Re-enactors Make March to Appomattox for Surrender Anniversary

The blisters on Logan Metesh’s feet had started to heal over Sunday morning, but his leg muscles were cramping nearly non-stop. Yet the pain from walking 47 miles in one week while wearing Civil War-era shoes, he said, was only a smidgeon of the discomfort felt by soldiers.

“It gives you the sense of just a little bit of what these guys went through,” Metesh said. “We’re pansies compared to what they did.”

Metesh, 21, along with nearly two dozen re-enactors walked from Sailor’s Creek Battlefield to Appomattox Court House to recreate the journey of General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia’s defeat. The event, called March to Destiny, not only commemorated the 145th anniversary of the surrender at Appomattox, but also was a fundraiser to restore the 24th Virginia Infantry flag. The flag was one of hundreds handed over on April 12, three days after the Battle of Appomattox Court House effectively ended the war.

Matt Utt, who organized the re-enactment march, said the original flag is stored in the Museum of the Confederacy’s collection in Richmond and the 24th Virginia Infantry re-enactors want to have it preserved, something that will cost more than $21,000. The idea of preserving it came to Utt after visiting the museum several years ago while the regiment was in Richmond.

“It was just amazing to see it,” Utt said. “Just to look at it and say that’s tangible. The soldiers aren’t here anymore, but the flag is.”¹

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