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Welcome to the web site of the National Civil War Life Foundation. We are dedicated to building the first
Civil War Museum in the country to incorporate the stories and perspectives of ALL Americans.
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CIVILIANS: Unionists and Secessionists
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AFRICAN-AMERICANS: Free and Enslaved
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SOLDIERS: Union and Confederate
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PARTNERSHIPS: We will work closely with both preservation organizations to provide exhibits that educate about the importance of preservation and conservation. This appreciation will translate into support for battlefield preservation and conservation.
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Civil War Preservation Trust

Center for Civil War Photography

The National Civil War Life Museum

OUR MISSION

To operate a national museum and research center 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

We will achieve our mission by building the National Civil War Life Museum in Spotsylvania Courthouse, VA. 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 youth and school groups. The facility will also include a 100-seat theater for our unique Civil War Life in 3-D theater program, a research library and study center, a conference center and a rotating exhibit gallery.

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.

The National Civil War Life Museum will be the cornerstone for the new Spotsylvania Courthouse Village that is being built by the W.J. Vakos Company. The village will combine shopping, restaurants, an Inn and private homes to create a village center in the Courthouse area. The museum will be an economic development engine for county businesses and the Rappahannock Region.

OUR LOCATION

Our area is the "Crossroads of the Civil War." Four major battles took place on Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania soil during the Civil War, scarring the countryside and 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.


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