Highlights Archives
Civil War Weekend to Focus on the Role of Cavalry
The din of cannon blasts and the crackle of small arms fire will ring throughout the wooded hills of Wade House in Greenbush as the historic site re-creates its annual Civil War Weekend on Saturday and Sunday, September 25-26. The event will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.
Each fall Wade House hosts thousands of Civil War reenactors who flock to the site to take part in the annual event, which has grown to become Wisconsin's largest Civil War encampment and battle reenactment. And each year the historic site shines a historical spotlight on a particular theme, year or battle scenario.
This year the focus will be the role of the cavalry in the Civil War, both North and South, in the autumn of 1863. That October, President Abraham Lincoln named Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant to head all Union operations in the western theater. As Grant assumed command, he concentrated his efforts on clearing the state of Tennessee of its Confederate forces. This year visitors can hear Grant himself outline his strategy for that campaign at the famed general's headquarters — the historic Robinson House near the Wade House stagecoach inn.
Throughout both days of the event, visitors can stroll the camps of the Union and Confederate armies to meet and mingle with the soldiers and talk about military life in the midst of the Civil War. Demonstrations of mustering in, drilling, small arms and artillery fire, and cavalry drills will take place as the two armies prepare for an all-out battle at 2 o'clock each afternoon. Camps close at 1:30 each afternoon as soldiers and visitors make preparations for the battle, based on actual events that took place during the Union campaign to break the Rebel siege of Chattanooga. The ensuing combat will include infantry, cavalry and artillery duels. Reenactors portraying Lincoln and Grant will hold a news conference following each day's battle, with visitors encouraged to pepper them with questions about the war effort as it stood in 1863.
Visit the Wade House Civil War Weekend page for complete details.
:: Posted September 20, 2004
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