Online Extra | Links | En Español

White smoke crept over a green field. The smoke teased people's eyes and noses. And it seeped into their clothes.

Standing in the smoke were some 5,000 reenactors. Those are people who act out past events. They came to western Virginia to act out the Battle of Cedar Creek. It was a turning point of the Civil War. That struggle tore America apart during the 1860s.

The reenactors worked hard to get every detail right. Indeed, Cedar Creek looked as if time had stopped long ago. Tents stood in neat lines. Cooking pots simmered over campfires. Soldiers in blue and gray marched to the sound of drums.

It may be hard to imagine that Americans went to war against one another. But they did. How could this happen?

The answer lay in differences between the states. Northern states were fairly industrial. Many people worked in factories or shops.

The South was mainly agricultural. Most people worked on farms. They grew cotton, rice, sugarcane, tobacco, and other crops.

Raising those crops was hard work. To do it, some Southerners used African-American slaves. A slave is a person legally owned by another person. By 1860, nearly four million slaves worked in the United States.

Throughout the 1800s, Americans argued bitterly about slavery. Should they allow it in new states as the country grew? Could slavery continue in the South? Northerners and Southerners disagreed sharply about what to do. Somehow, though, Americans managed to stick together—barely.

The country broke apart in 1860. Abraham Lincoln was elected President. He opposed the spread of slavery. Many Southern leaders feared he would destroy their way of life.

South Carolina chose to secede from the United States in December 1860. Other states soon followed. They formed the Confederate States of America. Its people and soldiers were known as Confederates.

President Lincoln refused to let the Union, or country, split up. He said he would even use force to keep the South from seceding. In response, Confederates attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina. War began.

From 1861 to 1865, the North and South fought fiercely. Three million soldiers served in the war. Keeping them fed was a big job.

Confederate troops got much of their food from the Shenandoah Valley. That's a region in Virginia. The South held the area for most of the war. Then came the summer of 1864.

That summer, Union troops marched into the valley. They wanted to cut the Confederates' food supply. That would really make it harder for the South to keep fighting.

On October 19, the two armies clashed at Cedar Creek. The Confederates nearly won. But the northern general urged his men to hang on. They did. The Union won the battle.

Cedar Creek affected the war in two big ways. The Union gained control over the Shenandoah Valley. The victory also cheered the weary North. In fact, the news probably helped Lincoln get reelected a few weeks later.

The war lasted just months after Cedar Creek. In April 1865, both sides met in a Virginia town. The South surrendered. Union soldiers began cheering, but their leader stopped them. "The war is over," he said, "the rebels are our countrymen again."

October 2004 was the 140th anniversary of the Battle of Cedar Creek. Reenactors were excited to relive this event. As always, they tried to do it just right. Brian Barron knows that.

Brian, you see, acted as a Confederate drummer. He also plays in the school band. But Civil War drummers held their sticks differently. It's a small detail, but that's part of living history. So Brian learned to play his drum the old-fashioned way.

Megan Wright worked hard on details too. She learned the Virginia reel, waltz, and other 19th-century dances. And her old-style skirt reached the ground. Hoops pushed the fabric into a wide circle. "I love these outfits," she said. "I'd wear them to school if I could."

Young or old, the reenactors marveled at the power of their shared effort. Grown men talked about the terror of facing line after line of enemy soldiers.

Some moments cut too deep for words, said Lew Ulrich. "You think about folks dying on this same ground," he continued. "One guy sat in his tent crying. That's how much it affects you." History can do that.

Back to Top

Back to Top

PBS: The Civil War
This companion site for the Ken Burns documentary uses images, maps, and first-person accounts to tell the story of this grim conflict.

Smithsonian Institution: Civil War
Lee's chair, Sherman's hat, Grant's gold medal from Congress—you can find them and more in "the nation's attic."

The Valley of the Shadow
This site looks at two communities during the Civil War. By reading letters, diaries, and old newspapers, you can learn what life was like before, during, and after the war.