VIRGINIA — Civil War Re-Enactment Steps Up Security After Threats
WASHINGTON — Organizers of this weekend’s historic re-enactment of the Battle of Cedar Creek near Winchester, Virginia, say they’ve received a written threat, but the show will go on.
The foundation declined to provide any further details about the threat.
The Saturday and Sunday event draws plenty of families and others who are interested in Civil War history and the 1864 battle — a Union victory which helped seal the fate of the Confederacy.
The event features re-enactors dressed in the uniforms of Federal and Confederate troops. There are tours of the re-enactors’ camps, music, period dancing and talks by Civil War historians.
“People see a little bit more than just books and maps. They get to see something in real life, people have always been drawn to that,” D’Arezzo said, “It’s just a great opportunity to learn and to see what the past might have looked like a little bit.”
The Union victory also helped ensure President Abraham Lincoln’s re-election a month a later.
The Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation relies on the annual re-enactment to raise funds, which are used to preserve historic land in the Shenandoah Valley.
—www.cbf.us