Fort Benton Civil War Days

This past weekend was the Civil War period demonstration at Fort Benton. I took Avlyn and a couple of her friends to the event. It takes place in Patterson, MO., which is about an hour from where we live. We had just finished reading Abraham Lincoln by the d'Aulaire's, so being able to see what went on during the Civil War was a great way to connect history to our reading. Below are some pictures of our day.

Here the girls are learning how Civil War gun cartridges were made. He showed how they rolled up paper, put in the bullets and gunpowder, and then sewed up the top to keep the powder from falling out.

Here's what it looks like. To load the gun, the soliders untied the yarn and dumped all of the bullets and powder down the chamber. It would shoot the length of a football field.

Checking out a campsite of the soldiers. The girls touched everything, and the brigade left nothing empty. There was actually tea and coffee in the pots.

A stagecoach that rode around giving rides or barreling through battles.

Preparing to fight.

The preacher tried to make peace between the sides, but the Confederates shot him.

Then they charged the Union soldiers. You can see a couple of them already going down in the battle.

This is a cemetary at the bottom of Fort Benton. To the left of the girls is a site where many unkown Union and Confederate soliders' bodies lie. The cemetary is a mix of new and historical grave markers. The girls were very interested in finding graves from the 1800's.

An undated grave marker of an infant.