Civil War Trails Program

Last updated

The Civil War Trails Program founded by Civil War Trails, Inc. of Richmond, Virginia is a multi-state heritage tourism initiative designed to draw connections between and encourage visitation to Civil War sites. [1] Efforts to increase visitation and signage have stepped up in recent years in preparation of the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War. This includes and increased focus on lesser known sites with the addition of directional "trailblazer signs" for more than 1000 previously uninterpreted Civil War sites in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and West Virginia. [2] Tennessee joined the program in 2008. [3]

Contents

State participation

The North Carolina Civil War Trails Program chapter includes more than 700 sites. This chapter was dedicated on the Bentonville Battlefield on March 14, 2005. [4] The main focus of the Trails program is a driving tour of the key places of the 1865 Carolinas Campaign, which culminated in the Battle of Bentonville. It also includes the Burnside Expedition, Foster's Raid, among other key moments in the Carolinas' Civil War history.

From the launch of its chapter in 2008, Tennessee encouraged individual and community organizations to propose new sites for inclusion on the statewide map. In order to be eligible for inclusion, a proposed location must be as close as possible to where the Civil War event happened and must have existing parking for at least three cars and a bus. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cherokee</span> Indigenous American people of the southeastern United States

The Cherokee are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern North Carolina, southeastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, edges of western South Carolina, northern Georgia and northeastern Alabama consisting of around 40,000 square miles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Appalachian Trail</span> Hiking trail going through fourteen US states

The Appalachian Trail, also called the A.T., is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost 2,200 miles (3,540 km) between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy claims the Appalachian Trail to be the longest hiking-only trail in the world. More than three million people hike segments of the trail each year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bentonville, Arkansas</span> City in Arkansas, United States

Bentonville is the ninth-most populous city in Arkansas, United States, and the county seat of Benton County. The city is centrally located in the county with Rogers adjacent to the east. The city is the birthplace and world headquarters location of Walmart, the world's largest retailer. It is one of the four main cities in the three-county Northwest Arkansas Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is ranked 105th in terms of population in the United States with 546,725 residents in 2020, according to the United States Census Bureau. The city itself had a population of 54,164 at the 2020 Census, an increase of 53% from the 2010 Census. Bentonville is considered to be one of the fastest growing cities in the state and consistently ranks amongst the safest cities in Arkansas. It is included in the Fayetteville–Springdale–Rogers Metropolitan Statistical Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Daughters of the Confederacy</span> American hereditary association

The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, and the promotion of the pseudohistorical Lost Cause ideology and corresponding white supremacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern United States</span> One of the four census regions of the US

The Southern United States is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean and the Western United States, with the Midwestern and Northeastern United States to its north and the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico to its south.

The State of Franklin was an unrecognized proposed state located in present-day East Tennessee, in the United States. Franklin was created in 1784 from part of the territory west of the Appalachian Mountains that had been offered by North Carolina as a cession to Congress to help pay off debts related to the American War for Independence. It was founded with the intent of becoming the 14th state of the new United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue Ridge Parkway</span> Scenic parkway in the United States

The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. The parkway, which is the longest linear park in the U.S., runs for 469 miles (755 km) through 29 counties in Virginia and North Carolina, linking Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It runs mostly along the spine of the Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains. Its southern terminus is at U.S. Route 441 (US 441) on the boundary between Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, from which it travels north to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. The roadway continues through Shenandoah as Skyline Drive, a similar scenic road which is managed by a different National Park Service unit. Both Skyline Drive and the Virginia portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway are part of Virginia State Route 48 (SR 48), though this designation is not signed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William J. Hardee</span> Confederate general and businessman

William Joseph Hardee was a career U.S. Army and Confederate States Army officer. For the U.S. Army, he served in the Second Seminole War and in the Mexican–American War, where he was captured and exchanged. In the American Civil War, he sided with the South and became a general. Hardee served in the Western Theater and quarreled sharply with two of his commanding officers, Braxton Bragg and John Bell Hood. He served in the Atlanta Campaign of 1864 and the Carolinas Campaign of 1865, where he surrendered to General Joseph E. Johnston to William Tecumseh Sherman in April. Hardee's writings about military tactics were widely used on both sides in the conflict.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lafayette McLaws</span> Confederate Army officer in the American Civil War (1821-1897)

Lafayette McLaws was a United States Army officer and a Confederate general in the American Civil War. He served at Antietam and Fredericksburg, where Robert E. Lee praised his defense of Marye's Heights, and at Gettysburg, where his division made successful assaults through the Peach Orchard and Wheatfield, but was unable to dislodge Union forces from Cemetery Ridge. After the Knoxville Campaign, he was court-martialed for inefficiency, though this was overturned for procedural reasons. Finally, he was sent to his native Georgia to resist Sherman's March to the Sea but retreated through the Carolinas, losing many men through desertion, and was presumed to have surrendered with Joseph E. Johnston in April 1865.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Battlefield Trust</span> Nonprofit preserving battlefields

