♥ Mayflower and Virginia ♥

Mayflower

The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, (which would become the capital of Plymouth Colony), in 1620. There were 102 passengers and a crew of 25–30.
The Mayflower was used mostly as a cargo ship in the trade of goods (often wine) between England and France, but also Norway, Germany and Spain.

Virginia

Virginia is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States.

The Commonwealth of Virginia Listenі is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna. The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond; Virginia Beach is the most populous city and Fairfax County the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealth's population is over eight million.
The area's history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony. Slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colony's early politics and plantation economy. Virginia was one of the 13 Colonies in the American Revolution and joined the Confederacy in the American Civil War, during which Richmond was made the Confederate capital and Virginia's northwestern counties separated to form the state of West Virginia. Although the Commonwealth was under conservative single party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, both major national parties are competitive in modern Virginia.



Virginia is bordered by Maryland and Washington, D.C. to the north and east; by the Atlantic Ocean to the east; by North Carolina and Tennessee to the south; by Kentucky to the west; and by West Virginia to the north and west.Virginia has a total area of 42,774.2 square miles (110,784.7 km2), including 3,180.13 square miles (8,236.5 km2) of water, making it the 35th-largest state by area.[8] Virginia is bordered by Maryland and Washington, D.C. to the north and east; by the Atlantic Ocean to the east; by North Carolina and Tennessee to the south; by Kentucky to the west; and by West Virginia to the north and west.

The climate of Virginia becomes increasingly warmer and more humid farther south and east. Virginia has an annual average of 35–45 days of thunderstorm activity. Forests cover 65% of the
state.

According to these references you can find necessary information related to the history, geographical position and climate of the state Virginia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Virginia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Virginia
http://www.mapsofworld.com/usa/states/virginia/virginia-location-map.html
http://www.netstate.com/states/geography/va_geography.htm
http://www.virginiaplaces.org/climate/index.html
http://www.city-data.com/states/Virginia-Climate.html



                                   Civil War in Virginia 

The Commonwealth of Virginia was a prominent part of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. The convention called to act for the state during the secession crisis opened on February 13, 1861, after seven seceding states had formed the Confederacy on February 4. Unionist delegates dominated the convention and defeated a motion to secede on April 4. The convention deliberated for several months, but on April 15 President Abraham Lincoln called for troops from all states still in the Union in response to the Confederate capture of Fort Sumter. On April 17, the Virginia convention voted to secede, pending ratification of the decision by the voters. With the entry of Virginia into the Confederacy, a decision was made in May to move the Confederate capital from Montgomery, Alabama, to Richmond, in part because the defense of Virginia's capital was deemed strategically vital to the Confederacy's survival regardless of its political status. Virginians ratified the articles of secession on May 23. The following day, the Union army moved into northern Virginia and captured Alexandria without a fight.

Most of the battles in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War took place in Virginia because the Confederacy had to defend its national capital at Richmond, and public opinion in the North demanded that the Union move "On to Richmond!" The remarkable success of Robert E. Lee in defending Richmond is a central theme of the military history of the war. The White House of the Confederacy, located a few blocks north of the State Capital, was home to the family of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

The ensuing conflict was generally referred to by notable Virginians as "The War Between the States", as in the title of the 1907 book The Confederate Cause and Conduct in the War Between the States, published by Dr. Hunter McGuire and George L. Christian. The first major battle of the Civil War occurred on July 21, 1861. Union forces attempted to take control of the railroad junction at Manassas for use as a supply line, but the Confederate Army had moved its forces by train to meet the Union. The Confederates won the First Battle of Manassas (known as "Bull Run"in Northern naming convention) and the year went on without a major fight.

The first and last significant battles were held in Virginia, the first being the Battle of Manassas and the last being Battle of Appomattox Courthouse. During the American Civil War, Richmond was the capital of the Confederate States of America. The White House of the Confederacy, located a few blocks north of the State Capital, was home to the family of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

Union general George B. McClellan was forced to retreat from Richmond by Robert E. Lee's army. Union general Pope was defeated at the Second Battle of Manassas. Following the one-sided Confederate victory Battle of Fredericksburg, Union general Hooker was defeated at Chancellorsville by Lee's army. Ulysses Grant's Overland Campaign was fought in Virginia. The campaign included battles of attrition at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor and ended with the Siege of Petersburg and Confederate defeat.

