne (“Winnie”), were born in the White House, in 1861 and 1864, respectively. Among their neighborhood playmates was George Smith Patton, whose father commanded the 22nd Virginia Infantry
22nd Virginia Infantry
22nd Virginia Infantry was a Confederate regiment during the American Civil War. Its commander was George S. Patton, the grandfather of World War II General George S. Patton.-Organization:...
, and whose son commanded the U.S. Third Army in World War Two. Joseph Davis died in the spring of 1864, after a 15-foot fall from the railing on the White House’s east portico. Mrs. Davis’ mother and sister were occasional visitors to the Confederate executive mansion.
The house was abandoned during the evacuation of Richmond on April 2, 1865. Within twelve hours, soldiers from Major General Godfrey Weitzel
Godfrey Weitzel
Godfrey Weitzel was a major general in the Union army during the American Civil War, as well as the acting Mayor of New Orleans during the Federal occupancy of the city.-Early life and career:...
’s XVIII Corps seized the former Confederate White House, intact. President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, who was in nearby City Point (now Hopewell, Virginia), traveled up the James River to tour the captured city, and visited Davis' former residence for about three hours - although the President only toured the first floor, feeling it would be improper to visit the more private second floor of another man's home. Admiral David Dixon Porter
David Dixon Porter
David Dixon Porter was a member of one of the most distinguished families in the history of the United States Navy. Promoted as the second man to the rank of admiral, after his adoptive brother David G...
accompanied Lincoln during the visit to the former Confederate executive mansion. They held a number of meetings with local officials in the White House. Among them was Confederate Brigadier General Joseph Reid Anderson, who owned the Tredegar Iron Works
Tredegar Iron Works
The Tredegar Iron Works was a historic iron foundry in Richmond, Virginia, United States of America, opened in 1837. During the American Civil War, the works served as the primary iron and artillery production facility of the Confederate States of America...
.
Alfred Terry
Alfred Howe Terry was a Union general in the American Civil War and the military commander of the Dakota Territory from 1866 to 1869 and again from 1872 to 1886.-Early life and career:...
, Henry Halleck, and Edward R.S. Canby. When Reconstruction ended in Virginia, (October 1870), the City of Richmond retook possession of the house, and subsequently used it as Richmond Central School, one of the first public schools in postwar Richmond.
When the City announced its plans to demolish the building to make way for a more modern school building in 1890, the Confederate Memorial Literary Society was formed with the sole purpose of saving the White House from destruction.
History of the Museum
Opened as the Confederate Museum on February 22, 1896, it was housed for many years in the former White House of the Confederacy. The Museum of the Confederacy was founded by influential Richmond society ladies, starting with Isabel Maury who was later joined by Ann Crenshaw Grant, and Isobel Stewart Bryan. Isabel Maury was the founder of the Museum of the Confederacy but she also was the first Regent of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society. Today, the Isabel Maury Planned Giving Society continues the spirit of Mrs. Isabel Maury, daughter of Robert Henry Maury, whose work with the Relics Committee was instrumental in securing much of the Museum's current collection. Mrs. Isabel Maury was a cousin to Matthew Fontaine MauryMatthew Fontaine Maury
Matthew Fontaine Maury , United States Navy was an American astronomer, historian, oceanographer, meteorologist, cartographer, author, geologist, and educator....
, the naval officer and scientist credited as the father of modern oceanography. Matthew Fontaine Maury lived in Robert Henry Maury's house in the early part of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and would walk the two blocks to the White House of the Confederacy on a daily basis. It was in this house that Matthew Fontaine Maury
Matthew Fontaine Maury
Matthew Fontaine Maury , United States Navy was an American astronomer, historian, oceanographer, meteorologist, cartographer, author, geologist, and educator....
first worked with burning underwater fuses for torpedoes in a tub of water. Today there is both the old and a new plaque on the building that testifies to this. It is presently owned by Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Commonwealth University is a public university located in Richmond, Virginia. It comprises two campuses in the Downtown Richmond area, the product of a merger between the Richmond Professional Institute and the Medical College of Virginia in 1968...
