Remembrance of the Village of Sing Sing During the Civil War

Just wanted to give you an update on:“ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS AGO: A remembrance of the Village of Sing Sing During the Civil War” At Historic Campwoods Grounds Campwoods Road & Pugsley Place, Ossining, NY  starting at 3:00PM on Saturday June 2, 2012

The following persons and organizations will be present as military and civilian reenactors, performers and presenters. 

The 124th New York State Volunteers, a military Civil War era reenactment unit, based in Orange County. They are a not-for-profit corporation recognized by the State of New York as a “Historic Military Command,” the only New York living history organization so designated. 

Robert Jaffee, MD is a ophthalmologist in Middletown, NY.  He is a collector of Civil War memorabilia for the past forty years.  His collection includes weapons, uniforms, flags medical equipment, and accouterments from both the North and South.  He has published articles about these items in "North South Trader's Civil War" and the "Gun Report". For the last four years he has developed an interest in wet plate photography and will speak informally about art of 19th century photography and show some of his authentic equipment and photographs.

The Westchester Ballroom Dance Studio. This organization is based in Mt. Kisko, NY and is headed up by Barbara Antes. Her group will be in period costume to demonstrate some of the popular dances of the Civil War-era  such as the Waltz.  Members of the audience are invited to join in. 

Laura Lee Keating. Mrs. Keating is a civilian reenactor and will be recreating the role of a 19th century “School Marm.” She is Secretary of the Lincoln Society of Peekskill, NY. Craig Keating, her real life husband will also appear alongside her in period garb. 

Ann Gulian is an actor, singer/songwriter and voice teacher and received her Bachelor’s degree from New England Conservatory of Music as a jazz vocalist. She has appeared on film, television, theatre stages and in cabaret settings. Ann will be performing some songs associated with the Civil War period.  

Jamie Malanowski is a writer and editor for such publications as Time, Esquire, Civil War Times and others. Currently he is the lead writer of the Disunion Blog, about the Civil War, for The New York Times; the series was presented with the 2010 Cliopatria Award for Best History Writing on the web. He will be informally discussing his most recent book, And the War Came, a gripping account of the period after Lincoln’s election from the perspective of what people knew and felt during the President’s dramatic  first six months in office. 

Katie Gorycki is a school teacher and involved in various community-oriented activities in Ossining. She will be recreating the persona of the Reverend. Maggie Van Cott, the first ordained female preacher of Episcopal Methodist Church in 1869 in New York City. Reverend Van Cott reportedly preached various times at Ossining Campground meetings and at the Highland Avenue Methodist Church.  

Martha Mesiti is the Reference Librarian at the Mount Pleasant Library. She is appearing as “Miss Martha.” owner of t he bookstore at the Auditorium Building at Campwoods Grounds where visitors may purchase used books about the Civil War and other history related items. 

Patricia Sacchi is an employee of the Village of Ossining and on the Board of the Ossining Historical Society Museum. She will be recreating the persona of Sarah Ballou, the wife of Major Sullivan Ballou of the Union Army. He was killed in action at the first Battle of Bull Run. She never remarried.    

Tamsen Mac Watt Hernández is the present Senior Warden of the Vestry of Trinity Episcopal Church in Ossining. This church was founded in 1868 by returning Union Army Civil War veterans. She will play the part of Amelia Jane Havell, wife of Munson Ingersoll Lockwood and daughter of engraver Robert Havell Jr. She was a portrait painter.

Miguel Hernández is a “recovering politician.” Currently he heads up the Ossining Historical Society Museum’s public programs and is editor of its newsletter, The Ossining Historical Register.  He will take on the persona of Munson Ingersoll Lockwood a 19th century political figure who served as Warden of Sing Sing Prison, Westchester County Clerk and General of the New York State Militia. He was also a founder of Dale Cemetery.  

Mary Schaeffer is on the staff of State Senator Suzi Oppeheimer’s Office.

She will take on the part of Julia Margaret Cameron, a visiting British photographer, known for her portraits of celebrities of the time, and later for her legendary Arthurian-themed pictures. Her work has strongly impacted modern photography, as her close-cropped portraits are emulated today. Her work might have been forgotten if not for her shrewd business tactics of meticulously copyrighting and documenting everything.

Stephen Medwid will be the off-stage voice of Major Sullivan Ballou, whose passionate letter to his wife, Sarah on the eve of the 1st Battle of Bull Run  will be read aloud. Steve is an ex-sportswriter who returned to his native New York after a 12-year hiatus in Hawaii and California, where he studied, performed, and taught drama. He currently plays a core associate on TV's "Damages," stands in for Tom Selleck on CBS's "Blue Bloods," and was featured in Back Stage's Who Got the Part?  He continues to write his memoirs and workshop his one-man show, "A Sportswriter in Paradise."

The Reverend Doctor, Gordon Anderson, Pastor Emeritus, First Baptist Church of Ossining will lead the opening and closing prayers. The Ossining Methodist Camp Meeting Grounds ground now called Campwoods was the site many religious revival meetings during the 19th century with thousands of people in attendance. It is historically appropriate therefore, that Dr. Anderson conducts memorial prayers for the more than 600,000 soldiers and civilians who perished in the Civil War. 

Marcus Roman will play “Taps” at the flag lowering ceremony. He is a student at Anne M. Dorner Middle School in Ossining and an extraordinarily talented percussionist and trumpet player. Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield of the Union Army composed “Taps” during the Civil War. He lived in Cold Spring, NY. His elaborate Egyptian-style pyramid tombstone is at the West Point Military Academy.