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It may be more than a year away but historians and community leaders have been working for the past three years to plan for the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Carthage.
On Wednesday, the Ad Hoc Battle of Carthage Sesquicentennial committee announced a tentative lineup of events to honor the soldiers who fought and died in the battle that raged through Carthage on July 5, 1861, the beginning of the great national tragedy known as the Civil War.
Wendi Douglas, chairwoman of the Sesquicentennial committee, said the highlight of the nearly year-long series of events will be a reenactment of the battle that will take place on the city streets, bringing Civil War history up close to the residents of the city and anyone else who comes to watch.
Toward the end of the 1861 battle, the soldiers of Col. Franz Sigel’s Union army of 1,100 and Gov. Claiborne Fox Jackson’s Missouri State Guard, consisting of 4,000 armed and 2,000 unarmed soldiers, battled through the streets of antebellum Carthage, even fighting an artillery duel on the Carthage Square that damaged the courthouse that stood where the current one stands today. That courthouse was burned in 1863 and the rest of Carthage would see that same fate in 1864.
Douglas said that on May 14 and 15, 2011, more than 1,000 reenactors will camp in Carthage’s Municipal Park. Twice during that weekend the soldiers will march from their camp down Oak Street to Garrison Street, to reenact the street fighting that took place at the battle’s climax.
Skirmishes will take place as the soldiers march toward the main battlefield, then the two sides will square off for the climactic engagement in historic Central Park.
The public will be allowed to stroll through the camp in Municipal Park, speak with re-enactors and buy period objects offered by vendors.
Douglas said additional festivals and ceremonies will be held closer to the actual anniversary.
She said a ceremony on the actual anniversary, July 5, 2011, will consist of a proclamation and a moment of silence to honor the soldiers and residents of the time.
She also said churches will be asked to ring bells after the moment of silence in honor of the event.
Then on July 8-10, the committee is planning a commemoration festival, hopefully on the Square, consisting of period entertainment and other events. That festival is still being planned.
Leading up to the 2011 celebrations, Sabrina Drackert announced that the theme for the 2010 Maple Leaf Festival, slated for Oct. 9-16, 2010, will help lead into that celebration. The theme is Carthage: Heros and Heritage and the official logo features the Carthage Courthouse, a Civil War soldier and a maple leaf.
It may be more than a year away but historians and community leaders have been working for the past three years to plan for the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Carthage.
On Wednesday, the Ad Hoc Battle of Carthage Sesquicentennial committee announced a tentative lineup of events to honor the soldiers who fought and died in the battle that raged through Carthage on July 5, 1861, the beginning of the great national tragedy known as the Civil War.
Wendi Douglas, chairwoman of the Sesquicentennial committee, said the highlight of the nearly year-long series of events will be a reenactment of the battle that will take place on the city streets, bringing Civil War history up close to the residents of the city and anyone else who comes to watch.
Toward the end of the 1861 battle, the soldiers of Col. Franz Sigel’s Union army of 1,100 and Gov. Claiborne Fox Jackson’s Missouri State Guard, consisting of 4,000 armed and 2,000 unarmed soldiers, battled through the streets of antebellum Carthage, even fighting an artillery duel on the Carthage Square that damaged the courthouse that stood where the current one stands today. That courthouse was burned in 1863 and the rest of Carthage would see that same fate in 1864.
Douglas said that on May 14 and 15, 2011, more than 1,000 reenactors will camp in Carthage’s Municipal Park. Twice during that weekend the soldiers will march from their camp down Oak Street to Garrison Street, to reenact the street fighting that took place at the battle’s climax.
Skirmishes will take place as the soldiers march toward the main battlefield, then the two sides will square off for the climactic engagement in historic Central Park.
The public will be allowed to stroll through the camp in Municipal Park, speak with re-enactors and buy period objects offered by vendors.
Douglas said additional festivals and ceremonies will be held closer to the actual anniversary.
She said a ceremony on the actual anniversary, July 5, 2011, will consist of a proclamation and a moment of silence to honor the soldiers and residents of the time.
She also said churches will be asked to ring bells after the moment of silence in honor of the event.
Then on July 8-10, the committee is planning a commemoration festival, hopefully on the Square, consisting of period entertainment and other events. That festival is still being planned.
Leading up to the 2011 celebrations, Sabrina Drackert announced that the theme for the 2010 Maple Leaf Festival, slated for Oct. 9-16, 2010, will help lead into that celebration. The theme is Carthage: Heros and Heritage and the official logo features the Carthage Courthouse, a Civil War soldier and a maple leaf.
From Sept. 1, to Oct. 20, 2010, the Powers Museum will feature the traveling version of the Lee and Grant Exhibit, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and created by the Virginia Historical Society.
“This will be the only Missouri showing of the exhibit on its national tour and the Powers Museum is the smallest museum presenting this opportunity,” Douglas said. “We are honored to offer the exhibit as the city of Carthage’s kickoff to the Civil War Sesquicentennial and its series of events devoted to commemorate the struggle of former residents who lived through this horrific period of history.”
