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Commemoration of the Surrender & Freedom Day
April 13 @ 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
The American Civil War Museum is hosting a series of activities and programs as part of the regional celebration of the Commemoration of the Surrender & Freedom. Visitors can look forward to a fun-filled day with cannon firings, interactive sessions with living historians, demonstrations by the Pallas Athena Ladies Aid Society, and informative sessions about the lives of soldiers, civilians on the homefront, and enslaved and free African Americans during the Civil War. We hope you will join us on April 13th at ACWM – Appomattox!
Registration is for capacity purposes.
Saturday, April 13, 2024
Ongoing Activities Throughout the Day
Hearth and Home
Experience rural life in 19th century Virginia as the Pallas Athena Ladies Aid Society demonstrates hearth cooking, textile production, and making-do with wartime substitutions.
Civil War Medicine
Delve into the gritty world of a Civil War surgeon as our education staff demonstrate field surgery.
Feeding an Army: Civil War Commissary
Learn about Civil War cookery with The Proud Hound Commissary! Proprietor John Saporito will demonstrate cooking out of an authentic 19th-century wagon.
Event Schedule
Blast from the Past: A Civil War Cannon Firing Demonstration
10:30 AM – 11:00 AM
Discover the importance of artillery during the American Civil War. Learn about ammunition and witness a drill that concludes with a bang!
The African American Experience with the 5th U.S.C.T. Company G Presenters
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
In an hour-long performance, experience the trials, tribulations, and victories of the African American experience from 1804-1870. Ona Lewis brings to life Sojourner Truth’s journey, and Bertram Floyd and Frederick Smith depict the lives of African American men and US Colored Troops through the use of story, poetry, and song.
Reenactor Skirmish – 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
Witness a skirmish between the 24th Virginia and the 99th New York Infantry.
Reconsidering Longstreet: Gettysburg, Appomattox, New Orleans
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
General James Longstreet is remembered by many as a prominent Confederate general during the American Civil War. He was also reviled by generations of white Southerners as an apostate—both for criticizing the generalship of Robert E. Lee and for becoming Republican during Reconstruction. Join us as Dr. Elizabeth Varon explores Longstreet’s influential postwar political career and connects it to the perennial debates over his wartime record.
This event is included with museum admission
The African American Experience with the 5th U.S.C.T. Company G Presenters
3:30 PM – 4:30 PM
In an hour-long performance, experience the trials, tribulations, and victories of the African American experience from 1804-1870. Ona Lewis brings to life Sojourner Truth’s journey, and Bertram Floyd and Frederick Smith depict the lives of African American men and US Colored Troops through the use of story, poetry, and song.
Blast from the Past: A Civil War Cannon Firing Demonstration
4:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Discover the importance of artillery during the American Civil War. Learn about ammunition and witness a drill that concludes with a bang!