Monday, October 11, 2010

Alabama Civil War Trails

There are so many places to visit if you take an Alabama Civil War Trail Tour. Alphabetically first there is the Admiral Raphael Semmes House in Mobile. He was a Captain in the Confederate Navy and had command of the C.S.S. Alabama. The Alabama cruised for nearly 75,000 miles and captured 65 union vessels. The great ship was sunk off the coast of Cherbourg, France on June 2, 1864. The Semmes House is open by appointment only.

Next  on the list is the Alabama Department of Archives and History which is located in Montgomery, next to the First White House. It is a repository for exhaustive research and reference materials on the Civil War and has an outstanding collection of Confederate flags.

Across the street from the Archives and the FWH is the Alabama State Capitol where Jefferson Davis was sworn in as Provisional President of the Confederate States of America on Feb. 18, 1861. There is a star on the Capitol steps that marks the inauguration spot. I have stood there - have you?

Next is the Arlington Antebellum Home, where Union troops planned their 1865 attack on Tuscaloosa. This site is in Elyton (Birmingham). And the last of the A's is Athens, the city of, which was burned and looted by Union  troops in May 1862.

Next time we will start with the B's and continue on. I had no idea there were so many Civil War sites in Alabama, did you?[

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