29 February 2008 by Published in: Union Cavalry 3 comments

We spent eleven hours on the road today. We left our hotel at 8:00 this morning and made our way up to Culpeper, which is about 80 miles from Richmond. We visited Rose Hill, where Judson Kilpatrick had his headquarters during the winter of 1863-1864, had a tour of the house, and then set out to follow the route of the raid.

Our next stop was Eley’s Ford, where the entire Federal column crossed the Rapidan River, and then on through Chancellorsville, through Spotsylvania, and on into the countryside. We covered part of Kilpatrick’s route and part of Dahlgren’s route. We made our way out into Goochland County, including stopping by Sabot Hill, the plantation of Confederate Secretary of War James Seddon. From there, we made our way down to the banks of the James River to see the spot where Dahlgren’s column failed to cross due to the flooded condition of the river. From there, we went on to Tuckahoe Plantation, and on into Richmond, where we covered Dahlgren’s fight at the gates of Richmond in greater detail than I have ever heard.

That was the end of the day’s travels. According to our bus driver, we covered 213 miles today. That’s a lot of ground to cover. We saw lots of things that I have never seen previously, some of which pertain to other actions (much of Kilpatrick’s route follows the route taken by Sheridan’s May 1864 Richmond Raid), and I now have a much better understanding of the action where Dahlgren received his repulse. Previously, I’d had to try to figure it out myself, and while I got most of it, I now have a solid understanding of the action, which is why I’m here.

I just got back from some delightful dinner conversation with fellow blogger Donald Thompson of Touch the Elbow, who’s also along for the ride. I always particularly enjoy meeting other bloggers, and I’m the one who’s responsible for Donald being along this weekend, so I wanted to make sure that I got to spend some time with him. We had a good talk about lots of things, and then it was time to call it a night. I’m going to tweak my Dahlgren manuscript a little bit to reflect some insights I got today while they’re still fresh in my mind, and then I think it will be time to call it a night.

We probably have another 200 miles and another 10 hours of travel and touring tomorrow……

Scridb filter

Comments

  1. Steve Basic
    Fri 29th Feb 2008 at 10:20 pm

    Eric,

    Sounds like a couple of full days down there, and am jealous as the only battlefield watching I did was avoiding getting hit by shopping carts at the local Supermarket in NJ. 🙂

    Look forward to hearing more details on the tour when you get a chance.

    Take care.

    Steve

  2. Sun 02nd Mar 2008 at 4:46 pm

    Eric,
    Boy I’m envious. I’d hope to make it. I’ll be anxious to hear more about this trip and what other opportunities there might be for furture ones. I’m not as well plugged into to these staff-ride-like events as I’d like to be.

    Thanks for sharing!

    Rene

  3. Mon 03rd Mar 2008 at 9:58 pm

    Rene,

    There are tons of these sorts of events. Let me know what you’re interested in, and I can try to hook you up.

    Eric

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