Skirmish over battle of Volcano

By DAVE PAYNE Sr., dpayne@newsandsentinel.com
VOLCANO — Mountwood Park officials hope to draw crowds with an impressive number of Civil War re-enactors, cannons and horses for a mock battle over the weekend — even though there never was a battle at Volcano.

Fred Cornett of the 17th Virginia re-enacting group, one of the event’s organizers, said the re-enactors will portray various scenarios detailing what might have happened nearby if there had been a battle.

The event, however, is billed as “Battle for Volcano,” which doesn’t sit too well with a local Civil War author.

“I’m not aware of any reports of anything happening at Volcano; we’re going to be the laughing stock of the state if we’re trying to celebrate a battle of Volcano. That’s just absurd,” said Dave McKain, a local Civil War author and director of the Oil and Gas Museum.

Patrols from Union outposts at nearby Walker and Petroleum often ran into trouble from Confederates, usually guerrilla groups such as the Moccasin Rangers, who were based in Calhoun County. Cornett said one such skirmish took place about a half mile from the park, at what is now Walker and Volcano roads.

“It is a re-enactment of what happened in that part of the country. Federal troops ride in and Confederate guerrillas attack them. Typically Confederate guerrillas would have had one or two cannons. We’ll have four or five,” he said.

Tammi Collins, events and marketing director for Mountwood, said such events are typically a re-enactment, even when there is no specific event to re-enact. Organizers make no claims there was.

Collins hails from Winchester, Va., a town that changed hands 72 times during the war and hosts a thriving community of re-enactors. She said mock battles fought by re-enactors there are typically called “re-enactments” regardless of whether they were fought on actual battlegrounds to recreate a specific battle or elsewhere to demonstrate what the war period was like.

Oil speculation and drilling was a popular activity at Volcano during the war, mostly because the already proven oil fields in the Burning Springs and California area were under constant threat of Confederate guerrillas.

McKain said he feels “re-enactment” isn’t the proper word to use. He also said he is not aware of any Civil War fighting in the vicinity of Volcano.

“It’s the word that’s used. I’m not sure there’s another word for it. We can’t call it an enactment, because we are not enacting an actual war,” Collins said. “The Civil War did happen and we are re-enacting the time of the war. We’re trying to bring events to the area. We have never even pretended this happened. We’re re-enacting a period of time, not an event.”

As far as re-enacting a specific engagement, organizers freely admit there was no battle at Volcano to re-enact.

Bob Enoch, president of the Wood County Historical and Preservation Society, said he feels the event will be good for the park and the community.

“This is good for Volcano and good for the park. It’s going to be a re-enactment of a battle that didn’t take place. Whatever you call it, they’re using actual battle tactics and people will get to see a re-enactment of what a Civil War battle would be like,” Enoch said.

Registration for re-enactors begins at noon today and continues until 11 p.m. Saturday’s registration begins at 8 a.m. and continues until noon. Officers of the re-enacting units meet at 9 a.m. Saturday. The mock battles will be at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.