Despite Confederate controversy, city holds ties to Civil War history (Danville VA)
Posted: Monday, July 27, 2015 12:00 am
BY DENICE THIBODEAU
... As part of the Virginia Civil War Trails program, signs describing the railroad’s role in the Civil War are located near the Carrington Pavilion at the Crossing at the Dan ...
As Danville prepared to house Union prisoners in six converted tobacco warehouses, it was decided the city needed better fortifications and positions from which the Home Guard could be a protective force. Ultimately, earthworks — basically high mounds of dirt — went up on the north side of the Dan River and around the city ...
Only one of the prisons that once housed about 7,000 Union soldiers remains standing, at the corner of Lynn and Loyal streets. It has been heavily renovated over the years and no longer resembles its original, turreted form, but there is a Virginia Civil War Trails sign and a state Historic Highway Marker at the site.
Many of the Union soldiers in the prisons died — often from smallpox — and were buried in Danville. When the National Cemetery was created on Lee Street, 1,323 Union solders’ bodies were transferred to it, 148 of which were unknown ...
http://www.godanriver.com/news/danville/despite-confederate-controversy-city-holds-ties-to-civil-war-history/article_a3b7e39e-325e-11e5-950c-43bc437b04d9.html?mode=story
