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Opening Moonlight String Band plays overture Mayor: Let's gather round here... Welcome back everybody...come on down.. they's extra room down here for another chair ... let's see...where did we leave off...that's right ..well about 1831 it was proposed that we needed a railroad. And the towns and the people of Rutherford County agreed... It didn't come in until 1851, but... Let me just read here from this eye witness account. "When it finally was completed , a big celebration, a grand barbeque was put forth on July 4, 1851, with 500 feet of table laden with barbeque of meat, of breads and another of confections and other food, 3,000 people gathering...and near the hour of 12 noon, a strange noise is heard in the distance, as of a coming of a storm. And just then a Locomotive comes into sight, belching steam and smoke, filled to the brim with anxious visitors, all waving little flags, each car also had banners fluttering in the breeze, everywhere was jubilation. The cars arriving at the depot ground, the signal given, the trundling noise hushed." Music: Mad about TrainsAll out on the new railroad Hear that whistle whine All out on the new railroad On that N and C Line All out on the new railroad Down that Nashville track Take you away for a dollar boys Dollar will carry you back They are mad about trains Those boys are mad about trains Every boy that anyone knows Won't leave the track till they see how it goes They are mad about trains, simply mad about trains All out on the new railroad Fireman yellin' for coal All out on the new railroad Rumblin' as she rolls Board her down in the Boro boys Next stop at Laverne All the way to Nashville boys You can't help but learn They are mad about trains, Simply mad about trains Every boy that anyone knows Won't leave the track till they see how it goes They are mad about trains, simply mad about trains All out on the new railroad Belchin' smoke and steam All out on the new railroad Faster than a dream Carryin' people dressed so fine Carryin' cotton too You can bet that wagoners lad Don't have nothin' to do But they are mad about trains, Simply mad about trains Every boy that anyone knows Won't leave the track till they see how it goes They are mad about trains, simply mad about trains Every boy that anyone knows Won't leave the track till they see how it goes They are mad about trains, simply mad about trains Cast applauds Soldiers march in to the audience, take places on each side as drummers mark time Mayor: Much could be said about the period of the history of this county during the years of 1861 to 1865. Most of it was filled with heartbreak. Music: Civil War Song by Jeremy McConville and Jarrell Reeve, Candace Corrigan and Janne HenshawYouTube Video In 1861 the civil war had just begun On April 12, it is remembered, the South did fire and Fort Sumpter surrendered Hard hard hard so hard The war was fought in the rebel's back yard Hard hard when it was done So many died and the Yankees won At Bull Run Gettysburg and Baton Rouge Franklin Vicksburg and Antetiem too. Chicamauga Kennesaw and Shiloh Murfreesboro, Nashville and Tupelo The war was fought in the rebel's back yard Hard hard when it was done So many died and the Yankees won They fought their fathers and their brothers too In the terrible war of the grey and the blue At Appomattox in '65 the war did end and the Union survived The war was fought in the rebel's back yard Hard hard when it was done So many died and the Yankees won In 1861 the civil war had just begun Cast applauds Mayor: During the year of 1862, our town was "occupied, unoccupied, preoccupied and generally run over by this army, that army, or no army at all". There was much excitement of course, before the war came to our county... Music: Bonnie Blue FlagMary Kate in costume walks up, a young flirtatious spy on the arm of a Confederate veteran.
Mayor: Mary Kate, now tell the people here...were you really a spy?
