Cooperative Living May 2015 - 34

over the last two decades. " Twenty
years ago, it was about Yankees
and Confederates duking it out
on the battlefield and little else, "
he remarks. However, he feels the
museum has been at the forefront
of changing that. " We want people
to really come to grips with
history, " he adds. " Even 10 years
ago, Richmond barely talked
about its slave history even
though we're four blocks from
the location of Shockoe Bottom's
old slave market. We want people
to understand all of the history,
whether it makes them comfortable
or not. "
And then Rawls gives me a
The American Civil War Museum,
formerly The Museum of the
Confederacy (above left) and the
White House of the Confederacy
(left) are two of the many historical
attractions to be found near
Route 360 as it passes through
Richmond, a center for Civil War
history. Waite Rawls (above), coCEO
of the American Civil War
Museum, notes, " 1.8 million people
go to Gettysburg every year,
and there were only three days of
battle there. Here it wasn't three
days; it was four years! "
TOURING THE VAULT
It's pretty hard to travel Route 360
through downtown Richmond without
taking in its Civil War history,
given the city's role as the Confederate
capital for four years of war. Just a few
blocks off 360 is the American Civil
War Museum (formerly The Museum
of the Confederacy) and the White
House of the Confederacy. Waite
Rawls, co-CEO of the American Civil
War Museum, says of the museum's
partnership with the American Civil
War Center at the old Tredegar
Ironworks on the James River, " It's our
purpose to help Richmond become
the premier destination for the Civil
War. " With a jovial laugh, he adds,
" 1.8 million people go to Gettysburg
every year, and there were only three
days of battle there. Here it wasn't
three days; it was four years! "
32
Rawls says it makes sense for
Richmond to be a center of Civil War
studies. " Almost half the casualties of
the war were in Virginia, " he explains.
" And 30 percent were within 20 miles
of Fredericksburg. " It's no small
wonder that Rawls can spew these
numbers off the top of his head.
Before coming back to his home state
of Virginia 11 years ago, he spent his
career as an investment banker in
Chicago. " I've been a Civil War buff
since I was in short pants! " he jokes,
adding how he remembers giving a
speech once for Bank Liquidity
Management and managing to tie
it into the Civil War. " You should
have seen my boss' look when I
referred to it as the 'War of Northern
Aggression!' "
Rawls says he has seen the face of
Civil War tourism change dramatically
special treat - a private tour of
the museum's basement flag vault.
He says the museum is home to
500 of the more than 1,300
Confederate flags still known to
exist. Determining the stories
behind all those flags as well as
much of the rest of the museum's
collection was the first job of the
now-famous Civil War historian
Douglas Southall Freeman.
Among the vault's treasures is
the Confederacy's first handstitched
battle flag.
Rawls continues his stories
behind the flags as he shows me
a number of flags made from
wedding dresses, one of them
made from the wedding dress of
Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill's wife.
Rawls says the museum has 13
battle flags made from wedding
dresses. " Women couldn't fight on
the battlefield, so that was their
way of expressing support for the
war effort and their husbands'
roles in it. "
Then comes an especially
moving collection as Rawls opens
drawer upon drawer of battle flag
poles, many of them worn and
darkened where soldiers once
carried them into battle. Some
were made from sticks - battlefield
ingenuity when a flag pole
was destroyed on the field and a
color bearer wanted to keep the
flag flying high. " Looking at this
stuff really introduces the human
element, " says Rawls. n
Cooperative Living/May 2015
Cooperative Living May 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cooperative Living May 2015
