Heres something from out west....
Civil War re-enactors playing the role of Union soldiers surrender to the Confederates on Abeyta Avenue, in front of what is now the Stage Door Grill, during a Battles for Socorro re-enactment. The annual event will begin Friday.
by: John Larson
For The Mountain Mail
SOCORRO – The Civil War comes alive this weekend as the Texas Rebs take on the New Mexico Volunteers in representational battles presented by area re-enactors.
Three separate battles highlight the weekend – two at Escondida bridge and one on the streets of Socorro.
As a prelude to the hostilities, a political debate will take place on the Plaza at 6 p.m. Friday.
One of the weekend’s organizers, Charles Mandeville, said the public is invited to attend the heated debate.
“The federals’ Col. Canby will be debating the Confederates’ Gen. Sibley in the gazebo on the state’s right to secede,” Mandeville said. “Although this never happened in real life, we plan on having it accurate in their positions. Don Shoemaker will portray Canby and John Smith, Sibley.”
He said flags, pennants, a band and an artillery piece will round out the authenticity of the times. “Deborah Dean (city tourism director) has been instrumental in getting this together,” Mandeville said.
“There may be some sort of confrontation involving the cannon and the company of Union soldiers,” he said.
Saturday morning after reveille, the public is welcome to stroll through the living-history camps in the Escondida bridge area beginning at 8 a.m.
“There are five or six different scenarios we know from the archival record, and we try to follow them very closely,” Mandeville said. “The Battle of Valverde itself will take at least an hour. The Confederates will demand the surrender of the fort and Canby says, ‘if you want the fort, come and take it.’”
He said upward of 200 re-enactors will participate.
“The running battle will start at Spring Street and go down to the Plaza,” Mandeville said. “Texas Confederates move against a rear guard of the Second Regiment, New Mexico Militia, to capture the town and liberate it from the Union. Every time, a Texan cannon fires and airburst goes off in the Plaza tree canopy.”
Local re-enactor Eddie Fratello said the battle ends at Socorro City Hall, when the Confederate flag will temporarily replace the Stars and Stripes.
“After the end of the battle, the federals will surrender,” Fratello said. “In real life, though, there was no real battle in Socorro. Just two cannon rounds and then the Yankees gave up.”
Read the entire arcitle here:
http://www.mymountainmail.com/stories/socbattlesforsocorro20090226.php
I found the article by way of:
http://civilwarinteractive.com/Newswire/?p=1198
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Link please?
Hi Mike,
Can you include a link to the original story?
There isnt one? whoa that
There isnt one? whoa that gonna be some kind of technology sort of thing.....I will have to work on the link to CWI aka civil war interactive.....and do whatever it is I have to do.....
Mike
Copyright law?
I like to be sure to give credit where credit is due. A link back to the original web page ensures that the source is clear. We are historians after all and the primary source is always better than a copy or someone's interpretation.
I may go and edit down your post as it does not fall within fair use. You copied the entire article, which certainly makes it better for our readers here but clearly violates the original publishers copyright.
I wrestle with this. And is the reason I often just use a couple of paragraphs and then a link to the original.
Thanks for sharing the article though. I appreciate everyone pointing out good news and interesting news!