Today's the last day to participate in the archaeological dig at Fairfield. I had the opportunity to dig in an area that used to be right outside the front porch. We found various fragments of glass and pottery shards as well as a few nails. The coolest thing we found this week was a piece of gunflint. I really enjoyed Fairfield and hope I'll have an opportunity to come back again. Later on that same day, a few other friends and me went to see a CW evening program called A Night of Dance. The program was awesome especially because it was set in the Governor's Palace. After the evening program, we came back to the dorm and everyone went over to Tazewell Hall to do a few English country dances we learned over the past two weeks.

So today I went back to Fairfield for a second round of archaeology. I started digging a new plot of ground and worked on sifting it to see what there was to be found. I found bits of ceramic, some glass, and a furniture pin. Although it was more cloudy today, I was still hot from all the digging. It was fun all the same. I would definately do it again next weekend, but niahd will be over. But I may go back for an internship or something if I come to William and Mary for college (which hopefully I will).

Happy fourth of July! Today I went shopping a CW and walked around the public hospital. It was really, really, hot so I went back to my dorm and started working on a few of my journals I needed to have finished. That night, it was pouring rain, but the whole group still went to the fireworks anyway. The best place to watch the fireworks this year was the sunken gardens, so despite the rain, we stood out and enjoyed the show.

Today I spent the whole day (well, nearly) in Colonial Williamsburg. A group of us all headed down DOG Street at 9:00 am to try to beat the tourists. We began at the little open-air shop near the armory because that is where I had seen tricorner hats. I had always wanted one and figured now was the time to get it. There was one in particular that I liked and had seen the past few days but didn't get it because I had places to go and things to see and I didn't want it distracting me. But, when I got to the stand, the hat was not there. I asked someone and she said they must have sold out of them. I was royally peeved. Anyway, although disappointed, I decided I would come back the next day to see if they had restocked.

Though the sailors during the civil war assumed that joining the navy would save them from the many deaths that occurred in the army. However the psychological and physical detriments that occurred with the developments of the new ironclads forced the sailors into a situation which was unlike anything they could have imagined. The psychological aspects of the navy caused traumas among the sailors, changing the belief that they were fighting against other men to the belief that they were fighting as part of a machine. Technology helped develop the more protective ironclads, but this idea of a "machine" caused psychological stress due to the fact that the sailors knew that technology could also be used against them.

The navies of the Union and the Confederacy epitomize the differences between the Confederacy and the Union during the Civil War. Technologically and economically, the Union was vastly superior to the Confederacy, proven by the ships utilized in the battle of the Ironclads. Additionally, the mindset of the navies was hugely dissimilar in its ideals of honor and intestinal fortitude. These tow differences remained major throughout the Civil War, and shaped its course towards the Union victory over the southern Confederacy.

In the beginning of the civil war, many young men signed up for the Navy, believing that it would be safer and easier than the Army. In fact, there is that misconception even today. These sailors soon learned that the Navy was, and is, not the romanced picture of billowing sails and smooth flowing water that it was made out to be.