Mrs. Grant was the sister of Lewis Crenshaw, who owned the house just prior to the war, and was married to James Grant
James Grant
James Grant may refer to:*James Grant , American author, journalist, and publisher of Grant's Interest Rate Observer*James Grant , California painter and sculptor...
, a wealthy tobacconist who also lived within the neighborhood. Mrs. Bryan was the wife of Joseph Bryan, a wealthy businessman and publisher, whose family is still associated with the Richmond Times-Dispatch
Richmond Times-Dispatch
The Richmond Times-Dispatch is the primary daily newspaper in Richmond the capital of Virginia, United States, and is commonly considered the "newspaper of record" for events occurring in much of the state...
.
By the centennial anniversary of the Civil War, the Museum's governing board determined that it wanted to see the Museum evolve from a shrine to a more modern museum. In 1963, the CMLS hired its first museum professional as the executive director, and in 1970, changed the name of the institution to "The Museum of the Confederacy."
The Museum houses the largest and/or most comprehensive collection of artifacts, personal effects, and other memoriabilia related to the Confederacy. Among the thousands of other important pieces found there are items owned by Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...
, Robert Edward Lee, Joseph E. Johnston
Joseph E. Johnston
Joseph Eggleston Johnston was a career U.S. Army officer, serving with distinction in the Mexican-American War and Seminole Wars, and was also one of the most senior general officers in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War...
, John Bell Hood
John Bell Hood
John Bell Hood was a Confederate general during the American Civil War. Hood had a reputation for bravery and aggressiveness that sometimes bordered on recklessness...
, Thomas Jonathan Jackson, Simon Bolivar Buckner
Simon Bolivar Buckner
Simon Bolivar Buckner fought in the United States Army in the Mexican–American War and in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He later served as the 30th Governor of Kentucky....
, J.E.B. Stuart
J.E.B. Stuart
James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart was a U.S. Army officer from Virginia and a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War. He was known to his friends as "Jeb", from the initials of his given names. Stuart was a cavalry commander known for his mastery of reconnaissance and the use...
, Joseph Wheeler
Joseph Wheeler
Joseph Wheeler was an American military commander and politician. He has the rare distinction of serving as a general during war time for two opposing forces: first as a noted cavalry general in the Confederate States Army in the 1860s during the American Civil War, and later as a general in the...
, Wade Hampton
Wade Hampton
Wade Hampton may refer to:*Wade Hampton I , American soldier in Revolutionary War and War of 1812*Wade Hampton II , American plantation owner and soldier in War of 1812...
, Lewis Armistead, and Raphael Semmes
Raphael Semmes
For other uses, see Semmes .Raphael Semmes was an officer in the United States Navy from 1826 - 1860 and the Confederate States Navy from 1860 - 1865. During the American Civil War he was captain of the famous commerce raider CSS Alabama, taking a record sixty-nine prizes...
. The provisional Confederate Constitution and the Great Seal of the Confederacy are also housed there.
Of particular note is the Museum's collection of over 500 original, wartime, battle flags that were carried by the Confederate Army. Some of the flags were donated by veterans in the early years of the Museum. Others, regimental flags that were captured during the war that were originally housed in the archives of the U.S. War Department, were formally transferred to the Museum either by Act of the U.S. Congress or by Act of the Virginia General Assembly, depending on the level of unit identification of the flag.
A newer building to better preserve and exhibit the Museum's collections was built and opened in 1976 immediately adjacent to the White House, on its remaining 3/4 acre (3,000 m²) property. The anchor of the first ironclad warship
Ironclad warship
An ironclad was a steam-propelled warship in the early part of the second half of the 19th century, protected by iron or steel armor plates. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. The first ironclad battleship, La Gloire,...
