Nicholas

On Thursday, May 24th, Nicholas Kimbrell, a recent graduate of the University of Virginia, began a five day march from Charlottesville, VA to Washington, DC to protest the war in Iraq. The walk began at UVa's storied Rotunda and ended Monday at the White House.

Nicholas Kimbrell, a recent graduate of the University of Virginia, arrived Monday, May 28th, at the People's House after being joined by his mother, Kaiulani, and more than a baker's dozen of other supporters from Codepink, World Can't Wait and the Washington Peace Center who marched in a lively and hopeful final three miles from Rosslyn with him. "I was walking through mostly familiar territory on the last day so the walk wasn't as singular, as meditative…To get to there, to see the White house, to feel the anger was incredible." At the conclusion Nick gave his "Troops Home Now...Charlottesville to DC" sign to man named Thomas, who has been holding his anti-nuke vigil there for 26 years.

On his fourth day, Nick was steadfast, weary and anxious to reach Washington. His numerous blisters, "a spectral of blisters," made walking painful, and two blisters were inflamed by infection.

He left Fauquier County, the bridge between the Blue Ridge mountains and northern Virginia. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall was born there. He dominated the court for over three decades, enshrining in law the concept of judicial review, that the court could strike down laws it deemed unconstitutional. Justice Marshall was also responsible for ruling on enumerated powers, defining the responsibilities of Congress.

In weary exuberance, Nick announced that he walked 28 miles on this, his third day of his march for peace. He reached Warrenton, the county seat of Fauquier County, about 44 miles from his destination – the White House.

Warrenton is the home of the "Grey Ghost," John Singleton Mosby, a Confederate guerilla fighter who stealthily executed attacks on Union enclaves and then, seemingly, simply disappeared – like a ghost. A man of slight stature, lacking intimidating physical strength, the Grey Ghost used cunning and precision execution to defeat his northern adversaries. "During the Civil War, Colonel Mosby and his small band of partisans outwitted and outfought the Union Army to the extent that the region from the Potomac to the Shenandoah Valley became known as 'Mosby's Confederacy.'" Like Nick, Mosby attended the University of Virginia, where he studied Latin, Greek and literature.

On Thursday, May 24th, Nicholas Kimbrell, a recent graduate of the University of Virginia, began a five day march from Charlottesville, VA to Washington DC to protest the war in Iraq. The walk will began at UVa's storied Rotunda and ends Monday at the White House. Read his regular updates here.

Day 2 - After a good night's rest in Madison from his first day's trek of 23 miles, Nicholas Kimbrell broke his camp and resumed his march for peace. His blisters have been born, and, he says, have "taken on a life of their own." Nonetheless, he's in high spirits, bolstered by the unexpected kindnesses and generosity of strangers, like the veteran Marine who pulled over and offered Nick a sandwich and thanks to him for undertaking his peace march – even as his own son, also a Marine, is serving in Iraq. And the two state troopers who pulled over to offer him water – and rides – quickly declined. Lots of Rolling Thunder riders, advocates of POW-MIA and veterans, rumble by en route to their 20th annual pilgrimage to the Pentagon and Capitol events to commemorate Memorial Day; some honk and wave, others maintain a stoic gaze.

Thursday, May 24th, Nicholas Kimbrell, a recent graduate of the University of Virginia, will begin a five day march from Charlottesville, VA to Washington DC to protest the war in Iraq. The walk will begin at UVa's storied Rotunda and end Monday at the White House. Read his regular updates here.

Day 1 - Nick Kimbrell begins his 5-day march to protest the war in Iraq today at 9 AM departing from the University of Virginia’s Rotunda. His march will take him 125 miles from historic Charlottesville past the beautiful and historic Blue Ridge Mountains into the nation’s capitol to the “People’s House.” Nick, co-founder of UVA’s Students for Peace in Iraq, opposed the war as founded on lies and deceit. He was inspired to undertake the trek by John Grisham’s commencement address last Sunday.

Controversial Commencement Address by Author John Grisham Helps Inspire Five Day Peace March

On Thursday, May 24th, Nicholas Kimbrell, a recent graduate of the University of Virginia, will begin a five day march from Charlottesville, VA to Washington D.C. to protest the war in Iraq. The walk will begin at UVa's storied Rotunda and end Monday evening at the White House.

Inspired by John Grisham¹s controversial commencement day speech to the UVa graduates of 2007, Kimbrell has chosen a Memorial March to illustrate his ­ and a majority of Americans' ­ steadfast opposition to the violence in Iraq. Grisham spoke of the "fifty-eight thousand boxes" that returned from Vietnam; and in his second of three lessons urged, "When politicians get the itch to go to war, don't believe what they say."

Recognizing that the time to challenge the Bush administration's initial claims to invade Iraq has long passed, Kimbrell has chosen to walk the hundred and twenty-five miles from Charlottesville to Washington to protest the war's continuation and escalation. "From the very beginning," argues Kimbrell, "this conflict has been mired in a web of falsity and deceit. We bear the responsibility to end this war, to end our participation in this poorly planned and improvised campaign of violence, to stop our military's little-supervised and wasteful spending, and to repair our nation's unprecedented fall from international grace."

UVa Graduate Walks from Charlottesville to D.C. to Protest Iraq War

Controversial Commencement Address by Author John Grisham Helps Inspire Five Day Peace March

On Thursday, May 24th, Nicholas Kimbrell, a recent graduate of the University of Virginia, will begin a five day march from Charlottesville, VA to Washington D.C. to protest the war in Iraq. The walk will begin at UVa¹s storied Rotunda and end Monday evening at the White House.