Community Corner

Montgomery's Camp Hammond to Come Alive During Montgomery Fest

On Saturday, a group of local Civil War enthusiasts will recreate the army camp that called Montgomery home in 1861.

Starting in August of 1861, hundreds of men from as far south as Lisbon and as far north as Elgin trekked to Montgomery to join up with the 36th Regiment of the Union Army. It was here, at Camp Hammond, located just off Route 31, that these new recruits trained and became soldiers, ready to fight in the Civil War.

On Saturday, to mark the 150th anniversary of that war, about 30 local history buffs will recreate Camp Hammond on vacant land just north of Riverside Cemetery on River Street. It promises to be a massive undertaking, complete with period-accurate drills, meals and uniforms, and it runs all day, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Sean Cowger of Joliet calls it a “living history.” He’s a member of the history group 36th Illinois Infantry Volunteers, Company B, and has been re-enacting Civil War battles for about 20 years. He credits his father with sparking that interest in him, although he said his dad rarely had time to participate in re-enactments.

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Members of the 36th either buy or make their own period clothing and weaponry—Cowger said there’s a certain skill to sewing clothes the way they did in the 1860s. It’s a serious amount of dedication to preserving an era of history, but Cowger believes the Civil War period is worth remembering.

“It was the time in history when our country became our country,” he said. “It was our first test. Would our country make it? Instead of becoming city-states, we stayed one country.”

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The values of the time, Cowger said, are worth preserving too. He called the modern era an “instant gratification society,” and said that even though things were harder and work took longer to complete, you could feel rewarded in your efforts.

The 36th, he said, has a fair number of younger members, and he hopes the values they bring to life during their re-enactments will influence them.

The Civil War version of the 36th Infantry traveled more than 10,000 miles while serving. They took part in 10 major battles, and of the 1,186 men who passed through its ranks, nearly 700 were killed.

While the modern 36th has restaged Civil War battles before, Saturday’s recreation of Camp Hammond will be the first of its kind. From military drills to an old-time baseball game, everything will be authentic—even the food, Cowger said.

“They had really bad army food (at Camp Hammond),” he said. “Salted pork belly and coffee. But they had the added bonus of the surrounding communities, and every day they would have a gigantic picnic. They ate good.”

Saturday’s recreation will be a huge endeavor for the 36th, but Cowger hopes it inspires some interest in that period of history.

“I hope people, when they drive by where Camp Hammond was on Route 31, they realize that as small a town as Montgomery was, it played a pretty big role in getting 1200 or 1300 men off to war, and helped to end the Civil War,” he said.

For more on Camp Hammond, read Pat Torrance’s column . The 36th Illinois Infantry Volunteers’ recreation of Camp Hammond runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. during Montgomery Fest, just north of Riverside Cemetery. The schedule is printed below. For more information on the fest, go here.

10 a.m.: Morning Drill

11 a.m.: Baseball Game

12 p.m.: Squad Drill

1 p.m.: Soldiers Lunch

2 p.m.: Squad Drill

3 p.m.: Soldiers Boxing Match

4 p.m.: Swearing In of Aurora Guard/Drill

5 p.m.: Picnic With Townspeople

6 p.m.: Camp Closed to Public


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