Historic Tredegar Photo: Wikipedia |
On this very
hot and lazy Saturday afternoon, with temperatures upwards of 100 degrees
Fahrenheit, locals were sunbathing on the beach nearby.
First
producing iron for railroads and then cannon, Tredegar Enterprise did not rise
to fame until 1842 when the U.S. Navy ordered 100 cannon. Within eighteen
years, Tredegar became the largest ironworks in the South, an important factor
in the Confederate decision to move its capital from Montgomery, Alabama, to
Richmond, Virginia in 1861.
Photo: Wikipedia |
Tredegar
also made iron products, ammunition for the Spanish American War, WWI, and
WWII, eventually closing in 1986 due to slow demand for iron goods which were
replaced by steel.
Gen. Joseph Reid Anderson Photo: Wikipedia |
A
secessionist, Anderson wanted to unite the South and requested a Brigadier
General appointment in the Confederate Army which he held until the summer of
1862. At that time, he resigned his commission as he was more valuable to the
confederacy as leader of the iron works.
After the
federal government confiscated the Confederate war industry, Anderson persuaded
President Andrew Johnson to pardon him and to return his property which had
been confiscated. He ran Tredegar until his death in 1892.
One of the
largest employers in Virginia, Tredegar had recruited workers from Great Britain,
Germany, the North, and even hired slaves who were trained as blacksmiths,
teamsters, boatmen, and skilled ironworkers.
According to
the American Civil War Museum archives, “In 1847, the white workers who usually
held these skilled jobs, demanded that Anderson stop bringing in slaves and
went on strike. Anderson fired the striking white workers, recruited new
workers, and placed slaves in yet more sought-after positions.”
The white
labor force shrank between 1861 and 1864 from 86 percent to 25 percent due to
Confederate draft and the resignation of Union workers. Until its closing,
Tredegar employed between 700 and 1,000 men.
A January
1862 list of “negroes” hired at Tredegar shows 131 slaves and four “free
negroes.” The slaves were “housed, fed, clothed, and provided medical care.
They earned cash by working overtime or exceeding their daily quota; several
bought their own or family members’ freedom. Free black earned the same wages
as white workers.” (American Civil War Museum archives)
Abraham Lincoln and his son Photo: Wikipedia |
The
waterwheel ran with water from the Kanawha Canal, guided to the top of the
wheel and spilled over each bucket, causing the wheel to turn. As it turned, a
wind box (a small fan) forced air into the furnace to stoke the fire.
The Historic
Tredegar is operated by the non-profit American Civil War Center and the
Richmond National Battlefield Park of the National Park Service. Three stories
talk about wartime Richmond, its government, the military, refugees, prisoners,
the wounded, and locals whose lives were displaced from 1861-1865 by a civil war
that brought national attention to places like Cold Harbor, Gaines’ Mill,
Malvern Hill, New Market Heights, and transformed farms into battlefields.
The National
Park Service displays cannon, memorabilia, limber wagons with six-team of
horses that pulled cannon, drums, letters, a well-worn Confederate flag carried
in battle by the Richmond regiment, and narrates other interesting facts about
southern life, the role of slavery, spies such as Elizabeth Van Lew, most
famous Union spy, and other sympathizers who cooperated with the Union. There
were Union spies in Richmond just as there were Confederate spies in
Washington.
Wealthy
Richmonders ran a spy network, “the best-organized one in the Confederacy,
utilized safe houses, codes, signals, and clever hiding places, as well as
smuggled newspapers, personal letters, and access to Confederate high command.”
(National Park museum archives)
Richmond’s
1860 population of 38,000 grew to 80,000 due to the war and the cost of living
rose through the roof while housing space became scarce. People had to flee in
order to survive. Even a coal cellar was used as living quarters.
Women had to
take unsavory jobs in order to survive, even jobs generally done by men. Some turned
to prostitution or selling writing paper, sewing kits, and small pies in the
streets.
Children had
a difficult life in war-torn Richmond. Older ones joined gangs, bullying blacks
and poor whites alike. Younger children who sought refuge in Richmond were
petty thieves who vandalized property and created general disturbance. Some
escaped to Union lines.
Well-to-do
Richmonders sent their girls to boarding schools or to live with relatives out
of harm’s way. Others were hired to sign Confederate Treasury notes. Poor girls
worked in factories and stores. Upper class boys were sent to military schools
and became officers.
By 1860,
Richmond had five black churches and many black charities. Blacks worked as
“domestic and day laborers, but also in tobacco factories, coal mines, flour
mills, ironworks, bakeries, construction sites, hotels, and print shops. Free
blacks dominated barbering, blacksmiths, street vendors, musicians, and cooks.”
(National Park archives)
Blacks and
free blacks had to carry passes or free papers at all times, an indignity to
the human spirit. Richmond’s war chaos provided opportunities for some to
escape to the Union lines.
Massive
stonework on the first floor and brick walls on the second floor of the
Historic Tredegar show evidence of the woolen mill that burned in 1854 on whose
foundation the ironworks building was reconstructed.
The National
Park Service describes the atmosphere in Richmond before the Virginia
Convention voted to secede on April 17, 1861. “Although some Richmonders were
passionate secessionists, many immigrants, merchants, and politicians had
little enthusiasm for the Confederacy. Slaves and free blacks waited to see
where their advantage lay.” (National Park museum archives)
Richmond
became the Union prisoners’ destination. Officers were kept in Libby Prison.
Enlisted men, upwards of eight thousand, were held prisoners on Belle Isle on
James River. Lew and other Union sympathizers helped officers escape from Libby
Prison.
The American
Civil War Museum displays on two floors historical accounts and the time line
of the Civil War. Films present evidence, facts, and opinions about the war
that had torn a nation apart and caused so many casualties on both sides.
Interestingly,
the museum presents the causes of the American Civil War as four possible
choices and invites the visitor to decide by making careful insinuations:
a. Disagreement over Federal vs. State
Powers
b. Competing Economies and Cultures
(Industrial vs. Farming)
c. Westward Expansion
d. Slavery
The U.S.
population in 1790 was four million, including 800,000 enslaved Africans in the
North and the South. By 1860, the population grew to 31 million, 4 million of
which were slaves concentrated in the South.
“While the
average value of enslaved women, children, and the elderly was $750 a person, a
single field hand could sell for $1,500 (about $25,000 in today’s dollars). The
market value of slaves totaled nearly $3 billion, exceeding other U.S. assets
such as railroads and factories.” (American Civil War Museum archives)
It is hard
to understand man’s inhumanity to man but human trafficking and slavery
continue to this day around the world and is swept up under the rug. Few people
actually mention it or seriously try to stop it.
The true
cost of the American Civil War was tallied at the end by taking into account
soldiers lost to disease, battle wounds, and injuries. According to the museum
archives, there were “10,455 skirmishes and recorded battles which resulted in
over one million casualties (killed, wounded, missing in action, captured, or
sick).” Survivors had to live with amputated limbs, depression, and persistent
disease which forever changed their quality of life.
The museum
had been somewhat sanitized in its revisionist historical opinions presented as
a “balanced way to explore the Union, Confederate, and African-American
perspectives.” The causes of war, the war years, and its legacy, the 13th,
14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution in
reference to freedom, citizenship, and equal protection were explored from
different angles.
As we left
the somber American Civil War Museum grounds, children’s laughter and playful beach
banter echoed from the banks of the James River.
Thank you for a glimpse back into the pst, revealing stats most know little about now. Also for summarizing the causes of the Civil War.
ReplyDeleteIt was such an interesting trip into history, Caro. I learned more than I would have learned in any history classroom.
ReplyDelete