Capital Region USA - Rich in Civil War history

Did you know that more major battles of the Civil War were fought in the Capital Region USA than in any other place in America? Just 80 years after George Washington won America’s freedom from Britain in the Revolutionary War, the first major battle of the Civil War took place in Manassas, Virginia, close to Washington, DC.

Today, UK visitors to the Capital Region can re-live the most strategic battles of this epic war through a host of Civil War walking and driving tours. An excellent way to travel from battlefield to battlefield is along the region’s 10 Civil War Trails (www.civilwartrails.org) which link together hundreds of sites, quaint villages and sophisticated towns in a landscape that remains much as it was almost 150 years ago.

Visitors have the chance to follow in the footsteps of Confederate soldiers as they marched toward their destiny at the Battle of Antietam. The Antietam Campaign Trail begins at the Loudoun Museum in Leesburg, Virginia, where Confederate General Robert E Lee planned the majority of his march into Maryland. The trail crosses the Potomac and threads through beautiful countryside to the historic city of Frederick, Maryland. This circular trail then continues through Middletown, over South Mountain and on to Antietam National Battlefield, where more casualties occurred in one day than in any other battle of the war.

Travel to the tiny village of Appomattox (tourappomattox.com), Virginia to see where the country was re-united when Robert E Lee surrendered his Confederate army to Union Ulysses S. Grant. Hear the ironic story of Wilmer McLean, in whose home the surrender took place. Early in the war he left his home in Northern Virginia to settle in the sleepy town with the hope of escaping the war, but the war literally came into his parlour on 9 April, 1865, with the surrender.

Why not visit the Capital Region USA and trace the route that John Wilkes Booth took to escape after he shot Abraham Lincoln? Booth, suffering from a broken leg and believing he was the hero of the Confederacy, fled from Washington, DC through Maryland and into Virginia. After a two-week manhunt, he was cornered and killed by a Union cavalry patrol.

Outstanding Civil War Museums and other historical sites are also located throughout the region. Visit the new USS Monitor Centre in Newport News, Virginia, and learn of the first fight between ironclad warships. Have a look at the prisoner-of-war camp at Point Lookout, Maryland where Confederate prisoners were held throughout the Civil War. Walk along Baltimore’s Pratt Street where political protest resulted in the war’s first bloodshed.

A little farther north and just south of the Mason and Dixon Line, explore Union Mills to learn how the Shriver family gave true meaning to the words “brother against brother”.

Throughout the year, there are events where re-enactors gather to recreate the tactical commands of Civil War battles and celebrate the civilian side of the mid-19th century life.

For more information visit Capitalregionusa.co.uk.