Hi All - here's news from the Executive Mansion in Richmond.
Alyson
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> From: Virginia's Executive Mansion <[log in to unmask]
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> Date: August 3, 2011 4:17:18 PM EDT
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> Subject: News from Virginia's Executive Mansion
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> MANSION E-NEWS
> AUGUST 2011
> In This Issue
> Web Renaissance
> Offical Bicentennial Book of the Mansion
> Fog of War Descends of Governor's Mansion
> No Picnic in Manassas or at the Mansion
>
> Quick Links
> Executive Mansion
> Virginia's Executive Chef
> Mansion Tours
> Governor McDonnell
> First Lady of Virginia
>
> Governor's Mansion Web Renaissance
>
> The mansion's web presence has come about face in cyberspace with
> its newly launched website. This illuminating site is just a click
> away at www.executivemansion.virginia.gov. The interactive site
> includes information about the current Civil War exhibit at the
> Mansion, the history, mansion events, recipes from the Executive
> Chef, menus of what VIPs are served when they visit the Mansion and
> much more. We encourage you to continue to check back for updates.
> Mansion's Civil War Sesquicentennial Commemoration Exhibits
>
> The inaugural exhibit focuses on the death and lying in state of
> General Stonewall Jackson at the Mansion. The exhibit includes
> Jackson's Death Mask, which was made as his body lay at the Mansion.
>
> The Executive Mansion thanks the Valentine Richmond History Center
> for loaning the death mask to the Mansion. Other items featured in
> the exhibit were generously loaned by the Museum of the Confederacy,
> the Virginia Historical Society, and the Library of Virginia.
>
> Exhibits will continue throughout the Sesquicentennial and are
> included as part of regular mansion tours.
>
> For more information, click here.
>
>
> Author Mary Theobald matches book text with appropriate images
> VIRGINIA AUTHORS CHRONICLE HISTORY OF VIRGINIA'S GOVERNOR'S MANSION
>
> In 2013, Virginia's Executive Mansion-the oldest occupied governor's
> residence in all the fifty states-marks its 200th anniversary. To
> celebrate this bicentennial milestone, we are planning a yearlong
> series of special events at the Mansion and on Capitol Square. Some
> events are inspired by historical occasions such as the antebellum
> band concerts and the informal receptions that Virginians have long
> enjoyed.
>
> The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) is publishing a handsome
> coffee table book that will chronicle the riveting history of this
> residence. Research has revealed a wealth of human stories with a
> visual treasure trove of compelling images. The lively text is
> peppered with ghost stories, pets and pranks, famous and fashionable
> faces and the rhetorical building blocks that bring the mansion to
> life. A must-read for lovers of Virginia's venerable past. This
> official book of the Mansion's Bicentennial is scheduled to be
> released in October of 2012.
>
>
> MANSION PORTRAIT CONFIRMED AS AUTHENTIC GEORGE BINGHAM
>
> The Mansion's "Portrait of a Boy and His Dog" hanging in the ladies
> parlor has been authenticated by Bingham specialists Fred R. Kline,
> Dr. Paul Nagel and author William Kloss, advisors to the Catalogue
> Raisoonne Supplement.
>
> George Celeb Bingham (1811-1879) was born in Augusta County Virginia
> and moved west in 1819 becoming Missouri's first artist. Bingham,
> called the "old master" of American art is best known for his iconic
> "Fur Traders Descending
> the Missouri".
>
> This endearing portrait, long attributed to Bingham, is of Colin
> Dunlop and was painted during Bingham's six month stay in Petersburg
> in 1841. The portrait was deeded to the Governor's Mansion in 1977
> by the estate of Martha Spottswood of Petersburg Virginia.
>
>
> THE FOG OF WAR DESCENDS ON THE GOVERNOR'S MANSION
>
> Peaceable, "Honest John" Letcher was a lawyer, journalist and
> embattled Civil War Governor
>
> Governor Letcher
> of Virginia. His transformation from dove to hawk transpired in
> three horrific months in early 1861. Moderate, John Letcher, an
> advocate for the gradual emancipation of slaves, had labored to
> preserve the Union and was prominent in the organization of the
> failed February, 1861 Washington peace conference. By April all hope
> of peace had disappeared with seven of the deep South states
> seceding from the Union. Hopes of any reconciliation were dashed
> when President Lincoln called for troops to suppress the rebellion.
> Virginia seceded from the Union on April 17th, 1861. Governor John
> Letcher, now the hawk, embraced his responsibilities to organize the
> state for war and complete a smooth transition from State to
> Confederate control.
>
> Letcher's administrative skills were enacted immediately. On April
> 23rd, Letcher offered Robert E. Lee the command of the States
> defense forces, Lee accepted. President Lincoln's invitation to
> command the Union forces had been turned down earlier in 1861.The
> following month Letcher orchestrated moving the Confederate capital
> from Montgomery, Alabama to Richmond, and on May 29 the city greeted
> President Jefferson Davis with cheers and celebration.
>
> Governor Pierpont
>
> Virginia was soon to have two governors, due to these actions and
> the vote for secession from the Union. Delegates from the northern
> and northwestern counties of the State refused to join the
> Confederacy and elected Francis Pierpont as their governor at the
> Wheeling Convention. Pierpont served in Alexandria and was protected
> by the Union while acting as governor presiding over the captured
> portions of the state. Pierpont prevailed after the war. In 1865
> President Andrew Johnson appointed him as the provisional governor
> of the reunited state of Virginia.
>
>
> THERE WAS NO PICNIC IN MANASSAS OR AT THE MANSION
>
>
> Battle at Bull Run - image from the Library of Virginia
> The first battle of Manassas, Bull Run, as it is called in the
> north, on July 21, 1861 was destined to bring a quick end to the
> southern disturbance. General McDowell's 30,000 troops were certain
> to rout the Confederate Army of General Beauregard. So confident
> were Washingtonian's, they made the thirty mile trip to witness the
> spectacle as sport. Senators and celebrators, politicians and
> picnickers, braved the sweltering heat to witness the Union triumph.
> By early afternoon it appeared that a glorious Union victory was at
> hand. Then it all changed when troops under John Letcher's close
> friend, the relatively unknown Colonel, Thomas Jackson, held their
> ground against the Union advance. Inspired by this example, General
> Bernard Bee told his men to look to Jackson who was standing "like a
> stone wall," and to "rally 'round the Virginians." It was here that
> Jackson's nickname originated. General Johnson's southern
> reinforcements arrived by rail and the tide turned. The rebel
> conquest was complete and devastating to the defeated Union Army who
> turned and ran, with the spectators, back to Washington.
>
> The march to Richmond had been stopped for now, and the fall and
> winter would be time for the Union troops to think tactics for the
> encounters to come in the spring of 1862.
>
> The Virginia Central Railroad brought the wounded, dying and dead
> back to Richmond and with them the horrors and reality of war. Both
> sides were sobered by the causalities and violence of the battle.
> The dye had been cast, war was inevitable, relative quiet prevailed
> for the remainder of 1861, and this would be the proverbial calm
> before the bloody storm. Now the weight of war was on the shoulders
> of Governor Letcher, President Davis, their generals and troops.
>
>
>
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> Virginia's Executive Mansion | Capitol Square | Richmond | VA | 23219
>
Alyson L. Taylor-White
804-920-2783
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