Manassas to Jamestown Great American Railroad Journeys

I have crossed the Atlantic to ride the railroads of America

with a new travelling companion.

Published in 1879, my Appletons' General Guide

will steer me to everything that's novel, beautiful,

memorable or curious in the United States.

-ALL:

-Amen.

As I cross the continent, I will discover America's Gilded Age

when powerful tycoons launched a railway boom

that tied the nation together

and carved out its future as a superpower.

I've travelled from the cradle of American independence,

Philadelphia, to the nation's capital, Washington DC.

I'm moving south towards Richmond, Virginia on my way to Jamestown.

Today, I move into former Confederate territory at Manassas,

an important battlefield of the American Civil War.

I'll then head to Virginia's state capital, Richmond,

and on to the naval base at Norfolk.

From there, I'll head to colonial Williamsburg.

I'll end where the first permanent English settlers hung their hats -

Jamestown.

TRAIN HORN BLARES

Since I've been in the United States, many people have told me

that there are big differences between the North and the South.

Though not everybody is able or willing to define them.

The way of speaking changes.

The pace of life. The smells.

The food. The drink. The customs and manners.

As I hope to discover as I continue my journey south through Virginia.

'Along the way, I bottle the classic Southern tipple - bourbon.'

-You missed one. There's a little more skill to it.

-Apparently!

'I get into colonial character on Williamsburg's plantations...'

Push away for me a little bit more.

Perfect. That's a good looking furrow.

'..discover the truth about the first settlers...'

This is ground zero.

This is the centre of the beginning of the New World.

'..and my spirits are raised by the First Baptist gospel choir.'

# The Lord is my Shepherd

# That I shall not want. #

I'm headed for Manassas.

My guidebook tells me it was the scene of the first great battle

of the Civil War, fought July 21, 1861,

and also another battle fought August 29th and 30th 1862.

And for the railway traveller, it tells me that, at Manassas,

the Manassas branch diverges and runs 63 miles to Strasburg.

I suspect that the fact that it was an important railway junction

helps to account for why it was fought over not once, but twice.

The most destructive conflict in American history

was the Civil War of 1861 to 1865

between northern and southern states.

President Abraham Lincoln opposed the expansion of slavery

to new states and the southern states,

believing that their prosperity depended upon it,

felt threatened by his election.

11 slave-owning southern states left the Union

and renamed themselves the Confederate States of America.

Lincoln's Union army marched towards Richmond, Virginia,

the South's capital.

The first major land battle of the Civil War was about to commence.

I'm meeting the curator of Manassas Museum, Mary Dellinger,

at Manassas Junction, 25 miles south-west of Washington.

In the 1860s, then, what makes this place so strategically important?

There wasn't really a town here.

A lot of people think there was but there wasn't.

Lots of outlying farms and a small collection of buildings.

What made this area so important was the junction

of the Manassas Gap Railroad with the Orange and Alexandrian.

Two railroads that provided access to points north,

south and west of here.

So whoever controlled the junction controlled access to those areas.

22,000 Southern Confederate soldiers advanced north to Manassas

to confront the 35,000 Northern Union troops marching south.

Lincoln's volunteer soldiers lacked experience

and, when 10,000 Confederate reinforcements arrived,

the Union army lost cohesion.

And in that first battle, were trains used by the forces?

Yes, trains were used

and actually it was the first time that troops arrived by rail during

the history of railroad use and military use in the United States.

The result of the battle was a Confederate victory, a resounding Confederate victory.

They drove the Federals from the field.

It was a humiliating defeat for the North.

Just over a year later, in August 1862,

Manassas was the site of a second battle.

The commander of the Southern Confederate forces,

General Robert E Lee, sent troops north.

His target was a storage facility crucial to the Union supply chain.

When he got here, he found an enormous Union supply depot.

Thousands of tonnes of ammunition, clothing, food, stock.

So his troops were very hungry, so they ate what they could

and, whatever they couldn't carry off, they burned.

They burned down buildings, they burned crates of uniforms.

They destroyed it all,

because they didn't want to leave it for the Union army.

The Union forces launched a counterattack,

but were unable to dislodge the Confederates

who were dug into positions in surrounding woodland.

When Confederate reinforcements under General Lee

arrived on August the 30th 1862,

they inflicted heavy casualties on the Union army,

forcing it to retreat towards Washington.

Today, Manassas National Battlefield Park commemorates the place

where the Confederates twice saw off the Union army.

Mary, I find this battlefield very well preserved

with just a few hints, you know.

The cannon here, the farmhouse here.

How extensive was that battlefield at the time of the second battle?

The second Battle of Manassas was huge.

At one point, there was a very large charge by Confederate troops that

was one of the largest in the war of men committed all at one time.

What were the consequences of the second battle of Manassas?

General Robert E Lee, the Confederate commander,

a lot of people consider that one of his greatest victories

because he drove the Union army from the field and the road was open north.

Less than a week later, on September the 5th 1862,

General Lee launched the first Confederate invasion of the North.

These Confederate victories, you're a Virginian,

how do you feel about them?

