Civil War Trails of The Capital Region
Civil War Trails of The Capital Region9 nightsFrom £950 per person
Price includes: Flights, accommodation and car hire
Day 1- Washington DC to Manassas. Arrive Washington Dulles Airport. Overnight Manassas.
Day 2- Manassas to Hagerstown (approx. 95 miles)
Tour Manassas National Battlefield Park commemorating two great battles of the Civil War. The 1861 battle of Manassas (Bull Run) was the first major land battle of the war. Here General Thomas J Jackson earned his name as ‘Stonewall’ Jackson. The second Battle of Manassas in 1862 demonstrated Robert E Lee’s generalship when 70,000 Federal troops under John Pope were defeated by Lee’s 55,000 Confederates. Travel north via historic Leesburg with its strong links to Mosby’s Rangers and nearby Ball’s Bluff. Cross into Maryland and head for Hagerstown where you will spend the next two nights.
Day 3- Hagerstown (approx. 90 miles)
The next two days are spent re-living Lee’s two invasions of the North. Drive to Gettysburg (1863) and tour the battlefield. Visit the museum and electric map to get an overview of the three day battle. Drive the tour route to visit the Peach Orchard, Devil’s Den and Little Round Top. Follow Pickett’s charge to the high water mark of the Confederacy. Return to Hagerstown.
Day 4- Hagerstown to Winchester (approx. 65 miles)
Visit Antietam Battlefield (1862), scene of the bloodiest day in American history. Walk the Cornfield, Sunken Lane and re-live Burnside’s attack across the lower bridge. Then, like the Army of Northern Virginia, head south to Virginia. Visit Harpers Ferry at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers. Here John Brown’s famous raid (1859) was ended by Federal soldiers under the command of Robert E Lee. Stonewall Jackson captured the town en route to the battle of Antietam. Continue to Winchester, a town that changed hands more than 70 times during the Civil War. Visit Jackson’s Headquarters in Braddock Street. Overnight Winchester.
Day 5- Winchester to Lexington (approx. 130 miles)
Travel South down the Shenandoah Valley, the breadbasket of the Confederacy. Drive to Middletown to visit Belle Grove, Sheridan’s headquarters during the battle of Cedar Creek (1864). Continue to New Market Battlefield (1864) where young cadets from the Virginia Military Institute were rushed North to assist in this Confederate victory. Continue South to Lexington, home of the Virginia Military Institute. Visit Jackson’s tomb, the Jackson Museum and the Lee Chapel. Overnight in Lexington.
Day 6- Lexington to Richmond (approx. 170 miles)
Turn towards Richmond. Visit Appomattox Court House where on April 9th 1865 Robert E. Lee, commanding general of the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered his men to Ulysses S Grant and the Armies of the Potomac and the James thus effectively ending the war. En route to Richmond stop at Sailor’s Creek, site of the last major battle of the Civil War in Virginia(1865). If time allows visit Drewry’s Bluff where Confederate batteries above the James River repulsed Union gunboats in 1862. On to Richmond where you will spend three next 3 nights.
Day 7- Richmond (approx. 80 miles)
Tour the Petersburg National Battlefield site of the long siege commencing in 1864. Visit City Point the site of Grant’s headquarters throughout the siege and Pamplin Historical Park where Union forces finally broke through the Confederate defences and ended the siege of Petersburg (1865). Pamplin Historical Park is also the site of the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier.
Day 8- Richmond (approx. 40 miles)
Spend the day in and around Richmond capital of the Confederacy. Tour the White House of the Confederacy and the Museum of the Confederacy. Drive the length of Monument Avenue with its famous statues of Confederate leaders. Visit Hollywood Cemetery where approximately 18,000 Confederate soldiers, including Generals George Pickett and J E B Stuart are buried. Richmond National Battlefield is on the site of Chimborazo, Richmond’s wartime hospital, and traces the Seven Day Battles to save Richmond in 1862. Visit the battle sites of the campaign that started on June 26 1862 at Beaver Creek Dam and ended in the bloodbath at Malvern Hill on July 1 1862.
Day 9- Richmond to Alexandria (approx. 102 miles)
Turn North towards Washington. Within a 17 mile radius of Fredericksburg four major battles, Fredericksburg (1862) Chancellorsville (1863) the Wilderness (1864) and Spotsylvania Court House (1864) are memorialised. View the famous stone wall on Marye’s Heights, site of fierce fighting in December 1862. Visit the Stonewall Jackson Shrine at Guinea Station where Jackson died in May 1863 shot in error by his own men after his triumphant victory at Chancellorsville. Continue North to Alexandria for your overnight stay.
Day 10- Alexandria to Washington (approx. 5 miles)
Visit Fort Ward Museum where one of the 68 forts that ringed the Federal capital has been restored or drive to nearby Arlington where Robert E Lee left his home and his career in the Federal army to take command of the Virginia forces in April 1861. A spiteful Federal government began burying Union soldiers in the grounds of the house in 1864 and thus began Arlington National Cemetery. Return to Washington Dulles Airport.
