Hello! This weekend Mel used her one day off to take us to a Civil War muster in Jackson, Michigan! The American Civil War started 150 years ago.
We wandered through some shops which had historical costume supplies and other interesting things. The boys were talking about uniforms while us girls admired the hoop skirts and hats. We took a break at a lovely flower bed while they were admiring guns an knives. Boys.
We also saw some of the security for the event, sheriff deputies on horses, to fit with the theme!
The big event of the day was a reenactment of the Battle of Bethel Church which happened in Virginia in June of 1861.
The Union troops lined up right in front of us!
Then they marched over the hill to attack the southern troops. There were canons also, that were really loud.
We missed a lot of the battle because it happened over that hill, but all of the good seats were taken. 
The Union troops were attacking a fortified Rebel position with half as many men.
Despite having the advantage of numbers, the Union ended up having to retreat, mostly because of confusion between units, it seems. At one point in the real battle, some of the Union troops were shooting at each other!
Here the Union is trying to regroup for one last charge, but it didn't succeed and they retreated all the way back to the city. The Rebels only lost one soldier in the fight.
On the way out, Mel walked over to another part of the park to see if the big fountain was running for me, but it wasn't. But we did find a 9-11 memorial with an actual part of one of the World Trade Center buildings. We decided it would be a good place for group shot!
