States make capital out of war anniversary

The Capital Region is ready to show off to visitors the key role it played in America’s Civil War.

This year is the Sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary of the war and visitors can tour the area and follow the Civil War trails across Maryland and Virginia and explore key sites in Washington DC.

Baltimore, where the first blood of the conflict was shed (in the Pratt Street riot), played a vital role as the main transportation hub for the Union army and also home to one of the largest hospitals that tended to both sides.

Washington DC was where Abraham Lincoln, the president who opposed slavery, was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre. The theatre is still open today and tourists can visit the museum and learn more about the tragedy and the war.

And it was at Appomattox, in Virginia, where General Lee, realising that there was no more hope for the Confederate Southern Army, surrendered to union leader Ulysses Grant. Virginia is also home to Arlington Cemetery, which was begun during the Civil War. Today is it the burial place of more than 200,000 US veterans and their family members, as well as U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

www.baltimore.org/civilwar
www.virginiacivilwar.org
www.washington.org/cwcr