News & Press Releases

Union Troops Offer Civil War Program at Mt. Zion Church Historic Site near Aldie

Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority continues its commemoration of the 150^th anniversary of the Civil War on Saturday and Sunday, September 24^th and 25^th, when it hosts re-enactors portraying Union troops in the days following the cavalry engagements in Aldie, Middleburg and Upperville in June of 1863.  The sounds of gunfire were barely fading when wounded Union and Confederate soldiers were taken to Mt. Zion Church following the bloody fighting just west of the church site – fighting that turned out to be the prelude to the famous battle at Gettysburg just days later.  The church was used as a field hospital both for soldiers wounded in battle, and for those felled by heatstroke, typhoid fever, or other illnesses.  

Historical Medicine Re-enactor Nick Kalenich and his comrades of the 28^th Virginia Regiment will don Union uniforms for the weekend and recreate life in camp as well as medical practices of the Civil War time period.  Musket firing is scheduled for 10 a.m., 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, with an additional 4:00 firing on Saturday.  The public is invited to visit their camp, step inside the church-turned-hospital for demonstrations of medical procedures of the time, and stroll through the adjacent cemetery where Civil War veterans are buried. Hours for this special program are 9:00 – 5 p.m. on Saturday the 24^th, and 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Sunday the 25^th. 

As a part of the two-day Civil War encampment at Mt. Zion Historic Park on September 24^th & 25^th, the public is invited to a church service held at Mt. Zion.  The Reverend John Sheehan, rector of the Church of Our Redeemer in Aldie, will present a Civil War-era service beginning at 12:30 p.m.  Union troops will be in the congregation, and hope the surrounding community will join them in worship, followed by tours of their camp and historical interpretation and demonstrations.

For more information, contact Tracy J. Gillespie, Historic Site Supervisor, at 703-327-9777 or e-mail her at tgillespie@nvrpa.org.