Features

NEW MARKET, Va. (AP) — More than 1,000 Civil War re-enactors are packing their hardtack and wool uniforms for the 148th anniversary of the Battle of New Market.

The re-enactors will gather this weekend on Virginia Military Institute's New Market Battlefield. VMI says it is the oldest battle re-enactment in the nation and one of the few held on the original site.

During the real battle, VMI cadets entered were under the command of Confederate Gen. John C. Breckinridge. His 4,000-man army included 257 cadets.

They went on to defeat Union forces totaling more than 6,000.

Weekend activities include historical interpreters who will provide a civilian perspective on the era. The battle re-enactment is scheduled for Sunday.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A judge has rescheduled a confirmation hearing on a bankruptcy reorganization plan for the debt-ridden U.S. National Slavery Museum.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Douglas O. Tice Jr. on Wednesday set the hearing for June 27. It had been scheduled for June 6, but an attorney representing former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder and the museum sought the three-week delay.

The museum had been proposed for a site in Fredericksburg but it became mired in debt totaling $7 million.

The museum's creditors include the city of Fredericksburg, which is seeking more than one-quarter-of-a-million dollars in back taxes.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Four connecting river trails will be designated as historic components of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail at a ceremony.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will join Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis at a ceremony Wednesday at Sandy Point State Park in Annapolis. State, local and tribal leaders will also participate in the ceremony.

The designation is part of President Barack Obama's America's Great Outdoors initiative.

Four rivers in five states will be recognized for their significance to 17th century American Indian cultures and trade routes. The rivers are the Susquehanna, Chester, Upper Nanticoke and Upper James.

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Delaware's tall ship is ready to set sail.

The Kalmar Nyckel was scheduled to depart Wilmington on Tuesday for a stopover in Lewes, followed by journeys to Portsmouth and Cape Charles, Va., and Solomons Island, Md.

The ship will return to her homeport of Wilmington in late June in time for the second annual Wilmington Pirate Festival on June 30.

The Kalmar Nyckel is an authentic re-creation of a 17th-century Dutch built vessel that brought some of the earliest settlers to the American colonies. The ship has eight sails and eight miles of rigging.

FREDERICK, Md. (AP) — A plane that flew paratroopers into France on D-Day is on display at the Frederick Municipal Airport.

The Frederick News-Post (http://tinyurl.com/d6lluz9 ) reports the C-47 Skytrain arrived Sunday morning and will be at the airport through Wednesday. The aircraft carried 17 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division behind enemy lines and dropped them at Saint Mere Eglise.

Tours of the plane cost $2 per person. Pilot Naomi Wadsworth says the funds will be used to help maintain the aircraft, which costs about $1,000 an hour to fly.

The plane is part of the 1941 Historic Air Group of Geneseo, N.Y.

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Information from: The Frederick (Md.) News-Post, http://www.fredericknewspost.com