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Other stories in "Frontier history"

• Scenes from the fur trade
  At re-created forts, meet the adventurers who shaped the Upper Midwest.
• The first American Girl
  Before Laura, before Kit, there was Caddie Woodlawn on the Wisconsin frontier.
• River with a past
  On the lush Minnesota, beautiful scenery comes with harsh history.
• Following the tall ships
  On the Great Lakes, historic schooners and sloops are welcome attractions at summer festivals.
• Life on the Grand Portage
  Once, a corner of northeast Minnesota was the center of the fur-trade universe.
• Hayward's lumberjacks
  A northwest Wisconsin resort town keeps a frontier art alive.
• Blasts from the past
  Every September, the Civil War comes to an old stagecoach inn in Wisconsin.
• On the Iron Trail
  In northern Minnesota, a rich deposit of ore brought the world running.
• Lumberjacks and legends
  Grand Rapids may not be the Emerald City, but its trees are green, and its lakes glitter.
• Scrappy Northfield
  As outlaws discovered, this Minnesota college town is small but rarely sleepy.
• Fight club
  Thanks to Civil War battle re-enactors, history shows up in the flesh and blood.
• Little sod house on the prairie
  Life on the frontier wasn't quite as romantic as we think it was.
• Posse on the prairie
  In Madelia, the Jesse James Gang met its match — again.

Still fighting the Civil War

Summer and fall battle reenactments turn history into flesh and blood.

After nearly 150 years, the Civil War still inflames imaginations. Many Upper Midwest historic sites host encampments, where reenactors offer artillery drills, medical demonstrations and a row of sutlers, or period vendors.

But some reenactments also include battles, which give spectators an incredible opportunity to see history in all its sound and fury. Some feature thundering cavalry and dozens of cannons; others are more intimate, with affecting human dramas woven into the smoke of battle.

In this area, Civil War encampments with battle reenactments in 2010 include:

May 1-2, Civil War Days at Dousman Stagecoach Inn in Brookfield, Wis. On the western edge of Milwaukee, this 1843 inn holds an encampment on its parklike grounds and includes demonstrations, children's games and an Abraham Lincoln look-alike who gives the Gettysburg Address.

June 26-27, Battle of Chaplin Creek at Chaplin Creek Village in Franklin Grove, Ill. This historic site west of Chicago hosts a living-history weekend that includes the trial of a spy, a fashion show, artisan demonstrations and a Civil War ball. Skirmishes at 1:30 p.m. both days depict the struggle over a village in the South.

Aug. 6-8, Muskets & Memories Civil War Weekend in Boscobel, Wis. This river town in southwest Wisconsin draws nearly 1,000 re-enactors and includes band concerts, a ladies' garden party, a ball and guided tours of the Union and Confederate camps. Battles are at 1 p.m Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

Aug. 14-15, Civil War Days in Pipestone, Minn. In the southwest corner of Minnesota, this festival includes quilting bees, etiquette and ballroom dance lessons, camp tours, children's games, band concerts and a grand ball. Battles are at 3 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.

For more, see Pipestone homage.

Sept. 25-26, Civil War Weekend at the Wade House in Greenbush, Wis. This re-enactment near Sheboygan is the most impressive in the region, with 1,000 re-enactors and battles waged in the meadows and woods around an 1860s stagecoach inn that was a recruiting station during the Civil War. Battles are held at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

For more, see Blasts from the past.

Oct. 9-10, Civil War Heritage Weekend at Norskedalen near Coon Valley, Wis. The skirmishes on this atmospheric pioneer homestead in the coulees southeast of La Crosse, Wis., don't have horses, but they feature living-history actors whose performances can leave onlookers nearly in tears. Battles are at 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

For more, see Fight club.

Last updated on May 26, 2010