Valerie Hamill, left, tearing bandages in Myers Inn

Galena resident Valerie Hamill  has been a civil war reenactor for nearly four years. She is an active member of the 1st Ohio, Battery A Light Artillery (the Ohio Statehouse cannons), the 5th Kentucky Infantry, as well as the General Rosecrans' Department of the Ohio Headquarters group. 

Mrs. Hamill has completed considerable studies of the era, and has written a thesis paper titled “Communication Styles, Both Overt & Subliminal, During the Civil War Period (1861-1865)”.

In addition to the Sunbury, Ohio, encampment, Mrs. Hamill has participated in a number of encampments/reenactments, such as McConnelsville/Malta Civil War Days, “Thunder in the Village” in Guyandotte, WV, Dan Emmett Festival in Mt. Vernon, the Westerville Sesquentennial Celebration, the Delaware Bicentennial event, Grove City Pioneer Days, Reynoldsburg Civil War Days, Muster on the Maumee, and the Woodsfield Encampment in Lancaster.

At 7 p.m.  Thursday evening, June 25, 2009, Mrs. Hamill will be reading letters written by John Ridenour of Gahanna (with the 133rd Ohio Regiment) to his family; a selection of passages from the Bloomfield Letter collection, a rather rare and exceptionally rich collection of correspondence from a private soldier with the 1st Ohio, Battery A to his family.  These letters detail the everyday life of a private in the artillery; as well as letters that illustrate the Ladies Aid Society war efforts. 

 
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(06/05/2009)