We loved Lexington! It is cradled in the southwest corner of Virginia, at the southern end of the Shenandoah Valley. It is green and hilly, with a quaint downtown and trendy restaurants. It is a cute college town, with an amazing history. The great Civil War general, Stonewall Jackson, lived and was buried in Lexington, Virginia. He taught at VMI before the Civil War. Stonewall gained his nickname during the Civil War, because running into him or his battalion was like running into a stone wall. On April 1, 2023, we visited Lexington, learning about both Jackson and about Robert E. Lee. Lee retired to Lexington after his defeat in the Civil War. He became president of Washington University (now known as Washington and Lee University).
Our first stop was at Stonewall Jackson's home in Lexington.
It was a typical upper middle class home of the time, with curvy wood furniture and a red, floral patterned rug in the parlor. I love studying the history of interior decoration and architecture, and seeing how styles appear, disappear, and reappear. As I walk through the Lion House in SLC, I like to remember that its furnishings are Victorian, too, and have the look of Civil War homes in the East.
Stonewall Jackson used barbells in his morning exercises.
More relics from the Victorian age--a pot-bellied stove, curvy wood furniture, another red rug, and an embroidered coverlet at the foot of the bed.
Stonewall Jackson owned a couple of slaves, who worked in this garden.
We visited the Oak Garden Cemetery, where Stonewall Jackson is buried. It is a hidden corner, still steeped in the Confederacy. I read a book, "Confederates in the Attic," which talks about how the Civil War lives on in bits of the South. I certainly had that feeling, as I wandered through the cemetery.
Many of the crypts and gravestones have distinctive crosses next to them, installed by the Daughters of the Confederacy to identify Civil War Confederate veterans.
We next took a walk through an upscale Lexington neighborhood, past Southern homes with balconies, gables, pillars, and lush gardens.
We paused at Grace Episcopal Church, where Lee was a deacon while he served as president of Washington University. One question I always have is how people justify their actions when they are both religious and directly involved in war.
We next visited the burial place of Robert E. Lee, in a family crypt beneath the chapel at the university.
In the small museum next to Lee's burial place, there were paintings of both Lee and George Washington.
Washington was a hero to both the Confederacy and the Union. Again, I was interested in the ideas and values the North and South shared, as well as the ideas and values that divided them.
Outside the chapel was a grave marker for Lee's beloved horse, Traveler.
My favorite activity of the day was a walking tour of VMI, led by a student. He was dressed in a camouflage uniform and told us about the long military heritage of the school, founded before the Civil War. I have long heard of VMI, but I was never sure quite what it was--prep school, university, military academy? VMI is a university that focuses on the training of military officers. Only about half of its graduates actually join the U.S. military.
Patriotism runs strong at VMI, and our guide proudly stood next to an expression of patriotism by one of VMI's commanders.
The school's goal now is to be a fine university, as well as supplying the military with officers.
Students exercised on the broad parade ground.
Our guide told us that VMI has shed its Confederate past and that Confederate flags are banned on campus. However, this monument still advertises a "Jackson award," named after Stonewall Jackson. One of my other questions, as I traveled the South, was the extent to which a Confederate culture still existed, despite the protestations of its citizens and leaders. Of course, culture can be so implicit that citizens and leaders don't realize it's there.
In the VMI chapel, a mural showing VMI cadets fighting for the Confederacy at the Battle of New Market is still prominently displayed.
The dress uniforms in the model of a cadet's room are still blue, the Confederate color.
And, in the gift store, models of Confederate soldiers with the Confederate flag on the package are still being sold.
As we drove east towards Appomattox, we stopped at Southern Virginia University, founded in the last few years as an East Coast alternative to BYU for LDS students. Jonny's sister-in-law, Tess, attended and met her husband, Sheldon, there.
The view from the top of the hill, where the university is located, down into the valley is beautiful.
Appomattox Courthouse is another iconic Civil War site. Ulysees S. Grant accepted Robert E. Lee's surrender of the Confederate Army at this location. After failing to protect Richmond from Union forces, Lee tried to escape south, but he was cornered by the Union Army.
We saw the table where Lee signed the documents of surrender.
We also saw the portable printing presses where the Confederate soldiers' "safe passage" papers were printed, so they could return home without arrest by Union forces. Another of my questions is how wars can be resolved without creating so much bitterness that the scene is set for another war, as happened with the harsh settlement of World War I.
