Sergeant Alvin C. York State Historic Park hosting a living history event this weekend to recreate the 1863 march of the Union Army through the Wolf River Valley.
Park Manager Nate Dodson said the program focuses on the specific period when General Ambrose Burnside’s troops moved through the area on their way to capture Knoxville.
“It really sort of, like I say, shapes the culture of this area,” Dodson said, “That Sergeant York is born just a few years later and what he grows up knowing about warfare is what happens right here in the Wolf River Valley.”
Dodson said the park staff developed the experience because the military campaign has a direct connection to the family history of York. Dodson said one of York’s great-grandfathers, William Harrington, is believed to have been part of the march or nearby in Kentucky before eventually settling in the valley.
“Without the march of this army through the valley, we probably wouldn’t have Sergeant York and his story that comes later in the World War One and beyond,” Dodson said. “And so it has a direct connection to Sergeant York’s story.”
Dodson said the event includes a recreated Union encampment in the shooting match field area of the park that is free for the public to visit. Dobson said visitors can walk through the camp between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM to speak with historians portraying soldiers resting before their climb into the Cumberland Mountains.
“Seeing the sights and sounds and smells of a Civil War camp while you get to walk through and experience that first hand, it’s definitely a very unique experience,” Dodson said. “And then, you know, obviously, as I mentioned, our guided tours will give you more in depth information if you choose to go on one of those.”
Dodson said the park is also offering four scheduled driving tours at 9:00 AM, 11:00 AM, 1:00 PM, and 3:00 PM that require registration on the park website. Dodson said these tours will visit “witness sites” such as the Wolf River Cemetery and a local cave spring where soldiers would have stopped for water.
“A lot of the people, they make mention in their journals and diaries that some of these people had felt like they had been under hostage all these years and they wanted to see the Stars and Stripes unfurled as the army marched by their homes,” Dodson said. “So very, very significant time in the state’s history.”
Dodson said the history of the Upper Cumberland during the Civil War is often defined by personal stories and guerrilla warfare rather than large-scale battles. Dodson said many residents in the pro-Union area viewed the arrival of Burnside’s troops as a liberation after living under the Confederacy for three years.
“It was a very, very terrible time, really, in this valley,” Dodson said. “And so, as I mentioned, these folks that have been living under the Confederacy for up to three years by this point, they are overjoyed to see the Union Army marching down the turnpike.”
Dodson said the driving tours cost $10 per person and participants should check in at the park visitor center first. The event takes place August 22.
