Hope Civil War Days

We made an unexpected field trip last weekend. My mom let me know in the middle of the week that my hometown, Hope, IN was having Civil War Days. Since we're studying that, we made plans to go home & visit.

Some of the ladies were making uniforms & providing laundry services.

David enjoyed this tent full of weaponry. If I lost track of him during the day, this is where I would find him.

The soldiers from the 11th Indiana drilling.

They had the kids line up to be mustered into the army.

David was the only one who would sign up.

He had to show his teeth before he could enlist.

Then they swore the kids in.

Next the kids had to learn drum signal & trumpet calls.

At last, they got to drill.

Jessica relaxing & watching her brother drill.

Jamie watching all the fun.

Then they had a cemetery tour during which several people from Hope's history talked about the Civil War from their perspective. This soldier talked about losing a child while at war.

This lady was waiting on her fiancé to come home from the war so they could be married.

This boy told about how he enlisted even though he was underage. This was a common experience in the Civil War.

This man talked about his experiences in the war & the adjustments he had to make after the war.

The last speaker was a band leader during the war & told us about the importance of music for morale during the war.

Overall, I was quite impressed by it all. Hope is a small town yet they did a great job showing life during the Civil War in a small town.