Ted Dedra as General Alvin C. Voris – Wayne County Civil War Roundtable Program

Wayne County Civil War Roundtable Program, free and open to the public in the Wooster Branch of the Wayne County Public Libraries.

“I shudder as I think of that awful charge. I could hear the sickening thud of case and canister shot slashing through the bodies of the men.” So wrote Akron’s General Alvin Coe Voris of the bloody assault on Battery Wagner during the Civil War.

Ted Dudra, Civil War reenactor and speaker, will bring Voris to life. Voris was the Colonel of 67th Ohio Volunteer Infantry when they fell in behind the 54th Massachusetts to take the fortification. The battle was immortalized in the movie Glory. Three hundred of the 67th attacked; 150, including Voris, became casualties.  Voris survived, becoming the highest ranking officer to come out of Summit County during the Civil War.

A judge in Akron after the war, he was active in Civil War Veterans groups like the Grand Army of the Republic and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS). As an officer of those groups, he participated in many ceremonies.  One of his first post-war acts was giving a speech at the dedication of the Civil War monument in Cuyahoga Falls on October 26, 1866.

A retired Plain Local Schools science teacher, Dudra is spending his time with numerous historical organizations including the Green Historical, Society Stark County Civil War Round Table and MOLLUS.   He reenacts for four different wars: the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War and World War II. He’s active with Company G, 29th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Historical Association (Civil War) and Fort Laurens in Bolivar, Ohio (Revolutionary War).