CIVIL WAR ENCAMPMENT OCTOBER 22 AT METAMORA COURTHOUSE

METAMORA, IL - The War Between the States will come to life during a Civil War encampment scheduled for Saturday, October 22 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Metamora Courthouse State Historic Site.  The event is free and open to the public, and will be held rain or shine.

 

            Re-enactors from Central Illinois Living Historians will populate the courthouse and town square.  An authentic Union field hospital will be set up and a demonstration given of period medical techniques.  Union soldiers will parade in the town square park.  Period musicians will fill the area with authentic sounds from the 1860s.  

            The President and First Lady of the United States, Abraham and Mary Lincoln, will arrive to boost morale among Union troops.  Max and Donna Daniels of Wheaton, Illinois, nationally known Lincoln portrayers, will visit soldiers who will soon be going off to fight the Civil War.  They will present their play, "An Evening with Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln," at 2 p.m. in the restored courtroom at Metamora Courthouse.  The play takes place in the White House on the day they prepare to leave for Ford's Theater, as the Lincolns reflect on their early lives together, their children, his legal career, the war, and their future.  There is also an epilogue on the last years of Mary's life.   

 

            Metamora Courthouse State Historic Site, administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (www.Illinois-History.gov), was built in 1845 and is one of only two remaining original Eighth Judicial Circuit Courthouses where Abraham Lincoln practiced law.  It is open Wednesday through Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. for free public tours, and is located on the square in Metamora.