Fort D Days provide living history lesson

The air was heavy with smoke and the smell of gunpowder from firing cannons and rifles. "Powder monkey" Zach Stagner, 11, of Cape Girardeau delivered the charge in his leather pouch for approval by the gunner on command.

Dressed in uniform, he said he is particularly interested in the Civil War because two of his great-great-great-grandfathers fought in it, one on each side of the conflict.

The second annual Fort D Days began Friday and will continue from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. today four blocks south of the intersection of Highway 74 and Sprigg Street in Cape Girardeau.

The fort, an easily recognizable stone structure, was built by the Works Progress Administration in 1936. The earthen walls made up the original Civil War fort, with soldiers sometimes building shelters into the dirt.

It is the only one of four such forts in the area that still survives, saved by civic action from development in the early 1930s.

Fort D was garrisoned by Union troops from Illinois, Missouri and other Midwestern states during the Civil War but never saw battle. Saturday's encampment at the site was staged by more than 40 re-enactors and volunteers providing visitors with a living history lesson. Ammunition-making demonstrations along with cannon firings and infantry and artillery drills continued throughout the day. Central Middle School students ed by Pam Dumey entertained with Civil War-era music and tents set up on the grounds breathed life into the scene.

Inside the fort, tools dating from 1800 to 1900 were displayed and Cape Girardeau County Genealogical Society members were available to answer visitors' questions about their family history.

Cannons fired from the fort during the Civil War were 32- and 24-pounders. The soldiers passed the time using blocks of wood for pins and cannonballs for bowling balls. This recreation helped to build the soldiers' strength but wasn't their only diversion. They sewed, played cards, baseball, horseshoes and music. They wrote letters, read and gambled.

The second Fort D Days was just as busy as last year's, event coordinator Scott House said. Attendance topped last year's free two-day event.

The grandchildren of Frances Cease crowded around Mike Watson, an experienced ammunition-maker from St. Louis. A quarter century of making cartridges and sharing his displays of Civil War memorabilia with civic groups and Scouts has become a way of life for him, as it has for most of the re-enactors.

Making the paper cartridge ammunition was the task of women and children 14 and older during the Civil War. They worked 10-hour days cranking out about 2,000 cartridges per shift. Cease's grandsons, David Lowes of Jackson and Shane Haselbusch of McClure, Ill., both 12, were interested in the event because they would like to serve in the military. "They're both very patriotic," Cease said. "They have two cousins in Iraq and they pray for them and the guys in Iraq almost every day."

Pat Baehr of St. Louis, a Southeast Missouri State University graduate, and Lisa Tullock of Gerald, Mo., have been Civil War re-enactors for almost three decades combined. Baehr, a member of the Ladies Union Aid Society, worked on a quilt for a soldier injured in the Iraq War. The same society took part in the same activity in the Civil War.

She got involved in Civil War re-enactments almost 20 years ago when her son, then in first grade, visited the St. Louis Southern Iron Mountain Railway and saw a re-enactment. "He was a historic preservation major at SEMO but now he's serving in Iraq," Baehr said. Baehr worked diligently on the quilt of valor created from reproductions of fabric from that era. Her motivation to complete it was driven by the thought of comforting an injured soldier.

Tullock, a member of the Turner Brigade, sat in front of Baehr, working on a crazy quilt. "It's really nice to step back in time and relax, especially after setting everything up last night in the rain," she said.

cpagano@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133