This Day in Henrico History: Sept. 28 – Henrico marks 150th anniversary of New Market Heights and Fort Harrison
On Sept. 28, 2014, Henrico County concluded a weekend-long commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War fighting at New Market Heights and Fort Harrison, bringing more than 1,000 reenactors from around the country to eastern Henrico.
The county staged the public event at the Runnymede property near Malvern Hill, with reenactments, living-history camps, period music, demonstrations and talks about the 1864 campaign for Richmond. Sunday’s program included a reenactment of the Second Battle of Deep Bottom, while the National Park Service offered programs at Fort Harrison, including battlefield tours, infantry and artillery demonstrations and talks by historians.
The centerpiece of the weekend was remembrance of the Sept. 29, 1864 Battle of New Market Heights, where U.S. Colored Troops attacked Confederate defenses along New Market Road. Fourteen Black soldiers later received the Medal of Honor for their actions there. Henrico’s commemoration recognized descendants of Medal of Honor recipients and emphasized the battle’s importance in challenging racist assumptions about Black soldiers’ ability to fight.
The anniversary events connected modern-day Henrico residents with a campaign fought on the same landscape 150 years earlier — one that brought Union forces closer to Richmond and produced one of the most significant episodes of African American military service in the Civil War.
Sources: https://henrico.gov/news/2014/09/civil-war-reenactments-sept-27-28/
