July 6, 2022 by
A one-act play based on the Civil War messages between Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Gen. Robert E. Lee during the last 48 hours before their final meeting at Appomattox Court House will be presented beginning at 7 p.m., Tuesday, July 12, in Faith Lutheran Church, 225 Jamestowne Blvd. Portraying the famous generals will be Dr. E.C. Curt Fields as Grant (right) and Thomas Lee Jessee as Lee. The event is sponsored by Knoxville Civil War Roundtable. Cost is $10 per person, with children under age 12 admitted free. Fields is an educational consultant and a living historian who is the same height and body type as Grant, and has portrayed the general in re-enactments all over the United States, including television and film. Jessee is a native Virginian and longtime student of the Civil War who has played Gen. Lee in numerous re-enactments and venues across the country.
Both were selected by the National Park Service to portray the generals at the 150th anniversary of the surrender at Appomattox Court House ,and both star in the new Appomattox Visitors Center film shown daily to the public. Knoxville Civil War Roundtable is a non-partisan, non-profit, educational forum for the promotion of knowledge, commemoration and preservation of the area’s Civil War heritage.
Photo courtesy of Kathy Winston
