Civil War Sesquicentennial Community Planning Meeting
The purpose of the meeting will be to gather public input and refine ideas for Alexandria¹s commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. As part of the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission, a local committee is to be formed as part of a statewide effort to develop a greater understanding of the cause, impact and aftermath of the war, based on the theme ³Understanding Our Past, Embracing Our Future.² Activities associated with this initiative are planned to take place from 2011 to 2015.
As part of the June 6 program, representatives from each of Alexandria¹s history museums will give short presentations on plans, ideas or suggestions for participation in the upcoming anniversary remembrance. Following the presentations, those attending will break into small groups to gather and refine recommendations on how Alexandria should best proceed with this commemorative effort.
Alexandria¹s Civil War heritage is very unique because it reflects the history of the Union, the Confederacy and African Americans. The overwhelming majority of Alexandrians were loyal to the South, with one of its most prominent citizens, General Robert E. Lee, commanding the Confederacy¹s Army of Northern Virginia, and hundreds of men from Alexandria serving with the Confederate Army.
Although Virginia had voted to secede from the Union in 1861, Alexandria played an unusual role due to its proximity to the federal capital and occupation by Union forces throughout the war. In addition to being used as a center for military supplies, transportation and medical care throughout the war period, Alexandria was also the site of a major Union earthwork fortification known as Fort Ward, built to defend the capital against an attack from the west. Now the best surviving example of the ³Defenses of Washington,² Fort Ward was restored by the City of Alexandria in the early 1960s to commemorate the Civil War Centennial.
The Union presence in Alexandria made it a destination for enslaved African Americans seeking freedom. Thousands of refugees arrived here, but without adequate food, shelter and medical care, hundreds of them died. The military authority ordered that a cemetery be established in 1864 and over the next five years, approximately 1,800 people were buried there before the federal government abandoned the cemetery. In 2007, the City acquired the site, today known as the Contraband and Freedmen¹s Cemetery Memorial.
The June 6 program will assist Historic Alexandria Resources Commission, the Office of Historic Alexandria and Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association in developing a plan that reflects these and other themes of Alexandria¹s Civil War heritage.
