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Capt. Gary Sunderland, commanding officer of the 13th Virginia, Company I re-enactors, wasn't exactly lost yesterday afternoon. He was just turned around.
He and two of his soldiers meant to walk toward the long trench at Spotsylvania County's Belvedere Plantation, where the Battle of Spotsylvania 140th Anniversary Re-enactment begins today. But they were on a road in the opposite direction, sweating in wool uniforms and soaring May temperatures.
Then a helpful guy in an official-looking white pickup truck offered them a lift. They clambered in, on the double.
Of course, it was an anachronism--three Rebels in heavy gray pants and coats, toting maybe 30 pounds each of canteens and tin cups and rifles, riding in the bed of a shiny white pickup truck.
On the other hand, what would real Confederates have done 140 years ago, if offered even five minutes' respite from hardship? They would have accepted, unless they were stupid or stubborn.
Sunderland, 37, of Altoona, Pa., is neither. Besides, he had his men to think of--company 1st Sgt. Bob Slifer, 62, of Butler, Pa., and Cpl. Donald Patrick Brogan, 70, of Verona in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.
They were just as happy to ride to the quarter-mile-long trench in a Belvedere cornfield where military demonstrations and re-enactments will be held today through Sunday.
When they got there, they were impressed. The trench was realistic, they said. They could imagine firing over its log-shored sides as blue-coated Yankees charged them at the Mule Shoe.
Realism within reason is the goal of the weekend's event, marking the anniversary of the fierce fighting at Spotsylvania Court House. The aim is to re-create the look, sound and feel of 1864 Spotsylvania, without the suffering.
Today is education day, when school groups and the public will see demonstrations by horse-drawn artillery, infantry, cavalry and engineers. Programs also will focus on Spotsylvania civilians and Civil War music. Today's events last from 10 a.m. to dusk.
Tomorrow, gates again open at 10 a.m. The schedule includes an infantry demonstration at noon, a cavalry demonstration at 2:30 p.m. and an artillery demonstration at 5 p.m.
From 5 to 7:30 p.m. tomorrow, re-enactors will stage a re-creation of Upton's Assault. The actual attack took place at dusk May 10, 1864, as Union Col. Emory Upton led a charge at Rebel entrenchments.
Sunday's events begin at dawn, as re-enactors attack and defend the trench in a tribute to the fighting at the Mule Shoe. The actual battle happened May 12, 1864, as about 20,000 Union troops attacked the entrenched Confederates. The part of that battleground where the fighting was most horrible became known as the Bloody Angle.
Sunderland said the real 13th Virginia, Company I, was right in the thick of it. His soldiers will be, too. Tomorrow night, they'll join the hardest-core re-enactors sleeping in the trench.
But yesterday afternoon, they planned to finish setting up a more civilized (but very 19th-century) camp--canvas A-frame tents and a fire pit for cooking, right beside a Belvedere strawberry field.
Sunderland, Slifer and Brogan said they don't consider it an insult to call their passion for re-enacting a hobby.
They say a re-enactment is a tribute to the men who fought and the cause they fought for--but it's not war.
Slifer, a Vietnam War veteran, knows that better than most. But, he said, re-enactments such as this one are important in keeping history alive. They're a reminder of how bitterly beliefs can divide a nation.
The men who fought the Civil War, he said, were alike.
"They had the same god, the same language and the same country," Slifer said. "But they had different ideas."
To reach LAURA MOYER: 540/374-5417 lmoyer@freelancestar.com