Civil War reenactors to battle twice during event April 26-28
Plans are being finalized for the Civil War Encampment at the Genesee Community College Medina Campus Center. The weekend event will feature a Saturday morning parade, talks, concerts, activities for children, two battles, even a Victorian Cotillion Saturday evening. The event begins Friday, April 26 at 4 p.m. and closes at 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 28.
Reenactors, both Union and Confederate, will set up camp Friday evening from 4 to 8 p.m. Visitors are invited to view ongoing exhibits inside the Medina Campus Center at 11470 Maple Ridge Road, Medina. These include Civil War dioramas, artifacts from a New York Infantry unit, period medical tools, children’s games, and more. There will be ongoing demonstrations of blacksmithing, candle-making, period music, and mortuary arts.
On Saturday morning, camps open at 9 a.m. followed by a parade through downtown Medina from 10 to 11 a.m. “The parade gives the community a chance to really experience Civil War history in a unique way,” said GCC historian Derek Maxfield. “We’ve learned the route we’ve mapped for the parade, is the same route Medina Company D of the 28th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment used when they went off to fight in the Civil War in 1861. At that time, the women of Medina stopped the group to give Company D Captain Erwin Bowen a sword. Captain Bowen’s great-great granddaughter, Mary Zimmerman Robinson, is going to do the same thing during our parade. She’ll present a sword to Captain Bowen, as played by reenactor Simon Taylor. It should be a touching moment.”
The parade will be true to 19th Century history, featuring reenactors in uniform, horses, carriages and the Excelsior Fife and Drum Corps. It will end at the Railroad Museum, which was the depot the Civil War soldiers marched to when the left town.
Robinson is allowing her family artifacts to be displayed. Visitors can also check out booths by the Medina Sandstone and Historical Societies, Medina RR Museum, Orleans-Renaissance Group, Holland Land Office and Museum, Echoes Through Time Museum, Cobblestone Society and Rochester Museum of Military History.
In addition, a number of presentations are planned throughout the weekend, including:
•Eleanor Sterns portraying Clara Barton
•Tom Schobert portraying Robert E. Lee
•Derek Maxfield “Understanding the Emancipation Proclamation after 150 years”
•Tom Rivers “Why Mt. Albion Tower may be the finest Civil War Memorial”
•Dee Robinson “Women and the Civil War”
•Donna La Valle “Proper Dress for the Civil War Lady Reenactor”
Victorian fashion will be in full view Saturday evening during a Victorian Cotillion. “We’re hoping some members of the community will join us in period costume,” Maxfield said. The ball will be held in the Central Tent. Buffalo’s City Fiddle, which specializes in period balls, will provide the music. The ball runs from 7 to 10 p.m. During the ball, children’s activities will be offered inside the Campus Center.
Of course, no Civil War Encampment is complete without the recreation of battle. Reenactors will skirmish twice during the weekend, from 2 to 3 both Saturday and Sunday.
“The schedule is jam-packed,” said Maxfield. “There really is something for everybody. It should be a fantastic weekend, building on the success we experienced last year with the Encampment at the Lima Campus Center.”
For information, contact Maxfield at (585) 343-0055 extension 6288 or ddmaxfield@genesee.edu or Marketing Communications Associate Director Donna Rae Sutherland at (585) 343-0055 extension 6616, or via email: dsutherland@genesee.ed.
