Heritage Day brings Battle of Mine Creek back to life

22 hours ago

2 min read

By Billy Roudybush

Journal contributor

The day dawned cloudy and cool. Saturday morning, Sept. 26, at the Mine Creek battlefield site, the sponsors of 2026 Heritage Day promised an eventful day.

As visitors walked up the ridge past the museum and visitors’ center, they saw rows of canvas tents. As they entered the campsites, it was if they stepped back in time to the morning of Oct. 25, 1864 , observing the remains of breakfasts and coffee still being served. Rifles were stacked and men were preparing for the upcoming fight.

Further up and over the ridge, there were more tents. Between the two sites, you stop and look back. You realize that you have just walked through the Union troops. You continue and you enter the Confederates camps. The air and the anticipation are the same; men are prepping for the upcoming events.

*Union re-enactors fire off a cannon during the Heritage Day activities.*

According to organizers, more re-enactors attended this year’s Heritage Day.

This year’s event included a day full of educational presentations. Visitors had an opportunity to learn about life in the infantry and cavalry during the Civil War. They also had an opportunity to learn the process of firing a field cannon.

Inside the museum, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant re-enactors talked about the lead-up to the battle at Appomattox. In another session a Buffalo soldier explained how Black troops impacted the war between the states.

***Union cavalry heads out of camp in preparation for the re-enactment.***

Still, the main event was coming. Re-enactors on both sides prepared themselves for battle. The spectators gathered in anticipation of the life-like skirmish.

Then one cannon fired, and the cannon down the field replied. Men in blue began marching along the ridge. Men on horses came up and started firing. The men in blue returned fire.

More Confederate infantry units moved into a fighting position against the boys in blue. The Union infantry returned fire, and the spectators got a real taste of war and the price of war.

This was exactly what Heritage Days were supposed to be; a chance for people to learn and see how life was like in the 1860s, and a chance to see, hear and feel the many aspects of the turmoil of that war.