Well, I am very proud of my Virginia heritage and my Southern heritage,

but I think it's important that when we look back on that and take a certain pride in that

that we don't attempt to put our 21st century knowledge and values

on a set of 19th-century issues and problems.

That we really need to look at it as what they knew to be true.

And I think, if you do that,

then it's OK to celebrate that part of your past.

The American Civil War can be represented

as a struggle between good and evil.

And there's truth in that.

But as soon as you come to the South and stand here

you develop an extra perspective.

Those young Americans who fought and died here for the Confederacy

deserve to be remembered and honoured.

One in four young white Southern men died

during the four years of the American Civil War.

After the conflict, the North continued to industrialise

while the ravaged South faced a 12 year reconstruction period

to rebuild its cities, railroads and economy without slave labour.

-Can I join you a second?

-Please.

Do you use the trains very much?

Yes, actually, I ride the train all the time.

I'm a cellist and, if you ride the aeroplane,

you have to buy your cello its own seat, so actually I ride the train.

It's my main mode of long-distance transportation.

Do you perform all over the United States?

I'm working on it. I just graduated from school.

I just got my masters in cello performance,

so I'm trying to get started as a cellist.

I'm actually just coming from Philadelphia, where I got my cello repaired.

How do you find getting it up the steps, because it's quite a long way up on to these trains, isn't it?

It's a major pain.

The cello is a wonderful instrument, but it is a hassle to travel with.

I'll leave this train at Fredericksburg,

which Appletons' tells me is a quaint and venerable old city

on the south bank of the Rappahannock River.

It was founded in 1727 and contains about 6,000 inhabitants.

An ideal place for me to begin to discover the spirit of the South.

Bourbon corn whisky is America's official native spirit.

It takes its name from Bourbon County in Kentucky.

Virginia's oldest family-run bourbon distillery

was established here in Fredericksburg in 1935,

two years after the end of the prohibition of alcohol.

I'm meeting Brian Prewitt, the master distiller at A. Smith Bowman.

It feels like we're walking down the aisle of a cathedral here,

but the aroma of the incense has been replaced by the sweet

and slightly pungent smell of bourbon.

I like to tell people it's our church of bourbon.

-Our church of whisky.

-So is bourbon a whisky?

-Bourbon is a whisky.

So, to be called bourbon, it has to be at least 51% corn.

It has to be distilled at less than 160 proof.

It has to go into a brand-new charred oak barrel.

-Tell me about your ingredients.

-So we use three primary ingredients.

We use a yellow dent corn, we use a rye and a malted barley.

So, that is what I would call corn on the cob, is it?

Not necessarily what you would get in your grocery store,

that you would be cooking on your grill.

This is more of what you would find, say,

that people would typically feed to their animals and things like that.

It's got a really nice sweet flavour for bourbon.

Whisky was introduced to America by Scottish

and Irish immigrants, who arrived in the 1700s.

These pioneers found corn and maize aplenty

and used them to create whisky.

Later, the use of charred oak barrels

made it the bourbon that we appreciate today.

The importance of American oak is the fact

that the porosity of the oak keeps it from basically seeping out.

But essentially what they do is they burn this inside of the barrel

and that will caramelise the sugars in the oak

and it will get that nice, red layer,

just like if you were making caramel on your stove at home.

This is the great part. If you look at that line.

This is about an eight-year-old barrel.

That's how far that bourbon really got into the barrel

-over the course of its lifetime and that is called the soak line.

-Wow.

-So it's picking up flavour and it's picking up colour.

-Absolutely.

So we don't... By law, we can't add colour to bourbon.

So the only colour that we get is from the oak.

Legend has it that barrels shipped down the Ohio

and Mississippi rivers from Bourbon County to New Orleans

had an extra month to mature

and their contents were considered some of the best in the country.

MICHAEL LAUGHS

Another gorgeous space and this is where the work is done.

-Absolutely. I call this my play ground.

-What a wonderful room.

This is our bourbon still. This is Mary.

And she's named after the matriarch of the Bowman family.

Mary is a very, very unique design.

-It looks like a child's chemistry set on a very large scale.

-Yes.

It's as if somebody just kind of drew it out on a piece of paper

and said, "Sure, we will make it into a still."

And that's pretty much exactly what they did.

The distillate comes out in three phases.

First, the sharp flavoured heads.

Then the long phase of the hearts with the sweet alcohol.

And finally the tails.

Both the heads and the tails contain impurities

and the art of distillation is to know when to make the cuts.

This is where we do our cuts, where we will actually do the tasting

and I happen to have some of the heart right here.

One of the ways that we do this is we're just going to pour a little bit into our hand.

It's going to make your hands nice and soft. Kind of air it out.

-Tell me, what do you smell?

-Oooh.

Sweetness.

-Vanilla.

-Really nice, sweet, soft alcohol.

That's what we're looking for in the heart.

You must have an extraordinary palate and nose.

It just takes a little bit of practice. You too can get there.

-It must be fun practising!

-It is!