, CSS Virginia
CSS Virginia
CSS Virginia was the first steam-powered ironclad warship of the Confederate States Navy, built during the first year of the American Civil War; she was constructed as a casemate ironclad using the raised and cut down original lower hull and steam engines of the scuttled . Virginia was one of the...
which fought the USS Monitor
USS Monitor
USS Monitor was the first ironclad warship commissioned by the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She is most famous for her participation in the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862, the first-ever battle fought between two ironclads...
in the Battle of Hampton Roads
Battle of Hampton Roads
The Battle of Hampton Roads, often referred to as either the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack or the Battle of Ironclads, was the most noted and arguably most important naval battle of the American Civil War from the standpoint of the development of navies...
on March 9, 1862, is prominently displayed in front of the Museum.
The White House was closed in 1976, to be fully restored to its wartime appearance. The milestone restoration project was completed in 1988, gaining high marks from the preservation community for its accuracy and richness of detail. Reopened for public tours in June of that year, the White House featured extensive reproduction wall coverings and draperies, as well as significant numbers of original White House furnishings from the Civil War period.
Since the Museum opened in 1896, it has been visited by roughly five million visitors from all over the world. Among the many famous world leaders who have visited the Museum are U.S. President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
, and even the leader of the 2006 military coup in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin
Sonthi Boonyaratglin
General Sonthi Boonyaratglin is former Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army and former head of the Council for National Security, the military junta that ruled the kingdom. He is the first Muslim in charge of the mostly Buddhist army...
. It is also a popular attraction for many celebrities who visit Richmond, including actors Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
and Sam Neill
Sam Neill
Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill, DCNZM, OBE is a New Zealand actor. He is well known for his starring role as paleontologist Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III....
, musicians from Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
to The Black Crowes
The Black Crowes
The Black Crowes are an American rock band formed in 1989. Their discography includes nine studio albums, four live albums and several charting singles. The band was signed to Def American Recordings in 1989 by producer George Drakoulias and released their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, the...
, and sports figures such as NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
driver Sterling Marlin
Sterling Marlin
Sterling Marlin is a retired NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver. He is the son of late NASCAR driver Coo Coo Marlin. He is married to Paula and has a daughter, Sutherlin, and a son, Steadman, who sometimes races in the Nationwide Series....
and former Winston Cup champion crew chief and current NASCAR on Fox commentator Jeff Hammond, among others.
Notable past and present exhibitions include: The Confederate Years: Battles, Leaders, and Soldiers, 1861–1865; Women in Mourning; Before Freedom Came: African-American Life in the Antebellum South; Embattled Emblem: The Army of Northern Virginia Battle Flag, 1861 – Present; A Woman’s War: Southern Women, Civil War, and the Confederate Legacy; R. E. Lee: The Exhibition; The Confederate Navy; and Virginia and the Confederacy: A Quadricentennial Perspective.
Location near Virginia State Capitol
The Museum and White House of the Confederacy are located two blocks north of the Virginia State CapitolVirginia State Capitol
The Virginia State Capitol is the seat of state government in the Commonwealth of Virginia, located in Richmond, the third capital of Virginia. It houses the oldest legislative body in the United States, the Virginia General Assembly...
, and within walking distance of several other museums and historic sites, including the Executive Mansion of Virginia, Monumental Church
Monumental Church
Monumental Church is a former Episcopal Church that stands at 1224 E. Broad Street between N. 12th and College Streets in Richmond, Virginia. Designed by architect Robert Mills, it is one of America's earliest and most distinctive Greek Revival churches and is listed on the National Register of...
, St. Paul's Church, John Marshall House
John Marshall House
The John Marshall House is the home of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall, located in Richmond, Virginia. Marshall was appointed to the court in 1801 by John Adams and served for the rest of his life, writing such influential decisions as Marbury v. Madison and McCulloch v...
(a Preservation Virginia property), and the John Wickham House (Valentine Richmond History Center
Valentine Richmond History Center
The Valentine Richmond History Center is a museum dedicated to the history of Richmond, Virginia, USA, in the Court End neighborhood. It started out as an eclectic collection of Mann S. Valentine, Jr., the independently wealthy creator of Valentine's Meat Juice...
).
