Published: May 17, 2009 10:50 pm      

Battle of Lewisburg

Re-enactment breathes new life into 147-year-old Civil War battle

LEWISBURG — Young people Garrett and Collin Clemons’ ages may spend their Sunday afternoons chatting online or playing video games.

But the brothers from Lewisburg spent Sunday afternoon marching on Washington Street in Union Civil War uniforms, bringing 147 years of history to life.

“We need to learn our history, lest we are to repeat it,” Garrett, 13, said.

“Most people think of history as this 500-page book about boring facts,” Collin, 11, said. “... But re-enacting is a whole other experience. You could never just read a book and be able to have an experience like this.”

People from all over West Virginia and several nearby states congregated on Washington Street early Sunday afternoon for the 2009 Battle of Lewisburg re-enactment. This is one of the final events of a four-day festival commemorating the 147-year-old Civil War battle. It also includes demonstrations of Civil War battlefield medical care and numerous other presentations.

According to information from the festival’s Web site, the Battle of Lewisburg took place May 23, 1862, more than one year before West Virginia became a state. The 1,400 Union troops’ presence was part of a larger effort to sever railroad communications between Virginia and Tennessee. Union forces were victorious after the hour-long battle that killed 80 Confederate and 13 Union soldiers.

James Bostick, a Lewisburg resident and one of the re-enactment commanders, said the “couple hundred” fellow re-enactors came from as far away as Tennessee, the Shenandoah Valley and Ohio. However, attendance was lower this year because of a competing event in Virginia.

Asbury resident Bill Hoover and Tim Walker of Annapolis, Md., normally portray Confederate troops, but said they were “galvanized” this year and firing the Union troops’ cannon. Galvanizing, they explained, is modeled after a practice in which Union troops would send captured Confederate soldiers to fight Native Americans.

Both said they participate in Civil War re-enactments to preserve history and honor ancestors. Hoover said members of his mother’s side of the family fought for the Confederacy, while those on his father’s side fought for the Union. This, they explained, is not rare for West Virginians. Its border position and Civil War-fueled statehood often had people in the same region, town — even family — fighting for opposite sides.

“Sometimes, you had fathers fighting sons,” Walker said. “Lewisburg was predominantly southern, but most of Marlinton was Union. You also had a lot of Union supporters here, too.”

Civil War re-enactors, the men explained, strive to be as historically accurate as possible. They believe it is their responsibility.

“We certainly don’t want this to happen again,” Walker said. “We don’t want to forget it. It’s our heritage. I think it’s our duty to do it.”

Not all re-enactors were male.

Ona resident Kelley Sorrell, a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, wore an 1860s-era dress with full petticoats and sun bonnet as her husband Mike portrayed a Confederate soldier. Five generations of her family, including children as young as 3 years old, are involved in Civil War re-enactments. Fellow re-enactors also came from as far away as South Carolina.

Sorrell said re-enactors strive to make sure history is accurately portrayed, which she believes is not done in most public schools. Slavery, she said, was not the only issue that caused the Civil War, and 95 percent of Confederate soldiers did not own slaves.

The large dresses, she said, are not very difficult to wear. Her sister Natalie Adkins, a UDC chapter president, agreed.

“I drive a car in my hoop skirt,” Adkins said.

Ryan Barnes, a student at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, planned to spend the afternoon studying neurology at his downtown apartment. Simulated cannon fire — that was probably as loud as the real weapon — made the Pittsburgh native and two friends come to the street to see what was happening.

Barnes, fellow WVSOM student and California native Kyle Keene and Kyle’s wife Caralyn said the re-enactment allowed them to learn more about the war up-close — more appealing than simply reading a few paragraphs in a textbook. What caught their curiosity, they said, seemed to be the small details often overlooked in traditional history lessons.

Kyle Keene pointed out formations and how the soldiers marched toward one another face-to-face and opened fire. Caralyn Keene noted the flutist and drummer who played as the troops marched to battle.

“They were so close to each other,” Kyle Keene said. “That wasn’t just something out of Hollywood.”

“You had music playing,” Caralyn Keene said. “Little things like that, you don’t learn about battles.”

— E-mail: apridemore@register-herald.com