Exit 76: Placing a Civil War museum at Historic Tredegar Iron Works makes sense because 500 Southern cannons were built at the Iron Works here. The Center is within the Richmond National Battlefield Park so you can self visit and learn about Richmond’s piviotal role.
However the aim of the new Civil War Center is to tell the whole story of the conflict in one place from the perspective of the Union, Confederates, blacks, women and children, before, during and after the War. Four films cover what caused the war, the Emancipation Proclamation, the war at home and the legacy of the war.
You see Lincoln life masks from 1860 and 1865 and it hardly looks like same person – he aged so much. Learn that slavery was not the objective of the war, it was to keep the Union together. People were starving so there were bread riots with women yelling, “bread, bread” and then crowds broke into Army supplies. See if you can find out what a $300 man was.
Location: 500 Tredegar St.
Hours: Daily 9-5
Tel: 804-780-1865
www.tredegar.org