For the local community and visitors to Williamsburg, Virginia

MARCH 2011

By Bob Ruegsegger

For almost three decades[28 years], Jamestown

Settlement has continuously at-tracted hordes of museum visi-tors to the annual MilitaryThrough the Ages program.

Civil War re-enactors havebeen an integral part of theevent from the very beginning.Over the years, Civil War re-en-actment units, Confederate andUnion, have been among themost authentic and popular liv-ing history groups involved withthe program.

“The first year I was with the1st Texas. Later, we portrayedthe 53rd Virginia. I was involvedwith the museum educationbusiness back then with Colo-nial Williamsburg,” recalls ToddJohnson. “There were quite afew of us. I would say that the

majority of the folks in both ofthose units were people whowere involved in the museumeducation field at either theJamestown-Yorktown Founda-tion or Colonial Williamsburg.”

Members of the 53rd Virginiawere interested in the MilitaryThrough the Ages because itwas an early spring event thatgave re-enactors an opportunityto get their muskets and uni-forms out, dust off the cobwebs,and get ready for the re-enact-ment season.

“People always thought of thespring and the summer monthsas the re-enacting season,” re-calls Steve Martin who re-en-acted with the 53rd Virginia. “Itwas when all the major eventswere, and MTA gave them an op-portunity to get back into theswing of things.”

Half of the twelve re-enact-

ment units that participated inthe first Military Through theAges program in 1984 were CivilWar groups. The 1st North Car-olina Volunteers from SevenSprings, North Carolina and the20th Maine Volunteer Infantryfrom Richmond were amongthose initial units.

“They werepredominantlyCivil War units.Nowadays, ourCivil War re-en-actors make upless than a quar-ter of our units,”observes HomerLanier,Jamestown Set-tlement’s inter-pretive sitemanager. “We’llhave 30-35 unitswith us this year

and about five or six units areCivil War units.”

Jamestown began as a mili-tary outpost in 1607. MilitaryThrough the Ages capitalizes onthat early connection to militaryhistory. Confederate and Unionforces occupied Jamestown Is-land during the Civil War. Two-

Civil War integralto Military Through the Ages

Members of the 23rdVirginia Infantry Regiment

pose with friends from otherunits during a recent Military

Through the Ages event.

Units compete on the demonstration field. The 3rd U.S. Infantry,also known as The Old Guard, often earns top honors.

This artillery unit traveled from Ohio to participate in the MTA.

Hundreds of re-enactors from morethan 30 organizations will join theVirginia National Guard to offervisitors a look at centuries of militaryhistory during the weekend of March19-20, 2011. At noon on Saturday,a children’s parade is scheduled.The event concludes on Sundaywith a military pass-in-review at3:00 pm. For more information visitwww.historyisfun.org or call 757-253-4838 or toll-free 888-593-5209.

4 The Gazette Extra March 2011

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thirds of the Civil War battleswere fought in Virginia. TheCivil War has long been nearand dear to the hearts of Virgini-ans. Many local re-enactorsclaim ancestors who fought inthe conflict.

“There’s a tremendousamount of history all around us.Not only right next door to us atHistoric Jamestowne but up anddown the James River. Rich-mond being the capital of theConfederacy,” explains Lanier.

Also known as the Amelia Ri-fles, the 23rd Virginia InfantryRegiment has been among theoutstanding Civil War re-enact-ment organizations that havebeen involved with MTA fromthe very beginning.

“The 23rd Virginia stands outbecause they are a great bunchof people who are absolutelysquared away on their historyand their drill,” offers Lanier. “Ifyou want a history lesson, youwant to see these folks. Theyare a class act. The commandershave changed over the years.Bill Reagan commands the unitnow.”

At MTA this year, the 23rd Vir-ginia will be portraying theBrooklyn Grays at Camp Lee,Virginia in May, 1861. TheBrooklyn Grays, Company E of

the 23rd Virginia, enlisted onMay 7, 1861 at Brooklyn, HalifaxCounty, Virginia. CaptainWilliam Haynes was the com-pany commander.

On the demonstration field,Company E, 23rd Virginia willbe demonstrating the School ofthe Company from Gilham’sManual for Volunteers and Mili-tia. The manual was written byMajor William Gilham, instruc-tor of tactics and commandantof the cadets of the Virginia Mili-tary Institute, and published in1861. Members of the unit willalso be performing a variety offatigue and guard details incamp as well as exhibiting uni-forms, weapons, and accouter-ments to the public.

“One of the most top notchunits I’ve ever seen is the 3rdU.S. Infantry. If we need them todo something extra, they’ll doit,” observes Lanier. “Wheneverthe 3rd U.S. is with us, they al-ways get a game of roundersgoing with the Southern forces.They’ll have a game of baseball.When that spontaneously hap-pens, it’s one of my favoritethings.”

This year, to commemoratethe 150th anniversary of thestart of the Civil War, the 3rdU.S. Regular Infantry, The Old

Guard, will be outfitted in fullU.S. Army regulation uniformsof frockcoats, Hardee hats,shoulder scales, and dark bluetrousers.

Members of the 3rd U.S. willactive invite visitors to partici-pate in drill and camp activities.Wooden muskets will be fur-nished for spectators who wishto participate in early war com-pany musket drill. Visitors willbe offered a closely supervisedopportunity to experience bayo-net drill using a hanging haybale as a target. The unit willalso offer an extensive Civil Warmedical display hosted by a sur-geon and hospital steward.

The Tidewater Maritime Liv-ing History Association will beoffering a look at the U.S. Navyduring the early war. They willbe depicting the crew of theUSS Aroostook in 1862. USSAroostook, a steamer acquiredby the Union Navy, was em-ployed as a gunboat to patrolConfederate waterways.

In June of 1862, the USSAroostook destroyed guns, ord-nance, and equipment aban-doned by the Confederates atJamestown. Navigation, smallarms, and seamanship will beamong this unit’s featureddemonstrations. The duties ofthe ship’s chaplin, paymaster,and marines will also be topicsof discussion.

The Nancy Hart Militia willdepict an all-female Civil Warera militia unit that was origi-nally formed in LaGrange, Geor-gia. Named for RevolutionaryWar heroine Nancy MorganHart, the militia company wasorganized by Nancy Hill Morganand Mary Alford Heard to pro-tect the Town of LaGrange fromthe Union Army.

They mustered twice a weekfor drill and target practice.Prizes were awarded for thebest marksmanship. Unitdemonstrations will includebasic drill, cooking with periodrecipes, and nursing duties.

Re-enactment units who areasked to participate in MilitaryThrough the Ages compete withtheir peers for blue ribbons. Tophonors include awards for bestcamp, best field demonstration,best cooking, and best uniforms.

“We invite folks to submittheir qualifications for beinghere at the event with us. We’vealways tried to be selectiveabout who we have come. Wewant the best educational op-portunity for our visitors,” ex-plains Lanier. “Our Civil Warunits, the 3rd U.S. and 23rd Vir-ginia, win awards regularly.Quite often they’ll take theaward for the best tacticaldemonstration on the demofield.”

3rd United States Regular Infantry marches onto the demonstrationfield at Military Through the Ages. the 3rd U.S. will return this year.

Re-enactors with the 3rd U.S. Regular Infantry haveprovided instruction in the use of the bayonet in astrictly controlled environment.

The Tidewater Maritime Living History Association commanderand color bearer march forward to accept an award. This yearthe associasion will portray the crew of the U.S.S. Aroostook.