ROANOKE ISLAND—The 147th anniversary of the Civil War Battle of Roanoke Island will be recalled Saturday, Feb. 28-Sunday, March 1 through living history presentations featuring 60 Union and Confederate reenactors in colorful period dress. Each day, visitors to Roanoke Island Festival Park in Manteo will have a chance to see and experience artillery and musket demonstrations, soldier drills, living history encampments, crafts presentations, weapon displays, a recreation of a Civil War enlistment station, children’s activities and more.
The program will be held from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday and from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Sunday. Admission is included in the Park’s general admission ticket (adults-$8, children 6-17-$5, and kids under 5-free) and is good for both days of the event.
The ninth annual commemoration of this only Civil War battle fought on the Outer Banks, this year’s program will feature a first-ever presentation on battleground surgery. At 4 p.m. Saturday, Union reenactor Gary Riggs of Vanceboro will be “performing” a surgery. (Parental guidance is requested.)
The famous Underground Railroad will literally take center stage at the site’s film theatre Sunday, March 1 at 2 p.m. when “Heroes of the Underground Railroad” will be performed. Produced by Bright Star Children’s Theatre of Asheville, this show is currently in its fourth year of touring. Opening with a brief historical overview of slavery and the Underground Railroad in America, the play brings to life a variety of heroes from this dark chapter in our nation’s past. These figures include Harriet Tubman, Levi Coffin, Henry “Box” Brown (an enslaved man who shipped himself to freedom in a shipping crate), John Parker, Levi Coffin, Frederick Douglass and others. After the 45 minute production, audiences will be able to meet and greet the actors including the lead stars Whitney Walker of Buffalo, N.Y. and Warwick Johnson, a professional Chicago actor.
“Heroes of the Underground Railroad” has been seen by more than 500 audiences across 13 states, in various state and regional historical museums and hundreds of schools. Last February, it was shown at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati.
Fought Feb. 7-8, 1862, the Battle of Roanoke Island began when Union Brig. General Ambrose Burnside landed 7,500 men on the island’s southwestern side of the island in an amphibious operation launched from Ft. Monroe. The next morning, supported by gunboats, Federal troops assaulted Confederate forts on the narrow waist of the island, driving back and out-maneuvering Brig. Gen. Henry Wise’s outnumbered command. After losing less than a hundred men, Confederate field commander Col. H.M. Shaw, surrendered about 2,500 soldiers and 32 guns.
By winning this battle, Burnside secured an important outpost on the Atlantic Coast, tightening the Confederate blockade. Roanoke Island remained under Union occupation for the rest of the war.
Throughout the war, slaves from the island and North Carolina’s mainland fled to this occupied area, hoping to gain their freedom. By 1863, many of these former slaves, known as “contrabands,” were living on the fringe of the Union camp. They had built churches and opened what was most likely the first free school for blacks in North Carolina.
Fearing that this freedmen’s camp might lead to problems with sanitation and soldiers’ discipline, the Union Army established an official freedmen’s colony on the island. The camp also served as a refuge for the families of black soldiers who enlisted in the Union Army.
The mission of Roanoke Island Festival Park is to involve residents and visitors, of all ages, in a creative and stimulating exploration of Roanoke Island’s historical, cultural and natural resources. For more information about this event call (252) 475-1500 or visit us on-line at www.roanokeisland.com.
Administered by the Division of State Historic Sites, Roanoke Island Festival Park is part of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, a state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history, and culture. Join the Cultural Resources 2009 theme observance of “Treasure N.C. Culture.” For more information, visit www.ncculture.com.