"Blue and gray soldiers raced westward during the first week of April 1865. After spending forty-one weeks around Petersburg, Robert E. Lee hoped the Army of Northern Virginia could leave its adversaries behind. Ulysses S. Grant’s strategic and personnel decisions enabled his armies to intercept Lee multiple times until finally cornering the Confederates at Appomattox. Much has been written about this final clash in Virginia and the work of federal, state, and private organizations has made it one of the most interpreted and accessible Civil War campaigns. Borrowing from these efforts, I have created a tour guide that overlays the routes of both armies onto a modern map.
. . .More here
"Calkins spearheaded the creation of the Lee’s Retreat Driving Tour, a self-guided route that roughly follows the Army of Northern Virginia from Petersburg to Appomattox. Civil War Trails maintains this self-guided route today and the organization has placed additional wayside exhibits along the many roads taken westward. Check out their online brochure here. The American Battlefield Trust has substantially increased the preserved battlefield acres, particularly in Dinwiddie County, around Sailor's Creek Battlefield State Park, and at Appomattox itself.
"The hundred-mile journey is an absolute must for anyone with an interest in the Civil War and this updated map should enhance the great public history work already done for the Appomattox campaign. Download the full map as a pdf here.
"(Update) The numbers listed on the map correspond with a suggested order of visiting the sites, as originally designated by the first Lee’s Retreat maps. In order, they are:
Posted in Battlefields & Historic Places, Civil War Trails; Tagged as Appomattox Campaign, cartography, Civil War Trails, Lee's Retreat, tour guides
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