The 2006 tour of West Virginia battlefields, June 9-12, 2006, co-sponsored by the Rich Mountain Battlefield Foundation and the Shenandoah Civil War Associates, was rated by the participants as an outstanding success. The program, based in Elkins West Virginia, studied and toured the major battlefields of "The First Campaign" in 1861. Led by historians Hunter Lesser, author of Rebels at the Gate: Lee and McClellan at the Front Line of a Nation Divided, Jeff Wert and John Heatwole, the group visited Philippi, Laurel Hill, Rich Mountain, Cheat Fort, Camp Bartow, Camp Allegheny, and Corricks Ford. Although the 1861 campaigns in West Virginia were an important series of victories for Union forces under General George B. McClellan, these battles often do not receive the attention they deserve from students of the Civil War. Hunter Lesser's brilliantly conducted tours served to educate all those who attended this program that covered the major clashes of Union and Confederate armies at the outbreak of the Civil War.
2006 Schedule
Friday, June 19Saturday, June 20
8:00 - 8:15 Bus departs Potomac Hall and Comfort Inn
10:30 Tour of the Virginia State Capitol
12:00 - 1:15 Lunch
1:30 Visit the museum of the Confederacy and Confederate White House
4:00 Arrive at the Linden Row Inn
4:00 - 6:00 Free Time
6:30 Dinner
Sunday, June 21
8:30 - Bus departs the Linden Row Inn
8:30 - 12:00 Tour of Richmond Civil War sites led by Robert E. L. Krick: site
of Libby Prison, Libby Hill, Castle Thunder, Prison, Monument Avenue, Lincoln
visit, and other sites
12:00 - 1:00 Lunch
1:15 - 3:30 Tour of Hollywood Cemetery with Chris Ferguson
4:00 - 6:00 Free Time
6:30 Dinner
Monday,
June 22
8:15 Bus departs Linden Row Inn
8:30 Visit Chimborazo Hospital
9:30 Visit Lee House
10:00 Tour Tredegar Iron Works, National Park Service Visitors Center, Belle
Isle Prison Camp
12:00 Depart Richmond for Harrisonburg. (Lunch en-route)
3:00 Approximate Arrival Time in Harrisonburg (End of Program)