Welcome to the web site of the National Civil War Life Foundation. We are dedicated to opening the first Civil War Museum in the country to incorporate the stories and perspectives of ALL Americans. SPACER

Click here to view a very special video message from the NCWLF.

OUR MISSION

To operate a national museum that preserves and interprets the human story of the American Civil War and connects the lives of all people of that era to the Nation today.

OUR VISION

The NCWLF will achieve our mission by opening the National Civil War Life Museum in Fredericksburg, Virginia. This facility will be home to The Civil War Life Museum, The War in Photography and The Civil War Remembrance exhibits. The museum will offer excellent Civil War study tours to school groups. The facility will also include a theater for our unique Civil War Life in 3-D theater program and a rotating exhibit gallery. The proposed museum's artifact collection already boasts over 2,000 items showcasing both the soldier and civilian experience. This private collection requires a suitable location for public display.

OUR FOCUS

Our focus is on people. The National Civil War Life Museum will not concentrate just on the lives of Civil War soldiers. In its inclusive coverage of that era, considerable attention will also be devoted to the lives of ordinary people. Our museum exhibits will provide a foundation for understanding the lives of those who fought in the war on both sides and on its effect on the well-being of civilians, both free and enslaved. We will take history, and make it "their story." This is important because too many museums focus on a specific cause or single event and only serve a select audience. In contrast, The National Civil War Life Museum will be a place where a broader audience of people can come to learn research and draw their own conclusions of this defining event in America's history.

OUR MUSEUM

Some museums try to impress visitors with grand halls that are sparsely populated with pictures, reproductions and exhibits. We exist not to display relics, but to assist the relics in telling the human story. Although many issues of the Civil War are controversial, our emphasis is on interpretation and not on a particular agenda or cause. The museum's role will be to provide the visitor with the facts and let each person arrive at their own opinion or decision regarding their Civil War era area of interest.

OUR LOCATION

Four major battles took place in the Fredericksburg region and adjacent counties during the Civil War, scarring the city and countryside while forever sealing this area in America's history books. Today, each site is a protected battlefield that is maintained by the National Park Service. They are Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, The Wilderness and Spotsylvania Courthouse. Chatham Manor, Massaponax Church and the "Stonewall" Jackson Shrine are nearby sites that were an integral part of this epic story. Visit our current location's website at the Civil War Life Soldier's Museum for further information.

OUR LOGO

Read about the spirit behind our branding. On a cold winter's day in 1862, a young Confederate soldier looked out across the battlefield at Fredericksburg and was appalled by what he saw. What happened next stopped the war in its tracks, if only for a moment.

OUR PROJECT

The NCWLF is proud to sponsor a dramatic, half-hour documentary on the life and legacy of Sgt. Richard Kirkland, also known as "The Angel of Marye's Heights." This film was partially filmed in the Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania area. Two members of the NCWLF board, John Cummings and Michael Aubrecht, appeared in the film as local historians. Aubrecht also acted as co-producer and consultant for the project. The National Civil War Life Museum will be hosting the movie's opening event and showing the film as a permanent installation. For more on the film, visit www.theangelmovie.com.