Reminders of the Civil War still abound in Alexandria, Virginia, which the new PBS miniseries “Mercy Street” appropriates to apply a veneer of authenticity to its historical drama.
Set in Union Army-occupied Alexandria and based on real people, places and events, the television program highlights actual locations in its fictional portrayals, such as the Mansion House Hotel, which was commandeered as a hospital, and Carlyle House, an elegant 18th century mansion behind the hotel.
Today, the hotel is gone but a part of it remains, as does Carlyle House. An exhibit there explains the history of the site. There’s even a mannequin in a “spy dress,” with secret messages attached to a hoop beneath, enabling a lady to be a fashionable patriot. A small person could hide in there, too.
The Lyceum, built in 1839 for lectures on everything except politics, slavery and religion, now is a museum of Alexandria’s history. A photographic exhibit focuses on wartime nurses (who were chosen for their plainness of face to discourage wounded soldiers from forming romantic attachments) and their lives in the hospitals.
The Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum was a family-run pharmacy from 1792 until 1933, when it was abandoned with everything intact. During the war, the pharmacy supplied the occupying army and the civilians of Alexandria. Morphine and ether were available, and soldiers did not have to bite the bullet during surgery, though some early on lost their limbs and lives when inexperienced doctors administered too much ether.
The small Alexandria Black History Museum documents the journey of the city’s contraband population — slaves who sought asylum in occupied Alexandria, where they could be free.
PHOTOS: PBS Civil War miniseries 'Mercy Street' lives in Alexandria
The Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery, where 1,800 slaves fleeing bondage were buried; the Franklin & Armfield slave office and holding pen; and the site of Bruin’s Jail, where slaves for sale were kept and is memorialized with a bronze sculpture of the abolitionist Edmonson sisters, are other sites to visit.
A plaque at the Monaco Hotel, formerly the Marshall House hotel, tells the story of two early “martyrs.” The owner of Marshall House — James Jackson, one of the city’s most ardent secessionists — had raised a Confederate flag atop the hotel. Union Col. Elmer Ellsworth, a friend of President Lincoln’s and dashing man-about-town, took four soldiers and marched into the hotel, up the stairs to the roof, and hauled down the flag. On his way down, he met Jackson, who raised his shotgun and fired, killing Ellsworth. A soldier killed the innkeeper, and both sides had their martyrs.
Other sites on a walking tour organized by the Alexandria Tourist Office include the James Green Cabinet Manufactory, a prison during the war; Gadsby’s Tavern, a town favorite; and the Robert E. Lee Camp Hall Museum, which had been used as a hospital.
The Fort Ward Museum & Historic Site demonstrates everyday military life with a special exhibit, “Medical Care for the Civil War Soldier.” The earthworks fort is the best preserved of the fortifications built to protect Washington. Parts of the earthwork walls, trench and northwest bastion remain.
Fifty miles south of Washington lies a site rich in Civil War history — “the city of hospitals” — Fredericksburg. The railroad and its port on the Rappahannock River made Fredericksburg an important target; the site of two major battles, it was bombarded, occupied and looted.
Public buildings, churches and shops were used as hospitals where the wounded received initial care, then were evacuated to Alexandria or Washington. The largest was the St. George Episcopal Church, where boards were laid across the backs of pews, still there, to form makeshift beds.
Across the river from Fredericksburg, the 18th-century Chatham Manor (formerly Lacy House) was used as a hospital for Union troops; Clara Barton, “the angel of the battlefield,” and poet Walt Whitman both served there.
The Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop stands on a prominent corner among period houses, as it has since before the Civil War. “Dr. Mercer’s nurse” introduces visitors to his herbs, concoctions, surgical tools and live leeches. It’s unusual and authentic, like “Mercy Street.” But if you’re watching the series, you have to pay attention to keep the facts and the fictions separate.
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