It's a humid mid-afternoon along Trappe Road, north of Upperville. In a grassy field there's an iron cannon, to the left five horsemen, three in Rebel gray, two in Yankee blue.

Spencer carbines hang from their backs and sabers dangle on their hips. The sky is dark, but only a few drops make it to the ground.

This is the climax of a long campaign for the dragoons, their ranks taking heavy equine causalities at the Battle of Aldie. One horse had gone lame, a couple others lost their shoes.

Cars, trucks and vans trickle into the field, five or six at a time, and park along the treeline bordering the road. More than 100 people lay out blankets on the grass, a couple sit on the bed of their trucks, most unaware 150 years and five days ago, they'd be ducking cannon balls and dodging bullets.

Civil War historian Robert O'Neill takes the microphone in the middle of the field.

"The field you're sitting on hasn't changed a lick in 150 years," O'Neill said.

This is the final event of "Prelude to Gettysburg," the 150th anniversary of the Civil War Battles of Aldie, Middleburg and Upperville.

Event Chairman Henry Plaster said the commemoration, running from June 14-16, was successful.

"The weather Saturday really helped with the turnout," Plaster said. "We got plenty of youngsters out here to talk to the troopers and learn about the Civil War."

Plaster said approximately 600 people attended the Battle of Aldie reenactment at the Snickersville Turnpike June 15. The event was also attended by Dels. Joe May, Randy Minchew and U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf.

"Their comments were very pertinent to what we're trying to do with this event," Plaster said. "They stressed the importance of maintaining the heritage of these areas. This is living history, something youths can really put their hands on, not something in a classroom."

John Sweeney, a cavalry re-enactor of the Valley Light Horse, said reenacting helps people understand what they read in history books.

"It's one thing when you're reading about how sore the saddles made the cavalry after riding for hours on end, but actually feeling it gives you a whole new level of understanding," Sweeney said. "I consider it forensic archeology. I can better explain life in the Civil War because I have experienced many aspects of it."

After O'Neill explains the tug of war battle between Union and Confederate forces that occurred along Trappe Road, two Federal and two Confederate re-enactors ride out into the field. They demonstrate Civil War era cavalry tactics by unsheathing their sabers and firing their Spencers. The crowd claps and the demonstrators take questions at the end.

Plaster said while he hopes people learned about how the Civil War was fought in the area, there are other lessons they could take home.

"In 1891 Major Davis gave this warm speech when they dedicated the monument over at the 1st Massachusetts Monument, about how we were no longer Rebels or Yankees but one America," Plaster said. "Looking at all the bickering in this country, we need to remember that."