The heart of the run is collected for ageing and bottling

while the heads and tails are added back to the next distillation.

I thought we would give you the opportunity,

since you're here, to bottle your own bottle of bourbon.

-Would you like to give it a try?

-I'd love to give you a hand.

All right. We are going to start with some bottles over here.

Throw them facedown on the rinser and basically what we need to do

is put them right in there and line them up with the fill nozzle.

Put your foot on the lever there.

You missed one.

LAUGHTER

Go ahead and try again. It should fill that one up.

-Almost there. There's a little more skill to it.

-Apparently!

There you go.

And we're just going to grab a cork and push it in

and this is where a little elbow grease comes in.

All right. Now for the best part of the tour, which is the tasting.

-Yes.

-We're going to taste two of our bourbons here today.

This is a seven-year-old Small Batch bourbon.

Then, we're also going to taste its older brother, the John J.

It's about ten years old. John J is my go to.

That's the one, when I'm going to sit down in the evening

with a nice glass of bourbon, it's the John J.

-Enough talking!

-All right, let's taste.

-Let's go.

'To taste the bourbon correctly,

'Brian advises me at first to take a small sip to stir up the palate.'

Palate definitely now awake.

You're right about that method.

All the flavours come zooming through your mouth, don't they?

'Now for the ten-year-old single barrel John J.'

It's bigger, rounder, fuller.

Deeper somehow. Darker.

Yes, I'm with you. That's the one.

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

It's a new day and I'm rejoining Amtrak's northeast regional service

to Virginia's state capital, Richmond.

Virginia. Named after the virgin queen, Elizabeth I.

The colony that produced Washington and Jefferson.

I think that, in its capital, I'm going to feel the pride

and the greatness of the American South.

But Richmond's history also has its fair share of controversy.

In the decade before the American Civil War,

it was second only to New Orleans as a centre for the slave trade,

with thousands transported south by rail from its slave market.

'Before I explore further, I'm in need of sustenance.

'I'm ordering ham and eggs with a Southern twist - grits.'

Oh, that looks great.

Can you just tell me, what is grits?

They're browned off and made out of corn.

They're a big seller in the South.

Grits stands for "Girls Raised In The South",

which I think is a really cute slogan.

-I hope you enjoy your meal.

-Thank you very much indeed.

-You're welcome.

Popular though grits is in the South,

I'm not sure I'm going to like it very much.

Mmm. Actually, it's not bad.

It's a combination of porridge and semolina.

I just came to check to see how your meal is.

-Cindy, it's great. It's very, very nice.

-Do you like the grits?

You were right to tell me to have grits. Thank you very much indeed.

-Wonderful. Great.

-Bye.

I'm now perfectly primed to visit Virginia's seat of government,

which was designed by one of the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson.

This polymath was a politician, writer, lawyer and architect.

"The most prominent building in Richmond", says Appletons',

"is the State Capital, adorned with a portico of ionic columns.

"The plan having been furnished by Thomas Jefferson

"after that of the Maison Carree at Nimes in France."

So this building has the triple distinction

of being Roman, Jeffersonian, Virginian,

and I might add one of the most beautiful buildings

in the United States.

The Capitol was completed in 1788 and was the first state seat

of government to be designed after the War of Independence.

The architecture is so elegant,

the colours are so tasteful

and the state of restoration is absolutely perfect.

'I'm meeting Mark Greenough, tour supervisor

'and historian of the Capitol,

'in the old hall of the house of delegates.'

Virginia played such an important part

in the early days of the United States.

For example, Jefferson, Washington, they were both from Virginia.

Other presidents?

We've had a total of eight presidents of the United States

who were born within the borders of Virginia.

Seven of them served in their office of president

before the American Civil War broke out.

After gaining independence from Britain,

a convention adopted in Philadelphia in 1787

established a constitution for the new nation.

But states had to ratify the constitution.

Virginia was the oldest of the original British colonies in America.

It was the largest. It was the wealthiest.

It was the most populated.

We had our ratification convention in Richmond.

It was a few blocks from this site.

At that point, in June of 1788,

Virginia endorsed our new national charter.

Was that very influential on other colonies?

Virginia's vote on the question would be a great help to others

who were wavering on whether or not to support our new federal Union.

It was a controversial question.

74 years later, the state played an equally important role

in the country's descent into civil war.

The flashpoint was an attack by southern Confederate forces

in April 1861 on Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

Lincoln called for troops to suppress the rebellion.

War had begun.

Virginia, not yet part of the Confederacy,

now had to decide whether to fight with her southern neighbours.

This is the room where, after two months of active debating,

Virginia leaders voted to secede from the Union -

another controversial question.

88 voted to secede, but 55 voted to stay in the union.

So Virginia's joining the Confederacy was by no means

-something that could be assumed.

-No means at all.

But then she makes the vote to secede.

What happens in this room after that?

They next looked for a qualified leader

to defend the borders of the Commonwealth of Virginia

and they turned to Robert E Lee and he walked into this very chamber.

He stood on that very spot, where today there is a statue

of Robert E Lee, and this is where

he pledged his sword in defence of his native state.