In April 1865, fires set in Richmond by a retreating Confederate Army led to a widespread conflagration as the flames were soon out of control. Shortly afterwards the city was occupied and returned to United States control. Virginia was administered as the "First Military District" during the Reconstruction period (1865–1870) under General John Schofield. Local rule was reestablished on October 5, 1869. On January 26, 1870, when the U.S. Congress approved a new Virginia constitution, Virginia's representatives membership to the Congress was restored. This has been traditionally known as the "readmittance" of the Commonwealth of Virginia to the United States.

The links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_in_the_American_Civil_War
http://www.vahistorical.org/onthisday/21361.htm
http://www.virginiaplaces.org/military/civwar.html
http://www.civilwartraveler.com/EAST/VA/
http://www.historicmapsrestored.com/civil-war/virgin
http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs53x/vacwmb/webbbs_config.pl

              Moingwena

The historic Miami-Illinois people who are today referred to as the Moingona or Moingwena were close allies of or perhaps part of the Peoria. They were assimilated by that tribe and lost their separate identity about 1700. The name "Moingona" was probably the basis for the name of the City of Des Moines, the Des Moines River, and Des Moines County, Iowa.

                                                   1681 map of Marquette and Jolliet's 1673 expedition 
                                              showing a Moingona village along what is now the Des Moines River.

Jacques Marquette documented in 1672 that the Peolualen (the modern Peoria). and the mengakonkia (Moingona) were among the Ilinoue (Illinois) tribes who all "speak the same language." Other names for them mentioned in 1672-73 records were "Mengakoukia," and "Mangekekis."
In 1673 Marquette and Louis Jolliet left their canoes and followed a beaten path away from the river out onto the prairie to three Illinois villages within about a mile and a half of each other. Marquette identified only one of the villages at the time, the peouarea, but a later map apparently by him identified another as the Moingwena. He said of the 1673 meeting that there was "some difference in their language," but that "we easily understood each other."
Father Jacques Gravier reports helping the close allies "Peouaroua and Mouingoueña" deal with a common adversary in 1700.
Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, a missionary who explored the region in 1721, recorded that "le Moingona" was "an immense and magnificent Prairie, all covered with Beef and other Hoofed Animals." He italicized the term to indicate it was a geographical term and noted that "one of the tribes bears that name." Charlevoix was a professor or belles lettres, and his spelling has come to be a preferred spelling in general and scholarly discussions.

Meaning of “Mongona”

I have read some articles related to the Indian tribe, and I would like to share my impressions with you about it: The Moingwena were neighbors and allies of the Peoria, another of the Illinois tribes. Soon after Marquette's visit the Peoria moved east across the Mississippi and established themselves along the Illinois River near present Peoria, Illinois.
The meaning of “Moingona” has been debated; historians have espoused conflicting definitions of the term, ranging from “People by the Portage” to “Clan of the Loon” and, more controversially, “Excrement-Faced”.
 Mongona as “People by the Portage”Historic accounts suggest that Moingona was a term referring to people who lived by, or were encountered near, the portage around the Des Moines Rapids. The noted cartographer Joseph Nicollet supported this interpretation, as did the Algonquian linguist Henry Schoolcraft. Schoolcraft and Nicollet's report says that "Moingona"

“ is a corruption of the Algonkin word Mikonang, signifying at the road;…alluding, in this instance, to the well-known road in this section of country, which they used to follow as a communication between the head of the lower rapids and their settlement on the river that empties itself into the Mississippi, so as to avoid the rapids; and this is still the practice of the present inhabitants of the country. ”

I have learnt, that the name " Moingwena" was applied also to the villages in which they resided.  The first recorded notice of the tribe is by Marquette in the account of his descent of the Mississippi with Joliet in 1673, when he found them residing in the vicinity of the Peoria village on the west side of the Mississippi near the mouth of the Des Moines.

Fay has not named which 'knowledgeable Algonquian linguists' he refers to, though his etymology is not accepted by any authorities within the field of Algonquianist linguist.

                                        1718 French map showing a river named Moingona -the present 
                                                   day Des-Moines river. Highlighted area is present state of Iowa.

The links:
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/native/1stcontact.htm
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/illinois/moingwenahist.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moingona
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/M/MO005.html