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Civil War Field Day held at Muskingum Park

By Nancy Taylor 4 min read

It looked a little like a marching band tryout.

Kyle Yoho and Corey James were trying to train another batch of "Union troops" the fine art of marching with arms, without shooting each other.

This particular batch of recruits was from Wood County Christian School and was participating in Civil War Field Day at Muskingum Park in Marietta Tuesday.

"Don't bunch together so much that you squeeze the middle of your line," Yoho told them. "Get your elbows out a little."

By the time the Military Drill instruction had ended, the marchers were holding their own fairly well and could probably turn a corner if they had to.

They were among some 200 students from Marietta City Schools, Marietta St. Mary's, Wood County Christian and Parkersburg Catholic High who rotated through 15 separate instruction modules about a typical soldier's life during the Civil War. It marked the seventh year the event has been presented by the Ohio Historical Society's Campus Martius Museum.

In addition to Military Drill, the 15-minute modules and their instructors were:

¯ John Cooper, portraying Abraham Lincoln;

¯ Steve Ball, playing and explaining Civil War Music;

¯ Bill Reynolds, Morgan's Raid;

¯ Bill Beardsley, Union Uniforms;

¯ Billy Beardsley, Mechanics of Artillery;

¯ John Connors, Bugler;

¯ Dr. Brian Whalin, Civil War Doctor

¯ Jessica Cyders, Southeast Ohio Women during the War;

¯ Scott Britton, Local Civil War Soldiers and Connections;

¯ Maggie Webster, Underground Railroad;

¯ Jane Young, Civil War Nursing;

¯ John Murray, the Common Soldier;

¯ Ron Demmy and Cyrus Moore, Soldier Camp Life;

¯ Carlin's Battery D, cannon firing and artillery.

Ball brought his banjo and his 1852 Martin 1-21 guitar to play. He told one of his groups that as far as the 171-year-old guitar was concerned, "I didn't buy it new." The kids didn't get it. No one chuckled. But he was successful in teaching them the Civil War-era hit song "Eating Goober Peas." He suggested it would be fun to sing on the school bus ride home. An adult in the back of the group visibly cringed.

At Murray's table, he showed Marietta school students an intact mini-ball. "Is that a bullet?" one of the girls asked. When Murray said it was, she asked if she could see it. Then he showed them a mini-ball that had been fired. It was one that he said had been retrieved from the battlefield at Gettysburg. The same girl was amazed. "Oh my gosh, I thought it was wood! This is metal!"

"Yes," Murray agreed, "it's lead."

Whalin was discussing the many amputations of arms and legs the war produced, and the use of chloroform and ether at the time.

Britton was making a point about the fact that so many boys of a young age were involved in the war. "They were required to be 18 to join the Union forces," he told one group. "But a number of them got around that by putting a paper with the number '18' in one of their shoes. When the sergeant asked, 'Son! Are you over 18?' The boy could honestly answer, 'Yes, sir! I am over 18!'"

The crowning glory of the Civil War Field Day at Muskingum Park was Carlin's Battery D firing of the cannon. At each firing, the mass of student spectators exclaimed and cheered from a safe distance. The third time was the strongest charge and the loudest noise. It boomed across the Muskingum River, echoed, and brought cheers and applause.

Musician Steve Ball wasn't among the cannon-fire crowd. He was happy to stay back at his station, he said. "Playing music in the shade by the banks of the river on a fine day like this? There's nothing finer."

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