It is not a triumphalist statue.

You see here a man who is showing a dignity

and sadness in the face of America's biggest dilemma

and, in the end, Lee decided to follow the fate of his native State.

The decision to make Richmond the capital of the Confederacy

made it a target for Union troops.

By 1865, General Lee was no longer able to defend the city

and, on April the 3rd, it was evacuated.

The next day, President Abraham Lincoln entered, victorious.

Lee surrendered to Union forces on April the 9th.

The American Civil War was all but over.

'Today, Virginia's grand Capitol houses the state's General Assembly,

'where senators and delegates meet to discuss

'and vote on legislation, balance the state's budget

'and elect judges.'

We're now entering the Virginia House Of Delegates chamber

and it's a chamber not guilty of understatement.

I think many Europeans would understand that,

at the national level, the United States has

an upper house - the Senate, a lower house - the Congress,

and an executive - the President, but that is also replicated,

isn't it, in most of the states at state level?

That's true. With only one exception,

all of the state legislatures are bicameral,

with a House and a Senate,

and Virginia takes particular pride in being remembered

as the oldest elected representative legislature

still meeting in the Western Hemisphere.

'The Virginia General Assembly dates back to 1619,

'only 12 years after the English first settled the colony.'

Well, here in this state of Virginia,

I feel much that makes me feel at home, which is

maybe not surprising, given that it's named after Queen Elizabeth I.

Oh, good old Queen Bess. She was on the throne

when England began setting her sights on settling Virginia,

but it was after her death

and the ascension to the throne of James I that

an English settlement took hold and it was named Jamestown,

and the river leading to it was named the James River.

The English heritage of this nation

is more evident in Virginia's Capitol

than it has been anywhere else on my American journey.

My next stop will require an attention to manners,

for which the English were once famed.

I'm invited to Virginia's oldest cotillion dance circle.

Hi, nice to meet you.

Learning to dance with a partner has long been a vital training

for young men and women of society

and here the tradition continues for adolescent Virginians.

Hi, Jim. Hello, I'm Connor Stevens.

-Connor, nice to meet you.

-Very nice to meet you.

I seem to have joined some sort of a receiving line.

I don't know what it's about,

but I suspect it's some kind of test already.

-Hi.

-Hi.

-I hope I'm blending in.

Hi, I'm Hayley, nice to meet you.

-This is Angelo.

-I'm Miss Davidson.

How do you do? Michael Portillo.

Very nice to meet you, Michael, I'm Miss Williams. Welcome.

-Charmed, Ms Williams.

-This is Andrew Cole.

-Hello, I'm Michael Portillo.

-Hello, nice to meet you I'm Andrew Cole.

Bob, Michael Portillo, what a pleasure. How do you do?

-Sandra, nice to meet you.

-It's my privilege. Thank you very much.

-Liz.

-Nice to meet you.

-Such a pleasure. How do you do?

-Katherine, Michael Portillo.

-Hi, nice to meet you. Welcome.

-What is cotillion?

-Actually, it was a social event

that started in the 18th century, in Europe, and then moved to America,

and it was originally for more high society.

But then, it became more popular among all different groups.

And I think, today, that it's even more important and more popular,

here in the States especially, and probably more important

-in the South, and more common in the South.

-Mm-hm.

We're so excited to be in our 71st year of Cotillion,

-here at the Junior Assembly. Pretty proud of that.

-Yes.

Why is it important to teach dance?

The tool is dancing that we use really to teach

social self-confidence and social graces in these teens and tweens,

which really is lacking in this day and age,

with technology and social media being so prevalent,

and the social self-confidence and the social graces that they learn

really carry them throughout life

and those are, you know, successes that they'll have as they get a job

and as they interact in their adult lives,

so we think it's very important to start with dancing.

You've been great successes, because these young people have

-the most beautiful manners.

-We think so, yes.

-Thank you.

Now, I was put through a series of very frightening tests.

-First of all, a receiving line. How did I do?

-Excellent.

You introduced yourself with your first and last name,

gave a warm smile. It looked like you were excited to be here.

-We hope you were, ha-ha!

-One of our goals is confidence.

A lot of boys, especially the first cotillions, look at their feet

and feel nervous, wondering if they're doing it correctly.

We didn't see any of that with you, so you did a great job.

So, if I were to join in the event, and I'm thinking I might do that,

-what tips would you have?

-Have fun.

-Big smile.

-Yes.

Have fun, show some self-confidence.

-Relax.

-Choose a partner, thank your partner and just be yourself.

-OK.

-I'll join in. Wish me luck.

-Good luck, you'll do great.

-Best of luck. You'll do great.

-Have fun.

-Keep your smile.

(I'm not so confident.) LIZ LAUGHS

MUSIC BEGINS

First introduced to the colonies from Europe in the 1770s,

cotillion became a favourite dance at assemblies,

allowing couples to exchange partners in an early square dance.

Today, the music and the dances are more varied.

Still, dance is an instrument for teaching teenagers social graces.

I'm hoping not to let the side down.

