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] 
> >
> Date: August 3, 2011 4:17:18 PM EDT
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: News from Virginia's Executive Mansion
> Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
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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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