Garfield site hosting annual Civil War encampment weekend

Event set July 14-16

The National Park Service has announced that the annual Civil War encampment weekend at James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor will be held July 14-16.

This will be the event’s eighth consecutive year. Eastern National, the cooperating association that runs the site’s bookstore, has provided a grant for this event for the second year in a row.

The festivities begin at 7 p.m. July 14 when the Northeast Ohio Civil War Round Table holds its annual speaker symposium in the visitor center auditorium. The symposium will feature Wayne Motts, CEO of the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, speaking about “Ohio at Gettysburg,” and Matt Atkinson, park ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park, discussing “Ohioans at Vicksburg.” The symposium is free of charge and open to the public.

The encampment itself runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 15 and 16. As in previous years, it will feature Union and Confederate re-enactors and occasional demonstrations of loading and firing muskets (blank cartridges only) as well as marching and drills. There will be several musicians performing Civil War-era music, including Camp Chase Fife and Drums, Steve Ball, and Celtic Union.

Re-enactors portraying historical figures such as Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, President Abraham Lincoln and several of Lincoln’s generals will be on site and talking with the public as well. Also, a Buffalo Soldier re-enactor will be on site to speak with the public about African Americans who fought for the Union. A rotating schedule of programs on a variety of Civil War topics will occur in the visitor center and on the grounds.

Families can participate in the “Civil War Journey” program, in which they receive the identity of a real soldier or civilian from Lake County involved in the war effort and gather information to determine what happened to that individual at war’s end. Activities for kids, including “Tea with Mrs. Lincoln” and the popular “mini-militia,” will be available both days. The Garfield home will be open to the public both days as well.

This is James A. Garfield National Historic Site’s largest and most popular annual event, a news release stated. All encampment activities throughout the weekend are free of charge.

James A. Garfield National Historic Site is located at 8095 Mentor Ave. For information, call 440255-8722 or visit www.nps. gov/jaga.

NEWS-HERALD FILE A group of men, representing the Union Army 7th, 8th and 66th regiments, reenact firing drill practices during a Civil War Encampment at the James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor in July 2014.