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Civil War Encampment Weekend Returning To James A. Garfield National Historic Site

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Published Date

July 15, 2015
Firing drill at Civil War Reenactment at James Garfield National Historic Site

Firing drill conducted by the 7th & 8th US, and the 2nd Virginia and 5th. during the 2010 Civil War Encampment/NPS

For the sixth consecutive year, James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Ohio will host a Civil War encampment on its Mentor grounds to commemorate and interpret the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. The event will take place at the site this coming weekend. The encampment’s hours are 11 a.m.-4 p.m. both days.

To kick off the weekend, the public is invited to a speaker symposium this Friday night hosted by the Northeast Ohio Civil War Round Table. That event will take place in the site’s visitor center auditorium beginning at 7 p.m.

On Saturday and Sunday, visitors to the historic site will be able to visit the camps of both Union and Confederate reenactors. Soldiers from both sides will provide interpretation of Civil War camp life as well as marching and shooting demonstrations. Civil War cannon and Gatling gun displays will be available for all to see.

Civil War music will be presented; on Saturday only, the Camp Chase Fife and Drums will perform. At 1:45 p.m. both days, the popular “mini-militia” will be held for children who want to be outfitted as Union troops and learn the basics of Civil War marching and drill. A medical tent will be displayed. Notable figures of the period portrayed by reenactors will include: President Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, General Ulysses S. Grant, General William T. Sherman, several of “Lincoln’s Generals,” and Jefferson Davis.

On Saturday, parking will be available at James A. Garfield National Historic Site and next door at Faith Lutheran Church. Overflow parking will be down the street at Mentor Office Park, located at 8224 Mentor Avenue, across the street from Mentor Public Library and just a few blocks east of James A. Garfield National Historic Site. A free parking shuttle will be provided between the overflow lot and the Garfield site.

On Sunday, July 19, parking will not be allowed at the Faith Lutheran Church; most parking will be at the overflow location at Mentor Office Park. The free parking shuttle will be available on Sunday as well. Anyone parking in the Faith Lutheran Church lot on Sunday will be asked to move down to the overflow lot so that the members of the church may use their parking lot for Sunday services and church business.

“We’re pleased to bring this event back for the sixth and final year,” said Todd Arrington, acting site manager. “This has been a wonderful way for us to commemorate President Garfield’s Civil War service to the Union and also interpret the Civil War as a whole during the Civil War’s 150th anniversary, which ends this year."

James A. Garfield National Historic Site is located at 8095 Mentor Avenue (U.S. 20) in Mentor, Ohio, approximately 25 miles east of Cleveland. 

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