The Civil War was the first conflict to be documented extensively through photographs. The surviving images of fresh battlefields and earnest soldiers provide some of the greatest bridges between the 1860’s and the 21st century. This tour will offer a singular approach to touring Civil War sites. Join historian Robert E. L. Krick on a unique visit to battlefields and city sites around the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia. After an overview on Friday night, we will board the bus and spend Saturday touring battlefields outside Richmond. Each site will be selected with an eye toward photography, with the goal of standing precisely where the cameras were 143 years ago. This will be an entirely “Then & Now” tour, and an opportunity to see the battlefields from a different perspective - that of a camera’s lens. Alexander Gardner, Timothy O’Sullivan, George Bernard, and Matthew Brady, among others, all spent time around Richmond in 1862, 1864 or 1865. Later in the century others visited the battlefields around Richmond to document their appearance. Taken together, there is an enormous body of images that lend themselves to comparison and touring.

 

The battlefields on Saturday’s tour include Drewry’s Bluff on the James River (where nearly 100 photographs were taken in 1865); Beaver Dam Creek and Malvern Hill from the Seven Days battles; Old Church and Cold Harbor from Grant’s 1864 campaign; and the outer defenses below Richmond (Chaffin’s Bluff, Fort Harrison, and Fort Brady). At Malvern Hill we will profit from the recent discovery of nearly a dozen 1880’s photographs - the earliest known ones of that place. The tour will be traditional in some respects. Out on the battlefields we will talk about the actions there; but surviving photographs will determine where we stop. Although a bus will get us from site to site, this is essentially a walking tour, with about three miles on foot divided into several segments.

 

On Sunday morning we will walk all around the eastern section of the old city of Richmond. Within a few blocks of the old town, we will see sites of vital interest and importance to the Civil War history of the city. The Second Alabama Hospital, General Hospital #12, a pair of wartime churches, and many surviving private homes are among the sites on a long list of buildings that still stand. We also will walk past locations of famous buildings now gone, such as Libby Prison, the train station, Castle Thunder Prison, and others. We will learn the stories of these important places using photographs and primary sources. Our Sunday morning stroll will also be tailored to match wartime photographs. We will see how the sites appeared in the 1860’s, and how they look today. You may be surprised how little has changed in 143 years. We hope to see you in Richmond!

 

 

About Our Tour Leader

 

Robert E. L. Krick is an experienced and popular battlefield tour guide of the Civil War in the Eastern Theater, whose special expertise is the Richmond area. For fifteen years he has been developing and leading Civil War tours of downtown Richmond and the battlefields surrounding it. He is the author of The 40^th Virginia Infantry and Staff Officers in Gray, a biographical register of the staff officers of the Army of Northern Virginia.

 

Program Schedule:

 

Friday, October 24

8:00 PM-8:45 PM           Overview – at our base hotel in Richmond, Virginia soon TBA

Saturday, October 25

8:15 AM                        Depart by Bus from base hotel in Richmond

12:30PM                         Lunch

5:00 PM                          Arrive Back at base hotel in Richmond

 

Sunday, October 26

8:15 AM                         Depart from base hotel in Richmond

12:00 N                           Arrive back at base hotel in Richmond

 

Registration Fees (Lodging not Included):    $ 245         Under Age 23:  $ 95

 

You can reserve a space on this tour by making a $50 Deposit per Person.

If You Must Cancel we will refund 100% of your fees paid. However, to receive a 100% refund, you must allow 30 days from the date of our receipt of your notice of cancellation

 

What is Included in your Registration Fee:

·        the services of an expert historian chosen for his knowledge and experience

·        transportation to sites as indicated

·        Saturday lunch

·        refreshments and snacks during the tour

·        map package

 

Lodging: Our program will be based at a hotel In Richmond, Virginia. Information including hotel location, room rates and instructions on how to reserve a room under our block will be sent to all registrants and posted on this website by May 1.