Friends, this is our last blog and it comes from Arlington, Virginia as the Great American Road Trip comes to a close at Arlington National Cemetery. Here the Civil War story comes full circle. The most esteemed Confederate General, Robert E. Lee owned this land when it was his Virginia farm across the Potomac River from Washington DC. Lee's farm now is the home to the grave sites of many Union civil war soldiers along with many newer additions including the Kennedy brothers Edward, Robert and John. The Union took this Virginia farm where Lee lived as the spoils of war but many years the US government lost a court case when descendants of Robert E Lee succeeded in claiming the farm was wrongly confiscated by the US government and the Court ordered the land be returned to the Lee family. Given that the site was now a military graveyard the Lees negotiated a cash payout from the government rather than taking the farm back. Today there is a Museum honouring Robert E Lee in his old plantation home. Ironically there is a wonderful view from the Lee plantation home looking out on the Lincoln Memorial across the Potomac River. The American Civil War took the lives of an estimated 620,000 souls, roughly 2% of the entire population of the country. These deaths also destroyed the lives of many of those who lost their loved ones. Few Americans were unaffected by the war. However, given the numbers of dead, all of the casualties of the war could not even be identified. The Tomb of The Unknowns honours those war dead with a tomb and a 24 hour guard. Inscribed on the side of the tomb are the words: Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but only to God" Last thought is from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address: "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

The guard at The Tomb of the Unknowns

Changing of the guard of The Tomb of the Unknowns

Edward Kennedy

Robert Kennedy

President John F Kennedy's Eternal flame

John F Kennedy

The Lincoln Memorial view from Robert E Lee's Plantation Home in Arlington Cemetery

Manassas, Virginia. The first major battle of the Civil War was fought here a few months in to the war on July 26, 1861. Manassas is only 30 miles from Washington DC. The Civil War was expected to be a short conflict and the Union expected that it would prevail in this battle and end the war here. The Union army was on the offensive and moved across The Potomac and attacked gaining an early advantage. The battle was chaotic as the soldiers and commanders on both sides were inexperienced. In fact, soldiers on both sides wore many different coloured uniforms so the combatants were not always sure which soldiers were comrades and which were enemies.The Union Army lost its advantage and the Confederates were backed up by reinforcements and the tide turned. In one key part of the battle General Stonewall Jackson refused to back down and held his ground causing a fellow Confederate commander to urge his troops on with the following: "There is Jackson standing like a stone wall. Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer. Rally behind the Virginians!". In the end 5,000 of the 60,000 combatants died in the battle and the Union army retreated eastward back to Washington defeated. This was not to be a one battle war.

Bronze statue of the battlefield

Battlefield medical kit. Amputations were a common form of medical treatment.

The Henry House ended up in the crossfire of The first Battle of Manassas. 85 year old Judith Henry refused to leave her home and was shot and killed, the only civilian casualty of the battle 

The battlefield site of  First Manassas

Richmond, Virginia. This is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia and was the capital of The Confederate States of America during The Civil War. The city was founded and 1737 and is currently a big city of over a million people in the greater Richmond area. We focused on The Civil War aspects of the city and can report that the former White House of The Confederate States of America is well preserved and President Jefferson Davis well remembered. We visited the Museum of the Confederacy next door which has an impressive collection of Civil war artifacts and pays tribute to General Robert E. Lee and General Stonewall Jackson, among others. The museum also houses a full collection of the battle flags carried by Confederate soldiers in to battle. Some of these were captured by Union soldiers during the war and then later returned as a gesture of respect and reconciliation.

The Confederate White House (now surrounded by Virginia Commonwealth University Hospital)

Confederate Battle Flag carried on the battle field

Another battle worn flag

Robert E. Lee's hat on display at The Museum of the Confederacy next door to The Confederate White House

Richmond's Old City Hall

Interior of Old City Hall

In 1865, when the Confederate Army fled Richmond, it blew up its munitions and inadvertently set the city on fire.  Ironically, it was the advancing occupying Union army that doused the fire

Photo of Richmond after the fire

The Virginia Capitol, seat of the State government 

Buz and Ned's Real Barbecue, Richmond, Virginia

Perfect baby back ribs

Appomattox Court House , Virginia. This town was the site where the Civil War basically ended. On April 6, 1895, General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant at McLean House in Appomattox, Virginia. Although Lee refused to surrender on behalf of the entire Confederate Army, the few remaining Confederate armies soon surrendered as well following Appomattox. The terms of surrender were as written in these words by General Grant: "I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate, one copy to be given to an officer to be designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged; and each company or regimental commander sign a like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery, and public property to be parked and stacked, and turned over to the officers appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers, nor their private horses or baggage. This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, not to be disturbed by U. S. authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside. U.S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General." The Confederate soldiers were required to surrender their weapons and given a written "parole" to facilitate safe passage home.

A painting depicting General Lee signing the terms of surrender

Reconstructed building at Appomattox

One of the terms of surrender was that The Army of Northern Virginia soldiers had to walk a gauntlet of Union soldiers and deposit their rifles in the centre of two rows

Reconstructed Appomattox building

Painting of the last words between Lee and Grant the day after signing the surrender

The Research Triangle, North Carolina. Three booming towns in North Carolina form the so-called research triangle; namely Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. There is a concentration of universities such as Duke, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State. The triangle is chock full of high tech enterprises including companies in software and biotechnology. The economy is booming and prospects are good. We spent most of our time in Raleigh which is a very pleasant town. It reminds me of Toronto; lots of trees and liveable neighbourhoods. We checked out The North Carolina Museum of Art and saw Janis Joplin's painted Porsche alongside old masters. We sampled North Carolina barbecue; usually chopped (not pulled) pork with the North Carolina style vinegar pepper sauce. We went to a Carolina Hurricane hockey game for the price of 2 beers and 2 hot dogs at a Maple Leafs game and we actually sat in the first row behind the players benches. So, who do we sit next to….a guy in a Leaf jersey, he and his family transplanted from Watertown, New York. Huge Leaf fans. His wife told me that they are Leaf fanatics and had Leaf tickets for a Hurricanes/Leafs game 5 years ago. They also had been trying to adopt a child for a couple of years at the time. As luck would have it, the adoption agency called to say that there were 2 children available but they would have to receive the kids that night (the same night as the the Leafs game…(Nov. 9, 2009). They had to decide between the Leafs or the kids! She stayed home to receive their children He went to the Leafs game Leafs 3 Canes 2. Everybody wins.

Janis Joplin's Porsche

"Oh, Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz....my friends all drive Porsches..."

North Carolina Barbecue

Brunswick Stew at The Pit in Raleigh

North Carolina ribs seasoned with peppers and vinegar with a side of mac 'n' cheese and baked beans at The Pit

Clyde Coopers in Raleigh has been operating for over 70 years serving up North Carolina style chopped pork with a spicy vinegar sauce

Confederate cemetery in Raleigh

The original Krispy Kreme Doughnut restaurant in Raleigh

Doughnuts coming off the line at Krispy Kreme

Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University

Sarah Duke Gardens

Sarah Duke Gardens

Amazing old school North Carolina barbecue at Allen & Sons in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Carolina Hurricanes  2  Colorado Avalanche 1; our seats are right behind the bench

Eric and Jordan Staal; brothers and teammates

Huddle with coach in last minute of play

If you look in the upper left hand corner of the picture, you can see a couple of hockey fans from Toronto; me on the left and Emily next to me partially obstructed by the red post