South prevails after bullet-less bedlam

VIRGINIA CITY - No where else but at the Virginia City Labor Day Parade could 5-year-old Quinton Smith and more than 1,000 other spectators watch the Rebel Confederates trounce the Union Army and wave the "Stainless Banner" from the Delta Saloon balcony over C Street.

A major with the Comstock Civil War Reenactors reckoned this revision was fair, considering the boys in blue had won "The Battle of C Street" for the last two years.

"It was our turn," said Jack Eaves, an organizer and commander of Hardaway's Battery for the South. "We had more people and better sharpshooters. We had ambitious people determined to defend C Street."

While women in hoop skirts kept the spectators on the boardwalks, the Rebels advanced with steady shelling, scattering the birds and setting off car alarms. Quinton, who sat on the shoulders of his grandfather, Rudy Viola, of Sparks, was not covering his ears. His favorite part is when they "shoot the guns."

The Civil War Weekend and Labor Day Parade brought about 5,000 people to Virginia City, adding about $250,000 to the local economy, one parade organizer said Monday. The Civil War Reenactors held a ball, staged several train battles on the Virginia & Truckee Railroad (each side winning an equal number of times) and socialized at a tea inside the Sawdust Corner Restaurant.

"There were many Southern sympathizers in Virginia City," said reenactment organizer Izabella Hunt-Jones, who was wearing a flowered cotton sateen frock and carrying a parasol. "Before we became a state there was a great deal of fighting between those who favored becoming a free state or a slave state."

She said about 140 reenactors participated in the weekend-long event.

It was a fortunate surprise to a group of tourists from Buffalo, N.Y. The group of seven women came for a wedding at Lake Tahoe, and then decided to stop in VC.

"This place has a nice atmosphere," said Ann Helms, who was standing in the shade of a saloon. "We just happened upon the parade."

"This is a real treat," said Diane Marini.

The women oohed as several hoop-skirted ladies walked passed them. Soon they would have to "protect their honor" from the advancing Rebels.

Of the 31 entries only three were labor affiliated, including the United Auto Workers, International Association of Firefighters and the American Radio Association. It was a patriotic parade entry that most impressed 8-year-old Katelin Shuman, of Camarillo, Calif.

"I liked all the patriotic stuff," she said. "I'm a fan of patriotism"

Her father, Karl Shuman, said when other little girls are taking pictures of the horses, she's snapping a digital picture of the Veterans of Foreign Wars car.

Other entries include the Comstock Municipal Kazoo Symphony Orchestra, Edith Palmer's Country Inn 1929 Model A Ford with a calliope in the back and Beauregard, the dog who drives a 1926 Model T Ford.

• Contact reporter Becky Bosshart at bbosshart@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.