This interactive “museum on wheels,” housed in a 53’ tractor-trailer, uses state-of-the-art technology and immersive exhibit spaces to present individual stories of the Civil War from the perspective of those who experienced it—young and old, enslaved and free, soldiers and civilians.
The HistoryMobile exhibit is divided into four sections: Battlefront, Homefront, Journey to Freedom, and Loss-Gain-Legacy. From the heart-rending letter written by a dying son to his father after sustaining a mortal wound at Spotsylvania in 1864, to an overheard conversation between husband and wife considering the great risks and rewards of fleeing to freedom, the HistoryMobile presents the stories of real people whose lives were shaped by the historic events of the 1860s. Organized by the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission, HistoryMobile visits museums, parks, fairs, schools, and other sites throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia and beyond.