Having a blast
Annual Civil War Days kicks off the summer at Naper Settlement.

History came to life at Naper Settlement's Civil War Day this weekend.

More than 300 re-enactors came out portraying everything from soldiers, to
families, to President Abraham Lincoln and Generals Ulysses S. Grant and
Robert E. Lee. The re-enactors even stayed over the weekend to turn the
13-acre site into a Civil War encampment.

"It was one of the most impactful wars in our history. Yes it was brutal,
but name me a war that wasn't brutal," said Robert Norton who portrays a
medical re-enactor.

Music, food, cannon and gunshot blasts, battle cries, marches and cavalry
demonstrations rounded out the weekend's events.

Battles between blue and gray, or the Union and Confederates, took place
both afternoons around 2:30 p.m.

This is the second decade of the re-enactment for Naper Settlement's Civil
War Days. Every year the event runs both Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to
4 p.m. at the historic museum village at 523 Webster St.

For more information or other events happening this summer at Naper
Settlement, call the event hot line at 630-305-5555 or visit
www.napersettlement.museum.

Lindsey Theis Reports.