A Civil War History Buff Now Living in the Midwest
- gregorymaness
- Nov 3, 2023
- 2 min read
Yesterday, I found myself thinking about our nation's civil war while surfing the Internet and how I would have enjoyed visiting an American Civil War battlefield or a museum highlighting the American Civil War on a day off from work. Not too many opportunities to do that in this area though, even though there is some American Civil War history. Davenport, Iowa was the site of a number of military camps including Camp McClellan and there was the Rock Island Military Prison which housed Confederate prisoners.
I spent most of my childhood living below the Mason-Dixon Line in a part of the United States that was the scene of much of the fighting in the American Civil War. Specifically, I lived in a part of the country that was the eastern theater of the war. As such, I have had the opportunity to visit a number of American Civil War battlefields and museums. And I still haven't managed to visit some of the most famous battlefields such as Gettysburg, Antietam, or Manassas. But below is a list of some of the American Civil War battlefields and museums that I have visited. In addition, I worked for a time when I was younger at the Fort Fisher State Historic Site as a tour guide. Arguably, the fall of Fort Fisher in 1865 was one of the final nails in the Confederacy's coffin.
Bennett Place
Bentonville Battlefield
Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson
Chimborazo Hospital/Chimborazo Medical Museum (Richmond National Battlefield Park)
CSS Neuse and Governor Richard Caswell Memorial
Fort Fisher
Fort Pulaski National Monument
Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park
Petersburg National Battlefield
The American Civil War Museum and the White House of the Confederacy
The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier
Here in the Midwest, I have encountered a number of sites and references to the American Civil War, even if I haven't toured an American Civil War battlefield or visited a museum relating to the American Civil War. I have seen my share of monuments to the Union soldiers that left their communities, their friends, and their loved ones to win the war and, prior to moving to Northern Illinois, I visited Ulysses S. Grant's home in charming, picturesque Galena, Illinois. While visiting a Civil War site isn't as easy as when I lived south of the Mason-Dixon Line, I find that I can still indulge my itch to explore American Civil War history thanks to the Internet and books. Below are links to information on the American Civil War related to the state where I currently reside and the states that I regularly visit, as well as links to a couple monuments and places that I have visited.
"Illinois During the Civil War"
"Iowa in the Civil War"
"New monument to honor six Iowa brothers who died in the Civil War"
https://www.radioiowa.com/2016/06/10/new-monument-to-honor-six-iowa-brothers-who-died-in-the-civil-w
Freedom Rock at the Bellevue’s Veterans Memorial
Ulysses S. Grant Home
"WISCONSIN'S INVOLVEMENT IN THE CIVIL WAR"
If you find yourself in the vicinity of any of these sites, I encourage you to learn more about the conflict that helped define or, perhaps more accurately, redefine the United States. 🇺🇸😃
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