Southern Soldier Song Old Yeller Dog Southern Soldier Song I'll place my knapsack on my back My rifle on my shoulder I'll march away to the firing line And kill that Yankee soldier And kill that Yankee soldier I'll march away to the firing line And kill that Yankee soldier I'll bid farewell to my wife and child Farewell to my aged mother And go and join in the bloody strife Till this cruel war is over Till this cruel war is over I'll go and join in the bloody strife Till this cruel war is over If I am shot on the battlefield And I should not recover Oh, who will protect my wife and child And care for my aged mother And care for my aged mother Oh, who will protect my wife and child And care for my aged mother and then The Old Yeller Dog Old Yeller Dog Trottin' through the meeting house Trottin' through the meeting house Trottin' through the meeting house Old Yeller Dog trottin' through the meeting house down in Alabam brave boys here, brave boys there, brave here down in Alabam old joe hooker won't you come out of the wilderness come out of the wilderness come out of the wilderness And fight the boys in grey Cast applauds Sgt. Bennet and Widow Lewis Note Rhea Cole and his wife Anne are noted reenactors who will do their recollections ...are expecting to fill 10 minutes time
Mrs. Lewis: at the end of her speech she is talking about the aftermath of the Morgan /Ready wedding.
Music: Virginia French begins
Mayor: Let me read something from our local paper the next day about that battle:
Virginia French The Ballad of L. Virginia French written by Candace Corrigan, from L. Virginia Diary Looking back on this evening all these many years To the bride I was ten years ago When my Darlin' and I were commencing our lives Down the river of life we did go And Darlin' and I are now ten times in love More devoted than ever before But I pray that this radiant love can survive In this terrible climate of war When Nashville surrendered I'll always remember Was the first day I thought we were lost I shouted to show Southern powder and steel Now I shudder to think of the cost The Yankee invaders are worse than the plague Eating all that's in sight till it's gone All we have left to live on is rumors and fear And the difficult times to go on I was waiting one day by the rock on the hillside My Darlin' was comin' up to With the tenderest tears in his eyes as he saw me Into his arms I flew Reluctant to leave me and more like a lover I noticed his gold wedding band His fingers so thin that the ring that I gave him Was slipping right off of his hand One night in our parlor came soldiers in gray And a beautiful banner was shown In the finest of silk it was taken in battle By ladies up North it was sewn The flag that I once loved not so long before and would cheer it in any parade And I started to weep at the thought of it's capture And the foolish mistake we have made, And the foolish mistake we have made Cast applauds Music changes: to Mary Wallace Mayor: The war was a nasty business, no respecter of class or wealth, as terrifying as any other war, but of course, worse, because it was here. At the same time that Mrs. French was writing, a young wife with two small children confides in her diary in the countryside of Michigan, longing for her husband who was to be wounded here in the 9th Michigan infantry. Janne sings Mary Wallace in 1862 CostumeMary Wallace written by Candace Corrigan from diary My name is Mary Wallace, Calhoun County is my home My husband Robert's off to war and I run the farm alone With the proud 9th of Michigan trained at Dowagiac He's nine long months away at war and how I wish him back Oh, but the long war rages on. My father thought it foolish, my mother thought so, too When I took the train to Dowagiac in the fall of '62 And Bruce, he took me to his tent, I sewed a pocket on his coat We stayed all night at the campground, so early we awoke He gave me thirty dollars, said he'd send another five And if he thought, he never said, he hoped he'd be back alive And the cars rolled out to Ohio in the morning about five Oh, but the long war rages on. Dear Diary, I write to you these minutes that I've found I gathered wood and done the chores, getting ready to turn the ground Turned Harrisons' pigs from the cornfield, fixed the fences all around And watched my young son run and play as the sun was going down Oh, but the long war rages on. It's my first spring, so many things I'd never done before I know I'm not the first young wife to see her man go off to war But the summer nights are comin' and I will lie alone The worrying it troubles me, I never would have known I'm tryin' hard, but Bruce my dear, how I wish you home Oh, but the long war rages on. The papers tell of battles and brave women who are there Like Major Pauline Cushman with her curly chestnut hair Or a Lansing girl, they say that she has run away from home Dressed up like a man to fight and marchin' right along But me, I'll stay and work the farm and fight my wars alone Oh, and the long war rages on The long war rages on. Cast applauds Mayor: And of course you know what happened. Over 25,000 men lost their lives in that three day battle, stubbornly clinging to the ground won that contained the bones of early settlers, who had fought in the Revolutionary war. Music : Gospel choir sing The crossing and Free at Last |
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