On July 16-18th, members of the 24th participated in the Civil War Muster at Charlton Park in Hastings, Michigan. After our “lost year,” it was wonderful to bring history to life for the public once again.
24th Michigan President Guy Purdue
Despite the missing pieces that we have been used to enjoying in previous years (i.e. lantern tours, barn dance, etc), it was a lovely weekend. We had a fairly steady stream of spectators come through camp and had some good chats with them. We had some nice opportunities to dust off our social skills and tell a piece of our nation’s story.
The 24th’s civilian camp was quite close to the action during the skirmish on Saturday
The battles on Saturday and Sunday raged through the “tent town” as well as through the historic village, giving those of us in civilian camp a chance to be in the midst of the action and observe the military’s maneuvers at close range, which I always find to be an intriguing and thought-provoking experience.
Under the fly
Visiting town
Now that we’re all back home again, the thing I find myself thinking about the most is how wonderful it was to reunite and gather under the fly with friends whom I hadn’t seen since pre-pandemic. Although the group was small, many laughs were shared and good times were had by all.
- Erin Jones