Americans and their French allies at Yorktown ensured the success of the United States’ movement for independence. While the war that started at Lexington and Concord in 1. Yorktown, Virginia, General George Washington shocked the world when he secured the surrender of British General Lord Charles Cornwallis. Thanks to the efforts of the Trust, visitors can follow the Union’s attack on Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia from beginning to end. Lee won one of his most decisive victories, inflicting massive casualties on the Union Army despite being heavily outnumbered.Īlmost a century and a half later, the Civil War Trust won a victory at Fredericksburg almost as decisive, successfully preserving more than 2. If there is a place worse than hell, I’m in it.” Lincoln’s horror was understandable.Īt Fredericksburg Confederate General Robert E. When President Abraham Lincoln learned of the Union defeat at Fredericksburg in December 1. Be sure to also visit the USS Cairo ironclad warship, recovered from a river bottom and on display. Today, visitors to the Vicksburg National Military Park can walk the trenches and scenes of battle where Lincoln’s great general changed the course of the Civil War. Grant carried out one of the most brilliantly executed campaigns in the annals of military history, ultimately capturing the “Gibraltar of the South” and severing the Confederacy in two. Over the course of three months in the summer of 1. Those who study his audacious campaign against Vicksburg know better.
Grant is sometimes remembered as a blundering butcher. Gettysburg, including the site of Lee's Headquarters on Seminary Ridge. The Civil War Trust is proud to have saved more than 9. While you’re there, make sure to pay your respects at the Soldiers National Cemetery and visit the David Wills House, where Abraham Lincoln stayed the night before he delivered his Gettysburg Address. Today, visitors can walk in the footsteps of the brave soldiers who fought and died at such iconic places as Little Round Top, Devil’s Den, Cemetery Ridge, and Culp’s Hill.