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Osawatomie And The Confederate White House

Major J.B.  Remington served in the Union Army during the Civil War and led the first Union troops that set foot in the Confederate White House, which is now part of the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond. President

Davis suffered from many health problems, and thus often conducted the business of the Confederate government in the Confederate White House.

Thus, Confederate generals and political leaders often met in the home to discuss important military and political matters.  Union generals were aware of this, and therefore Major Remington was sent to the home to retrieve any papers that President Davis had left behind when he had left the capitol in 1865.

Major Remington later moved to Osawatomie and became a prominent business man who helped to preserve John Brown Memorial Park, the site of the Battle of Osawatomie on Aug. 30, 1856. Thus, Osawatomie and the Confederate White House have an historical connection.

The Confederate White House is located in the heart of Richmond, and is surrounded by tall buildings that block a visitor’s view of it until they are right on it. The Confederate White House was built in 1818 and in June of 1861, the city of Richmond, which had become the Capitol of the Confederate States of America, rented the Confederate White House to the government of the Confederate States of America.  Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States of America, and Verina Davis and the Davises’ children lived in the home from 1861 to 1865.

The Confederate White House has been restored to its original splendor, and has been declared a national historic landmark.  Many of the original furnishings and items in the home were “liberated” by Union troops, and surprisingly, were returned by the descendants of the Union troops who looted the Confederate White House following the fall of Richmond in 1865.

Museum curators advertised to inquire about the whereabouts of the original items from the Confederate White House, and families from throughout the Northern states sent many items back to the museum that had been passed down from their Civil War ancestors who had taken them as a souvenir during the Civil War.

Most of the elegant Victorian furniture in the home, however, was found in Richmond and its environs and returned to the home, which now reflects the genteel southern lifestyle of the Jefferson family.  The home was the center of social activity for the Confederate elite, and Verina Davis, the first lady of the Confederate States of America, entertained often in the Confederate White House. Verina Davis was the consummate hostess, planning and having teas, state dinners and other social activities that helped to lighten the load of the war for President Davis.

The Confederate White House has been meticulously restored to its Civil War appearance, and it is easy to imagine Major J.B. Remington leading a detail of Union troops to President Jefferson Davis’s office and retrieving Davis’s papers for the Union. Osawatomie’s history is of national importance, and extends to the Confederate White House in Richmond, Virginia.

 

 

 

 

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Posted by admin on Oct 19 2011. Filed under News and Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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