A Ride Through History: Civil War Tour

In the modern age of cell phones, virtual assistant devices, electric vehicles, drones, robots, digital cameras and countless other 21st century technical wonders, it may be hard to fathom a time in the mid-19th century when the horse was the primary mode of transportation and our country’s very future hung in the balance. In those days cannons and muskets were the primary instruments of war. But yet, the destruction of life, limb and property, we inflicted upon ourselves, was far greater than in any other war we’ve fought before or after the Civil War.

The loss of some-620,000 lives during four years of fighting ourselves was greater than all of the Americans lost in WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam combined. Although the strategies and tactics of fighting had changed little since the Napoleonic Wars, technical advances in weaponry (although rudimentary by today’s standards) made the instruments of war much more effective at inflicting mass slaughter. In the mid-19th century there was not yet a “germ theory” to guide doctors in saving lives--more soldiers succumbed to infection than bullets.

In September 2018, Blue Rim Tour participants of the guided Civil War Tour will ride bucolic back roads through the verdant landscape that once bore witness to epic battles, feats of bravery and unimaginable human loss. The tour focuses on historic sites in the mid-Atlantic states of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. Watch out for more previews of the 2018 Civil War Tour.

Highlights include: Gettysburg, Antietam, Manassas, Fredericksburg, and other battlefields; Lee Chapel; Appomattox surrender site; Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive; Harpers Ferry National Historical Park; National Museum of Civil War Medicine; and much more!

For detailed information for the eight-day tour, visit our website.