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Lawrence Sangi (far right) leads members of Company E, a re-enacting group from New Jersey, in infantry rifle tactics during a demonstration
Kris White of the National Park Service talks about the Battle
James Peary of Baltimore was one of many re-enactors taking part in demonstrations |
The dozen or so Union soldiers sweated in their heavy uniforms as they packed canvas tents and supply crates, preparing for a return trip to their native New Jersey.
Unlike the Union soldiers they were representing, these guys stowed their gear in a full-size van for the trip and cooled off with a Coke from a decidedly post-1862 cooler.
The New Jersey re-enactors had spent the weekend at Chatham Manor as part of the park's three-day living history program. They've taken a personal interest in the area's Civil War history since New Jersey soldiers died in the battles here.
It's one thing to read about history in books, said Lawrence Sangi, a member of the New Jersey regiment.
"This is three-dimensional history," he said. "This is the best, in the place where it happened."
Park visitors this weekend could touch the rough fabric of Sangi's uniform, watch his men handle their rifles, cover their ears while two different cannons were shot off.
"This would be called living history, as opposed to a re-enactment," Sangi said.
The manor served as a Union headquarters and hospital in 1862 when the Army of the Potomac seized Fredericksburg and launched attacks on Confederate troops, who held a bluff above town. The Union side lost 12,600 soldiers, many of whom were treated at Chatham as field surgeons operated on hundreds of them inside the house.
Poet Walt Whitman came, looking for an injured brother, and later described a heap of amputated limbs piled by a tree outside the house.
Now part of the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, the manor has been hosting an annual living history weekend every summer since 2005.
This year's events featured numerous talks about the battle, tours, and a concert Saturday night by a 20-member brass ensemble performing music popular in the 19th century.
There were also artillery demonstrations, with the park's 12-pounder Napo-leon cannon and a Parrot gun from Pennsylvania lined up along a field that in 1862 was part of the Union artillery line along Stafford Heights.
Nearby, Reston resident Noah Briggs, portraying a regimental assistant surgeon, spoke about medical practices of the Civil War era.
Briggs had a table lined with bottles of medicine, similar to what a Civil War doctor would have carried, all labeled with the med-icines' Latin names.
Briggs said some of the medicines in his bottles are real; others are his best effort at recreating the look and smell of the medicine, like laudanum, smelling of alcohol and licorice.
He also had a 19th century medical kit, full of scalpels and other implements, including a small amputation saw.
Stacy Humphreys, a park ranger with the military park, said event organizers each year try to use the living history weekend to teach people about different aspects of the Civil War in the area. They've had a period photographer and a telegraph operator in previous years, for example.
"We just try to focus on different aspects of the battle things you typically don't see at these types of events," she said.
She said the weekend was well-attended, particularly Saturday night's concert, and it's likely the event will be held again next year.
Chelyen Davis: 804/782-9362
Email: cdavis@freelancestar.com
