In 1929, Dr. William J. Chewning, having amassed over 100,000 Civil War artifacts, opened The National Battlefield Museum in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

In his final years, Chewning tried to find a local buyer for the collection, but neither the National Park Service nor the City of Fredericksburg opted to purchase the artifacts.

Mr. Chewning added that Fredericksburg had made no attempt to acquire the collection and, in fact, 'had evidenced little real interest in it.'

The museum stood along Lee Highway (State Route 29) to the east of the famous Stone Bridge along Bull Run.

[1] World War Two greatly affected tourism to the battlefield and Richards ultimately put the collection into storage.

Construction of the National Park Service museum and administrative building at Manassas in 1945 created competition for Richards.

"During its storage," she claimed, "many of the papers were lost, destroyed or stolen, including a complete file on each item and its description and identity."

Nonetheless, The Vicksburg Sunday Post Herald reported that Richards "can provide an interesting story about almost every object."

A brochure exists for The National Civil War Museum of Santa Cruz that lists Richards as the owner.

Known for his comedic character "Charley Weaver," Arquette also pursued a strong interest in Civil War history.

The museum stood along Baltimore Street on Cemetery Hill and displayed Civil War dioramas and figurines created by Arquette.

[1] The Rosensteels maintained their museum for another ten years following the purchase from Richards, but in 1971 the family that had been collecting Civil War artifacts for over a century chose to sell.

The Jacobs-Agan-Chewning-Richards-Rosensteel Collection makes up the bulk of the National Park Service artifacts preserved and on display today.

The building was expanded numerous times to accommodate increases in tourists (e.g., an auditorium for the electric map).