The Battle of Tunnel Hill

Original Post | Spring 2013

It's been 20 years since the Tunnel Hill Historical Foundation sponsored a reenactment to look back upon Tunnel Hill's Civil War days. In addition to the heritage center museum and the Antebellum Clisby Austin House,  it is also the home to the first railroad tunnel constructed south of the Mason-Dixon line. It was completed in 1850, it was christened with many bottles of wine, and on may 9, the first train passed through.

On this day, hundreds of people gathered in ninety-degree heat and became spectators to a battlefield of living historians. The wool-shielded soldiers mounted horses and converged from confederate and federal camps. Families walked with fathers. Children listened intently to stories of victory and tradition. Men kissed their wives goodbye as they gathered with men of like-wise conviction.

For those new to reenactments, be prepared for a sense of fascination in that from beginning to end, each soul is in character. The infantry men, the widows of fallen soldiers, the children in camp. it's a small tinge of life in the mid-1800s and a nation at war.

As the day ended with two weddings and a ball, soldiers and families gathered on the lawn of the Clisby Austin House.