Post by SFX on Jun 29, 2010 0:42:46 GMT -4
Confederate troops plan July assault on
Union soldiers defending Fort Knox
Union soldiers defending Fort Knox
BANGOR DAILY NEWS
By David M. Fitzpatrick
SPECIAL SECTIONS WRITER
Although built for the Civil War, nothing actually happened at Fort Knox. But what if something had?
From July 23-25, during the weekend of the Bucksport Bay Festival, a group of 200 Civil War reenactors will stage a massive historical production at Fort Knox to explore “what if” scenarios. Members of the 20th Maine Company B and the 15th Alabama Company G will converge at Fort Knox to stage a show that would make Hollywood proud.
It’s called the Battle at Fort Knox, and the event is free, save for the usual park entrance fee. Only instead of an empty fort, visitors will be immersed in Civil War America.
“When you arrive here at the fort, you’re going to be in 1864,” said ‘Miss Rose,’ the organizer of the Battle. Miss Rose’s persona is that of a widow, a seamstress, and a baker, and she plays the part to the hilt, dressing in period clothing that she makes — right down to the corset.
The fort’s Battery A will feature tented Confederates, with a command post in the magazine area. Battery C will feature the 15th Alabama.“You’re going to get a feel for what it was like to be out in the trenches,” Miss Rose said.
Union troops from the 20th Maine will be garrisoned in the fort and tented outside, doing artillery demonstrations. “And they’re also going to help defend the fort if, God forbid, anything should happen — that somebody should try to besiege the fort,” Miss Rose said.
Confederate prisoners in the fort might well try to escape, and there may an execution. And the Union schooner John Paul Jones will sail to Bucksport, reportedly to defend the fort from a Confederate schooner that may also appear. A naval battle may start the whole weekend; expect rebel troops to come ashore to attempt to take the fort.
Outside the fort will be the fictional town of Unity, where reenactors will portray civilians in a typical period town, showing what it was like to be at home during the war. It will feature a postmistress, a seamstress, and even sutlers, merchants who set up shop near armies to sell soldiers provisions.
Some of the town ladies will assemble care packages for present-day sailors, but using period items such as Necco Wafers, wool socks and mittens, Kirk’s soaps, and candles.
There will be plenty for people to see, and even more to learn from these dedicated reenactors.
Ultimately, this is all in preparation for the five-year commemoration of the Civil War’s sesquicentennial, which begins next year.
“We prefer ‘commemorations’ than ‘celebrations’ because we don’t really want to celebrate the Civil War,” Miss Rose said. “But we do want to commemorate, we want to honor, those who were there — who gave us the freedoms we have today.”