Appomattox 153rd Anniversary was a Success!

By Professor Earnest Veritas · Originally published June 2018 · p. 16

Despite snow (twice) and plummeting temperatures all day Saturday, the 153rd celebration at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park was a success with a total of 33 programs attended by nearly 1,100 park visitors for those programs. Overall attendance for the weekend of April 6–8 was 2,500. That is a most gratifying number when the inhospitable weather is taken into consideration. Generals Grant (Dr. Curt Fields) and Lee (Thomas Jessee) were joined by a substantial number of Federal and Confederate reenactors to reenact the generals’ surrender meeting on the afternoon of April 9, 1865. The weekend was opened with a ball given by the Appomattox 1865 Foundation at the Appomattox Inn and Suites. The event was well-attended by local folks, many reenactors, and both generals. The period music and dance (with instructions) set the tone for the historical weekend in store for the attendees. The Appomattox 1865 Foundation is the Friends-of-the-Park group and does much good work for and in the park to enhance the mission of interpretation and information. The ball was the proverbial tip of the iceberg of what they do throughout the year. The temperatures were cool for the weekend with snow twice, once with an accumulation that quickly melted with daylight. The overnight temperatures were in the 20’s at times, making camp life difficult for the reenactors in both camps. The park offered programs ranging from two stacking of arms re-creations to photo opportunities on the steps of the McLean house, artillery demonstrations, a play on Friday evening put on by Wolfbane Productions, a theater company in Appomattox and New York city, and the finale of General Lee leaving the surrender on Traveler as General Grant saluted him from the steps of the McLean house surrounded by his staff (portrayed by Lincoln’s Generals) The play was “The Hannah Reynolds Story” based on the true story of a slave woman who was mortally wounded by a Confederate shell on April 9, before the fighting stopped. She died a few days later, an emancipated woman having been wounded while a slave. Unknown to the audience, one of the Confederate artillery crews, on cue, fired a shot at the time in the performance that Hannah was wounded by a shell. It was high drama! The production was a threeway coalition of the park, Wolfbane Productions, and the American Civil War Museum (formerly the Museum of the Confederacy); which made it possible for the play to be performed without charge to the audience. An estimated 350 attended the outdoor play on Friday night despite the cold temperatures. The Saturday performance was canceled. Volunteers from the Appomattox 1865 Foundation spent more than 100 hours preparing 4,600 luminaries to be put around the park on Saturday night. Each light had the name of an Appomattox County slave freed by the war’s end. General Lee was resplendent on Traveler who was portrayed by Zeus. Zeus was brought to the park by Kopper Top Life Learning Center, in North Carolina.

Kopper Top is a rescue operation for horses and other animals and is a rehabilitation center for people who are disabled and/or injured. Zeus was actually reprising a role he played earlier as Traveler for General Lee in the Park’ Visitor Center film “With Malice Toward None.” The costs to bring Traveler, and a companion horse for General Grant, were paid by the Appomattox 1865 Foundation group. The Confederate States were well represented by such units as the 26th and 30th North Carolina; the 11th, 24th, and 44th Virginia Infantry Regiments. Some of the Federal forces attending were the 3rd US regulars, the 28th Massachusetts, and Lincoln’s Generals. Plans are underway for next year and the 154th anniversary; however, the 155th in 2019 will be a signal event in the park and much thought is already being given to special efforts and events to make that observation more attractive to potential visitors. Special mention should cite the prodigious efforts by the volunteers and workers who make up the Appomattox 1865 Foundation. They put in countless hours preparing for the 153rd and then staffed the park to assist the rangers and work the visitor center desk. They did, and do, an outstanding job. Professor Veritas wishes to extend special thanks to his friend NPS Ranger Ernie Price, of Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, who contributed substantially to this dispatch. “Simply put: tell the simple truth, simply.” Professor E. Veritas