Civil War Muster returns Sept. 17-18, featuring Battle of Antietam
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HOLLAND — Holland’s Van Raalte Farm will be transported back to the 1860s later this month for the annual Civil War Muster.
A staple in the Holland community for more than a decade, the 13th Annual Van Raalte Farm Civil War Muster is scheduled for Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 17-18.
Various events and demonstrations will be held throughout the free, two-day event. More than 100 reenactors will participate as military, cavalry and civilians.
Reenactors playing generals featured in the war will speak about the battle, while Fritz Klein will give lectures as President Abraham Lincoln. Klein has played Lincoln films, documentaries, plays and other events across 38 states and multiple countries.
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Sunday will feature an authentic 1860s church service on the lawn at 10 a.m. Tours of the Van Raalte homestead will be offered throughout the weekend for residents to learn about Holland's founder: Rev. Albertus Van Raalte.
Guests can also enjoy medical demonstrations, a fashion show, dancing and a nighttime fire to conclude Saturday’s festivities.
Reenactors will recreate the Battle of Antietam at 2 p.m. both days. The battle, which occurred in Sharpsburg, Maryland, was a clash between Union General George McClellan’s Army of the Potomac and Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.
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Antietam is the “bloodiest day in American history” with a combined total of 22,717 dead, wounded or missing. The battle originally occurred Sept. 17, 1862, meaning the first reenactment of this year’s muster will be on the battle’s 160th anniversary.
Allen Guelzo, an author and foremost scholar on the Civil War, will be a guest lecturer for this year’s event. Guelzo will give a lecture titled “What If Lincoln Had Lived?” at Van Raalte Farm on Saturday. He is also scheduled to give a lecture at Hope College Friday, Sept. 16.
Historian and author Frank O’Reilly will also be in attendance and speaking at the event.
This year’s muster will have an additional focus on the end of the war and reconstruction as part of a project in the “There’s No Place Like Home” initiative through the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The muster received a two-year, $51,000 grant that started last year.
When the grant was announced, it highlighted the muster’s unique ability to educate.
“The Holland Van Raalte Farm Civil War Muster presents opportunities for its audience, especially local fifth-grade classes on field trips, to engage with some of the most urgent issues of the 19th Century,” the grant announcement read. “With updated versions of those challenges dividing contemporary Americans, the program is intended to provide a compelling opportunity to increase people’s knowledge of their historical origins.”
— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @SentinelMitch.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Holland's Civil War Muster returns Sept. 17-18
