On Saturday, May 1, Friends of Civil War Alcatraz and the National Park Service will host Civil War Living History Day on Alcatraz Island.
This unique event features 150 Civil War re-enactors who will demonstrate military activities of the Civil War period including drills, marching, prisoner escort, encampment cooking, and guard duty.
A military band in period uniforms will perform music from that era throughout the day.
An artillery team will fire the 24-pound Howitzer (normally on display in the Sally port) to show how soldiers of the Civil War loaded and fired these large artillery pieces.
Volunteers and Park Rangers from Alcatraz will answer questions and do presentations about the times of the Civil War. They'll show visitors all the Civil War era structures on the island, including brick walls, the guardhouse and sally port, the lower level of the Citadel, gardens, and remains of the large artillery batteries.
Although we all think of Alcatraz from its years as a federal prison, from the 1850's until well after the Civil War the Unites States military base on Alcatraz was the largest fort west of the Mississippi River. Its mission was to protect San Francisco and the Bay Area from attack, and to control the waters of San Francisco Bay.
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