Fort Darling or Drewery's Bluff south of Richmond,VA. 2011-05-15

The Southern capitol of Richmond, Virginia was vulnerable to Northern ships sailing up the James River from the Chesapeake Bay.  The main defensive position against a naval assault on Richmond was a place known to the Confederates as “Drewery’s Bluff”, while the Union called it “Fort Darling.”

 

Fort Darling was a series of earthworks surrounding the encampment, a barracks and artillery emplacements, and three large seacoast guns (one 10 inch Columbiad and two 8 inch Columbiads.)

Imagine a squadron of five Union ships, including the ironclads Monitor and Galena, sailing up the river to face the guns of Drewery’s Bluff.  The 10 inch Columbiad recoiled so badly that it broke it’s carriage on the first shot and was out of commission for most of the fight.  A visitor commented that the Galena “looked like a slaughterhouse” after the four hour battle ended.

We chose to visit the fort on a weekend when a group of Civil War re-enactors were encamped.  Unfortunately for them, the area had some of the heaviest rains of the season during the night.  They posted “No Fishing” signs in the area to the right.

They had several tents and boxes of gear scattered about.  The parking area for the Bluff is almost a mile away from the fort itself.  We didn’t ask if they cheated and drove in, or packed all the gear in by foot.

The men in camp looked the part of Civil War soldiers and sailors.  The tents were dried out, but all the boxes and their contents were still drying when we arrived.  They did manage to get a fire lit that morning.

They had a display of naval artifacts on hand.  This is a torpedo about three feet long that floats just under the surface of the water.  It is constructed of a small, ironbound cask with the ends made of wooden cones.

Tredegar Iron Works at Richmond, VA. 2011-05-12

Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia is where various implements of war were manufactured for the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Prior to the Civil War, the foundry made locomotives and machinery for sugar mills. During the Civil War, the foundry converted to a war footing and produced more than 1000 cannons, the iron plate siding for the CSS Virginia, and experimented with submarine and cannon design. Most of the building were destroyed by fire in 1952.

The main foundry building at Tredegar has become a National Historic Site and contains a museum focused on the role of the ironworks in the Civil War.

A view of the side of the iron foundry, this shows the sluiceway.  Water was taken from the James River and run down to the mill through a sluiceway with a series of gates.

This is one of the five Francis type turbines used for power.  The handwheel on the right controlled the amount of water going through the turbine.  By controlling the amount of water, the speed of the output shaft was controlled.  Power was transmitted into the foundry by belts connected between the turbines and the various pieces of machinery inside the building.

One of the pieces of machinery used at Tredegar was the “Bulldozer Press”.  The modern day earth-moving machine derives its name from this press.  This bulldozer press, made by Williams and White, shapes and straightens pieces of metal.




We got to sit down with President Lincoln and his son, Tad near the entrance to the ironworks.

 

The statue was a source of public debate in the old Southern Capitol.  The proponents of the statue insisted that it was intended to show that the Union had been re-united, while opponents said that a statue of a well-known Southern patriot would be more appropriate.

 

To calm the debate, it was decided that the statue would be funded only by donations, using no public federal, state or local funds.  But the Richmond City Council voted to contribute $45,000 towards the building of this tribute.