Help me, help me!

It's easy.

Ready, and go.

Out, in, out, in. Heel, heel, toe, toe.

Right, cross, right.

Left, cross, left.

Forward, forward, forward.

Back, back, back.

One, two, three, turn,

five, six, seven, eight.

'Lacking any sense of rhythm, I must call on my manners.'

I'm sorry.

Back now, ready for the pause.

Outside rock. To the centre.

'The formal dress and white gloves worn today evoke the gilded age

'of the late 1800s, when the tradition of presenting in society

'18-year-old debutants from America's wealthiest families started.'

It's clear that cotillion has taught these teens

more than fancy footwork.

Their social skills and confidence are beyond their years.

-Thank you.

-Thank you, you saved me from humiliation and from myself.

Thank you very much.

TRAIN HORN BLARES

I'm reaching the end of my United States journey

travelling through Virginia.

As I've raced through American history,

from colony to global superpower, I'm looking forward to

a conclusion that will lift up my heart.

Today, I'll continue south through Petersburg

to the naval base at Norfolk.

From there, I'll head to Colonial Williamsburg.

I'll enter at the first permanent English colonial settlement -

Jamestown.

-Where are you going?

-Petersburg.

-To your left.

-Thank you.

'I'm travelling on a route recommended in my Appletons'

'which starts in Richmond and goes all the way

'to Charleston, South Carolina.'

My next stop is Petersburg, which Appletons' tells me is,

"A well built-city at the head of navigation of the Appomattox River.

"Since the Civil War, the place has prospered

"and the signs of the conflict are rapidly disappearing."

To which I say -

hallelujah!

Thank you very much. Bye!

Petersburg was the scene of one of the last great struggles

of the American Civil War,

which culminated in the abolition of slavery in the United States.

I'm meeting Julian Green Jr from the First Baptist Church -

the oldest African-American Baptist church in America.

-Oh, Michael, it's such a pleasure to meet you.

-And you, sir.

Welcome to First Baptist.

Julian, when do black people first become Baptists in Virginia?

In Virginia, it goes back to 1756.

Blacks were worshipping on various plantations, because that was

the saving grace for what they endured on a day-to-day basis.

Because families were split,

husband and wives were sold to different plantations.

Some Baptists defended slavery, but others preached against it,

believing that all men were created equal by God.

By the 1770s, up to a tenth of Virginia's population was Baptist.

We're 241 years old.

We are proud of that and we are humble of that.

Was singing important from the earliest days?

Singing was the way that the message translated to them.

The music was how the message got to the masses.

John Newton had a revelation

when he coined the song, "Amazing Grace,

"how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me."

MUSIC: Amazing Grace by John Newton

In the late 1800s, gospel music began to evolve as

Southern African-American churches fused different musical styles.

These included hymns, like John Newton's

and religious folk songs called spirituals.

When they sang the song,

# Swing low, sweet chariot

# Coming for to carry me home. #

What was that saying?

That was saying that, "Look out, there are writers coming,

"there are people coming to take you away from where you are."

How they're coming and where they're coming and where they're going,

that was the song that was telling them the destination

moving up to Canada, moving up to the north to seek their freedom.

MUSIC: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by Wallace Willis

Virginia was on what became known as the Underground Railroad -

a covert network for escaped slaves fleeing north.

It was neither underground nor a railroad,

but supporters adopted rail terms as code.

A "rest stop" was a station.

The "owner of a safe house" was a stationmaster.

A "guide" was a conductor.

Did the slave owners suspect that there were codes being

transmitted in the church?

Not until they saw some retribution, some retaliation.

And there was a special way that the messages were delivered

in the black church than how they were delivered in the white church.

The ministers had different dialect.

Different words.

Those words meant something to those sitting in the church.

"Canan" referred to Canada

and "shepherd" was another name for a guide.

Up to 100,000 slaves are thought to have escaped

using the network between 1810 and 1860

as America wrestled with the question of slavery.

What difference does the end of the Civil War make to blacks

and their church here in Virginia?

What it meant was then that a person held as slaves

could be set free and they could go about their way

living in a free society.

Because the Emancipation Proclamation

was signed, it didn't change the heart, the mind of individuals.

So, the slavery context was still there.

The 13th Amendment of 1865 abolished slavery,

freeing four million enslaved people.

But they didn't become equal citizens.

New legal codes denied African-Americans key civil rights,

such as voting and serving on juries.

US society, once divided between free and enslaved,

continued to be split between black and white.

Today, the First Baptist Church continues in fine voice.

# The Lord is my Shepherd

# And I shall not want

# He will

# Supply my needs

# Whatever I need

# I implore and he blesses me

# God will

# Supply

# All of my needs

# God will

# Supply

# He will supply

# God will supply

# He will supply

# God will supply

# All of my needs. #

The opening words of Psalm 23, but sung with a power

and a passion and a beat that I've never heard before.

And in the mouths of a black choir in the American South,

how poignant are the words,

"the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want"?

I'm continuing 85 miles southeast to a centre

of American naval history - Norfolk, Virginia.

