Spotsylvania Commemorative

Re-enactment site is approximately 5.5 miles WEST of Interstate 95 on Route 3,

 6301 Plank Road, Fredericksburg, VA 22407

Re-enactor registration is open on Friday, May 2 from 9 AM - 9 PM and Saturday, May 3 from 6 AM - 9 AM. All vehicles must be unloaded and removed from camp as quickly as possible. Re-enactor parking is on the SOUTH side of Route 3. Shuttle buses will return re-enactors to the event site from the parking area.

SACRED HARP SINGING Now added to our Sunday program. See schedule below! Join in with our visiting singers from across Virginia and suburban Maryland! An experience you will treasure.

Animated battle maps now available from the CWPT! Click link to view: http://www.civilwar.org/fdac/index.htm

Artillery Bounty $250 per gun!!! Full scale field pieces. Four guns only!!!

U.S. Commander: Wayne Wolff

C.S. Commander: Troy Fallin

Spotsylvania County and the CWPT proudly welcome you to experience a once in a lifetime event...

held on the actual battlefield of May 1, 1863!

The photograph here shows the ground over which Confederate forces advanced against the Federals on May 1, 1863. This view is taken from the location of Union skirmishers, looking east. The ridge at right center was lined with Confederate artillery. On Saturday, May 3, 2008, re-enactors will recreate this opening engagement on the very ground upon which it happened 145 years before.

 

145^th Chancellorsville Commemoration

Spotsylvania, Virginia

May 2-4, 2008

 

One hundred and forty-five years ago, the Army of Northern Virginia embarked on a campaign against numerically superior opposition. After three days, and one of military history’s greatest flanking maneuvers, they would control the field. It all began on this corridor along the Germanna Plank Road. On May 3-4, 2008, history will come alive, following in the very footsteps of those who went before.

 

Events Schedule 

 

Friday, May 2

 

Re-enactors arrive and establish camp

 

Saturday, May 3

 

9:00 AM - Gates open to the public

10-10:45 - Opening Ceremony. CWPT/Spotsylvania County

11:00-11:45 - Tour of May 1, 1863 battlefield with historian Eric Mink

12:00 noon to 12:45 PM – May 1, 1863: Opening Battle Re-enactment on the actual ground

"19th Century Mourning Practices and Medical Equipment" - Ongoing display and discussion with Georgia Meadows and Kim Waldron

1:15-2:00 - Lecture: "The Aftermath of Battle and Refugee Experience", with historian John Hennessy

2:00-2:45 - Lecture: "Civil War Photography", with wetplate photographer Robert Szabo

3:00-3:45 - Honor Ceremony for decendants of combatants and local area civilians

5:00 - Closed to the General Public

 

Sunday, May 4

 

10:00 AM – Gates open to the public

"19th Century Mourning Practices and Medical Equipment" - Ongoing display and discussion with Georgia Meadows and Kim Waldron

12 noon to 12:45  – Tactical battle re-enactment

12:45 – 1:00  - Field hospital immersion. Talk to a surgeon as the wounded are gathered following the battle.

2:00 – 4:00  - SACRED HARP SINGING - A joyous celebration of an American tradition. All voices welcome! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHUfHNEZDPc

Sacred Harp singing is a non-denominational community musical event emphasizing participation, not performance. Singers sit facing inward in a hollow square. Each individual is invited to take a turn “leading,” i.e. standing in the center, selecting a song, and beating time with the hand. The singing is not accompanied by harps or any other instrument. The group sings from The Sacred Harp, an oblong songbook first published in 1844 by B.F. White and E. J. King. The music is printed in “patent notes,” wherein the shape of the note head indicates the syllables FA , SOL , LA , and MI . The repertory includes psalm tunes, fuging tunes, odes and anthems by the first American composers (1770-1810), and also settings of folk songs and revival hymns (1810-1860). The current 1991 Edition contains many songs in these styles by living composers.

This style of singing stems from singing schools in the colonial period. Preserved in the rural South, Sacred Harp singing (also called fasola singing or shape-note singing) is making a major resurgence in cities and campuses throughout North America. Sacred Harp Singing was featured in the movie COLD MOUNTAIN. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY6LPgY_Zw0

4:00 -- Event closes

 

Spotsylvania Commemorative

Commemorating the 145th and Sesquicentennial anniversaries of the battles at Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House. See calendar page link at top left.

OUR MISSION

To research, analyze, and disseminate information regarding the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House and its environs.

Click link on left for additional information.

 

For information contact John Cummings

Content copyright 2008 John F. Cummings III

All rights reserved.