85 degrees and humid here. Old Court House Civil War Museum benefit isn't till tonight so no pictures till tomorrow. I'll take this opportunity to talk about the reenactment of the Great Train Raid in the Valley that took place on May 29, 2011. Starting in July 1861, Stonewall Jackson moved 14 dismantled locomotives (and other equipment), overland from Martinsburg to Strasburg using forty-horse teams. For the reenactment, a mock up of an 1860's locomotive was pulled down Route 11/Valley Pike by horses. They started at Cedar Creek Battlefield and ended at Strasburg. My wife and I set up our chairs in front of the Heirloom Emporium on the corner of East King and Massanutten St. /Route 11 around 10 a.m. The spot coincided with the background of Mort Kunstler's "Heavy Traffic on the Valley Pike". It was sunny and already getting hot. The scheduled arrival of the procession was estimated at around 2p.m.As it got closer to the appointed hour the sidewalk filled with more onlookers and reenactors. Since horses don't carry pocket watches they arrived a bit early. The horses had outpaced the reenactors marching behind them and it was all quite a sight. All parties involved in putting on this unique and one of kind event deserve a round of applause. Some spectators tried to time their arrival for the last minute and missed it. Horses aren't cars and if they'd read anything about stage coaches in history they would have realized time tables based on horses were a rule of thumb at best. One of the volunteers told me a vet traveled the route with the horses and monitored them, taking frequent breaks for watering and cooling down. When they arrived, the horses looked in much better shape than a lot of the bipedal participants.
General Mahone turned out to see the show.
C.S. Cavalry
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