Here in the Hampton Roads water basin,

the James and Elizabeth rivers pass into Chesapeake Bay

and the Atlantic Ocean.

On its eastern shore, is Naval Station Norfolk -

the largest naval base in the world

and home to the United States Atlantic Fleet.

With some 43,000 military personnel, nearly a third more than

Britain's entire Royal Navy, it's home port to 59 vessels.

The Wisconsin is a World War II ship built on the most incredible scale.

I mean, those are 16-inch guns which means that the shell

was 16 inches in diameter, of course, feet in length.

Hurled with enormous ferocity over a distance of miles to make

an impact on an enemy ship devastating.

'Battleships like the USS Wisconsin owe much

'to an historic American Civil War battle -

'history's first dual between ironclad vessels.

'I've come to discover more from naval historian Clayton Farrington.'

Appletons' tells me of a battle at sea between the

Confederacy and the Union in 1862, just off Norfolk, Virginia.

Tell me about that.

At the beginning of the conflict, the first realistic strategy

that was proposed was to strangle the Confederacy by the sea.

The only way that the South was going to be able to win is if it had

continued relations with the rest of the world, including Great Britain.

So, the initial strategy taken by the Confederate naval authorities

was simply to build a ship, an unstoppable ship,

to destroy the blockade and that came into being as a vessel

called the Confederate State Ship, Virginia.

The 263 foot Virginia was a Union steam frigate

salvaged from Norfolk Navy Yard by the Confederates

who armoured it with iron.

On March 8th 1862, she virtually decimated a Union fleet

of wooden warships.

But as Confederate hopes of breaking the blockade rose,

a fearsome new Union naval foe arrived.

That vessel was called the USS Monitor

and it was conceived by a Swedish immigrant, John Ericsson.

Ericsson's Monitor... As revolutionary as the Virginia was,

it wasn't even close to the USS Monitor.

The Monitor presented almost no profile in the water

which to shoot at, only one turret.

But it was enough to do the job.

'History's first dual between two ironclad vessels took place

'the next day.

'The Unionist Monitor was fast and manoeuvrable,

'whilst the Confederate Virginia struggled to keep up steam

'and retired with a leak in her bowel.'

What were the consequences for navy design generally

of what happened during the American Civil War?

Well, virtually every major combat vessel that was designed,

not only the American Navy,

but in navy's around the world after the Battle of Hampton Roads,

was a variation on the essential Ericsson design.

As the Union's stranglehold on the 3,500-mile Confederate coastline

intensified, the Southern states where aided by Great Britain.

Some of the most effective vessels put on the seas

by the Confederate States were built in Britain.

They were new vessels, the Alabama and the Florida in particular

were responsible for dozens and dozens

of American merchant ships being lost.

And that became a bone of contention to some considerable degree

after the war.

The South needed to maintain its lucrative exports of cotton

to the Lancashire mills.

It ordered blockade runner ships from Liverpool.

British crews signed up to the Confederate Navy,

joining the British-built Alabama,

which captured or destroyed 55 Union merchant ships.

The United States and Britain have had many conflicts.

How would you characterise the downs and ups of that relationship?

The low points were here.

That aside, however,

within a generation or two, the situation had completely changed

and this was the place from which the most help militarily

came from to help Britain in both World War I and World War II.

No single place has seen more highs and lows in this country

than Norfolk, Virginia.

To reach my next destination, passengers must cross the water

in order to rejoin the rail road for a short journey upstream.

My last railway journey takes me back in history

to before the American Civil War.

Indeed, before the American Revolution,

to colonial times to a town founded in 1632

and now restored and preserved - Williamsburg.

In Appletons' day, this historic settlement had fallen into ruin.

But after careful and lengthy restoration

dating back to the 1920s, today it's a living recreation

of its colonial past, populated by costumed re-enactors.

-Good day to you.

-Good day, sir.

I'm looking forward to meeting the locals.

-Good morning.

-Morning.

Are there many farmers in town today?

Most of them reside in the James City

and the York County plantations.

-Mm-hm.

-But I can think of my father is out of town today,

but he owns a James City and a York County plantation nearby.

So, is your father...

Would he be regarded as middle-class or part of the gentry?

Certainly middle-class.

Might you be in a position to own slaves?

Yes, and indeed my father does own slaves.

At this point, he has a variety of different slaves

on the York County and the James City plantation

and we also have three house slaves, each with two children,

in our property in Williamsburg.

-You must have heard, as I have...

-Mm-hm.

-..of Baptists, particularly...

-Yes.

-..going around saying that slavery is morally wrong.

-Yes.

How do you react to that?

I feel that we could not make our society work

without slaves currently. It's simply impossible.

Mr Thomas Jefferson says, "It's like holding a wolf by the ears.

"You don't like it, but you don't want to let go."

Now, I'm paraphrasing the man, certainly,

but that certainly one sentiment helped.

The middle-class became established in American colonial society

during the 18th century.

And its success in the South was underpinned by slaves,

forcibly transported from Africa to work on the cotton plantations.

