Eyes on Carson City: Nevada State Fair and Rendezvous are Battle Born
A major battle was fought Saturday night at Mills Park as Union and Confederate forces collided on the big field fronting William Street at the annual Nevada State Fair and Rendezvous in Carson City.
Infantry, cavalry and artillery from both sides converged on the battlefield, trading salvos, shots and saber charges.
Union and Confederate cannon boomed, filling the evening sky with thunder claps and the smell of gunsmoke.
Nevada's motto is "Battle Born," referring to its statehood achieved in late 1864 as the United States struggled to survive a bloody civil war.
Nevada and West Virginia are the only two states admitted to the Union during the American Civil War.
Nevada was admitted in the eleventh hour by telegraph as its state constitution traveled the wire to Washington, D.C., where it was read and ratified Oct. 31, 1864, just one week before the presidential election that ultimately saw Abraham Lincoln be re-elected to the White House.
The American Civil War ended in April 1865 following Confederate commander Robert E. Lee's April 9 surrender to U.S. general-in-chief Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia.
Presidential Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth just five days later.
The American Civil War was fought from April 1861 to April 1865, costing the lives of more than 600,000 soldiers and sailors on both sides.