The Quarterly

Park NewsNational Park ServiceU.S. Department of the Interior

Richmond National Battlefield ParkMaggie L. Walker National Historic Site

The official newsletter for Richmond National Battlefield Park and Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site • Issue 25, June 2008

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From the NewSuperintendent

Education Classroom Opens at Tredegar

Richmond National Battlefield Parkrecently opened a classroom in arenovated building adjacent to theCivil War Visitor Center at TredegarIron Works. Over a year’s worth oflabor went into converting a formerlyunusable space into a spacious learn-ing environment. Education specialistPat Ferrell described the old building:“The room had been flooded severaltimes, so all of the carpet had to comeout and the walls had to be bleachedto remove the mold.” After a thoroughcleaning a new floor was laid downand an interior wall was built to sepa-rate a storage space from the mainroom. The dedicated staff and volun-teers of the Education Team built

Education Specialist Pat Ferrell shares stories about the common soldier with stu-dents from Ratcliffe Elementary in the park’s new classroom.

bookcases and desks, and benches werepainted to match the brightly coloredwalls. Today, the classroom is equippedwith laptop computers and other learn-ing tools that help students experiencehistory in exciting and interactive ways.

Since February 2008 more than 2000children have been through the newfacility. Three new programs, developedby the NPS staff in collaboration withlocal area teachers, have been createdspecifically for the classroom. Theyemphasize active participation, and aretailored to meet the Virginia Standardsof Learning.

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Back in January, Cindy MacLeodaccepted a new position as superin-tendent of Independence NationalHistorical Park in Philadelphia. Sheprepared the following message thatshe asked me to share with our read-ers: For almost 18 years, I came to

work everyday at Richmond NationalBattlefield Park and the Maggie L.Walker National Historic Site lookingforward to, and anticipating, the plansfor its future. As I look back over myyears as superintendent, I will savormany memories. I will miss the Na-tional Park Service staff in Richmond,our wonderful partners, and the vi-brant programs and facilities that wehave built over the years. Richmondhas been a wonderful home for myfamily and I will always treasure thefriendships and memories we havemade here. It is a jewel of a region.We have grown together, polishing ourgems to a new luster, by expandingand deepening the understanding ofour history. I will be watching from Philadel-phia to see the next chapters in thegrowth of Richmond NBP and MaggieL. Walker NHS. Richmond will al-ways have a huge part of my heart.

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Civil War Visitor Center at TredegarIron Works:Open daily 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.Ranger programs offered daily.

Cold Harbor Visitor Center:Open daily 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.Ranger programs offered daily.

Chimborazo Medical Museum:Open daily 9 a.m – 5 p.m.

May 26 to August 16, 2008-Daily Schedule

The Superintendent’sLetter, continued

Historic Masonry Preservation atRural PlainsRural Plains, acquired by the NPS in2006, is one of the most historicallydistinguished homes in HanoverCounty. With construction dating to1725-26, and its continuous occupationby the Shelton family, Rural Plains haswitnessed many historic events includ-ing the 1754 wedding of Patrick Henryand Sarah Shelton, and the May 1864battle of Totopotomoy Creek, duringwhich the house served as headquartersfor General Winfield S. Hancock. Itremains a significant example of earlyVirginia domestic architecture, andretains most of its original form andbuilding material, an unusual occur-rence attributed to the uninterruptedtenure of the Shelton family.

Richmond National Battlefield Parkrecently worked in conjunction withthe expert masons of the NPS HistoricPreservation Training Center (HPTC)to stabilize the interior brick masonryfoundation walls in the basement. Dueto age and exposure to moisture overtime, the brickwork in certain areas haddeteriorated and needed to be recon-structed. The HPTC historic masonspainstakingly removed the older brick

and mortar, and replaced it with newbrick. In the process, the project re-vealed some interesting architecturaldetails, such as the existence of an olderfirebox behind the one now visible.Using detective work and technicalskills, the architectural history of RuralPlains will continue to be revealed asthe park plans for future preservationprojects.

Park staff are also focusing on the his-toric landscape as we uncover the manylayers of history at this important site.A major archeological investigation ofthis site is planned for this summer, inthe hope of identifying the locations ofthe slave cabins, fence lines, and CivilWar fortifications that were plowedunder over the years.

