The Blue and Gray and Black

"The Civil War evokes passion and the passion is always tilted in the view of the observers. They have worked real hard for balance," says S. Waite Rawls III, a former banking executive who is the museum's executive director. Fifteen years ago the museum did an exhibition on slavery that was considered ground-breaking. "One of the most important and under-told stories is that of African Americans during the war. The basic mission at Tredegar is extraordinary in what they are trying to do," Rawls says.

Since African American artifacts from this period are scarce, the gift of items from the private collection of John H. Motley was especially important. Motley, a Connecticut lawyer and businessman began collecting black memorabilia after seeing Alex Haley's "Roots" in 1977. Motley is chairman of the center's board. Among his items are iron shackles. "I had goose bumps when I heard about this idea. This is exactly what needs to happen," Motley says.

Other items are: A draft cylinder from Massachusetts, used in 1862 to pick the names of men of military age required to report for duty. A vest belonging to Frederick Smyth, who aided wounded Union soldiers at Gettysburg and was later governor of New Hampshire. The camp flag for the 20th U.S. Colored Troops, who were organized at Rikers Island, N.Y. The New Testament carried by John Russell, who died at the Battle of Shiloh. A pair of Lee's boots. A rifle that belonged to Capt. John Quincy Marr, who was killed at Fairfax Courthouse in June 1861 -- the first Confederate officer to die in action.

The story doesn't end in the museum, says Wise, and he acknowledges it hasn't in real life. Lee-Jackson Day is still a state holiday in Virginia. And some in Richmond still wistfully imagine what might have been: What if Jackson hadn't fallen at Chancellorsville? What if Confederate Gen. James Longstreet had attacked earlier at Gettysburg?

Wise, however, wants people to go further and think about "the dynamics it unleashed," and hopes the museum will provide a quiet conversation about different views.

"I have the three stories right in my family," he says.

He is the great-great-grandson of Confederate Brig. Gen. Henry Alexander Wise. As governor of Virginia, he signed John Brown's death warrant when the abolitionist was hanged on Dec. 2, 1859.

Gen. Wise's sister was married to Maj. Gen. George Meade of Philadelphia, who commanded the Union forces at Gettysburg; Wise surrendered to his brother-in-law at Appomattox.

And the African American side? "For years there's been circumstantial evidence that Wise might have had a mulatto son," Wise says. He is now convinced that is true. After he began making speeches about the Tredegar project, his black cousins found him.

The American Civil War Center, 490 Tredegar St., Richmond. 804-788-6480.http://www.tredegar.org