By 1775, they numbered 200,000.

Excuse me, ma'am. Do you mind if I share this bench with you

-for a moment?

-Oh, not at all. Go right ahead.

Thank you very much indeed.

What costume are you wearing?

Pretty much like folks that are working-class, lower class, slave.

And here you are sitting out on a bench in the street.

Would an enslaved person be able to do that?

No, sir, your enslaved were definitely...

Very rarely did they have, um, free time where they can

sit down and do anything.

Their main responsibility was to either be working in the field

or cooking in the kitchen, that type of thing.

Now, some of the black population is, in the 18th century, freed.

I think there's only 12 free blacks in the town here.

So, at first I was thinking,

"This is a bit like an amusement park."

But then, as I began to approach the people in costume

and the people in character, I find they all have a life story.

And so history lives through their biographies.

'It's time to increase my experience in the field of history.'

Ooh, ah! I've got a furrow to plough!

In colonial times, most Virginians lived on rural farmsteads,

like Great Hopes Plantation.

'By Appletons' day, landowners gave labourers housing

'and a share of land in return for half the crop.'

They sent me over to help with the ploughing.

Perfect. We need some help, we always need some help here.

These are a beautiful beasts, what are they?

These are oxen. This is Duke and Dan.

This is a fine team.

Ten years old and they know what they're doing.

Hello, Matt. Would you mind teaching me the ropes, please?

Of course, of course.

So, your plough is going to cut the sod, turn it over.

A fairly easy contraption to run.

Good, now, lower. Lower down.

A little bit too deep,

so push down a little bit and then push away for me.

Push away with the left.

Yep.

-Quite tough work.

-Yep, yep.

Let the beast do the work. Let them pull.

-I see, yes.

-And just guide.

So, relax your arms, relax your chest, your elbows.

That's better already.

OK, yep. Come to me a little bit.

Good, now straighten out.

Perfect. That is a beautiful looking furrow.

And spill.

-Very good.

-Oh!

More furrows than on my brow!

Ed, what sort of farmers are we?

Oh, middle-class. We're doing well.

We're not surviving, we're thriving.

-What do we plant here?

-We'll plant tobacco next year.

And how long will that take before we have our crop?

Oh, we'll plant in May and then, about August, we cut it.

Uh-huh. And what do we do the rest of the year?

-Everything!

-LAUGHTER

Farming never stops!

We plough, we harrow, we plant...

We plant and pick cotton, we harvest wheat with a sickle.

Er, we do what they did, as they did it,

according to the time and day and season.

Are we fairly self-sufficient now in America,

-or are we still importing stuff?

-We buy a lot of your stuff.

-Oh.

Because of this reason - we make money.

We make money through tobacco especially

and you all want it and we're delivering.

-What can we sell for you?

-Oh, you can sell iron.

You can sell cloth.

We don't make our cloth. Why would we do that?

We grow tobacco. We make money, we buy it from you.

Virginian Indians had long-grown tobacco,

but it was too harsh for European tastes.

In the early 17th century, the English settler John Rolfe

cultivated a leaf with milder West Indian seed.

By the 1770s, tobacco was the bedrock of the colony's economy.

What religion are we?

Anglican at first. Church of England.

We're required by law to go at least once a month -

head of household, the man.

That all changes after the revolution.

-Do we have to pay a tithe to the church?

-Oh, yes.

It's our duty. We feel, you know, we're transplanted Englishmen.

You know, during the revolution, we see ourselves as something else.

Americans.

I mean, actually, you live in 2015.

Oh, yeah, I'm just like you.

And you're ploughing a field...

And you're ploughing a field with some oxen. How come?

I love history and I want to share it

and this is a unique way to share it.

The thing is this is real.

We're really going to plant this field.

And I think that has a special connection with people.

'Colonial farmers also cultivated Indian corn to eat.

'From field to fork, I'm curious to know what they made with it.'

-Hello, Steph.

-Hi.

-What's the recipe today?

Well, today, we are doing a recipe for johnny cake or hoecake.

This comes from Amelia Simmons, 1796.

This is the first known published American cookbook.

Basically, you're going to start with your cornmeal

and then you got your shortening or your lard.

So, this is basically your pig fat here.

That really looks revolting, doesn't it?

I like it, I've grown accustomed to it.

This is your shortening for everything.

I mean, it's delicious once you get used to it.

So, how's this doing?

'The lard is mixed with cornmeal and milk and molasses to sweeten it.'

Just take a bit.

Give up the spoon there.

And just kind of form it.

And then we're going to put it in the frying pan over here.

And you'll notice we've got the frying pan with the legs,

so we can use it over the coals.

There you go.

I'm beaten back by the heat.

They're looking good.

-Shall I see whether they're ready?

-I think you should.

Oh, they look good.

Mmm.

It's good. It's...

A little bit austere, but with the molasses

it's a little bit sweeter.

Crunchy, like what you would call a cookie.

-Absolutely.

-What I call a biscuit.

You see it referred to, when people talk about visiting Virginia,

writing down what they've eaten.

