Month: May 2010

Regular listeners of our podcast or our live streaming feed might know Rick Britton. He’s a historian and cartographer and a frequent guest on WINA’s Charlottesville Right Now with Coy Barefoot. Rick also organizes a Civil War lecture and day-trip series in conjunction with the Charlottesville Senior Center.

On Wednesday May 19th Rick Britton himself delivered a presentation on the Battle of Big Bethel, Virginia’s first Civil War land battle. Fought on June 10th, 1861, 41 days before the First Battle of Manassas, Big Bethel pitted Confederates "Prince John" Magruder and D. H. Hill, along with approximately 1,400 men, against Union Gen. Benjamin Butler’s force of 4,400 from Fortress Monroe and Newport News. Prior to the fight, D. H. Hill had ordered his North Carolinians to dig in, and it was these earthworks that helped the Southern troops hold the field and prevail against superior numbers.

On Wednesday, May 26th, Rick Britton will lead a tour down to the Virginia Peninsula where this early battle took place. The tour will tour historic Fortress Monroe — a must see since it’s scheduled for closing this year — as well as the Mariner’s Museum featuring the turret of the original U.S.S. Monitor and a full-scale reproduction of that revolutionary vessel that the tour will actually board. Bus tour departs from the Charlottesville Senior Center at 8:00 AM. There is a fee for the tour. Call 974-6538 for more info.

This is the first in a six part series for 2010.