JP and Sharons Odyssey: Civil War-gasm Day 5

Friday, January 27, 2012

Civil War-gasm Day 5

Today we started out with pecan waffles w/ natural maple syrup and bacon, delivered and served by candle light in our historic inn. David it turns out is a descendant of a Rev. Brown who served as a chaplain in the Stonewall brigade. He was captured at one time during the conflict but was treated well, as he happened to be married to the niece of Gen. Grant. So the great-great-grandfather of our innkeeper even had a connection to both the CSA Gen. Stonewall Jackson AND the Union General and later President U.S. Grant.

Nancy Shepherd Inn Living room

Sharon in front of row houses in Winchester

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Former H H McGuire home

After walking the mall again in Winchester we happened upon the director/historian of the Old Court House Civil War museum and chatted about battlefield medicine, Stonewall and other topics (as she was ex-military and interested in my research). She was able to direct us to HH McGuires boyhood home just around the corner, which we visited and is now a law office. Stepped inside to appreciate the grandness of the place. From there we proceeded to the local Mt. Hebron Cemetery where the bodies of Captain Hugh McGuire (Hunter's brother) was buried. He was killed just days before the surrender at Appomattox. Along side were the graves of the Patton Brothers also killed during the Civil War. More on them later. In the old section of the cemetery we also happened upon Hugh (Senior) McGuire who was Hunter's father. We had to depart Winchester to make it to Lexington, VA. On our way out of town we spotted singer Patsy Cline's childhood home.

Patsy Cline home

We had the director of the Stonewall Jackson House Museum promise us a special private tour, as the house museum is usually closed in Jan and Feb. We got a wonderful private tour with some intimate information about Gen. Jackson and Fm. prior to the war. From there we were off the the VMI campus and museum, meeting up with the gift store manager and his sophomore student assistant (Proctor) who helped us with what the museum had to offer... of course we saw Little Sorrel, read about Jackson, his uniforms and rubber raincoat re-pleat with bullet holes in the Left Shoulder and information on another famous general who studied there for a while Gen. George S. Patton III. It so happened that buried next to Col. Hugh McGuire are the tombs of both Pattons who lost their lives in the Battle of Winchester and Gettysburg (George & Waller respectfully, grandfather and grand-uncle of the WWII war hero).

Gen. Stonewall Jackson's home in Lexington, VA when he taught at VMI

After our tour, we proceeded to our Inn... the The Frog Hollow B&B just out of town limits and met David & John the innkeepers and chatted it up with them for almost an hour. Dinner at their recommendations was at the Southern Inn Restaurant. Back to the Inn for a good and well deserved rest.