I guess I could just buy more clothes, right?

So today was laundry day, so I can have clean clothes to wear. But I won’t bore you with that, as that only took a few hours out of my day.

After doing that, I drove down to Montpelier to visit our 4th President, the Father of the Constitution. I learned some cool stuff, like Madison did research for months before the convention, trying to figure out what had worked in this type of government, and what hadn’t. He even had Thomas Jefferson, who was in France as the U.S. Diplomat, send him about 400 books on the subject. He was the last of the Founding Fathers to die. His wife, who outlived him by 13 years, not only set the precedent of the First Lady running the social scene, but she knew personally the first 12 presidents of the U.S., and may have met a certain tall, lanky Representative from Illinois at the cornerstone ceremony for the Washington Monument.

Front and rear views of Montpelier.

I then stopped for a bit at a little-known battlefield called Cedar Mountain. This was part of the prelude to 2nd Bull Run (or 2nd Manassas, whichever you prefer). Stonewall Jackson’s Corps had been sent up from Richmond to stop a Union Army led by General John Pope, who was threatening Richmond from the north side, while Lee was dealing with McClellan from the southeast. At Cedar Mountain, Jackson’s Corps ran into a Union Corps led by Nathaniel Banks, who had fought Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley (more on him when I go to the Valley). Jackson had more men, but his men were not all on the battlefield when it started. At the climax, Jackson’s men are beginning to retreat, when Jackson rides up to the spot. Jackson sees the potential disaster, and in an effort to rally his men, reaches to pull out his sword, only to find that through disuse, his sword is now rusted into his scabbard. Not letting this stop him, however, he pulls it all off his belt, sword and scabbard and raises it above his head. He calls to his men, “I’m here to lead you!” or words to that effect, and begins to ride toward the enemy. His men, or at least enough of them, turn and follow him, saving the day for the Confederacy. However, this will be the last (as well as probably the first) time he will attempt to wield his sword.

I don’t plan to do this often, but I find that story not only awe-inspiring (at Jackson’s leadership, and his men’s trust in him), but amusing as well (the sword being rusted into the scabbard). Just one picture, there really isn’t much there, in fact parking for this battlefield is actually in some guys front yard (no, I’m not kidding). This would have been part of the Confederate position, with the Yankees advancing from probably about where those buildings (which probably weren’t there in 1862) are in the distance.