St. Croix ArtBarn  presented the original drama, The Court Martial of General William Tecumseh Sherman, by local playwrights, Meredith A. Wilson & William J. Fleming, one weekend only, Thursday through Saturday, May 11-13, at 7:30 PM.  This Civil War courtroom drama questions the leadership of Sherman in the aftermath of The Battle of Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862, one of the greatest battles on the American continent, which claimed the lives of nearly 24,000 soldiers.    
Fleming had listened for years to the stories of the curator of the largest private Sherman collection when he was studying at Notre Dame Law School. Decades later, Wilson discovered the long series of Thomas Christie letters at the Minnesota Historical Society that is the backbone of the play.  Seventeen characters will breathe life into this fictional work based on Union and Confederate Official Reports, newspaper accounts, Civil War history books, maps, and memoirs of the people involved in “The Hornet’s Nest”. 
The cast included George Gfall, New Richmond; Vicky Cain, Mike Fisk, Jeremy Richter, Charles Schrantz, Kayla Kammerud, Hannah Koehler, Hazel Cain-Johnson, Nicholas Piszczek, Michelle DeGroote, and Brady Langer, Osceola; Alan Duball, Taylors Falls; Ken Mettler, St. Croix Falls; Ben Holmquist, Anna Holmquist, Dresser; Chad Leonard, Amery; and Karl Snyder, Hudson.