Appomattox Events

On Saturday, March 15, 2014, Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, The Department of History, Political Science, & Philosophy, and the Center for Southside Virginia History at Longwood University, and Eastern National Bookstore will sponsor their Annual FREE Civil War Seminar at Jarman Auditorium on the Longwood University campus in Farmville, Virginia. This is the fifteenth year for the seminar and it has grown from an event that attracted perhaps 100 participants to now drawing an estimated 300 participants, and the event is now held in the newly renovated 800 seat Jarman Auditorium, so there is plenty of room. No registration is required and the event is free. The seminar features nationally recognized Civil War authorities. In past years, in addition to numerous National Park Service speakers, Brian Pohanka, James “Bud” Robertson, William C. Davis, Charles Braceland Flood, to name a few, have enthralled the audiences with their programs. The topic theme changes each year and this year it is 1864. The event begins at 9:00 a.m. and Eric Wittenberg will cover Cavalry Operations in the Overland Campaign; at 10:15 Gordon Rhea will speak on Grant and Lee in the Overland Campaign; at 11:15 Stephen Engel will revisit The New Market Campaign. After a lunch break, at 1:45 p.m. Kevin Levin Assess the Battle of the Crater from the Confederate perspective and Brian Wills will conclude the seminar with his program, Thomas dashes Hood’s Hopes at Nashville. A map of the Longwood campus is available at www.longwood.edu and a link with a complete schedule can be found at http://www.nps.gov/apco/planyourvisit/events.htm
From April 7 through April 12, 2014, Appomattox Court House National Historical Park will observe the 149th anniversary of the surrender with special programs and demonstrations. The talks and demonstrations given by Park Rangers and Volunteers changes each day and typically begin at 10:20 a.m. with a different talk each hour until 3:20 p.m. Some of the programs on the schedule include: In at the Death: Sheridan’s March 1865 Central Virginia Campaign; The Sweeney’s are indeed a wonder; Appomattox a Village Tour; Curator’s Museum Tour with Joe Williams; The Battles of Appomattox Station and Appomattox Court House; Leadership and the Surrender Meeting; One True American: Ely Parker, Grant’s Seneca Indian; Going Home: The Confederate Soldier Experience; The Surrender and Commissioners Meeting; The Surrenders and Events After; The Confederate Cemetery; The Surrenders and Events After Appomattox; and Joshua Chamberlain and the Stacking of Arms. On Thursday April 10 and Friday April 11 printing press demonstrations and discussions on the parole passes given to the Confederate soldiers will take place at the Clover Hill Tavern from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The normal Park admission rates ($3 per person or $5 per car) apply for these events. A detailed schedule for these events is posted at http://www.nps.gov/apco/planyourvisit/events.htm and use the “search by date” feature.
April 19 and 20, 2014, is the Fee Free Living history Encampment Weekend at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. During this weekend you can learn about how soldiers lived, the shelters they used (when they had them), their food, their weapons, how they marched, drilled, and kept prepared to meet the demands of a Civil War soldier. There will be tactical demonstrations, firing demonstrations, and stacking of arms ceremonies, among other programs.
Events for the 150th Anniversary of Lee’s Surrender are currently being planned. Programs will include Ranger led “real time tours”, special programs, guest speakers, living historian scenarios, as well as firing and camp demonstrations by re-enactors. The sesquicentennial events will be held at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park from April 8 through April 12, 2015, with the keynote events taking place on Thursday, April 9, 2015.