Civil War re-enactors from several states will bring a little-known slice of very local history to life at Quiet Valley Living Historical Farm on Saturday and Sunday, the same weekend the farm is hosting a heritage crafts festival.
Local people often regard the Civil War as something that happened no closer than Gettysburg. But in the fall of 1864, against the backdrop of a critical national election, a Union military unit had to be sent to Monroe County to flush out deserters and draft resisters being sheltered by friends and family.
There was violence: A Union private was killed in an ambush, along with a deserter. Shots were fired into homes. Outside “Copperhead” agitators came into the county to urge violence against the soldiers and stir up “end the war” sentiment.
The event is being hosted by the farm and by Company G of the 142nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry re-enactment group.
“It’s not something found in history textbooks, although some local historians know about it,” said Bill Watson, spokesman for the 142nd. “But our research, with a big boost from the Monroe County Historical Association, has turned up newspaper accounts and other sources recounting some of the events, including a surprising amount of violence.
“When the details started to emerge, we felt it was something local residents deserved to know about.”
Visitors to the farm this weekend will see a military encampment, patrols looking for information and contraband, and deserters and draft resisters skulking in the brush. The event will feature period civilians, some supporting the war effort and some opposing it, and both factions making their feelings known.
The soldiers faced a tough assignment: Arrest deserters, round up draft resisters and send them to report for induction, but don’t take any action that would make the county any more anti-war and anti-Abraham Lincoln on the eve of a presidential election. Did they succeed? Visit and find out.
“We’re pleased to be able to do this the weekend of the heritage craft festival,” Watson said. “People correctly think of re-enactors and living historians as folks who will cheerfully wear your ears out with historical information, but we ourselves are always glad to learn new things. heritage crafts — fabric dyeing, weaving, tatting, rope making, food preservation, blacksmithing — are all things the soldiers and civilians we depict would have known about. So it’s a learning experience for us.”
Events will be held rain or shine from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Admission is $15 for adults, $8 for children from 3 to 12.
For more information, visit https://quietvalley.org/heritage-craft-day.
