Their arrival in town turned things upside down.
On July 5, 1864, federal troops began a 12-day occupation of Roswell, home to three mills that were working overtime to produce cloth for Confederate uniforms and other vital military supplies. Much of the citizenry had already fled or was off fighting elsewhere; under orders from Union Gen. William T. Sherman, the mills were burned and some 400 workers, nearly all of them women and children, were arrested, charged with treason and sent away in boxcars to Kentucky and Indiana.
On July 12th and 13th, history will repeat itself — albeit in friendlier fashion, and with an artistic twist. Glo, an Atlanta-based contemporary dance group, takes temporary command of the spot where a local historian says "the signature event in Roswell during the Civil War" took place. The performers comes in peace, prepared to deploy a very public and occasionally provocative brand of dance to revisit the tragic saga and make it newly relevant to spectators.
“Dance has this fabulous power in public space,”said Glo founder and choreographer Lauri Stallings. “It tends to slow a community down and make it meaningful to pause and listen and experience.”
The city of Roswell is staging its own series of Living History events the same weekend, and many residents appear intrigued by what Glo has to offer. If a tad perplexed.
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