Clarksville, TN – On July 4th, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) will bring their annual Reading of the Declaration of Independence to Clarksville-Montgomery County’s Courthouse steps, a tradition that has been revived in recent years and continues to grow.
“There’s no fancy name, we just call it the Reading of the Declaration of Independence,” DAR’s Gail Longton said. “It had been done for years by David Brockman. During the pandemic, he took a new job, and at that time, he decided he wasn’t going to do it anymore. My husband, Rick, was the SAR President, and I was the DAR Regent, and we decided we would take it over. We’ve done it ever since.”
The activities begin each year at 9:00am on the courthouse steps, but as the event has grown, people now start arriving by 8:00am.
“We will have the Color Guard, and Firing Party in costume,” Longton said. “We also have Cumberland Winds performing that day. They will play patriotic music before and during the presentation. We sing the National Anthem, and then someone will read the entire Declaration of Independence.”
Longton said the Firing Party will be doing a black powder shoot/volley, and then, hopefully, Sons of Confederate Veterans (SVC) will fire three volleys from the cannon that sits on the grounds of the courthouse. Afterward, everyone poses for pictures, as many people like to pose with reenactors who are dressed in Civil War or Revolutionary War costumes.
“Reenactors come from several surrounding counties to take part in this event each year,” Longton said. So, we have members from DAR, SAR, and SVC all taking their time to help us bring history to life. We always have 100 – 150 people here to watch. But, this year we decided to promote the event a little more, because we still hear a lot of people say, even after all these years, ‘oh, I didn’t know you guys did that.’”
Longton gets a lot of positive feedback from the community regarding this annual event. “People love the idea that they can start their Independence Day weekend celebration in a patriotic way,” Longton said. “Kids love to see the people in costumes, not just the Color Guard and Firing Party, but several of the women don the costumes as well.
“This year July 4th is on Friday. It’s a great way to start the weekend, and the whole program only takes about 45 minutes. The Declaration is such an impressive document, and a reading on the courthouse steps is how most people were first introduced to it. There was no television, radio, or internet.”
“There is such a great history lesson in all this. And this nearly 250-year-old document is still so pertinent today. David Brockman started this as a way to home-school his children, thinking this would be a great lesson for them. Those of us at SAR and DAR think it can be a great lesson for everyone, and that’s how we got to this point. We would love for everyone to come out and join us this Independence Day.”