Lauren Noe, seasonal architectural tech-nician, measures the stabilized base-ment fireplace at Rural Plains.

Glendale/Malvern Hill VisitorCenter and battlefields:Park staff on duty daily 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Fort Harrison Visitor Center:Open daily 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Maggie L. Walker NationalHistoric Site:Open Monday through Saturday,9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Ranger programsoffered daily.

My e-mail stays the same,Cynthia_MacLeod @nps.gov. Feelfree to contact me if you come toPhiladelphia. I would enjoy hearing

from you.

After a lengthy competitive process,Northeast Regional Director DennisReidenbach offered me the job ofsuperintendent. Needless to say Iaccepted immediately. My park ser-vice experience began in 1973 as aseasonal summer interpreter at theChancellorsville Battlefield, and overthe years my goal was to become apark superintendent.

There is plenty of hard work ahead.These parks are staffed with incred-ibly talented folks who are dedicatedto the mission of the National ParkService. My career has been dedi-cated to the preservation and inter-pretation of the amazing resources ofthe National Park Service, and I willcontinue that tradition here at Rich-mond.

In this edition of the Quarterly, youcan read about a few of the projectsthat are underway in the park. You’llalso see a listing of some of our mostaggressive interpretive programmingin years, made possible by additionalstaff funded through the NPSCentennial Initiative, a programestablished to help the parks preparefor our 100th anniversary in 2016.

Have a wonderful summer, come seeus, and please get in touch with me ifI can be of assistance.

Dave Ruth

New Podcast Tour Focuses on Lincoln

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Employee Profile: Dave Ammen

Podcast listeners can now follow in the pathof Lincoln’s April 4, 1865, visit to Richmond.

The park is proud to announce the lat-est in its collection of podcast tours —“Walking in the footsteps of PresidentAbraham Lincoln.” In this podcast,Park Ranger Mike Gorman guides visi -tors along the route walked by Lincolnduring his 1865 visit to the evacuatedcapital of the Confederacy. The tourtakes visitors on a 1.5-mile walk that be-gins at 17th and Dock streets and con-tinues through the city connecting theConfederate White House, State Capi-tol, Libby Prison, and other notableRichmond landmarks seen by Lincoln.

The Lincoln podcast corrects severalmisconceptions about Lincoln’s visit.Accounts of the visit are so plentiful,and conflicting, that historians wrote:“there remains no trustworthy accountof this strange presidential entry; theprinted narratives of it written frommemory, after the lapse of years, are so

evidently colored by fancy that theydo not invite credence.”

On April 4, a day after Richmondwas occupied by Union forces,Abraham Lincoln and his son Tadvisited the former Confederatecapital. He arrived in Richmondon a rowboat escorted only by asmall contingent of sailors.Admiral David D. Porter was withPresident Lincoln on this trip andwrote: “I should have preferred tosee the President of the United

This issue of the Quarterly welcomesDave Ammen to Richmond. Asmaintenance worker supervisor, Daveoversees the maintenance of allgrounds, roads and trails throughoutthe park. The work requires closecoordination with the resourcemanagement and interpretation staffbefore projects are begun to ensure thatthey are in compliance with allmanagement plans. He also assists withprescribed burns in Richmond, as wellas at Fredericksburg and SpotsylvaniaNational Military Park and ShenandoahNational Park.

When asked what drew him to theNational Park Service, Dave said he wasready for a career change from

construction work in the privatesector. Since making that change fiveyears ago, Dave has worked at WolfTrap National Park for thePerforming Arts in Vienna, Virginia,and has had several work detailsacross the country. These includedtrips to Grand Teton National Park inWyoming, Castillo de San Marcos inFlorida and the Historic PreservationTraining Center in Maryland, wherehe helped to make new cannoncarriages for the Union gunboat USS

Cairo, displayed at VicksburgNational Military Park in Mississippi.

Dave looks forward to continuing towork for the National Park Service,although in ten years he hopes to

Dave Ammen, Maintenance WorkerSupervisor, Richmond NBP/Maggie L.Walker NHS

have a shorter commute than his current180-mile roundtrip to and from OrangeCounty. His wife Dawn and two children,Cory and Dalton, probably feel the sameway.

States entering the subjugatedstronghold of the rebels with anescort more befitting his high station,yet that would have looked as if hecame as a conqueror to exult over abrave but fallen enemy. He cameinstead as a peacemaker, his handextended to all who desired to takeit.”