You know, you see corncakes, johnny cakes.

This is a pretty common meal.

Putting on period costume helps me to stand in the shoes

of a historic Virginian.

Virginia was respected by the other colonies because of its antiquity

and its learning and its riches and its success.

And they didn't much like being told by the British that they

should pay taxes to the Crown and, later in their history,

they didn't much like being told by Yankees

that they shouldn't own slaves.

After the American Civil War, the South had to be rebuilt.

It remained mainly agricultural, but by the end of the 19th century,

its railroad mileage had doubled

and new industries in coal, steel and cigarettes were flourishing.

My Appletons' Guide now leads me seven miles southwest

to the shore of the James River and the site of the first permanent

English settlement.

Jamestown, named after British king James I,

is as fascinating today as it was for the 19th-century traveller.

The small colony which took root here spawned a nation,

which one day would outgrow its mother country many times over.

'I'm meeting senior archaeologist David Givens.'

-Nice to see you.

-I'm very moved.

I mean, this spot, we are so close to where the first

English European colonists come and establish their settlement.

Oh, yeah. This is ground zero.

This is the centre of the beginning of the New World.

Who were these English people who came here?

These weren't Puritans.

No, our first colonists are a varied sort.

We have miners, goldsmiths, bookmakers.

They were over here as part of a company to transform

the New World as a safe place to extract resources.

In 1607, three ships with around 100 sailors onboard

landed at Cape Henry

and sailed upriver into the territory of the Powhatan Indians.

There they established the first permanent English settlement.

How are they greeted by Native Americans?

The natives greet them actually with open arms.

Virginian Indians that were here

wanted to make them part of their kingdom, to use the term.

And so, of course, you know that doesn't go very well,

because the English want to make the Powhatan part of their kingdom.

Are they short of food?

Yes, they are.

They're continually short of food and trade with the Virginia Indians

only lasts so long.

When John Smith returns to England 1609,

they resort to violence with the natives, the Virginian Indians,

and that never works out well.

And so, eventually, they're stuck here in their fort.

The Indians are attacking them and they revert to cannibalism.

'Captain John Smith was vital to the survival of Jamestown

'in the early years.

'Captured, but later released by Chief Powhatan's men,

'he proved skilful at securing food from the Native Americans.

'He instilled rigid discipline, ordering that,

' "He who will not work, shall not eat." '

Once it's realised how difficult it is to live here,

how come they keep coming?

The resources in the New World are so huge.

They're so varied.

To build an empire, you need to have resources

and that's what the English did, of course.

How does it come good in the end, then?

Because after all, eventually, it succeeds.

What's the turning point?

The turning point is...

The redemption of the colony is when Lord De La Warr arrives

and he brings with him a new angle or a refocus of the colony.

Lord De La Warr arrives in June 1610,

just as the colonists were abandoning the Jamestown enterprise.

He brought 150 new settlers, constructed two forts

near the mouth of the James River and generally brought order.

I've found on this journey and I've found it now with you,

that there are great chunks of Virginian history

that I did not know.

It's kind of overshadowed by Massachusetts.

-Why?

-That pilgrim myth is a Victorian concept. It's a...

After the South lost the war in our Civil War,

the palatable, if you will, story was the pilgrims.

Many history books for kids start with Plymouth

and that first Thanksgiving, where the Indians and the pilgrims

sat down together.

And in reality, the first Thanksgiving is here in 1608

when Pocahontas herself brings food to help the colonists

survive that winter.

The Virginia Company settlement of Jamestown

drew on English precedence

in recognising the private ownership of land, supplying 50 acres

for any colonist who paid his passage across the Atlantic

and in establishing an annual assembly -

the oldest in the New World.

With the wealth provided by tobacco,

Virginia had ambitions beyond being an outpost of empire.

Travelling by train has brought home to me

how enormous is the United States.

And journeying through its history, I'm impressed by

the colossal ambition of its founding ideals

of liberty and equality.

Americans would disagree amongst themselves about how

successfully their country has applied its values.

But I'm convinced that those founding principles still supply

the United States today with unity,

clarity and a sense of purpose.

Great strength in a nation still filled with hope about its future.

'It's the end of this American adventure...

HORNS BLARE '..and I brim with memories.'

Whoa!

Argh!

'In Appletons' footsteps, I've travelled

'on the world's largest rail network...'

Don't you love American locomotives with their great big long horns

and their bells? Off we go!

TRAIN HORN BLARES

'..marvelled at this nation's natural beauty...'

The very first thing you see is a great plume of mist.

'..and the scale of American ingenuity.'

People felt like they were just

flying with the birds walking across this bridge.

-'From lobster...'

-Wow!

'..to street food...'

Mmm, that's pretty good, isn't it?

'..cocktails to ale...'

Wow! That is strong!

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

'..I've embraced the cultural highs.'

-MUSIC: Gonna Fly Now by Bill Conti

-Go Rocky! Yay!

LOUD EXPLOSION

'Above all, I've enjoyed unfurling the triumphs and the tragedies

'in the history of this idealistic republic.'