Saturday, July 12, 2014

The Battle of Fort Stevens Reenactment at Fort Ward in Alexandria

I was a member of the Milwaukee Civil War Round Table for many years. Since we moved to DC we haven't gone to a lot of Civil War sites - we visited most of them long before that. Yesterday I read in the Washington Post that there was going to be a reenactment in Alexandria today. So after lunch we decided to check it out. I can't imagine wearing a wool uniform in the 90 degree heat, but that was the least of the inconvenience of camp life. My interest in the time period was more of a social nature and not the battles - in particular the nursing and the medical care, as well as how people lived. We visited the union encampment but somehow missed the Confederate side! I thought the civilian looking "soldiers" were confederates but they were union townspeople recruited to defend Washington. Mr. Lincoln was with Mary Todd and he gave a pep talk to the troops. The reenactors are oh so serious. I really liked the artist sketching the events for the local paper. By the time the "battle" began the crowd had grown to a reasonable size. We haven't been to one of these since the Wade House reenactment in Wisconsin. That one was quite impressive with cavalry, many more cannon, and many more participants. Nevertheless it was an interesting way to spend the afternoon in spite of the heat. I was going to major in history - this is a great way to experience it. 
















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