Battle begins

July 19-20, 2008

The three-day Battle of Gettysburg not only marked the turning point of the Civil War, but resulted in the greatest casualty count (between 46,000 and 51,000 Americans) in the entire war.

This year’s 26th Civil War Reenactment at Genesee Country Village & Museum takes on the mantle of this momentous Civil War encounter.

Events kick off each day with a military drill and dress parade by Union and Confederate troops respectively. Visitors are invited to walk among authentic camps for both troops, where civilians and re-enactors remain in character.

At 2 p.m. each day troops advance through the historic village to the Great Meadow for the dramatic battle.

Soldiers at rest

Other highlights include the following:

• A narrated 19th-century fashion show featuring clothing of men, women and children of the Civil War period.
• Numerous real-life scenarios including the a ladies’ garden party and mail call.
• Other living history presentations, including the sanitary commission, the undertaker and a post-battle medical scenario.
• Authentic Sunday church services for Union and Confederate troops including period hymns and a military chaplain.

Excelsior Coronet Band

• A concert by The Excelsior Cornet Band, an authentic Civil War brass band of professional musicians who play original brass band instruments of the 1860s. There will also be music by the Flint Hill Folk.

The weekend’s activities are coordinated by the 140th New York Volunteer Infantry and the 22nd Virginia Battalion. The 140th New York, organized in 1862, was called the “Monroe County Regiment.”