The podcast tour is available through thepark’s web site at www.nps.gov/rich, or atCivilWarTraveler.com, which partneredwith Richmond National Battlefield Parkin 2006 to produce a series of customizedpodcast battlefield tours. With thecompletion of the Lincoln’s visit podcast,the park now offers four tours that focuson its most popular topics.

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2008 Summer Events CalendarA Call to Arms – Commemorating theSeven Days BattlesJune 26 – The Coming of the SevenDays Battles. Discover the leaders ofand events leading up to the 1862 battlesfor Richmond. Tredegar Civil WarVisitor Center, 7 p.m.

June 27 – Battle of Gaines’ MillAnniversary Walking Tour. Tour thebattlefield that changed the course of theSeven Days. Gaines’ Mill Battlefield,7 p.m.

June 28 & 29 - Gaines’ Mill LivingHistory Weekend with encampment,rifle firing demonstrations and walkingtours throughout the weekend. Saturday,10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

June 30 – Battle of Glendale /Frayser’sFarm Anniversary Walking Tour. Visitbattlefield lands recently protected by theCivil War Preservation Trust. GlendaleNational Cemetery, 7 p.m.

July 1 – Malvern Hill AnniversaryWalking Tour - Tour the last battle ofthe Seven Days. Malvern Hill Battlefield,7 p.m.

July 12 – Maggie L. Walker’sBirthday Celebration. Specialexhibits, talks and tours will connectWalker’s legacy to the St. Luke Bank.Punch and cake will be served.Maggie L. Walker National HistoricSite, 1:30 p.m.

July and August – Capital HistoryJoin us for a series of downtownRichmond talks, tours and tales.

July 20: David Lowe, National ParkService historian, speaks about the lifeand correspondence of TheodoreLyman, aide to General George G.Meade (Meet at 2 p.m. at the NPS the-ater, Tredegar.)

July 27: Men of Iron Walking Tour-Tredegar’s labor force under the direc-tion of Joseph Anderson. (Meet at 1p.m. at the American Civil War CenterMuseum. Fee)

July 27: Calder Loth, Senior Archi-tectural Historian with the VirginiaDepartment of Historic Resources,speaks about the rebirth of TredegarGun Foundry. (Meet at 2 p.m. at theNPS theater, Tredegar.)

August 3: Mark Greenough, historianat the State Capitol, & Park RangerMike Gorman guide tours of theConfederate capitol and grounds.(Meet at 2 p.m. at the WashingtonStatue on the Capitol grounds.)

August 9:Women’s Roles in the CivilWar — Eight women who impactedhistory. (Meet at 1 p.m. at the AmericanCivil War Center Museum. Fee.)

August 9: Laboring on the HomeFront — The contributions of women,free blacks and slaves in the Richmondworkforce. (Meet at 2 p.m. at the NPSVisitor Center at Tredegar.)

August 16: Richmond’s Civil WarPrisons — The stories of Union sol-diers held captive in Richmond. (Meetat 1 p.m. at the American Civil WarCenter Museum. Fee.)

August 16: Prisoners of War — Asoldier’s fate at Belle Isle Prison. (Meetat 2 p.m. at the NPS Visitor Center atTredegar.)

August 23: Tredegar Iron Works —The men and machines that armed theConfederacy. (Meet at 2 p.m. at theNPS Visitor Center at Tredegar.)

Call 804- 226-1981 x. 30 for details. All programs are free except as noted.

“Classroom,” continued from page 1The new programs include:

Civil War Photography – Students ex-amine images made by Civil War ph o -tographers, then use digital cameras tocompare and contrast modern imageswith Civil War photography.

The Common Soldier – Hands-onactivities help students uncover thedaily life of a common soldier duringthe Civil War.

Tredegar Iron Works – Students inves-tigate the history of Tredegar Iron

Works and why it was important to theeconomy of the pre- and post-CivilWar South and the United States.

For more information on the class-room and its programs call Pat Ferrellat 804 771-2018.

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Richmond National Battlefield Park was estab-lished in 1936 to commemorate the battlefieldsaround Richmond, Virginia, Capital of theConfederacy, 1861-1865.

Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site wasestablished in 1978 to preserve and protect thehome of the first woman to found and bepresident of a bank.

