Trail to Freedom Heritage Tour

Hasmel Turner and I at the presentation.  I was not in uniform
as I did not have time to get changed before heading
through traffic to the event. 

On 21 October I gave a talk about Civil War Railroads and the USMRR Aquia Line at the  Stafford Public Library. The audience was quite large and very engaged.  This library is in the very area that my model railroad depicts. Several of the audience members live along the route and were very familiar with it. I had a great time presenting the talk and getting their questions and feedback.

One the of attendees was Hashmel Turner. He was dressed in the uniform of a Sergeant 23rd USCT, 4th Division, IX Corps. Reverend Turner is the unit Chaplain.  He alerted me to the Trail to Freedom Heritage Tour that will take place on 1 November. Here is the link.   If I have time am going to attend.

As I have discussed in previous posts, such as this, this and this, 10,000 slaves used the Aquia Line to attain freedom. This unique reenactment will recreate some of this history from the African American perspective.

The 23rd USCT is a reenactment unit from Spotsylvania County.  It was one of the first USCT units to engage in direct combat, fought in the Overland Campaign and was at the Battle of the Crater. You can learn more about them here. It should be noted that at the time I am modeling, the USCT had not yet been formed. So I do not have them represented on my layout. However, we do have a unit of USCT on McCook's Landing as they were frequently assigned to guard missions as they were newly recruited to gain military experience, before being sent to direct combat. About 300,000 African Americans served in the USCT during the war.

USCT Artillery unit drilling on McCook's landing.