The American Civil War Center at Tredegar

            The history of the Civil War differs greatly for the North and the South, particularly for Richmond, as it was the capital of the Confederacy. The Civil War serves as a fundamental part of Richmond’s identity, and many museums and memorials have been dedicated to it in the city. It seems that a common difficulty and goal for these sites of remembrance is to depict the memories of honor, pride, and strength that reside in the South about the War, while recognizing that one of the underlying catalysts, slavery, was not such a noble cause. At least, it seems as though this is the ideal objective of the American Civil War Center at Tredegar. Although the most prominent exhibit at the museum, titled “In the Cause of Liberty,” states that its primary goal is to “interweave Union, Confederate, and African American narratives into one story,” the story that it tells truly serves to relieve the South, particularly Richmond, of the majority of guilt surrounding the brutality of slavery and the Confederacy’s attempts to preserve such a cruel and inhumane system. While the museum’s attempt to tell the story of the War from three perspectives is admirable, it is superficial in that it truly only presents one version of the history, and one that privileges white Richmonders.

            Pulling into the center, one immediately notices the aesthetic appeal of the entire landscape. The American Civil War Center is in actuality like three museums in one location. The permanent exhibit just described is housed in the adapted Tredegar Gun Foundry, which was built in 1861. Inside the restored Pattern building just a few yards away, the National Park Service operates the Richmond National Battlefield Park Visitor Center, which focuses solely on the military aspects of the war.

The landscape itself is a museum in its own way, as the actual buildings were formerly part of Tredegar Iron Works, the largest iron and artillery production facility of the South at the time of the Civil War, producing the vast majority of all cannon. The fact that the buildings themselves stand as artifacts contributes to the overall appeal of the center. Other then the restored Tredegar Gun Foundry, which is now built of metal and glass, all of the buildings are made of brick, and seem authentically historical. The two museums and three more restored buildings surround an open courtyard area. Several cannons are placed around the property, adding to the sense of legitimacy of the center. The fact that the buildings that house the history of the Civil War are artifacts themselves and played such as major role significantly contributes to the center’s voice of authority.

Immediately when you enter the museum in the Tredegar Gun Foundry building, you find yourself in the gift shop. The employees at the front desk briefly explain the history of the center and each building, and give you an exhibit guide that explicitly tells you how to proceed around each display, basically providing a strong framework for each viewer’s interpretation. As the displays wind around counter-clockwise, starting downstairs and ending upstairs, it is evident that it is in chronological order, and each significant event is addressed from the point of views of the Confederacy, the Union, and slaves. Perspectives specific to citizens of Richmond at the time are often a central focus as well.

The first display in the exhibit is an interactive video titled “What Caused the Civil War?” that allows the viewer to participate by pressing buttons on the chair to vote for the answers to various trivia questions. There are three narrators of the film – a white woman, a white man, and a black man. The “diversity” depicted in the movie appears to be a transparent attempt to suggest that racism and discrimination are either non-existent today or at least almost to that point. The video eventually cites three smaller reasons for the War – westward expansion, diverging economic systems, and struggles between federal and state power – all which were tied to the overarching cause, which the film declares is slavery. Within the different displays that make up this “Causes” section of the exhibit, the brutal treatment of slaves is rarely mentioned, while references to the racism of Northerners are frequent. The museum makes it explicitly clear that the emancipation of slaves was only a goal of the North insofar as Northerners felt slaves gave the South an unfair economic advantage. The “perspective” of slaves is generally only mentioned in reference to statistics and stories of runaways and fears of being sold.

The majority of the remainder of the exhibit focuses on the various events that took place over the course of the Civil War. It is in this section that the center’s attempt to abdicate much of the South’s guilt, while placing more blame on the North, becomes apparent. A video explaining the Emancipation Proclamation, which is narrated by a black woman, as well as multiple other displays, express Lincoln’s reluctance to call for the freedom of slaves in the South. The film informs the viewer that the real purpose behind the document was to take away one of the most beneficial and key wartime tools for the South, free labor from slaves, and use the enormous number of emancipated slaves to enlarge the North’s army. The walls display enlarged quotes of Northerners who were outraged at the presence of black men in their armies. One particular quote from a Union army member says, “I am fighting to preserve the Union, not free niggers!” Several informational placards explain that preserving slavery wasn’t even really the primary goal of the South, citing the interference of federal powers in areas that should be left to states as the real catalyst behind the War. A third video discusses extreme racism that escaped and freed slaves faced once they reached the North, including violence such as lynching.

The last section of the museum is titled “Legacies,” and it seeks to provide a brief history of racial relationships that followed the War. In the very last display, a video narrated by the same three individuals from the first is played, and banners of prominent white and black Americans hang on the wall. The narrators use a significant rhetoric of progress, in which they discuss how far not only the South and North have come to be reunited, but also the great unity between black and white citizens that now exists. To be fair, they do briefly mention toward the end of the film that race relations in the United States are not perfect, and more work does need to be accomplished. The banners around the room feature prominent white citizens, such as Lincoln and other leaders from history. Tellingly, the majority of black individuals pictured are athletes or entertainers, with the exception of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Overall, I felt that the museum’s declared intent and goal was honorable – to tell the different histories and memories possessed by three of the key players in the Civil War. However, these three threads inevitably wove together to create one uncontested history, which privileged white Southerners, placed greater blame on white Northerners, and often ignored the voice of slaves. One issue that I also took with the exhibit is that there was very little visually within the actual museum. There were several display cases with artifacts, as well as four videos, but the majority of the information was written, which took a great deal of time to read and was often displayed in confusing ways. There was rarely occasion for interaction, and limited viewer participation. However, there was a display that allowed viewers to try on various uniforms, which contributed a performance element to the exhibit. 

Naturally, because of the location of the museum, there was much attention paid to the industrialization that occurred along with the Civil War. In general, I found that the exhibit had a great deal of potential, but it fell just short of its declared objective. To actually reach this accomplishment, greater visibility of Northern and slave memories and perspectives must be achieved.