BRRP: Civil War Winter Quarters

Friday, 2 September

Although we’ve started our long weekend camping holiday, today was a work day for us.  Mui and I both work from home on Fridays; I also work from home on Mondays (lucky me).  To tele-work, Mui just needs his Blackberry.  My requirements are a bit more complicated, as I need to be able to connect to my company’s network and stay online for the duration of my work day.

Today’s successful test has proven that with the Millenicom aircard I can do everything I would otherwise do at home or in the office with no one being the wiser to the fact that I’m in a campground (not that I’m trying to hide anything).  What this means is that we may be able to do some 3-day camping trips now.  Just one more day; but it makes taking the motorhome out even more attractive to us.  It also opens up the possibility of consulting after we get on the road fulltime.  Neither of us wants to work on a regular basis once we retire, but we’d not dismiss the idea of an occasional project that adds to the coffers.

So, back to today.  We were up early as usual.  I went to hook up my company laptop to begin work at my usual 6:30a.  Oh, oh!  Where’s the power cord?  At home; that’s where.  Being just 16 miles (25.5 km) from home, Mui offered to drive back and get it for me.  “I’ll shower while I’m there to conserve water,” he said as he walked out.  OK.  No problem.  I can work for two hours on battery power.

By 7:30a, a couple of projects under my belt, I turned off the laptop and went for a walk.  I often do this while I’m at the office — take advantage of the cooler morning temps to get in a bit of exercise.  Timing things well, I managed a 2-mile (3.8 km) walk to the park’s entrance and caught a ride back to the coach with Mui, who drove up to the gatehouse just as I was turning back.

And so, the day was spent mostly working, but it was a pleasant one nonetheless.  In between answering emails and returning calls, Mui managed to bucket-wash the rear of the coach, which was covered with thick dust, and put on a coat of 303 UV protectant/wax all over.  He had hoped that his tall ladder would be in by now so he could finish the project this weekend, but the upper half of the coach is going to have to wait until another time.

How thick was the dust?  The tow-bar cover is supposed to be black; not gray!

Once I called it a day at 3:00p, it was time for me to play.  That means processing photos and writing a blog post or two.  So, I grabbed my MacBook Pro, made myself comfortable inside the screened shelter, and got down to work.  You see, I really did have something interesting to write about — a replica of Civil War winter quarters that I came across near the entrance to BRRP.

[photograph of a sketch from nearby signage]

It turns out that the two structures — one representing Confederate quarters; the other representing Union quarters — were built as part of the recent 150th anniversary re-enactment of the Battle of Manassas (Battle of Bull Run).  We had plans to go to the re-enactment, but it fell on the weekend when we had temps “that felt like 110F (43C).”  I can’t imagine how the re-enactors survived those temperatures in their period-specific wool uniforms.

Confederate Winter Quarters near Centreville, Virginia.
[photographs of images from nearby signage]

Here's how the signage explained what I was seeing:

During the American Civil War (1861-1865), soldiers from both the Union North and the Confederate South built huts known as "winter quarters" to live in during the winter months when fighting and troop movements were usually minimal.

Union Winter Quarters at Wolf Run Shoals.
[photographs of sketches from nearby signage]

The Bull Run and Occoquan rivers, forming the southern border of Fairfax County, were an area of great strategic importance during the Civil War.  During the winter of 1861/1862, southern forces occupied the Centreville area and lived in winter quarters.  For the remainder of the war, except for a period right after the Second Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) in July/August 1862, the northern Union Army was the dominant force in this area, with large encampments and fortifications along the Bull Run and Occoquan rivers.  Winter quarters were a large part of the experience of thousands of soldiers that called this area home for some period during the Civil War.

South and North … side by side.

Confederate winter quarters were mostly all built out of wood.  The Union Army, which was better supplied with tents, most often built a log base and used their tents to make the roof of the hut.  Both sides often built fireplaces and stoves into their huts since this was the only source of heat.

Example of Confederate winter quarters.

Living in very confined and overcrowded spaces, with poor hygiene and limited medicine, resulted in high rates of death from disease in Civil War camps.

Top left shows a glimpse of the interior of the wood hut, which was difficult to photograph because of the dirty Plexiglas just inside the door.  Bottom Left shows a corner of the interior
of the tent hut; there was nothing but straw in the rest of this hut.

The hardships mankind is willing to endure in fighting for their beliefs — right or wrong — never fails to fascinate.

By the time I finished drafting my post, dinner time was at hand.  Mui lit the charcoal grill (each site has one) and put the steak and shrimp on.  I did my share by setting the table for an al fresco dinner under the canopy.  Later, we finished the Endurance documentary we started watching last night.

A day of work and play draws to a close.

By the way, we uncovered the reason why our dishwasher has not been functioning.  Our unwanted “guests” — those four-legged varmints that took up residency for a while — had apparently chewed through some wiring.  Darn critters!  Mui managed to replace the wires, and the machine now turns on.  We’ll have to wait to test it fully when we’re at a full hook-up site next weekend.  In the meantime, I’m off to do the dishes the old fashioned way!