Oklahoma History Center hosts second annual Civil War event

Families can enjoy each other's company amid muskets and gunpowder at the Oklahoma History Center's second annual Civil War Saturday.

Families of both Northern and Southern descent will gather at the center and join history by traveling to different stations to learn all aspects of Civil War life, both in Indian Territory and all over the U.S.

"We were looking for things that families could come and do that were different," said Jason Harris, curator of education at the Oklahoma History Center. "This is one of the ways we can bring history to life."

SOLDIER SKILLS   
Visitors will experience life in the 1860s through weapons, wet-plate photography, music, fashion and food. Museum organizers have re-created a traveling tavern, complete with games and historic pictures on the walls, and a refugee area, which demonstrates the hardships suffered by those displaced by the war. Visitors will be taught soldier drills, gun loading and how to transmit information over a battlefield.

Battle-weary attendees can retreat inside to peruse the museum's indoor military exhibit.

"This is not something that's behind glass," Harris said. "It's something they can see and do. We talk about the Dust Bowl, statehood and the Land Run so much, but (the Civil War) is part of our history as Oklahomans."

Civil War Saturday is 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Oklahoma History Center, 2401 N. Laird. Admission is $5 per vehicle, which includes outdoor activities and museum admission. For more information, call 522-5248. "Jamie Birdwell

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