Civil War re-enactment weekend

MILFORD - The Pike County Historical Society will host a Civil War re-enactment and Sanitary Fair on Saturday April 22, and Sunday April 23. The grounds of the Columns Museum, located at 608 Broad Street in Milford, Pa., will be the site of lectures and demonstrations reflective of Civil War times and practices. Included will be bayonet drills, battlefield medicine, cooking, mail call, close order drill, musket drill and many other facets of the campaign life of the Civil War soldier. The re-enactors of the 56th Regiment, New York Voluntary Infantry, of the Xth Legion, will be in period costume and uniform to bring the Civil War to life. Demonstrations will be held from noon until 4 p.m. Saturday and will include a Civil War wedding, held in the Lincoln Room of the Columns at 2:30 p.m., on Saturday. The public is invited to attend the ceremony, which will be followed by refreshments on the veranda. On Sunday a special Ladies Program will be held, including a Civil War Sanitary Fair, and a lecture on Sanitary Fairs and Civil War fundraising will take place at 1 p.m. on Sunday. A Sanitary Fair was a 19th century means of raising money for the health and welfare of the soldiers. The U.S. Sanitary Commission was run primarily by women, although it was thought more politically correct, at the time, to place a man at its head. The head of this commission was once Frederick Law Olmstead of Central Park and Milford Cemetery design fame. The first Sanitary Fair was held in Chicago, and raised over $1 million in 1861 dollars. The grounds of the Museum will be open from 10-4 on Saturday, and 11-4 on Sunday. For more information please call 570-296-8126.