Medina Civil War Program Will Feature 2 Mock Battles

Tom Schobert as Robert E. Lee.

"Go home all you boys who fought with me and help build up the shattered fortunes of our old state" ~ Robert E. Lee

The Civil War Encampment at Genesee Community College's Medina campus from Friday, April 26, to Sunday, April 28, will feature two mock battles.

Civil war reenactors in full uniform and period guns will skirmish twice during the weekend, from 2 - 3 p.m., both Saturday and Sunday.

In addition to the battles, the weekend event, which will give adults and children alike a glimpse of a signal part of American history, will feature a Saturday morning parade, concerts, talks, activities for kids, and a Victorian Cotillion, a social dance with changing partners and dance figures, the forerunner of the square dance, on Saturday evening.

The Cotillion will offer a rare opportunity to see actual Victorian fashion on display.

Buffalo's City Fiddle, which specializes in period balls, will provide the music. The Cotillion runs from 7 -10 p.m.

There will be demonstrations of blacksmithing, candle-making, period music, and mortuary arts.

Reenactors, both Union and Confederate, will set up camp Friday evening from 4 - 8 p.m.

On Saturday morning, camps open at 9 a.m. followed by a parade through downtown Medina at 10 featuring reenactors in uniform, horses, carriages and the Excelsior Fife and Drum Corps. The parade route is the same route that the 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. At the parade, Captain Bowen's great-great granddaughter, Mary Zimmerman Robinson, will present a sword to reenactor Simon Taylor who plays Capt. Bowen.

"The parade gives the community a chance to really experience Civil War history in a unique way," said GCC historian Derek Maxfield.

The parade will end at the Railroad Museum, which was the depot the Civil War soldiers marched to when they left town.

Robinson's family artifacts will also be displayed. 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 will have booths.

Visitors are invited to view exhibits inside the Medina Campus Center at 11470 Maple Ridge Rd. These include Civil War dioramas, artifacts from a New York Infantry unit, period medical tools, children's games, and talks.

Eleanor Stearns will portray Clara Barton. Tom Schobert will portray General Robert E. Lee.

For more information, call (585) 343-0055 ext. 6288 or email ddmaxfield@genesee.edu.