Published: April 18, 2009 07:16 pm      

Fifth annual Jeffersonville Skirmish delivers a bang

TAZEWELL, Va. — The eyes of hundreds of people turned to General Robert E. Lee (Al Stone) as he shared some thoughts about the battle at hand just moments before a few mounted reenactors in Union Army uniforms clashed with an equal number of mounted reenactors dressed in Confederate Army uniforms.

The blue and gray clad reenactors extended their nonmetallic swords at each other, and while the “thud” of contact was decidedly different from the “clang” of real cavalry sabers, the horses whirled and wheeled poetically as they traversed the hayfield near the Pisgah United Methodist Church, and the fifth Annual Skirmish at Jeffersonville was underway. There will be another battle reenactment today at 2 p.m., in the field across from Historic Crab Orchard Museum & Pioneer Park on U.S. Route 19/460 near Tazewell.

Cannons roared and rifles snapped with loud reports as a group of about 250 military and civilian reenactors participated in the reenactment, according to Bob McGraw, military coordinator of the event and captain of Chapman’s Battery. McGraw commands so much respect on the field, that when the cannon and musket fire started Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m., even General Lee asked if he could assist him with keeping the audience away from edging too close to the battle while General Ulysses S. Grant (Barry Meadows) sat in front of his tent, smoking a cigar.

“People started rolling in here this morning, and they have been coming in ever since,” McGraw, 54, said. “It appears as though people are enjoying themselves.” McGraw has been a reenactor for the past 26 or 27 years. He has a passion for understanding the history of the era and freely shares all he has learned with those who care to listen.

About 19 years ago, Steve Musser, 39, then of Hillsville, Va., but now, a resident of Huntington, was preparing to participate as a reenactor in the 125th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, but an injury he sustained in a fall from a Carroll County roof sidelined from toting a rifle and taking part in the battle reenactment. Instead, he traveled to the event and found a personal fascination with 19th Century military field surgeons.

Musser became interested in the Civil War when he discovered the letters his great-grandfather wrote home during the war, and has been a reenactor for the past 23 years — starting when he was 17. Although he is a technical support person for a satellite radio station now, he was a paramedic in Carroll County, and started researching and learning the reality of how military field surgeons worked during the American Civil War.

“I’m constantly doing research,” he said. “I have read a lot of first-person accounts of the procedures field surgeons used in 19th Century field hospitals. I always try to teach the facts versus the myths of what people believe took place in field hospitals. Yesterday, explaining the procedures to all the school children who were here, was what makes all the research worthwhile for me.”

An articulate 7-year-old, Lakin Odum, and his mother, Letisha Odum were walking through the tents, absorbing all the realism of a moment before the start of the battle.

“This is really neat because it has some stuff we would never have known like the market, if this wasn’t here,” Lakin Odum said. Still, he confessed that he was excited to watch the battle as well.

“It’s very informative,” Letisha Odum said.

Natalie Adkins, 47, of Barboursville, was rushing to the front to take up her position as part of McGraw’s outfit, Chapman’s Battery. She was one of several female reenactors in military uniforms preparing to enter the battle.

“My sons started participating as reenactors, then my brothers and daughter-in-law got into it,” Adkins said. “Everybody in my entire family is involved in it now. It’s a whole family affair,” she said, before politely heading back to her duty station. Her great-great-grandfather served with the Confederate Army.

First Sgt. Jonathan Novak, is in Mahone’s Sharpshooters, a Confederate reenactors’ company, but he “galvanized” or wore a Yankee uniform for the battle. Novak, 23, of Hyde Park, N.Y., serves in the Merchant Marine as a profession, and has returned to Tazewell County, Va., for the Jeffersonville Skirmish every year that it has been around.

“We like to camp here,” he said.

“It’s pretty intense, just wearing the wool uniforms and carrying around the black powder,” Ryan McKenna, 24, of Marshall, Va., said. McKenna also serves in Mahone’s Sharpshooters.

“The weather is beautiful, and when its nice, the horses will bring out the crowds,” Charlotte Whitted said. “In addition to our friends from New York, we also have reenactors from as far away as South Carolina with us this year. With fuel prices the way they are, I think that says a lot about the commitment the volunteers have made to make this event a success.”

Ellis Cole, in costume with a cigar in hand, and Jerry Vencill, also in character, narrated the events taking place on the battlefield, but the roar of the cannons and the crack of rifle fire drew the attention of everyone in attendance to the events as they unfolded on the field. The reenactors will do it all again today at 2 p.m., and by Monday, hay will resume growing on the field as it makes its journey to a first-cutting.

– Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com