It is, however, completely surrounded by and its view is cut off from those sites by the VCU Medical Center (formerly the Medical College of Virginia hospitals) of Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Commonwealth University is a public university located in Richmond, Virginia. It comprises two campuses in the Downtown Richmond area, the product of a merger between the Richmond Professional Institute and the Medical College of Virginia in 1968...
. The neighboring and expanding hi-rise medical facilities stirred debate in 2005 about the possible relocation of the Museum and the historic White House building. In 2006, Museum officials announced that the White House of the Confederacy, a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
(1963) and Virginia Historic Landmark (1966), will not be moved.
Critics of the Museum of the Confederacy's leadership in recent decades note that it previously owned the very land on which the new hospital construction is taking place, and allege that the Museum sold it to VCU to help finance the very museum building now purportedly threatened by the hospital's expansion on the site.
In fact, the Museum owned part of property in question between 1894 and 1933. The Commonwealth of Virginia informed the Museum, in 1933, of its intent to build a steam plant on part of the property to supply heat throughout the small, adjacent, medical school campus and to Capitol Square. The 1930s-era Museum had little recourse but to give up the land to the state - its only mitigation being that it could acquire steam from the new plant. At that time, no hospital expansion plans were available to the public that foreshadowed any danger to the fabric of the Court End / Shockoe Hill neighborhood. Indeed, the first significant hospital expansion (A.D. Williams Clinic and West Hospital) was not built until 1941, and the majority of the modern hospital buildings were not built until the late 1970s. No evidence supports the allegation that the Museum sold any of its property to pay for its current building.
Plans for a future museum system
The Museum announced plans, in September 2007, to build a system of new museum sites around the state of Virginia. Citing diminishing returns on visitation to the original site, the concept for the "Museum of the Confederacy System" is to exhibit its vast collections in strategically located, high-traffic, tourist destinations that are also significant Civil War sites. Current plans are to build museums in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, near the Chancellorsville battlefield; in Appomattox County, Virginia, in or near the town of Appomattox; and in Hampton, Virginia, “inside the moat” at Fort MonroeFort Monroe
Fort Monroe was a military installation in Hampton, Virginia—at Old Point Comfort, the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula...
. The White House of the Confederacy will remain in the care of the Museum, and will be interpreted at its current, original site. The Museum plans to maintain a corporate headquarters and its research and preservation facility in Richmond, perhaps at the current site of the Museum. While Museum officials recognize that the plan for implementing this new initiative is aggressive, they plan to complete the bulk of it during the sesquecentennial (150th) anniversary of the Civil War, between 2011 and 2015.
Connections to scholars
Several prominent Civil War historians have had connections to the Museum. Douglas Southall Freeman, the biographer of George WashingtonGeorge Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
and Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
, started his career at the Museum. William C. "Jack" Davis, Emory M. Thomas
Emory M. Thomas
Emory Thomas is a History Professor Emeritus at the University of Georgia and noted scholar of the American Civil War.-Selected works:*The Confederacy as a Revolutionary Experience...
, and Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust
Drew Gilpin Faust
Catherine Drew Gilpin Faust is an American historian, college administrator, and the president of Harvard University. Faust is the first woman to serve as Harvard's president and the university's 28th president overall. Faust is the fifth woman to serve as president of an Ivy League university, and...
have all done research there. James I. Robertson, Jr.
James I. Robertson, Jr.
Dr. James I. "Bud" Robertson, Jr., is a noted scholar on the American Civil War and a professor at Virginia Tech.-Early life and academic career:...
, of Virginia Tech, Edwin C. Bearss, Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
, and William J. Cooper of LSU, have each served as members of the Museum’s governing board.
External links
- Museum of the Confederacy, official website
- Museum of the Confederacy in Encyclopedia Virginia
- Richmond Times-Dispatch story about location adjacent to MCV Hospitals
- Founder of the Museum of the Confederacy and first Regent of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society.
- Washington Post story about the current problems besetting the museum 04-04-07
- St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia, website, church where Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and other Confederate leaders worshipped
