March 17, 2001 Reenactment
"After Action Report"
Raid Reenactment:
The men of the 1st Vermont cavalry are lounging around Herndon station, chatting with the Unionist faction among the local population, and saying their farewells as they prepare to be relieved from outpost duty and return to their main camp at Dranesville. Major William Wells (Daryl Miles) and his military escort (Wayne Gregory) ride up past the depot and on to the house of local Union sympathizer Nat Hanna and his wife Kitty Kitchen Hanna (Kathryn Coombs) who has prepared lunch for them, with the assistance of a younger relative (Jessica Wise) and a neighbor's cook, a free black woman of pro-Union sympathies (Anita Henderson)
A group of horsemen are seen in the distance -- presumed to be the relief column. After all, some of them are wearing Federal greatcoats. Then suddenly one horseman breaks out of the group and charges toward the station, firing his pistol.
The Unionist townspeople recognize Mosby. "The Southrons!" they exclaim, running for cover, while secessionist townsfolk (Andrea Kent, Marni Dudley, James Fletcher) look on with obvious pleasure at the Yankees' plight.
"Surrender or die!" shouts John Singleton Mosby (Jeff Smith), and wheels his horse around to face his men who rush up and join the charge. Herndon resident John Underwood (Terry Treat) who orchestrated the raid with Mosby, leads the charge, and the Rangers swoop down on the Vermonters.
Some of the Yankees look on, stunned. Others answer his challenge with gunfire and the Rangers open fire in return. Some of the Federal run to take cover in a nearby sawmill and others run into the station. Sgt. Jonathan Blin Aitchison of Co. A, (C.R. Dudley) is wounded in the left buttock and falls.
Mosby and Jimmy the Irishman (Jimmy Cirrito) and John deButts go to the sawmill where the Vermonters are hiding and threaten to burn it down. They surrender. Other Rangers go into the station and get the men hiding there. Then they notice horses in front of the Hanna house -- they go in and capture Major Wells and his aide -- with the officers having taken cover in a cubbyhole off the attic. Ranger "Big Yankee" Ames (Pat Sullivan) fires into the cubbyhole, startling Maj. Wells who misses his footing and falls through the ceiling plaster. He emerges from the house, covered in white dust.
The prisoners are rounded up, and the Federal officers allowed to ride their own horses. Major Wells tries to delay mounting, in hopes that the relief column will show up in the nick of time. Mosby's men ride off with their prisoners. The enlisted men are paroled the next day at Upperville and allowed to walk to Harpers' Fery to rejoin the army. The officers are escorted to Gordonsville and thence to Richmond where they are soon exchanged. And John Mosby and his men have embarassed the Union army yet again, little more than a week after their fabled raid on Fairfax Courthouse and capture of General Stoughton.
Read the reports on the day's events:
The Raid Reenactment
Living Histories, Displays and Talks
Ranger Descendants in Attendance
Visit MosbysRangers.comFor information on the event, contact:
Richard Downer: mosbysraid@HRIAssociates.com
(general information, logistics, civic involvement)
Kathryn Coombs: MosbyWeb@aol.com
(reenactors, living history program, website)