Author: ariesin

Small But Mighty

/ ariesin / Leave a comment

We’ve all heard the saying, “Small, but mighty.” I thought of it the other day while looking at our diorama of the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia (Merrimack). We tend to think of the fight between the ironclads as just ending in a draw and that’s it. Sure, the Monitor didn’t get fried by the Virginia, but does that make her “mighty,” or just durable?

On the night of March 8, 1862, the Union flotilla in Hampton Roads was a-shambles. The USS Cumberland had been sunk. The USS Congress was burning and would explode. The USS Minnesota was stuck aground. Union sailors had lost 256 of their friends that day from the Cumberland and the Congress alone. As they sat in the dark, waiting for dawn, they could only assume that morning would bring the Virginia back to finish what she had started. The Minnesota would be the leviathan’s lunch.

But then they noticed something on the horizon, a tiny speck of light. It was the Monitor. No one knew it, but at that moment, the odds evened out. Instead of 256 to 10 as on the 8th, the next day’s hours of fighting between the ironclads would end with only a few wounded on each ship.

The Monitor did not inspire confidence. When her commander, Lt. Worden, assured the grounded Minnesota‘s captain of his assistance, Capt. Van Brunt had his doubts as he peered down at the pygmy of a ship. When the Virginia and the Minnesota fired at each other the next morning, they fired over the Monitor! Could the Monitor-with her two guns-stand against the “horrid creation of a nightmare”?

Well, she did. And not only did she survive the pounding of the Virginia‘s guns on March 9th, but she fulfilled her mission: to save the Minnesota. No matter how the Virginia came at the Minnesota, the tiny Monitor was always there, blocking her path, like a feisty terrier.

The Monitor was small, a cheesebox on a raft, but she proved herself mighty that day. In fact, Lt. Worden and his little ironclad proved their worth so well that the Union went on to build more of the curious-looking ironclads, confident now that the size of the vessel didn’t matter.

Welcome to Civil War Tails!

/ ariesin

What do Gettysburg, Fort Sumter, ironclads, and cats have in common?? The Civil War Tails at the Homestead Diorama Museum! Check it out!

Our museum is full of dioramas we made by hand so you can see a 3-D snap-shot from the Civil War. Get a bird’s-eye view of a battle or get down to eye-level and see what a soldier would have seen. See the soldiers, the horses, the cannons, and the places. They’re all made with a one-to-one ratio, so each soldier on one of our dioramas represents one soldier during the real battle, not ten or twenty. And since they’re made to scale, if the hill looks really big to climb under rifle fire, that’s because it was!

And I’ll bet you’re wondering why our name is Civil War Tails. It’s not a typo. We started making soldiers when we were 11 years old and we have always loved cats, so the first soldiers were cats. In uniform. With beards. Now, years later, we still think that’s quirky and fun, and we hope you’ll agree.

But you don’t have to notice the tails to learn the history! Come see the smoky desperation in Fort Sumter during the bombardment that started the war. See how tattered Pickett’s Charge was by the time the Confederates struggled across the stone wall at the Angle at Gettysburg. Appreciate just how big and rocky Little Round Top was as the Confederates climbed it. Glimpse the suffering of Union POWs at Andersonville Prison (our great-great-grandfather’s step-brother, Pvt. Luke Brown of the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry, is portrayed on that diorama!).

Sure, the cat angle is fun, but we want you to learn about the men and women behind the cats. As you look at our 3-D rendition of what they experienced, think about how they fought for what they believed in, and how their sacrifice ensured that we would have the rights and the great nation we enjoy now. This museum is meant to honor their memory by keeping it alive.

So come learn with us—and then find your own way to keep history alive!

We hope you enjoy your visit at Civil War Tails!