The Women's Crusade in Richmond offers valuable insights into social movement dynamics. Richmond's Crusade involved both women's temperance activism and a counter-movement centered in a large German minority. This inquiry takes a multidimensional approach, interweaving gender, ethnicity, religion, class, and the wider community context. Drawing on concepts developed by anthropologists Victor Turner and Milton Singer, this essay interprets the Crusade both as a "cultural performance" and as a "social drama." Above all, it emphasizes the importance of carefully "reading" the symbolism of public demonstrations. The Crusaders achieved initial success by embracing the symbolism of piety and maternal solicitude, but as Germans organized in opposition, the tactics of each group escalated. Crusaders abandoned prayerful suasion for coercion. They invaded saloonkeepers' homes and negotiated with local employers to fire any worker who would not sign the pledge. These invasive tactics gave force to German complaints that the Crusaders had overstepped the bounds of propriety. German protesters also used humor to undermine the Crusaders' piety. In a vivid form of political theater, German women acted out parodies of the Crusade. Ultimately, the Crusaders lost control over the symbolism of their movement, and in the spring municipal election the larger community turned against them.