museum of the confederacy

on sunday afternoon, sara and i headed out for an exciting daytrip to the museum of the confederacy right here in downtown richmond.

a lot of people don't know about this museum because it's literally HIDDEN.

jammed between four large hospital buildings, the museum and the white house of the confederacy feel a little dwarfed and insignificant in comparison, but once inside i was definitely very impressed.

i'm always intrigued by civil war history, because it's definitely still a politically-charged piece of history. the battle over displaying the rebel flag and civil rights history all have roots in what happened during the civil war. i was curious to see how a museum devoted specifically to the confederacy would handle defending itself to a 21st century audience.

overall, it wasn't much different than i expected. where the museum really shined was in its artifacts. i was amazed at what kind of items they had on display. i guess as one of the only museums designated solely to the confederacy, they had their pick of top-notch artifacts from confederate generals. it was amazing to see the coats, uniforms, boots, and belongings from some of these infamous men. robert e. lee and stonewall jackson both had a lot of items. there was even a blood-spattered handkerchief used when stonewall jackson was famously injured and then later died.

one of my favorite pieces was a reproduction of a letter written by a wounded soldier during the battle of wilderness. he was mortally wounded and spent his last minutes writing a letter to his family. really powerful stuff.

sara and i got off to a late start, so we didn't have a lot of time in the museum. we had to make sure to spend a good 15 minutes in the gift shop. i got some badass civil war general postcards and sara picked up a book and a totally sweet fridge magnet. i tried on the traditional kepi hats, but of course, none of them fit my gigantic head. one more reason i may never get to live out my fantasy of being a civil war reenactor.

the confederate whitehouse itself was closed, so another trip is definitely in order if only to check out the whitehouse.

all in all, it was a totally cool way to spend a sunday afternoon. the weather was gorgeous, so i feel slightly guilty not doing an outdoor activity, but i spent most of saturday outside, so i felt like i made up for it.