The American Battlefield Trust is a charitable organization whose primary focus is in the preservation of battlefields of the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the American Civil War, through the acquisition of battlefield land. The American Battlefield Trust was formerly known as the Civil War Trust. On May 8, 2018, the organization announced the creation of the American Battlefield Trust as the umbrella organization for two divisions, the Civil War Trust and the Revolutionary War Trust, which was formerly known as "Campaign 1776".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States National Register of Historic Places listings</span> Register for landmarks in the United States

The National Register of Historic Places in the United States is a register including buildings, sites, structures, districts, and objects. The Register automatically includes all National Historic Landmarks as well as all historic areas administered by the U.S. National Park Service. Since its introduction in 1966, more than 90,000 separate listings have been added to the register.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carolinas campaign</span> Military campaign, American Civil War

The Carolinas campaign, also known as the campaign of the Carolinas, was the final campaign conducted by the Union Army against the Confederate Army in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. On January 1, Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman advanced north from Savannah, Georgia, through the Carolinas, with the intention of linking up with Union forces in Virginia. The campaign culminated in the defeat of Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's army at the Battle of Bentonville, and its unconditional surrender to Union forces on April 26, 1865. Coming just two weeks after the defeat of Robert E. Lee's army at the Battle of Appomattox Court House, it signaled that the war was effectively over.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Carolina in the American Civil War</span> Involvement of the Confederate state of North Carolina in the American Civil War

During the American Civil War, North Carolina joined the Confederacy with some reluctance, mainly due to the presence of Unionist sentiment within the state. A popular vote in February, 1861 on the issue of secession was won by the unionists but not by a wide margin. This slight lean in favor of staying in the Union would shift towards the Confederacy in response to Abraham Lincoln's April 15 proclamation that requested 75,000 troops from all Union states, leading to North Carolina's secession. Similar to Arkansas, Tennessee, and Virginia, North Carolina wished to remain uninvolved in the likely war but felt forced to pick a side by the proclamation. Throughout the war, North Carolina widely remained a divided state. The population within the Appalachian Mountains in the western part of the state contained large pockets of Unionism. Even so, North Carolina would help contribute a significant amount of troops to the Confederacy, and channel many vital supplies through the major port of Wilmington, in defiance of the Union blockade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trousdale Place</span> Historic house in Tennessee, United States

Trousdale Place is a historic mansion in Gallatin, Sumner County, Tennessee. It was the home of John H. Bowen, local attorney and member of the United States House of Representatives, and of governor of Tennessee William Trousdale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bentonville Battlefield</span> United States historic place

Bentonville Battlefield is a North Carolina state historic site at 5466 Harper House Road in Johnston County, North Carolina. It belongs to the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and is the site of the 1865 Battle of Bentonville, fought in the waning days of the American Civil War. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Walker Lookout</span>

Big Walker Lookout is a 100 feet (30 m) observation tower located in the Blue Ridge Highlands Region atop Big Walker Mountain in Bland County, Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Bentonville</span> 1865 battle of the American Civil War

The Battle of Bentonville was fought in Johnston County, North Carolina, near the village of Bentonville, as part of the Western Theater of the American Civil War. It was the last battle between the armies of Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman and Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commemoration of the American Civil War</span>

The commemoration of the American Civil War is based on the memories of the Civil War that Americans have shaped according to their political, social and cultural circumstances and needs, starting with the Gettysburg Address and the dedication of the Gettysburg cemetery in 1863. Confederates, both veterans and women, were especially active in forging the myth of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy.

The Civil War Trust's Civil War Discovery Trail is a heritage tourism program that links more than 600 U.S. Civil War sites in more than 30 states. The program is one of the White House Millennium Council's sixteen flagship National Millennium Trails. Sites on the trail include battlefields, museums, historic sites, forts and cemeteries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mayo River State Park (Virginia)</span> State park in Virginia, United States

Mayo River State Park is a state park of Virginia located in Henry County, along the North and South Forks of the Mayo River. The entrance to the park is located in Spencer. The park is located along the Virginia-North Carolina state line, and it is adjacent to a similarly named park in North Carolina.

References

  1. "Carolina Comments" (PDF). North Carolina Office of Archives and History. April 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  2. "Virginia Civil War Trails". Civil War Traveler. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  3. 1 2 Jones, Bill (February 13, 2008). "Trailblazers: State's 'Civil War Trails' Planners Start Here To Identify Historic Sites For Driving Tours". Greensville Sun. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  4. "North Carolina Civil War Trails". North Carolina Office of Archives and History. Archived from the original on October 11, 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2014.