Richmond National Battlefield ParkMaggie L. Walker National Historic Site3215 East Broad StreetRichmond, VA 23223

Phone804 226-1981

E-mailsusie_sernaker@nps.gov

The National Park Service cares for thespecial places saved by the American peopleso that all may experience our heritage.

EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA™

National Park ServiceU.S. Department of the Interior

Park Archeology Targets Important SitesOver the winter professional archeo-logists, working under contract, con-ducted investigations at Drewry’s Bluffand at the Malvern Hill battlefield.These types of projects typically are notcreated to look for artifacts as much asthey are designed to find the exactlocations of Civil War era features.

At Malvern Hill, park staff hoped tolocate the subsurface remains of theBinford House. That structure,probably built early in the 1800’s, stoodon the eastern shoulder of thebattlefield. Artillery and infantry of theUnion Third Corps occupied the siteunder fire during the battle. It isbelieved, but not yet proved, that thehouse survived the battle, only to beburned by Union soldiers in August,

1862 during a return visit toMalvern Hill. Thearcheologists found whatthey believe to be the brickfloor of the house’sbasement. Further work isplanned there.

At Drewry’s Bluff, the goalwas to investigate thesupposed location of the

barracks, occupied during the war bythe Confederate garrison of sailors andsoldiers. The archeologists also soughtsome trace of the chapel, which thesoldiers built in 1863 near the entranceto Fort Drewry. Despite the use ofsophisticated technology, the chapeleluded discovery, but considerableevidence emerged about the barracks.

Archeologists search for remains of the Binford houseon the Malvern Hill battlefield.

Although the work did not reveal theprecise perimeter of the barracks, thepark staff now has a better idea of thebarracks’ location, and can take steps toprotect that ground and interpret it forthe public.

Park Waysides Get a FaceliftPark staff arebusily under-taking the firstmajor upgradeto thebattlefield’swayside exhib-its since themid- 1980’s.Maps, sketches,artwork, con-temporary andmodern photographs — includingimages rarely seen— along with sup-porting text developed by the park’sinterpreters and historians will tell thestories of people and places impactedby the battles fought between 1862 and1865. Once completed, Richmond’sbattlefields will have 102 new exhibits.

An exciting element of the project isthe creation of nine pieces of originalartwork. Several well known histori-cal artists have produced illustrationsthat will be placed at key locations tohelp show the immense scale of thebattlefields. At Malvern Hill, ColdHarbor and Gaines’ Mill, paintings by

This sketch of a powerful Confederate position by local artistJohn Exley will help illustrate the Cold Harbor battlefield.

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EditorSusie Sernaker

SuperintendentDavid Ruth

ContributorsMike AndrusPat FerrellToni HortonDavid RuthSusie Sernaker

NPS PhotographersMike AndrusPat FerrellTonia HortonBob Krick

Comments? Write to:SuperintendentRichmond National Battlefield Park3215 East Broad StreetRichmond, VA 23223

This newspaper is printed on recycledpaper.

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National Park ServiceU.S. Department of the Interior

Richmond National Battlefield Park/Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site3215 East Broad StreetRichmond, VA 23223

Printed with funds donated byEastern National, a not-for-profitpartner of the National ParkService and other public trusts.

The Quarterly

Locations of front page images (left to right): Chimborazo Medical Museum; Cold Harborbattlefield; Drewry’s Bluff battlefield; Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site; TheParsonage at Malvern Hill battlefield; Civil War Visitor Center at Tredegar Iron Works.

Richard Schlecht will depict climacticmoments of each battle. Keith Roccowas selected to produce vivid portray-als of General D. H. Hill’s advanceacross the open slopes of Malvern Hilland General John B. Hood’s break -through at Gaines’ Mill. StevenPatricia used his skills to depict thefinal moments of the attack of the 7thUnited States Colored Troops on FortGilmer, as well as Fort Brady under firein the battle of Trent’s Reach. Localartist John Exley sketched two views atCold Harbor—one illustrating thepowerful Confederate position behindfortifications made of earth and logs,and another illustrating the hurried

“Park Waysides,” continued from page 5building of trenches prior to the Unionattacks on June 1.

Current plans call for installation tobegin in 2008, concentrating on com-pleting one battlefield at a time. Checkthe park’s web site at www.nps.gov/richperiodically for progress updates.